# Cat's Exercise Diary



## Cat-a-Tonic

I have been talking about exercise a lot in the Undiagnosed Club lately and figured it might need its own thread, so here we go.    This first post might be particularly long and rambling, apologies in advance.

I'll start with a recap of how I got to where I am today.  I used to work out regularly before I became ill, but I never really enjoyed it.  I wanted to lose a few lbs, I wanted to look better, etc.  It was all for superficial reasons and not for health reasons at all.  I honestly hated going to the gym!  I enjoyed things like going kayaking, but just plain working out in a gym?  Hard work, not fun, boring!  :boring:  If I didn't feel like going to the gym that day, I'd skip it.  I really had no concept of how important my health was or that I should make more of an effort to be healthy.  I was shallow and unwise.

So, October 2009 rolls around and my life changes forever - I got so sick and never really recovered.  Flare up after flare up and nobody could tell me what was wrong.  I had so many tests and went into pretty significant medical debt.  I lost a lot of weight - about 20 lbs, going from 136 (at 5'8") down to about 115.  Exercise really didn't even factor into my thoughts at that time.  I was very weak and was really struggling.  I recall a time where I had to have my hubby carry laundry up and down the stairs for me and I was so weak and light-headed that I nearly passed out while folding the laundry.  It was a really dark time.  I didn't want to feel useless so I still insisted on doing the laundry, but really I couldn't even do it by myself without a lot of help.

October 2010 and my GI decides that enough is enough, he'd rather give me some relief from all the tests and the flares and try to put me into remission, even though I still didn't have a proper diagnosis (it's presumed that I probably have some form of IBD, but nothing is official).  We already knew that I respond well to prednisone, so my GI put me on Entocort.  I responded well to that too, and after about 7 months of being on it, I was officially in remission.  Woo hoo!

But, as I was entering remission, I had been having some pain in my right hip.  I went to my GP and it was diagnosed as arthritis.  My GP felt like I was a good candidate for physical therapy as the arthritis was mild, so off to PT I went.

At my first PT appointment, my physical therapist assessed me.  She was very thorough - I figured she would just want to look at the bad hip, but she looked at my whole body.  She determined that my good hip was very weak, about as weak as the bad hip was.  Also my knees were very weak, my ankles, and so on.  I knew that I had lost muscle mass from being so ill, and I had also lost muscle mass from being on steroids for 7 months (corticosteroids apparently have the opposite effect as anabolic steroids; they rob muscle mass rather than build it up).  But I didn't realize how far gone I really was.  I was super weak, had almost no muscle mass at all and struggled to do even the simple exercises my physical therapist gave me to do.  It was shocking and humiliating!

But it also drove me to action.  I decided that day that I was going to start going back to the gym.  Any physical exertion during the worst of my illness would just make my body get even more upset with me, but I was hoping that in remission I could get away with a bit of exercise.  Fortunately I was right - my body responded wonderfully.  I started working out 2 days a week, lifting very light weights.  I knew I needed muscle mass so lifting weights seemed like the way to go.  And it was, I felt very good doing it - sometimes I'd get pain from doing the abdominals machine, but other than that I felt great.

As I eased my way into a better and more stable incarnation of remission, I heard my body begging me for 2 things - food, and exercise!  I hadn't really had either in a long time.  So I gave it those things, and I felt great.  I felt so strong, healthy and happy like I never had in the gym before.  Suddenly the gym became a place I really wanted to go!  I enjoyed working out, I felt like I was actively fighting to reclaim my health.  I didn't feel like a sick person in the gym.  For the first time in a long time, I could forget for a little while that I had an illness at all.  And that was absolutely the best feeling in the world!

I pretty quickly moved up to lifting weights 3x per week and gradually increased the amount of weight I was lifting.  I did that for about a year, 3x per week lifting weights.  But I wondered if I might be doing myself some sort of harm by only really doing one type of exercise, so more recently I tried incorporating some cardio.

May I just say here that I hated cardio at first?  I've never liked cardio, but getting back into the gym after being ill for so long, I really liked lifting weights - not so for cardio!  I had to force myself to do it at first.  I tried jogging, but with the hip arthritis it is not possible for me to jog for very long at all.  I can jog for about 1/2 mile before the pain sets in - that's only about 5 or 6 minutes of jogging.  If I push myself to keep going, the pain only gets worse and worse.  On a couple of ocassions, I pushed myself to run one mile.  Because really, I'm trying to get healthy, at a bare minimum I should be able to run one lousy mile!  But it is not so.  I was in pain for about 4 days the last time I ran a mile, it is just not worth it.

So I sought out other forms of cardio.  I started riding the stationary bike in the gym.  Since I hadn't really done any cardio, I could not ride for more than a few minutes without being completely winded!  Just like with weights, I had to start small and slowly and build myself up.  At first it was just, can I keep pedaling?  And then I increased the resistance a little bit.  Now I'm at the point where I can do a 30 minute hill program and I can keep pedaling the whole time.  I sweat like crazy and sometimes I still feel like I hate cardio, but I'm keeping up with it!  I'm looking forward to spring so that I can ride my real bike outside.  I'm planning ride routes already.  

So that pretty much brings me up to where I am today.  I currently do a 6 day workout schedule - I do weights one day, cardio the next, weights, cardio, weights, then a rest day.  Then start the whole thing over again.  Sometimes I do yoga on my rest day, and I usually walk my dog on the weekends too, so I'm doing something active pretty much every single day.  I feel great, I have muscles again, and I'm still in remission.

I personally see remission, specifically staying in remission, as a multi-pronged effort.  I need to take my meds and supplements, I need to eat as healthily as I can, I need to get enough sleep, I need to stay hydrated, I need to keep my stress levels as low as I can, and of course I need to work out as often as I can!  I know that all of those components contribute to me fighting my illness, but honestly, working out is the only one where I actively feel like I'm really fighting.  I push myself, and with every rep or every time I don't give up, it feels like I'm punching IBD in the face.  I feel like I'm actively beating this thing one workout at a time.  I know I'll never truly beat it and that it can always come back - and really, that only makes me want to work harder.    I have endless motivation, and as long as I am able to I will never stop fighting.

Okay, so that was wayyyy too long, but that's the story so far!  I'm going to use this thread hopefully in a similar way to David's holistic treatment diary - I'll log what I've been up to in the gym and how I'm feeling and so on.  Input is welcomed, questions are fine, threadjacking is okay too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

So, today!  The arthritis has been giving me a little bit of trouble lately.  It acts up more when the weather is bad (rain/snow/severe cold) so I'm hoping it's just due to the funky Wisconsin winter weather.  I forgot to mention in my initial post that I also have really bad GERD.  This means that I have to plan ahead for my workouts.  I cannot have anything in my stomach except for water and antacids for at least 2 hours before I go to work out.  Literally, I once drank some Gatorade before working out, and I became so nauseous that I could not continue.  So I drink water for awhile beforehand, and then within 30 mins of going to the gym, I take a Zantac and a handful of Tums.  That usually gets me through although I'm often fairly nauseous or refluxing by the end of my workout.

So, today I'm headed to the big gym in the evening.  I should specify that there is a little gym in the basement of my workplace, and a big gym that I pay money to belong to.  The little gym is free and convenient, but doesn't have a lot of machines.  It is usually empty so I can crank my music and do my thing without anybody in my way and I never have to wait for a machine to open up.  The big gym usually has a lot of people in it but it also has a ton of machines with a lot more variety than the little gym does.  So I like both for different reasons.

Anyway, I'm going to the big gym to do weights in a couple of hours which means no more food for me until much later this evening.  In the big gym, I usually do about 15 mins on the elliptical to warm up.  Then I do every weight machine I can.  There are a few I skip - the ones where something is pressing on the stomach area, I just can't do those, too uncomfortable.  And there are 3 different abdominals machines, and I cannot do all 3 in one day or I'll either get super nauseous or be in some abdominal pain.  I usually go for one abdominals machine, 2 if I'm feeling really good.  But all the arms & legs machines I do - I aim for 12 to 15 reps of the heaviest weight I can lift.  Once I'm done with all the machines, I immediately stretch while my muscles are still warm.  I seem to get a better result from that than from stretching before working out.  After stretching, I'll walk for about 10 mins on the treadmill at a leisurely pace to cool down.  So that's the plan for tonight!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

2-14-13.  I hit the big gym yesterday and it went mostly as planned.  It was super busy there though and I always save the abdominals machine(s) for last.  That way, if I'm already feeling nauseous or having any sort of abdo pain, I can just skip it.  I was going to do one abdo machine, but there was a line for my favorite one!  So I skipped it altogether.  Not ideal, but I was not going to wait in line for one machine.

Tonight I'm going to ride the exercise bike in my home.  I'm planning on at least 30 mins but I'm wondering if I might push myself and go longer than that.  I'll definitely do a hill program.  I'm also planning on doing some crunches to make up for yesterday's lack of abs workout.  I still have a little bit of belly flab left over from that 7 months of being on Entocort - when I regained my weight, it seemed to all go to my tummy area, how uncute.    It's really stubborn but so am I!

In other news, it's snowing, which is making my arthritis achey for the 10 millionth time this winter (may be a slight exaggeration).  It's not too bad though, only slightly achey today.  It's definitely been worse.  Hopefully it will be okay when I ride the bike tonight too.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I've just read through this!  
Interesting what you say about corticosteroids doing the opposite of anabolic steroids! I have never thought about it before, and I have joined the gym while being on them! I take my last dose today though, so maybe I'll feel more of an improvement once I'm off them. 
Do you ever do free weights? There are only two weight machines I like using at my gym so I have been thinking about doing free weights but I don't know what to do with them!


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## UnXmas

It's great your enjoying exercising so much and that it's helping you maintain good health. 

I haven't been able to do any real exercise in years because I have so much trouble keeping weight on. But I do walk my dog everyday, which is as much for enjoyment (and for the dog!) as for keeping a certain level of fitness. I think exercise, outdoor exercise especially, is good for the mind as well.

I noticed the same thing about corticosteroids. I have no muscle left after taking them, and things like lifting shopping bags, standing up from sitting, etc. are actually quite difficult! I had assumed it was just from being underweight (I've always been a weakling!) until I read it was a side effect.

Your routine does sound quite exhausting though! Remember it's useful to keep some extra weight on in case of flare ups when you may not be able to eat as much.

Hope you continue to enjoy being healthy!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV:  I didn't know you are on steroids - it's very good then that you're going to the gym regulary now too.  Here's an article with a lot of confusing medical words (I did not read the whole thing myself!) with lots more info on corticosteroids and muscle wasting:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2911625/

As for free weights, I really haven't done them myself.  I prefer the weight machines.  The little gym I go to has no free weights and there are 8 weight machines.  The big gym I belong to has a ton of weight machines (at least 20 although I haven't actually counted) and also there are free weights there but I've never felt the desire to try them.  I honestly wouldn't really know what to do with them either - is there a trainer in your gym that you could ask about this?  Hopefully they can show you some exercises to do with the free weights.  If not, maybe try looking for some videos online about what exercises to do with free weights?

UnXmas, I like walking with my dog too - due to our conflicting work schedules, my hubby walks her during the week and I walk her on weekends.  As for my weight, no worries there.  Thanks to Entocort, I regained all the weight I had lost and then some.  I was up to about 140 lbs (a little bit chubby for me) by the time I finished with Entocort.  Then I got some stubborn hemorrhoids and my GI tried me on steroid suppositories for those, so I gained about another 6 lbs and was at my heaviest ever at 146!  I managed to lose that extra bit of flab and I'm at about 135 now which is a very healthy weight for me, and I've kept my weight steady right around there for over a year now.  Although my workout routine is fairly intense, I like to eat too so my weight has been steady.  I certainly have converted some flab into muscle but no worries about me wasting away, I like brownies and cookies and ice cream way too much for that.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

So, my update for today 2-15-13 - I realized yesterday that not all stationary bikes are created equal!  (This should have been obvious, in hindsight.)  There is an exercise bike in the little gym that I often use, I do a 30 minute hill program on it and I usually end up going a little over 4 miles in that time.  I also have an exercise bike at home, nothing fancy at all, just something I picked up used on craigslist for like $25.  But I think my bike at home is actually better for me because it has one feature that the bike in the gym does not have.  When I select the 30 minute hill program on my bike at home, it tells me if I'm "on pace" "too slow" or "too fast".  Sometimes I have to pedal really hard to stay "on pace"!  And the bike in the gym doesn't have anything like that, so I am probably pedaling too slowly when I'm using that one.  I did something like 5.5 miles in a 30 minute hill program on my bike at home last night, so significantly more than the 4ish miles I do on the bike in the gym.  Very interesting!  I felt much more tired and sweaty after doing the bike at home too, so pushing myself to constantly stay "on pace" seems to be giving me a much better workout than just pedaling at my own pace in the gym.  I think I'm going to be riding at home more often than I ride in the gym now!

It's kind of a shame though because when I go to the gym, I'm all business.  I know I'm there to do one job and that's to get fit.  I put on my workout clothes and it's like putting on a work uniform and I get in a particular mindset that now is the time to work.  And when I work out at home, there are pets and TV and distractions galore and I just can't get myself properly in that frame of mind that I need to be in.  I put on my workout clothes and then I think, oh I should really start a load of laundry before I work out.  I should really put my dishes in the dishwasher.  I should let the dog out and check my facebook and call my mother.  Too many distractions!  I'm the kind of person who needs to go to the gym, to get away from the rest of my life.  

Anyway.  I'm going to the big gym tonight to lift weights.  My hubby usually goes with me to the big gym but he has to work late.  I kind of like going by myself.  When hubby is there, I feel like I need to constantly gauge, is he nearing the end of his workout?  Should I go slower or faster to keep pace with him?  Is he done, does he want to stretch?  When I'm by myself, I can just do my thing and concentrate on me and not worry about anything else, so it is nice.  I like that hubby is trying to get into shape too (he just recently started coming to the gym with me, he was literally getting jealous of how toned I'm getting!) but it is an added little bit of stress/distraction to have him come along.  I like to do my own thing - the less people in the gym with me, the better.


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## Ya noy

I normally prefer to get away from all the distractions by going to the gym myself, and do better joining classes rather than working out by myself.  The instructor and other participants provide inspiration, and also place myself "front and center" where I can't whoose out in the middle of the class without everyone else noticing.  The "embarrassment" factor keeps me going.  

I don't know about your gym, but at ours, "spinning" classes are held on standard stationary bikes, but there are also recumbents bikes there, where you sit back, more like in a chair, rather than on a standard bicycle saddle.  I would think the recumbent bikes would be, well, easier on the butt.  

What I don't like about either type of bike at the gym is that you can't "clip in".  some of the bikes have "clip less pedals" or straps, but they're not the same thing.  No matter how much you try to tighten the straps, they don't replicate the same effect.  Most stationary bikes just don't provide a very good workout for the front of your upper legs or abs.  

Sounds like you're doing great!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ya noy, both the bike at the little gym and the bike in my home are the recumbent style.  The bike in my home, I pretty much specifically chose it for the price and because it has a really cushy seat.    It came "as is" and was pretty beat up, but my hubby fixed it up for me as best as he could, so it's in decent shape now.  The electronic display and fan both work, although the heart rate monitor doesn't (one of the sensors on the handlebars is missing).  All the cat hair from the previous owners is gone (replaced by hair from my cat, ha ha).  But yeah, it is about as easy on the booty as a bike seat can be.  

At the big gym, they have like 4 different types/styles of exercise bike.  I have yet to try each type!  There's not an elliptical in the little gym or at home though, so when I'm at the big gym I tend to gravitate towards the elliptical rather than the bikes.

I definitely agree that most exercise bikes don't do a thing for the abs/core.  When I ride my actual bike outside, I get such a good core workout!  There's so much balance and steering that just don't happen with a stationary bike.  As for "clipping in", I'm not really sure what you mean.  Like those loops on the pedals that go around your feet?

As for classes, the little gym has none and I don't think the big gym has any either!  I belong to Planet Fitness (aka the big gym), which is a chain based around being really affordable but also kind of bare bones.  So there aren't any classes that I've seen, there's no pool, etc.  Mostly just treadmills, bikes, etc and weight machines and that's about it.  It's in my price range ($10 per month!) and I don't need anything fancy so I'm just fine with it.  I've never been big on fitness classes myself, I know I'm not going to sneak out halfway through my workout so no worries there.  I'm a huge introvert too and I do better generally by myself rather than being in a group (that's true of most things in my life, not just exercise).


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## UnXmas

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> LMV:  I didn't know you are on steroids - it's very good then that you're going to the gym regulary now too.  Here's an article with a lot of confusing medical words (I did not read the whole thing myself!) with lots more info on corticosteroids and muscle wasting:
> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2911625/


Lol that article is completely beyond me! It seems to be more focussed on why steroids cause muscle wasting than actually treating or preventing it?


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## Ya noy

Those loops that go around your feet are what is commonly referred to as "clipless pedals".   

If you've ever watched competitive cycling, those cyclists are not using pedals.  The more expensive bikes do not come equipped with any pedals.  Instead of pedals, they use "clips." Or "pedal clips".  

The bike pedal clips correspond with "cleats" attached to the bottom of specialized cycle shoes.  To "clip in" you stamp your foot down,  which secures the cleat on your shoe to the clip on the bike.  To "clip out" you have to twist your foot.  

You can not just lift your foot off the pedal once it is clipped on.  So if you don't twist your foot first, or don't do it properly, you will fall over.  Most people fall over a LOT while getting used to clips, I did! But they make a world of difference in your ride.  

With clips, you exert as much energy in your upstroke, as in the downstroke, because it adds all the strength and power provided by the muscles in the front of your upper leg, while also engaging the muscles in your abs, virtually doubling the overall effectiveness of your workout.  It also enables you to ride much faster, and climb steep hills without overly taxing the muscles on the back of your leg.  

By utilizing more large muscle groups, you can also ride longer distances, for longer periods of time without becoming exhausted. By clipping in with my road bike, I can ride 20 miles in an hour or less. On my old commuter/winter bike with standard pedals,  5 miles is a challenge.  

There are different types of clip pedals.  I use "frogs" .  This is what a frog clip pedal looks like:  http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.frogfaqs

There are some gyms that have stationary bike with clip pedals.  My old gym did, but my current gym doesn't.    


I belong to a women's only gym now.  The instructors are just members, who receive free membership in return for leading classes.  They're not professionals and most aren't that good, but there's notable exceptions.  When I belonged to a coed gym, I didn't feel comfortable without makeup and a coordinating outfit.  Now, I just throw on shorts and a T, and run out the door.  We all have our own comfort levels.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

UnXmas, I couldn't find any articles about preventing corticosteroid muscle wasting, other than things that generally said stuff like, "Keep working out while on corticosteroids to minimize the effect of muscle wasting."  Yeah, I couldn't really follow the article either, but it was definitely the most comprehensive one I could find about corticosteroids & muscle wasting!  

Ya noy, thanks for that info, I have never heard of this clipping-in thing before!  I like riding my bike but definitely not competitively or anything like that, just for fun and exercise.  Still, I live in a VERY bike-friendly city and I could probably find clip pedals and shoes at any number of shops here.  I'm intrigued, I'm going to look into clips and see if I can find some for a decent price.


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## Ya noy

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Ya noy, thanks for that info, I have never heard of this clipping-in thing before!  I like riding my bike but definitely not competitively or anything like that, just for fun and exercise.  Still, I live in a VERY bike-friendly city and I could probably find clip pedals and shoes at any number of shops here.  I'm intrigued, I'm going to look into clips and see if I can find some for a decent price.


We lived  in Wisconsin before moving to Chicagoland.  My best friend lives just outside Madison--Sun Prairie.  We visit all the time.  In fact, we usually ride our bikes there.  There are bike trails that go from our house here, clear up to Madison, across to Milwaukee and back to Chicago.  Very bike friendly city.  

Our favorite trail in Wisconsin is the Elroy-Sparta, which is one the oldest "rails to trails" bike trail in the country, and one of the most popular, with really cool, long spooky old train tunnels.  The longest tinnel is almost a mile, and you literally can't see the light at the end.   If you haven't ridden the trail there yet, it's well worth the trip.  

If you visit a Trek bike shop there in Madison, you'll see that the higher end bikes don't come with pedals. Clip pedals are transferred from onr bike to the next.   They're not cheap, but Madison also has lots of great rummage sales.:ysmile:

Even if you never ride competitively, clips are well worth it, enabling you to ride longer, further, and faster, with far more ease-- while also exercising more large muscle groups.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Madison certainly does have excellent garage sales!  I am thrifty almost to a fault and I go garage sale-ing almost every weekend in the summer.  That's a very good idea about keeping an eye open for clips at garage sales - I'll look on craigslist and at local thrift stores too.  There's a Trek shop close to my work so I'll have a meander around there sometime too.  I haven't been on that trail you mentioned - mostly I just ride around the city, as there are so many excellent bike paths here.  There's a bike path just up the block from my house that goes all the way downtown so I can ride to the farmer's market easily and avoid riding in traffic (and the Monona Terrace bike elevator is cool!   ).


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## Ya noy

Cyclists from all over the country visit Sparta-Elroy, just to ride that trail. It's 32 miles, and you do have to bing flashlights or headlights and walk your bike through the tunnels, which are pitch black. You can leave your vehicle at the cycling shops in Sparta, and they will drive you and bike to Elroy and drop you off at the beginning of the trail, so you can then ride the trail back to your car.  There are some pretty cool hotels, such as an old train caboose converted into a hotel room, and a free campground  (and you can pick up a map with the locations of all the many porti potties along the way). 

With a decent bike, it's an easy ride. I ride my road bike with clips on the trails,  but my husband uses "clips" on his mountain bike as well.  Once you get used to them, regular pedals become tedious.  We ride hundreds of miles, for days on end.  We do what cyclists call "credit card camping" meaning that at the end of the day, you find a hotel, and hand them your credit card. 

I bought my bike, shoes and clips all at different rummage sales. They still weren't cheap, but I got a very good deal.  I rummage sale almost every weekend in the summer too--often in the Madison area with my best friend who lives there.  We belong to a co-op in Madison, that we buy our stone ground flour and organic veggies from.  

Yes, the bike elevator there is pretty cool! Madison is one of the most bike friendly cities in the entire nation :ysmile:

edit: 

You'll never see higher end bikes or clips parked at any of the University campuses bike racks there though--too easy to steal.  I don't ever leave my road bike at a rack, or even in my garage, not even with a dozen locks.  Even if you have any components on your bike that say "Dura Ace" on them, they will be stolen.  For shopping and commuting, you're best off with a Schwinn from the 70s.  

Most cyclists use SPD clips, which are far cheaper (and less steal-able) than Frogs.  Frogs are mainly for mountain bikes anyway.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That's crazy, what a small world.  We've probably been to some of the same garage sales.    You come up from the Chicago (suburbs?) area a lot of weekends?  That's a long drive!  The hubby and I sometimes go down to the Schaumburg area to do some shopping - we take the back roads to avoid tolls and that probably takes us at least 2.5 hours each way (it seems to take only slightly less on the toll roads, like 2 hours 15 min).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Okay, so, my update today 2-16-13.  Today is a rest day although I wish it weren't.  Stress is piling up too high for a Saturday!  My hubby lost his phone and he has to work soon so I might have to go try to retrace his steps and look for the stupid thing.  Also my parents AND a friend both decided they're coming to town today and I have to try to juggle everyone or someone is going to get miffed at me.  It's also really cold here and I've been coughing all morning, so I'm trying to explain to the dog that maybe we'll go for a walk later.  Yuck, just a bunch of little stuff is piling up on me already and it's not even 10 AM yet.  So I kind of want to exercise just for some stress relief.  But I worked out hard the last 5 days in a row and I really need a rest day too.  Blah.  Wish I could actually rest on my rest day though!


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## Ya noy

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> That's crazy, what a small world.  We've probably been to some of the same garage sales.    You come up from the Chicago (suburbs?) area a lot of weekends?  That's a long drive!  The hubby and I sometimes go down to the Schaumburg area to do some shopping - we take the back roads to avoid tolls and that probably takes us at least 2.5 hours each way (it seems to take only slightly less on the toll roads, like 2 hours 15 min).


My friend's daughter bought a hotel last year, so our visits are half to visit my friend, and the other half to do bookwork for the hotel, and we get a nice hotel suite in return.  

In the summer, we ride our bikes to Madison!  You take the Prairie Path to Elgin, and then hop onto the Fox River Trail that takes you clear up to Wisconsin, followed by the Badger State Trail and Glacial Drumline.  Most of the dedicated bike paths along the way are even paved, and the scenery's amazing!  

We often don't have time for the ride home. So instead, we take the Van Gelder bus line, which is only $14 and for an additional $10, transport our bikes in the underneath storage compartment.  Works out cheaper than the cost of gas and tolls that way.   

If you run across us at rummage sales, you'll recognize me because I'll be the one walking around, while firmly holding onto my bike!  When out and about, it never leaves my hands, too steal-able.  I even walk it inside Starbucks, and rather than complaining, the employees will come around the counter to check it out.  It's so thin and light weight, it looks like a toy, but when riding long distance, every ounce matters.  

Shopping in Schaumburg is great, and Gurney Mills is even better.  Oh, and the outlet mall at Gurney Mills is 2 miles long, so with return trek back, you get the exercise benefit of a 4 mile walk. :ysmile:


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## AlliRuns

I have a bum hip too, it's been bothering me this winter for some unknown reason. Anyhow, I find the spin bikes at the gym really bother it, (they bother my knees too), but if I spin on my own bike on my trainer that has been fitted to me and has proper crank length for me, it doesn't hurt at all.


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## Beach

On Monday i think I'll join the new YMCA and get back into exercising at a gym.  A new and very nice one opened about a mile from my place last year.  Been joking for awhile that I should join the Y since they reportedly have an excellent sauna room.  Sounds a bit odd to say that being a guy.  Should be nice and warm though, which is a welcome thought about right now.      

I've been going to gyms off and on for the past few years.  Working out during that time was never easy.  I was also tired going in to lift due to the MC and even more tired leaving.  During that time I would work out with an exercise trainer.  I needed the motivation counseling.  I probably could have saved some money buying a tape recorder, with a recording of "Come on!  You can do it!  One more lift to feel the burnnnn."  Can't complain about the results though.  The hired trainers were money well spent I believe.   I've gotten myself into good shape, more so than i thought possible.  

Here of late I've been feeling half way decent to the gut.  Seems what ever I'm doing I'm doing right.  With that I should be able to workout well on my own.  It is kind of an odd feeling I'm going through at the moment.  At times, with the better behaving gut, I'm bouncing off the walls with energy - for me at least.  Other times I'm back to the fatigued feeling.  The good energy though, if it stays around, which i hope it does, should lead possibly to more time exercising.  I was thinking I might have to expand outside of just lifting, and possibly into rock climbing as they have a wall there, or possibly swimming.  We'll see, time will tell!  Should be fun.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Quick update 2-18-13:  I lifted weights yesterday and felt good.  I find that if I take a Zantac and about 8 Tums before lifting, the reflux stays fairly quiet (I don't get close to the point of vomiting anyway).  Then I had a massage yesterday evening.  I don't get them very often because I can't afford them regularly, but I really enjoy them when I do get to have one.  We have a friend who is a massage therapist and he makes house calls and gives us a good rate, so I didn't even have to leave home.  Sometimes though I feel awful the day(s) after a massage, I get such soreness.  My last massage was like that, my neck is "a mess" according to my massage therapist and he worked on it a lot last time.  As a result I could not move it much for days afterwards, it was too stiff & sore!  This time though I feel really good, no soreness at all.  (My neck was still proclaimed to be a mess, though.)  I really wasn't sure how today would go, especially given how bad I felt after my last massage, but I'm feeling great so I plan on riding the exercise bike at home tonight.  Lifting in the big gym again tomorrow, bike Wednesday, lifting in the little gym Thurs, rest day Friday.  That's my plan for the week!  Hopefully all will go as planned!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Beach, you can totally do it!  I hope that good energy sticks around.  I find that no matter how I feel, if I push myself to work out, I usually end up feeling energized by the end of my workout.  Maybe it's just the happy endorphins or whatever (I do get physically fatigued when I'm feeling depressed) but it is working for me.  Please keep me posted on how you're doing, and I hope you stick with it!  

AlliRuns, I saw your other thread about how you've just started running again - good for you!  Can I ask, how is your bad hip doing after your run?  I find that running is the one thing I just can't do - even if I push through the pain, I end up being in bad pain for days afterwards.  So I hope you're not in pain like that!  Well done with the run and I hope you continue feeling well enough to keep running!

Ya noy, wow, you are a hardcore cyclist!  I get exhausted just riding a few miles around the city, even with the best bike in the world I couldn't imagine riding from the Chicago area to here!  That must take ages!  Speaking of ages, it's been forever since I've been to that outlet mall in Gurnee Mills.  We prefer Schaumburg because the mall there is HUGE plus there's that cool Legoland and Ikea, and also this Japanese grocery store that the hubby and I really like (Mitsuwa).  I don't think I'll be riding my bike there anytime soon though!  

Another quickie update:  It's supposed to rain/snow here later today.  I woke up with my hip feeling fine, but it started aching a little while ago so I know the bad weather is on its way.  I'm still planning on riding the bike tonight though.  It seems like the worse the weather is, the worse my hip is, so I'm hoping for not too much precipitation.  Things are tolerable right now, just a bit achey.


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## Beach

Thanks Cat!  Hope your workouts continue to go well.  I'm getting off to a bad start with joining the Y this week!  I was reminded that there is a decent chance I'll be leaving town for a few months in the near future.  So the Y can wait till spring, but have been lightly exercising with workouts in the home gym of late, along with hitting tennis balls.  I miss the gym.  It's not the same as working out with others.  It is to easy to get distracted.


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## AlliRuns

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Beach, you can totally do it!  I hope that good energy sticks around.  I find that no matter how I feel, if I push myself to work out, I usually end up feeling energized by the end of my workout.  Maybe it's just the happy endorphins or whatever (I do get physically fatigued when I'm feeling depressed) but it is working for me.  Please keep me posted on how you're doing, and I hope you stick with it!
> 
> AlliRuns, I saw your other thread about how you've just started running again - good for you!  Can I ask, how is your bad hip doing after your run?  I find that running is the one thing I just can't do - even if I push through the pain, I end up being in bad pain for days afterwards.  So I hope you're not in pain like that!  Well done with the run and I hope you continue feeling well enough to keep running!
> 
> Ya noy, wow, you are a hardcore cyclist!  I get exhausted just riding a few miles around the city, even with the best bike in the world I couldn't imagine riding from the Chicago area to here!  That must take ages!  Speaking of ages, it's been forever since I've been to that outlet mall in Gurnee Mills.  We prefer Schaumburg because the mall there is HUGE plus there's that cool Legoland and Ikea, and also this Japanese grocery store that the hubby and I really like (Mitsuwa).  I don't think I'll be riding my bike there anytime soon though!
> 
> Another quickie update:  It's supposed to rain/snow here later today.  I woke up with my hip feeling fine, but it started aching a little while ago so I know the bad weather is on its way.  I'm still planning on riding the bike tonight though.  It seems like the worse the weather is, the worse my hip is, so I'm hoping for not too much precipitation.  Things are tolerable right now, just a bit achey.


Cat,

My hip bothered me on the run because it was cold, but running didn't seem to make it worse than normal. I find movements that are unnatural, I,e, riding an improperly fit bike, to be worse


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Beach, I'm not sure how the Y works - if you joined your local one, would you still be able to go to a Y in the city you might be living in for a few months (assuming there is one there too)?  I belong to Planet Fitness and they have 2 types of membership.  I have the $10/month membership which means I can only go to my local PF.  If I paid $20 per month then I could go to any PF location.  I'm poor and don't plan on travelling much so the $10 membership is just fine with me, but if I did have to travel for work or whatever then I would probably upgrade my membership.  Anyway, just a thought.  Whatever ends up happening with your situation, I hope that you can find ways to work out!

Alli, my hip is bothered by cold too, but it is also bothered by walking & jogging (jogging much moreso than walking).  When I have to walk my dog in cold weather, that just does me in.  When I first started having hip pains, before it was diagnosed as arthritis, it was so bad at times that I would limp and I was starting to think about needing a cane.  Then I got it diagnosed and went through physical therapy and it's much better than it was, but cold & bad weather and walking/jogging are still triggers for my hip pain.  Anyway, I'm glad to hear that running didn't make your hip any worse!  And hopefully springtime will be here soon and we can get away from this cold yucky weather.

Speaking of my hip, the rain is here now and I am quite achey.  Not fun!  I'm still going to try the bike tonight, I have to at least try.  If it's bad though I won't push it and will maybe try some yoga instead.  I don't want to have to do that, when I can't do something I feel like such a failure, I hate when my health holds me back.  So I'm going to give it my best shot on the bike.  Wish me luck!


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## Beach

Cat -that's a good question, and don't know.  What crossed my mind is possibly signing up at the local Y now and then placing my membership on hold, if i should leave.  I know of others that have done this.  Then again I was thinking I'll just keep it simple, wait till I return to town and join then.  Decisions, decision!  I'll get something worked out, as it is nice to sometimes find myself of late with more energy than I know what to do with.  This doesn't happen much!  My IBD has made me a good planner over the years, having a good idea of how much energy I have to spend for what can be accomplish for the day.  

Hope the bike ride goes well!  I'm in another Big 10 (14) city down south of you, in Champaign at the moment.  It's windy and cold here.  My evening walk will not be happening.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Beach, are you in remission?  It wasn't until I got fully into remission that I started having enough energy to work out regularly.  Up until that point, I was similar to how you described - I would sometimes have a really good day where I had a decent amount of energy, but I could never count on it reliably happening.  I've been in remission for close to 2 years now and I've been working out regularly for close to 2 years as well.  I still have bad days, but remission seems to mean that I can push through on bad days and still get in a decent workout and feel okay afterwards.  If I weren't in remission, though, I doubt I'd be able to work out as often as I do now.  A bad day in remission is still better than a good day when not in remission, it seems, at least for me it is.


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## Beach

Cat - Oh, my health situation improved greatly when I began avoiding grains.  It's all relative, but my energy levels increased, and the gut felt better when i did that.  I could be ill, but the grain free diet was a nice energy boost from what I had been experiencing before.  

It wasn't long after beginning the diet that I signed up with a personal trainer.  I was always tired when I worked out.  Overall, I'm greatly surprised at what i was able to accomplish at the gym the past few years.  I didn't expect this.  My gym goals were modest, gain 10lbs of muscle and be a happy camper.  My trainer would jokingly disagree, and would point to some large muscled professional black weight lifters saying he was going to make me look like that!  Well, I'm not nearly as big as those guys, but he pushed me enough that I'm close to 50lbs heavier.  We never did workout in the sun, so didn't develop the dark tan either.   

Since the middle of January I've been heading toward remission.  Like you, I'm not well all the time, but being well and decently energetic frequently happens now.  It has me thinking more about future projects, which is nice.  Overall, I suspect I have a good long ways to go with my recovery.

What helped you with going into remission?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

As for remission, I'm kind of an anomaly I think.    I'm still technically undiagnosed (I seem to have some form of IBD, likely either Crohn's or MC, but officially undiagnosed).  I went through test after test with no result, but I tried pred at one point and it worked wonderfully for me.  So at one point my GI could see that all the tests were wearing on me (and on my checkbook) so we decided to change course.  No more tests, we were going to try to get me into remission instead as he felt I probably do have IBD and was comfortable treating me with one of the milder treatments.  He put me on a long run of Entocort (it ended up being about 7 months total) and that got me into remission.  Now I'm just on Asacol for maintenance of remission.  

So, I'm officially in remission but also undiagnosed.  I know I'm very lucky because most of the people in the Undiagnosed Club are really struggling and are not anywhere close to remission.  But yeah, it was really just steroids that got me here, and I'm keeping myself in remission with mainly meds & exercise.  I also try to make sure I get enough sleep, keep my stress levels as low as I reasonably can, take psyllium and other supplements daily, etc.  I haven't really tried any special diets except for BRAT, low-res, and the "if it hurts, don't eat it" diet.  

Like you said, it's a long journey to remission.  I feel like it's not a black & white thing, but a lot of gradients.  I'm in a good, stable remission now.  When I was on Entocort, I was averaging 1 or 2 bad days per week.  Now I only usually have bad days if I eat something I shouldn't or don't get enough sleep, etc.  I guess technically I probably was in remission when I was on Entocort, but I didn't feel like it.  I feel good nowadays.  I know I'll never be 100% like how I was before I became ill, but I'm pretty close to 99% on a really good day and I'm definitely happy with that!


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## AlliRuns

I'm a big fan of the "if it hurts, don't eat it" diet


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## Ya noy

Cat, it's not that bad.  If we leave in the morning, we're usually in Sun Prairie by early evening, sooner if we hook up with a cycling club or team along the way.  Riding in team formation, increases the sustainable speed of the entire team by a good 5 mph+, by benefiting from the reduced wind reduction of all the riders in front of you, which is also why cyclists ride so close together.  Positions are rotated frequently so everyone receives equal benefit.  

We frequently meet retirees, cycling their way across the country, usually on recumbents.  Recumbents are designed more efficiently, enabling the rider to sit back, relax, and leisurely pedal at speeds of 30mph+.  The number of retirees who cycle coast-to-coast might surprise you.  

Mitsuwa?  Isn't that in Arlington Heights?  We've shopped there, but there's also an Oriental Supermarket in Schaumburg, right on Golf Road, past the Best Buy, in the plaza with the "Babies R Us".  That's where all the Asians shop.  It's cheaper, and, well, not pretty, but very authentic, if you know what I mean.  Yeah, we love the Ikea, it's even fun just to walk around and look at all the different vignettes.


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## Beach

Ya noy said:


> Cat, it's not that bad.  If we leave in the morning, we're usually in Sun Prairie by early evening, sooner if we hook up with a cycling club or team along the way.  Riding in team formation, increases the sustainable speed of the entire team by a good 5 mph+, by benefiting from the reduced wind reduction of all the riders in front of you, which is also why cyclists ride so close together.  Positions are rotated frequently so everyone receives equal benefit.
> 
> We frequently meet retirees, cycling their way across the country, usually on recumbents.  Recumbents are designed more efficiently, enabling the rider to sit back, relax, and leisurely pedal at speeds of 30mph+.  The number of retirees who cycle coast-to-coast might surprise you.
> 
> Mitsuwa?  Isn't that in Arlington Heights?  We've shopped there, but there's also an Oriental Supermarket in Schaumburg, right on Golf Road, past the Best Buy, in the plaza with the "Babies R Us".  That's where all the Asians shop.  It's cheaper, and, well, not pretty, but very authentic, if you know what I mean.  Yeah, we love the Ikea, it's even fun just to walk around and look at all the different vignettes.


I used to work with a Chinese fellow that lives on the mainland.  Over the years we've kept in touch through e-mail.  It would make me chuckle a bit in that my friend really seemed to enjoy shopping at Ikea!  I figured he probably was making a point to me of shopping there due to being a western based company.  But I have the opinion from what the friend mentions that Ikea is popular in China, good pricing, nice designs, etc.   

My brother in law goes on similar long bicycle rides.  He probably doesn't ride in the Chicago area often.  He lives in St. Louis, but know he has been known to travel with friends around the mid-west from time to time to participate in different events.  

Last year I was invited by another relative to go on a shorter bike ride with him.  It would be along a scenic route, with a total length of around 20 miles for the round trip.  Sounded exciting!  I even bought a nice comfortable big cushy seated bike with the idea that I'd make the trip at one point.  Never felt comfortable health wise to make the trip though.  it's one thing to push through pain and fatigue, but the grumpy gut has its limits.  Prolonged exercise can be ruff on my gut.  Anyway, with the way things are going of late, with improved health, the new bike might be dusted off and used for the scenic trip this year.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2-19-13:  I rode the stationary bike in my house for about 35 or 40 mins yesterday, slightly longer than I usually do.  I managed to do a fairly strenuous hill program and did over 7 miles, which might be a new record for me.    And I felt good!  Usually cardio just kills me, I huff and I puff and I feel like death but I push myself through it.  I didn't have to push myself like that yesterday - I still sweated like crazy, and huffed and puffed, but it somehow seemed easier than usual.  Am I finally getting used to doing cardio??  Is it finally becoming really enjoyable the way that weight lifting is?  Yeah, I hope so!!  

Weights tonight at the big gym.  Oddly it's snowing but my hip is quiet for once!  How weird is that!

Ya noy, yes, I believe Mitsuwa is in Arlington Heights, but it's just a couple miles from Ikea.  I really like Mitsuwa for the food (the restaurants are so yummy!) and the bento boxes.  I try to pack a lunch instead of going out to eat, it's healthier and safer, so I try to make lunchtime fun and cute.    Bento boxes are totally cute and fun so I buy at least one new one every time I go to Mitsuwa.

Beach, I'd be leary of a 20 mile bike ride with iffy guts too.  I'm similar, it took me 3 years to become brave enough & healthy enough to go kayaking again - there is nowhere good to "go" when you're in a kayak!  We tend to be urban kayakers too as there are a number of good streams right in the city so it's not like you can hop out and go in the woods (although at certain points one one creek I could hop out and use McDonald's bathroom - and there is another creek that goes close enough to my house that we have literally hopped out and ran home to use the bathroom!).  Add to that the fact that heat & humidity tend to cramp up my guts, and yeah, kayaking can be a bit dangerous.  But we took our 2-person kayak out at least 3 times last summer and I had no issues whatsoever.  So yeah, it's one part bravery and one part being healthy enough, I think.  You have to be well enough to do something like that but you also have to get over the mental stuff and know that you'll probably be okay and won't have an accident.

How funny that everybody likes Ikea!    That's interesting that it's popular in China too - you would think that China has so much cheap stuff manufactured there that Ikea couldn't compete, but apparently they can.


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## CrohnsChicago

:applause:I just wanted to be your cheerleader for a moment. I'm glad to see you are following through and seeing positive results :congratualtions:

And thank you for deciding to share this on the forum. It's one of those things that has the potential to inspire others to get out there and not let IBD keep them away from physical activity. I know your thread has sort of pushed the idea of fitness back into the forefront of my mind after feeling defeated getting in the best shape I had been in for a long while and then having my first flares and diagnosis take it all away.

Baby steps....stretching, weights and elliptical to rebuild endurance and strength.

Anyways...Congrats!!! 

:sheep::hang:


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Chicago!  I'll be your cheerleader too!    You can do it!  Your preferred exercises sound similar to mine, I love weights and the elliptical.  I need to do more yoga/stretching.  Like you said, baby steps!  I can really relate to what you said too, I was in pretty good shape up until I became ill, then I lost my health completely when IBD came to stay.  Now, every time I set foot in the gym, it's me fighting to get back what I lost and to be better than ever.  It's been an uphill battle to be sure but I'm not giving up.

I don't think I've ever noticed that thing at the bottom of your signature before - well done for quitting smoking!    I'm sure your health is thanking you for that!  Do you feel better now that you've quit for awhile?


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## CrohnsChicago

Oh absolutely! Breathing has definitely become a more comfortable thing to do as well as running around (less shortness of breath). I just don't feel as yucky anymore on the inside. And I'm sure it will make working out for longer periods a lot easier than before.

But I don't want to steal the thunder of your thread....when I have time I'll have to remember to send you some links to at home stretches and weights/body resistance exercises I found on Pinterest. Keep up the good work! 



Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I don't think I've ever noticed that thing at the bottom of your signature before - well done for quitting smoking!    I'm sure your health is thanking you for that!  Do you feel better now that you've quit for awhile?


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## Beach

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Update 2-19-13:
> 
> Beach, I'd be leary of a 20 mile bike ride with iffy guts too.  I'm similar, it took me 3 years to become brave enough & healthy enough to go kayaking again - there is nowhere good to "go" when you're in a kayak!  We tend to be urban kayakers too as there are a number of good streams right in the city so it's not like you can hop out and go in the woods (although at certain points one one creek I could hop out and use McDonald's bathroom - and there is another creek that goes close enough to my house that we have literally hopped out and ran home to use the bathroom!).  Add to that the fact that heat & humidity tend to cramp up my guts, and yeah, kayaking can be a bit dangerous.  But we took our 2-person kayak out at least 3 times last summer and I had no issues whatsoever.  So yeah, it's one part bravery and one part being healthy enough, I think.  You have to be well enough to do something like that but you also have to get over the mental stuff and know that you'll probably be okay and won't have an accident.
> 
> How funny that everybody likes Ikea!    That's interesting that it's popular in China too - you would think that China has so much cheap stuff manufactured there that Ikea couldn't compete, but apparently they can.


That is something I've learned about the Chinese, they really are brand quality conscious, or at least the younger generation is.  They tend to enjoy goods from Germany, Sweden, Japan and Italy.  Well, Japanese goods might not be so popular right now in China with the dispute going on between the two countries.  I've been told by a few Chinese politely that American made items tend to be thought of as only being so/so in quality.  Ironically, and somewhat humorously as some of us here in the US will say Chinese made goods can be poorly made, in China from what I gather they tend to think the same of us.   

Never been kayaking myself.  Like so many things I suppose this dreadful disease has kept me from trying it.  No complaints.  Imagine that will change in the future.  My mom kayaks often.  It's kind of neat what her and her friends do.  The folks live along a lake.  It is one of those subdivision water retention lakes that is decent sized but not huge.  What her and her friends do for exercise is kayak from one end and back a few go arounds.  Additionally, a few times a year I've been told they hold a lake kayak party.  Many of the neighbors living along the retention pond will meet up in the middle, have snacks and chat.  I've not seen it myself, but can imagine it being a sight to see.  

Well, I'm pretty fatigued and worn down this afternoon!  Had a very nice workout this morning.  Tuesdays is typically when I workout on my upper body with weights.  I must have worked out harder than normal as I'm already feeling beat up.  A good rest tonight should help.  Maybe I'll slip a nap in at some point too.  Despite my tired complaints, more importantly the stomach keeps hanging in there, doing very well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Chicago, no worries about stealing thunder, post all the links you like!

Beach, kayaking is fun!  We have a 2-person kayak (so if I get tired, the hubby can paddle us for awhile or vice versa).  We bring our dog in the kayak with us and we usually pack a picnic lunch too.  It's great fun!  Maybe you could try your mother's kayak out sometime and see if you enjoy it?  I'm glad to hear you got in a good workout today and glad to hear your stomach is doing well too.  

Speaking of stomachs, mine is a mess.  I don't know what I did - yesterday I felt mildly nauseous and just a bit "off" after eating lunch.  It was just lunch though, I felt fine after dinner and I felt fine after my oatmeal this morning.  But again at lunch today, immediately afterwards I felt super nauseous.  It's been a few hours since lunch and I still don't feel right.  I took a Zofran and that helped somewhat but something still definitely is not right in tummyland.  It doesn't feel like a flare - my guts themselves are fine, I'm having solid stools and no other symptoms, just nausea and a general "not quite right" feeling.  Since it's worse today than it was yesterday, I'm going to give my body a break and will skip the gym tonight.  I *hate* taking unscheduled rest days, but I also know when my body needs rest more than it needs exercise, so I'm going to rest with my heating pad instead of working out.  Hopefully this is just a fluke or something I ate or whatever and it passes soon.  Nausea is my #2 least favorite symptom (vomiting is #1, so far I haven't but I got close immediately after lunch).  Yuck and blah, I hate skipping the gym.  Kind of feel like a failure right now, but hopefully tomorrow I'll be back to working out.  I won't let setbacks derail me completely.


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## Beach

Oh no!  Sorry to hear about the ruff day with the stomach, nausea, and just feeling awful overall.  To borrow a word from my Chinese friend, I hope your "defective" gut feels better soon.  Sometimes he has been known to ask about my stomach, referring to it as being defective.  I think something has been lost in translation.  

Well, I have thought to taking the kayak out for a spin.  In theory it sounds good.  I think though I'd be asking for trouble if I tried at this point.  Being low in the boat, and with the paddling motion using some stomach muscle, I know from experience with stomach exercise machines, I'll be wanting a bathroom quick.  Oh, then likely my poor mom would be hearing story after story from her friends about what they saw her son do in the lake.  No reason to do that to her!  

With the way things are going, I imagine in the future I'll be giving kayaking a try.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Beach.  I like that, I think my gut is defective.    I didn't save the receipt and the warranty is up so I'm stuck with this defective digestive system!    Ha ha.  I'm feeling slightly better but still nauseous and not right.  So I'm just going to rest tonight and hopefully I'll be well enough to hit the gym tomorrow.  I'm hoping it's just something I ate - I had Subway for lunch yesterday and that was when I first started feeling yucky, so I'm thinking maybe that's what's causing me trouble.

And hey, as far as kayaking goes, if your mother's neighbors all come to her saying "guess what we saw Beach do in the lake", you can reply that at least you didn't do it in her kayak!    Ha ha!

(I can tell this nausea thing definitely isn't a flare, because I tend to lose my sense of humor when I flare.)


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## AlliRuns

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Update 2-19-13:  I rode the stationary bike in my house for about 35 or 40 mins yesterday, slightly longer than I usually do.  I managed to do a fairly strenuous hill program and did over 7 miles, which might be a new record for me.    And I felt good!  Usually cardio just kills me, I huff and I puff and I feel like death but I push myself through it.  I didn't have to push myself like that yesterday - I still sweated like crazy, and huffed and puffed, but it somehow seemed easier than usual.  Am I finally getting used to doing cardio??  Is it finally becoming really enjoyable the way that weight lifting is?  Yeah, I hope so!!
> 
> Weights tonight at the big gym.  Oddly it's snowing but my hip is quiet for once!  How weird is that!
> 
> Ya noy, yes, I believe Mitsuwa is in Arlington Heights, but it's just a couple miles from Ikea.  I really like Mitsuwa for the food (the restaurants are so yummy!) and the bento boxes.  I try to pack a lunch instead of going out to eat, it's healthier and safer, so I try to make lunchtime fun and cute.    Bento boxes are totally cute and fun so I buy at least one new one every time I go to Mitsuwa.
> 
> Beach, I'd be leary of a 20 mile bike ride with iffy guts too.  I'm similar, it took me 3 years to become brave enough & healthy enough to go kayaking again - there is nowhere good to "go" when you're in a kayak!  We tend to be urban kayakers too as there are a number of good streams right in the city so it's not like you can hop out and go in the woods (although at certain points one one creek I could hop out and use McDonald's bathroom - and there is another creek that goes close enough to my house that we have literally hopped out and ran home to use the bathroom!).  Add to that the fact that heat & humidity tend to cramp up my guts, and yeah, kayaking can be a bit dangerous.  But we took our 2-person kayak out at least 3 times last summer and I had no issues whatsoever.  So yeah, it's one part bravery and one part being healthy enough, I think.  You have to be well enough to do something like that but you also have to get over the mental stuff and know that you'll probably be okay and won't have an accident.
> 
> How funny that everybody likes Ikea!    That's interesting that it's popular in China too - you would think that China has so much cheap stuff manufactured there that Ikea couldn't compete, but apparently they can.


I always found cycling to be tummy friendly, have done 100 miles/160km without incident. The few times I have had problems though, would be while wearing bibs and no bathroom in sight. :eek2: I now have a pair of bibs that clip off.. Genius!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2-20-13.  Ugh, still very nauseous!  I had ice cream for dinner last night and that went okay.  I felt hungry this morning but didn't trust it.  I slowly slipped a Slim Fast for breakfast and then I had to take 2 Zofrans because the nausea was unbelievable.  I don't think I'm going to make it to the gym tonight either and that's so freaking frustrating.  I barely made it to work but am thinking about going home sick.  I hate nausea so much.


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## Ya noy

cat,

We love bento boxes too. Asian Supermarket also has a restaurant and I believe they do offer the bento boxes as well, but they often have gigantic California rolls for only $2.99-3.99, along with these little egg, green onion and crabmeat patties, that are to die for--and cheap too!  

The problem with the restaurant at the Asian supermarket is that the menu isn't in English, and most of the employees don't speak English either.  Half the seafood there I can't even identify.  Makes shopping there somewhat challenging.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ya noy, any idea what language the menu is in at Asian supermarket?  I'd really love to learn Japanese or Korean someday...  I know a very few basic words in both languages.  Kanji (written Japanese) is difficult though!  I look at written Korean (hangul) and it looks easier to decipher, but in terms of speaking, Korean seems more difficult.  I was googling Korean words and came across a comment that said "Korean is the French of Asian languages" and that seems about right to me!  Japanese pronunciation seems much easier than Korean, but written Korean seems easier than written Japanese.

Anyway, getting back on track.  Update 2-21-13.  I'm feeling so much better today!  I was really nauseous all morning yesterday, I felt just awful.  Couldn't even handle a liquid breakfast.  By lunchtime though I was less nauseous and was starving, so I had some plain noodles and that went down very well.  I'm sticking with low-res for now just in case but I feel mostly fine and can eat again.  So, I'm planning on hitting the gym today!  I'm just going to do the little gym, to ease back into things.  There's only 8 weight machines in the little gym and I may skip the abdominals machine depending on how I feel.  But I'm definitely getting back in the saddle after 2 rest days.  Wish me luck!


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## CrohnsChicago

As promised, here are a few exercises I found. I'll just start with a few. If you are looking for something more specific, let me know and I may have some lying around to share 

I think this is good for those days where you want to do some toning, but don't have crazy energy to move about:
http://www.prevention.com/fitness/strength-training/no-squats-belly-butt-thighs-workout?page=2

Some easy before bed stretches since I remember you saying you need to stretch more:
http://www.fitsugar.com/Stretches-Do-Bed-3773451

There are a lot of quick interval exercises popping up online too that seem really good at giving you an energy boost:


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## Ya noy

cat,

I'm not really sure what language it is, and I should! After all, my sister-in-law is Korean, she was born there, and speaks, I believe, around 7 different languages.  Her and my brother live in Manhattan, but she's a buyer, and spends more of her time flying to various Asian countries to shop for materials, than she spends at home.   

I really want to learn Korean.  She speaks English fine, but her parents and other family members don't, which makes communication difficult--especially when she's traveling and we end up entertaining them. 

We don't do much shopping at big chain supermarkets, and buy instead from local farmers, as well as other ethnic marts -- Spanish, Polish, Indian, etc., where the employees rarely speak any English.  Better prices and more interesting food choices.  Most of neighbors even speak more than one language, and I really should to broaden my language skills.  

I'll take a better look at the menu next time we shop there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Chicago!  This is kind of silly/shameful, but the only yoga/stretching moves I really know are the moves that are on the Wii Fit game.    Since you mentioned you could post more specific ones, do you know any good hip stretches?  My hip responds well when I stretch it but I only know the one hip stretch that's in Wii Fit (it's called the Spinal Twist I think).

Ya noy, I had started a thead about Japanese and Korean pop awhile back in Members Only, you might be interested to read through it.  Here's the link:
http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=45282
I find that the more I listen to Japanese & Korean music, the more it starts to make sense.  I can pick out words that I know and the context starts to fall into place a little bit.  So if you're interested in learning Korean, maybe you should check out some Big Bang or 2NE1 songs, or watch some of the (free!) Korean dramas on Hulu (you don't need Hulu Plus, you can watch them on the free version of Hulu - and yes, Hulu has subtitles, I think you just need to select it in the options).

Another quick update:  I took a risk and had some oatmeal.  I can tell the fiber is not sitting perfectly well, my stomach feels a little bit irritated, but on the whole it is sitting well and I don't feel any nausea.  Going to the gym in about an hour.  I really like the little gym as I'm usually the only one there.  I'm going to crank up some Big Bang (yeah Korean pop!) and lift some weights.    I find that music really helps me get through my workouts.  If I have bad or no music, it gets tedious really quickly.  If I have good music that I like and that has a good beat, it makes such a difference and I feel great and energized all the way through!  Big Bang is my favorite right now so they will be powering me through today.


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## Ya noy

Cat,  I already read your thread on k pop and j pop a while back,   and was thinking about responding, but to be honest, I don't actually follow the music, but rather, I like learning the routines of various Korean dance teams, such as Waveya -- link to their "Gangnam Style" dance routine.  
http://www.videoks.info/8efd5372f.html

And of course, Black Queen:    http://www.videoks.info/f51ef96a8.html

I like to dance, what can I say?  

I have been watching Korean TV on Hulu.  There's some pretty good Korean shows.   I can even pull up the free version of Hulu on my ipad, even though it's normally not available for tablets.  I use an alternate browser which apparently Hulu doesn't recognize for tablet use.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

What Korean shows have you watched?  I'm a bit obsessed with Big Bang and several members of that group have acted in various things, so I mostly watch shows that they've been in.    I watched Iris, which is kind of like 24 - it's a spy drama.  It was pretty good although I hated the ending.  I also watched What's Up? which is a drama about university students studying musicals & acting.  Kind of like Korean Glee but not as much singing as Glee.  I also liked that one a lot but again hated how it ended!  It seems to me that these shows expect to get another season and then don't, so they end on cliffhangers or leave a lot of loose ends unexplained.  That's my main gripe about the K-dramas I've watched so far anyway.  If you've watched any K-dramas that had a good ending that tied up loose ends and didn't leave you guessing as to what happened, let me know!

Another quick update:  I hit the gym and felt pretty good!  I had one minor dizzy spell, and by the end of my workout my legs were shaking from weakness, and afterwards I had a little bit of a crampy gut, but otherwise I felt fine.  I'm thinking a nice long hill program on the stationary bike is happening tomorrow.  And I'm thinking I have an appointment with my heating pad tonight as my hip is aching yet again - it is going to snow tonight and my hip would really like to let me know all about that.


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## Ya noy

Oh I've been watching one called "Faith", which can't seem to decide what it wants to be, kind of an epic, historic, romance, time travel, fantasy, sci fi, and whatever else they can think of to throw on in there.  

I've watched Iris, but it's no where near as much fun as the Korean shows that are so implausible, suspension of disbelief isn't even a possibility.  The lack of final resolution to the series kind of drives me crazy too.  Oh, I've also been watching a korean show called "Ghost", which is kind of a supernatural crime drama and is also pretty good.  

I like British shows too. If you haven't watched "The Misfits" yet, you really should.  completely bizarre.  There's also a British miniseries called "Sherlock" which is incredibly good, but don't think it's on Hulu  yet.  Lady night, I just finished watching the last episode of a miniseries called "Utopia", which was also kind of a mystery, scifi, action adventure, which literally gave me nightmares with the ways they went killing people, ever so casually.   Also not on Hulu, but I can get British TV through certain apps, that kind of trick the websites into thinking My iPad is located in the UK. 

Korean TV dramas have become very popular on Hulu.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, I love Brit-coms!  The IT Crowd is probably my favorite.  I also really like Coupling, Black Books, Little Britain, Peep Show, That Mitchell & Webb Look.  I've been re-watching the earlier seasons of Red Dwarf lately too, what a classic that show is!  The hubby got me into watching Doctor Who more recently too (I started with the Eccleston Doctor, didn't go all the way back to the very beginning).  Most if not all of those are on Netflix streaming, I'm not sure about Hulu though.  We don't have cable and watch TV primarily on Netflix & Hulu as it's much cheaper that way.

I really really liked Iris, up until the final scene (spoilers for anyone else reading) when the main character died and they didn't show who shot him!  I guess they're filming a new season of Iris and it's coming out soon, but hardly any of the original cast will be in it since season 1 was from 2009 (plus they killed off most of the original cast in season 1!).  So I don't know if they'll explain who killed him or not.  I originally watched Iris because TOP from Big Bang was in it, but he was such a minor character.  I still liked it in spite of TOP barely being in it, though.  Although I didn't like how they killed off his character, either.  He barely even put up a fight and just let the hero beat him to a pulp.  Weak.


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## Ya noy

We have cable, but rarely use it. almost all the shows we watch, we can pull up on the Internet, so we'll probably drop it soon too. 

Really liked Dr. Who with the Eccleston Dr., but after that, the show suffered from some pretty poor writing -- until Steve Moffat took over the series with the current doctor.  I could drive an entire fleet of semis through some of the plot holes, but the story lines have really improved again. Red Dwarf is old, but still some of the best sci fi ever written.  

Isn't the Big Bang song "Hallelujah" from the Iris show?  I only watched a couple of episodes before running across the "Faith" series. I like all the historical costumes and settings, and the way the show shifts back and forth between the past and present.


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## CrohnsChicago

I LOVE hip stretches. They feel SO good!

This one I do a lot and is my absolute favorite. It really digs deep in there I know its looks rather complex but it really is an easy position to get into. You can deepen the stretch by leaning down into it as far as you can comfortably go:






This is my second favorite (only because I have poor balance most of the time ). The deeper you squat, the deeper the stretch. You could use a chair too for balance but I usually try to just see how long I can stand on one leg w/o tumbling over lol:






This one is another favorite of mine getting the hips and the sides. I like to hold onto a wall and stretch my other arm over my head when i do this one to deepen the stretch:


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## CrohnsChicago

Brit Comedy is great to me. I also like Coupling and Little Britain. During the last few weeks while I was sick and flaring, I caught up on the series Being Human (a drama/comedy) which turned out to be really good. I'll have to look into the shows you mentioned as well.

But of course, I also like the drama and am a huge Downton Abbey fan! 

I'm more of a TV Show person than a movie person so Hulu is a blessing for me 



Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Yes, I love Brit-coms!  The IT Crowd is probably my favorite.  I also really like Coupling, Black Books, Little Britain, Peep Show, That Mitchell & Webb Look.  I've been re-watching the earlier seasons of Red Dwarf lately too, what a classic that show is!  The hubby got me into watching Doctor Who more recently too (I started with the Eccleston Doctor, didn't go all the way back to the very beginning).  Most if not all of those are on Netflix streaming, I'm not sure about Hulu though.  We don't have cable and watch TV primarily on Netflix & Hulu as it's much cheaper that way.


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## Beach

Good to see you are back exercising Cat after the feeling poor spell!  Hope the workouts continue!  

Had an excellent workout myself on legs this morning.  Bit surprised about that.  Went in feeling tired, believing I would do poorly.  The big accomplishment was doing well with the final exercise.  I try to finish with doing 60 dead lifts, using light weight.  For awhile I haven't been able to complete one set.  Today was able to do one and a half sets with the final exercise!  

Now I have a feeling I'll be walking funny for the rest of the day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Beach, I'm walking funny today too.  My arthritis is just killing me!  It's been snowing a lot and I don't know if this storm is stronger in pressure or intensity or what, but it's just been murder on the hip.  I actually practiced walking with my cane last night in case I would need it today, but I'm slightly better today than I was yesterday so I am not using my cane.  I'm only 33 and feel like walking with a cane is just wrong, like I'm way too young for this crap.

In spite of that, I'm planning on riding the stationary bike at home tonight.  I've found that even when the arthritis is acting up, riding the bike doesn't make it any worse so I know I can do it.  I'm hoping to lift weights at the big gym tomorrow too - only a slight chance of snow in tomorrow's forecast so hopefully the arthritis will be feeling somewhat better by then!  If not, I'm going to lift anyway - just like with the bike, it doesn't make the arthritis any worse, and lifting sometimes makes the hip feel better.  My hip responds really well to stretching and strengthening exercises and is neutral to low-impact cardio.  The only thing it doesn't like is high-impact cardio like jogging.  I would need my cane if I tried to jog right about now!

Chicago, thank you so much, I'm going to try those stretches out tonight after I do the bike!  The first one looks difficult, like doing the splits almost!  I am not very flexible and have never been able to do the splits, but I will give it my best shot.  The second one, I also have poor balance but I will also give it a shot.  The third one, I think my mother showed me that one once but I forgot about it!  I do recall that it is a good one, thanks for the reminder.    As for Brit shows, I tried watching Being Human but I didn't really like it, I didn't connect with the characters and my hubby didn't care for it either so we stopped watching it after the first season or so.  I don't really care for Downton Abbey either but the hubby loves it, ha ha.  Have you watched Doc Martin?  That's a pretty good Brit drama, it's kind of like the Brit version of House.  The hubby and I like that one a lot, it's mostly drama but there are some funny parts too and of course medical stuff is always interesting on TV as long as it's fairly accurate (which Doc Martin seems to be).

Ya noy, you do know your k-pop!  Hallelujah is indeed a Big Bang song from the Iris soundtrack.    I have a lot of Big Bang in my workout playlist and Hallelujah is in there.  It's not my favorite Big Bang song but it's got a good beat and definitely helps keep the workout going.  I'm trying to get fancy with my playlists and set up different ones for lifting and for the bike, and I think Hallelujah is more of a bike song than a lifting song.    Anything with a faster beat like that one gets me pedaling faster so that's a good thing!  I like to pace myself more with lifting and make sure my form is good and everything, so I tend towards slightly slower or even acoustic songs for lifting.


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## CrohnsChicago

I haven't seen Doc Martin. I liked House so I bet I would like that show too. I also agree, it is far more interesting if it is more accurate. I also forgot to mention Absolutely Fabulous. An oldie but a goodie. That show always cracks me up those two women are just plain crazy. 

Good luck with the stretches! Let me know what you think of them


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## Ya noy

CrohnsChicago said:


> Brit Comedy is great to me. I also like Coupling and Little Britain. During the last few weeks while I was sick and flaring, I caught up on the series Being Human (a drama/comedy) which turned out to be really good. I'll have to look into the shows you mentioned as well.D


There's an American version of "Being Human" on the Sci Fi channel--they didn't even bother changing the title of the show.  In my opinion, the British version is better.  So were the original British shows, "Life in Mars" and "Sherlock", both of which were copied and Americanized, but the British versions were just SO much better. 

I'm kind of a sci fi fanatic and my current favorite TV series on Hulu is a show called "Charlie Jade" a Canadian production, filmed primarily in Cape Town South Africa.  It's more than a little difficult to comprehend what's really going on in the first few episodes, but then it gets better--and the storyline resolves, really well!  The ending is almost perfect.  In my opinion, of course.


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## Ya noy

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Ya noy, you do know your k-pop!  Hallelujah is indeed a Big Bang song from the Iris soundtrack.    I have a lot of Big Bang in my workout playlist and Hallelujah is in there.  It's not my favorite Big Bang song but it's got a good beat and definitely helps keep the workout going.  I'm trying to get fancy with my playlists and set up different ones for lifting and for the bike, and I think Hallelujah is more of a bike song than a lifting song.    Anything with a faster beat like that one gets me pedaling faster so that's a good thing!  I like to pace myself more with lifting and make sure my form is good and everything, so I tend towards slightly slower or even acoustic songs for lifting.


I've watched the video with the English translation of the lyrics subtitled. The lyrics fit, and the video consists of scenes from the show, so it wasn't a difficult leap.  Big Bang performs another song that I have a dance routine for.  It's more along the genre of hip hop.  I think the name of the song is "Good bye".  

Working out to music you really know and enjoy makes all the difference in your interest, and performance as well.  I would never be able to stick to routines, where you do, say, 20 push-ups and 15 jumping jacks.  I don't have that type of self-discipline.  

Oh, we've got lots of snow here.  Time to get out and shovel.


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## Beach

Cat - Ah, sorry to hear the arthritis is acting up!  Hope you are able to get some bicycle time in this evening.  That seems to be a common plaint I've noticed around here, developing arthritis early.  I suppose I'm lucky - can't believe I'm saying that with what I've been through with my IBD - but have physicians mentioned why the early arthritis?  

I have to admit, I enjoyed the snowfall last night.  We probably received around 3 inches of the white stuff.  I'm officially a Florida resident.  I'm in Illinois for most of this winter, but most likely I'll be residing down south in the future.  Figure with the way this winter is going, this likely will be my last snow falls to see!  At some point today think I'll tromp around outside for awhile before it all melts.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Beach, no idea why the early arthritis, my doctors can't figure any part of me out it seems.    I'm "a tricky case" as my GI has said.  My IBD is still officially undiagnosed - they're pretty sure I have some type of IBD (we've ruled out most everything else and I respond well to pred, Entocort and Asacol so it pretty much has to be something in the IBD family!) but they don't know which one.  My GI decided to treat me as though I have IBD (he feels I likely either have MC or Crohn's, he doesn't think I have UC as I'm not a bleeder) and because I am being treated as though it's IBD, I am in remission.  I'm still a mystery though!

So yeah, the arthritis is a mystery too.  My guess is that it's related to the IBD but that's just a gut feeling (pun intended  ).  My GP feels I have arthritis but he doesn't know which type.  He sent me to physical therapy which helped a great deal but got me no closer to a diagnosis.  He also sent me to an orthopedic surgeon, but the ortho surgeon wasn't even sure if I have arthritis or bursitis or both, that was a pretty pointless appointment.  I went back to my GP who is still confident I have arthritis, but still doesn't know which type or why exactly.  Yeah, fun!  I also have severe GERD, which I thought was mainly due to a hiatal hernia.  But my GI said that my hernia is really small and wouldn't account for the severity of my symptoms, and he doesn't know why my GERD is as bad as it is (recent upper endoscopy showed nothing out of the ordinary aside from the small hiatal hernia).  So with pretty much all of my health issues, I'm kind of a mystery.

Anyway.  I have a feeling the arthritis might have spread to my other hip and/or my lower back as lately I've been having some mild pains there too.  I see my GP in a couple months for my annual physical, so I'm going to have him do another set of x-rays to see if the arthritis has progressed or spread.  If it has progressed, at least that might mean they have a better chance of figuring out what type of arthritis and why I developed it, etc.

I'm feeling a bit better this afternoon than I did this morning arthritis-wise though.  The snow has mostly stopped and my hip isn't quite as painful as it was.  I'm definitely going to ride the stationary bike tonight.  And I'm putting my cane back in the closet, for now... they're saying we might get another 5 inches of snow on Monday though, so I'm anticipating more hip pain then!  (Beach, when you go back to Florida, you are more than welcome to take some of this snow with you!  )

Ya noy, Big Bang has a lot of songs and I'm not a big fan of their early stuff, so I might just not have heard of that one, but I'm not familiar with a song called "Good bye" - they do have a song called "Tell me Goodbye", is that the one you're thinking of?  Although I would guess it's not that one though, as that's one of their Japanese songs, it's not in Korean (it sounds to me like you're more interested in Korean than Japanese so I'm assuming you prefer their Korean songs).  Apparently the market for Japanese music is HUGE compared to the Korean market, so they sometimes release Japanese songs or re-release their Korean hits into Japanese.  In fact one of the members of Big Bang, Daesung, is releasing his first solo album next week - and it's going to be all in Japanese.  I was a big fan of J-pop for years, but it got kind of stale to me after my favorite singer went on indefinite hiatus, which is why I started getting into K-pop more recently - but regardless, I'm excited for Daesung's new album.  And I totally forgot where I was going with this.


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## Beach

Cat - Oh, that is no fun, I was the same way, a mystery patient also.  Lets see, the first diagnosis was nerves, then a couple celiacs despite all tests returning negative, severe IBS, a couple microscopic colitis, and one GI specialist thinking I might have Crohn's for some reason.  It got to the point where I figured if I paid the doctors enough, they would name the disease after me.  

I can see it now ~  

"After a numerous exams, an extensive review of your many medical records, we can absolutely, positively, with 100% accuracy declare you have a case of Beachism."   

Hope in the end the doctors do not declare you have a case of Beachism!  Then again if that happens I've found a good grain free diet does help improve the diseases symptoms considerably.  

Hope too you find relief too from the GERD and arthritis.  Would have to imagine there could be some kind of connection between the all.   

We have more snow coming?  Ugh!  I forget, the white stuff looks nice, but is miserable to walk in.  Snow isn't IBD friendly.  Doing a walk around the neighbor, I found myself high stepping it most of the way.  Good exercise, but tough on the stomach muscles.  Thankfully, all neighbors restrooms where safe.  I didn't find the need to hurriedly knock on anyones door.     

Well, after todays exercises, I'm exhausted this evening!  Good to make it through the weeks workouts though.  Now I have weekend tennis play to look forward to.  Should be fun!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

At least Beachism would be putting a name to whatever I've got.    I know I'm luckier than most in the Undiagnosed Club because at least I'm in remission - the only tough part is, it really makes no sense to go through further testing until I flare up again as I highly doubt anything will be found while I'm in remission.  So, I'm in indefinite limbo.  Don't want to flare up again either so it's not a terrible thing that I'm still undiagnosed!  It's frustrating for sure but there are far worse things in life than being undiagnosed & in remission.

As for the other stuff, the GERD attacks are the worst I'm exercising.  My reflux does not like abdominals exercises especially.  I've had many episodes at the gym where I've just had to stop and rest for a minute and try to coax my stomach contents back down into my stomach.  I can't eat anything for at least 2 hours before working out, but even so, I reflux plain water and Tums/Zantac when I work out.  My GI actually told me once that I should stop lifting weights!  But when I explained what a difference exercise has made for me, and that weights are my favorite thing and make me feel really strong and healthy, he relented and put me on a double dose of Zantac instead (I also take Nexium).  But I think that must be a very rare case of a doctor telling their patient NOT to exercise, ha ha.


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## AlliRuns

Hahah, I have had my military Doc tell me not to exercise, but my GI doc knows better than to tell me something so absurd. I will tell me when not to exercise thankyouverymuch. The only time I actually listened to the mil doc was when I broke my leg.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Alli, you could still do upper body exercises with a broken leg though, right?  

My update today 2/23/13 - I feel good!  I got home yesterday evening and was so tired and my hip still really hurt, I had no desire at all to ride the exercise bike.  But I forced myself to anyway.  It was tough and I wanted to quit, but I made myself do it.  My bad hip slowly started feeling better, and by the time I was done, I felt okay.  I feel quite good today too!  I had to walk the dog in the cold today, and the dog park was like one big sheet of ice with a bit of powdery snow on top so it was very difficult to walk and I wasn't walking normally because of all the ice, so because of that the hip is acting up a little bit again.  But it's still much better than it was.  I'm planning on heading to the big gym in a bit to do some lifting.

Chicago, last night I tried the hip stretches you posted!  The first one was difficult and I couldn't get very low to the ground, but the second one I did well with.  I'm going to keep trying them.  Thanks again!


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## AlliRuns

You bet! Except I had surgery 3 weeks after I broke my leg, so then I wasn't doing anything. Last year was a bad year.

Do you have a pair of Yaktraks? They are grips for your shoes for when it's icy. I never use mine for running, but they are great for walking the dog when it's icy out. I have a lab-border collie mix, she doesn't understand it's too nasty to go for a walk, the Yaktraks come in handy.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I do not have a pair of those but will definitely look into it, thanks for the info!  I just used my walking stick to try to give myself some extra balance today and that went okay.  I managed not to fall anyway so I consider that fairly successful.  I was honestly more concerned about my dog, she seems to hurt herself fairly easily if she falls (she's a corgi so she only has like 2 inches to fall if she slips, but she is a fan of limping if she falls over).  Due to our work schedules, the hubby walks the dog during the week and I walk her on weekends.  More often than not, she gets injured on my watch, and the weekend emergency vet is not cheap.  The worst was when a big dog slammed into her last year on a Saturday and knocked her over, she sprained her leg and I had to carry her home (she's 42 lbs!).  We live right by the dog park so it wasn't far but it was still pretty exhausting, and an expensive emergency vet bill.


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## Ya noy

Cat,

I've been looking for that Big Bang dance routine and haven't been able to find it.  It's stored on my computer, but I'm not sure where.  It's not the song "Tell me Goodbye" though, but might be in Japanese.  I have a lot of dance routines, different styles.


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## AlliRuns

Another alternative to Yaktraks are screw shoes. You literally put screws into the bottom of an old pair of shoes. We get a lot of freezing rain in Kingston, some of my running friends do this for running, don't know anybody that has done it for walking, but can't see why it wouldn't work. Somebody from my club had posted a link on how to do it, but our message board is down today. Figures.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/24/13.  Soooo.  I had a totally lazy day.  I was going to ride the bike but it didn't happen and it's all due to pure laziness.  I kinda worked out twice yesterday, since I walked the dog in icy & cold conditions and then I lifted weights, so I don't feel super bad about skipping today.  I do feel quite lazy though!  The hubby needed to borrow my laptop, so I borrowed his newer one (he has 2 laptops, an old one he uses for work and a newer one which has Windows 8 and he hates it so he only uses it for internet  ).  So, he said I could install the Sims 3 on his new laptop since The Sims will not run on my laptop at all and I've been in Sims withdrawal for awhile.  Yeah, that was a mistake.  I played the Sims all day.  I didn't even get dressed, I'm wearing my pajamas still.  Didn't walk the dog, had oatmeal for lunch because I was too lazy to make actual food.  It's been a textbook lazy day.    Tomorrow I'm back to the gym though, for serious!  No more Sims!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/25/13.  I feel bad about being so lazy yesterday!  I played the Sims and then watched the Oscars and that was it, that was my whole day.  So lazy.  I'm not going to let one slip up get me down though, I'm right back to the gym today.  Hitting the little gym in a few hours to do the weights.  Tomorrow, I'm hitting the bike.  Not sure if I'm going to do the bike at home or the one in the gym yet.  I like being in the gym better, the atmosphere says "get to work!", but I like my stationary bike at home better than the one that's in the gym.  Hmmm, must ponder this further.  Wednesday I'm tentatively planning to hit the weights in the big gym.  Thurs will be bike again, and Fri will be weights - not sure yet which gym, probably the little one.  Although I do like going to the big gym on a Friday evening so I'm thinking about that.  Hardly anybody is at the big gym on a Friday night so I can use all the machines without waiting for any, it's really nice having such a huge place almost all to myself.  Hmmm, must ponder this also.

Anyway, that's the plan so far.  Furthermore, the plan is to work out first, THEN play the Sims (if I have time/want to).    Stupid time-wasting addictive game.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I hit the little gym on my lunch hour and that felt great.    I did all the weight machines including the abdominals one and had hardly any reflux - I didn't even belch!  Had a little bit of arthritis pain but that's to be expected (more snow coming tomorrow!).  I did more stretches than usual after lifting, including the hip stretches that Chicago posted earlier.  (Thank you!!)  That first hip stretch is still pretty difficult but I think it'll get easier the more I do it.  I tried jogging to warm up as I can sometimes jog for a few minutes without pain, but literally my hip started aching about 30 seconds in so that was a no-go.  On a really good day I can jog for about 5 whole minutes before the pain sets in, but the hip hasn't had a lot of good days lately.  Anyway, I had a good workout in the gym and that counts for a lot.  Tomorrow, the stationary bike and I have a date.


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## AlliRuns

Please send snow here!!  All of our snow is melting and I have to drive 2 hours to Ottawa for decent cross country skiing. 

Hope your date with the stationary bike is hot!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I think my dog keeps ordering all this snow.    I'll try to get her to send some your way.  My dog's previous owners lived in California and my dog just hates the heat - her first winter with us was her first winter with snow, and she LOVED it.  Whenever we get fresh snow, she runs all around in it and just goes crazy with joy.  We're supposed to get up to 6 inches tomorrow & Wednesday, yuck.

Yeah, hot date with the bike.    Going to get really hot & sweaty on my date, ha ha.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I love the sims!! I don't play on it too often but it is addictive. Its like, I'll just play until this happens, I'll just keep going until they do this. lol


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## rollinstone

I'm lookIng forwArd to starting back at gym. Easy to forget how important exercise is, I think to get on top of cd one needs to tackle it from every direction.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, yeah, the Sims is totally addicting and I do that too!  I'm like, "I'll just play until my sim gets to the next promotion in her career...  Oh, she did that?  Okay, I'll keep playing until she gets to the top of her career track.  And until she makes this other sim be her boyfriend.  And until they get married.  And until she can afford a better house.  And..."    I can never just sit down for like an hour to play, it always turns into multiple hours and I accomplish nothing in real life (even though my sim is rocking it, ha ha).

Joshuaaa, I agree, I think a multi-faceted approach is best to get and keep IBD under control.  That's what's been working best for me - meds, supplements, exercise, sleep, stress management, diet, etc.  It's all important, but exercise is the one where I really feel like I'm making an active effort to physically fight my illness.  It's as close as I can get to punching IBD in the face.    And it feels great!  I hope you have a good time when you are able to start going back to the gym.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  My update for today 2/26/13.  I am going to hit the stationary bike at home in a little bit.  I like the gym atmosphere better than the home atmosphere, but I like my bike at home better, and I don't feel a time constraint at home like I do when I'm at the gym in my workplace.  I am hoping to pedal for a little bit longer today.  I make myself workout mixes, and I recently made myself a full hour mix.  Not sure if I'll be able to do a full hour of hill program or not, but I'm going to try!  I usually do 30 mins although last time I did the bike, I did 40 mins.  If I can do 45 mins today I'll be satisfied, and if I can do an hour that'll be awesome.  So that's the goal.  Wish me luck!  Oddly enough it's supposed to start snowing here any minute, but my hip is pretty quiet so far.  Usually it starts acting up awhile before it snows/rains.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I played on it yesterday because of you!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, I played it yesterday too!  It doesn't run on my computer so I have to borrow hubby's laptop to play it.  I told him I'd give him his laptop back at 9 PM.  At about 8:59 PM, he was like, "Ahem, maybe it's time to turn off the Sims now?"  I was like, "But, my sim is on a date with her boyfriend right now, I can't possibly stop in the middle of a date!"  Then I realized how stupid that sounded, and I turned it off.    It's kind of a good thing that I can only play Sims on hubby's computer as that will limit the amount of time I can play it.

Okay, my update 2/27/13.  I rode the bike yesterday and ended up doing about 45 mins (hill program on the stationary bike).  I wanted to go longer, my muscles felt great - but my left knee started giving me some pain at around 40 mins.  I tried to keep going but I couldn't push through the pain and didn't want to injure myself.  My knee feels fine today so I don't know if it was a fluke or what.  Oddly enough, my hip also feels fine - even though we got about 6 inches of snow and it's still snowing!  I'm planning on hitting the big gym tonight to lift weights, and will do the bike again tomorrow.  I'm going to try for another minimum of 45 mins on the bike tomorrow, wish me luck.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh no.    I was starving this morning so I had a donut.  Then I got to work and it was my 10 year anniversary yesterday of working here, so my boss brought in donuts.  Yeah, I'm nibbling at my 2nd donut.  (Don't want to be rude but I'll probably throw most of it away when she's not looking!)  I feel full and bloated and like I've had too much sugar and chocolate, blah.  Going to have to do a little bit extra at the gym tonight I think!


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## Beach

Going with the other thread mention - sweet bike Cat!  It's has pedals, brakes, reflectors, wheels, and a nice cushy seat.  What isn't to like!?  The cushy seat in particular is what's important to me anymore when biking around.  With my IBD, a comfortable rear garners great importance.  

Well, it appears I'll be going to the YMCA soon after all - probably!  The plan, I won't be an official member myself.  My father is a member and he will be gone till May.  Despite the age difference, the two of us look a great deal alike.  I believe I can pass as him.  If questioned by the receptionist been thinking of responses.  I could mention the IBD SCD/ paleo diet I'm on - You won't believe how this diet has changed me!  Could go with a plastic surgery story.  Probably honesty would be the best tale though.  One way or another I'll be at the gym this year.  Hopfully I can find some energy soon to have a nice workout.  Have been told the Y has popular weekend instructed biking classes.   

Had a nice tiring walk around the block this afternoon as snow fell.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Beach, that's a great plan about the YMCA!  I did something similar years ago, when I was a teenager I was told by the Y that I could only stay on my parents' YMCA membership until I was 18.  I was sternly warned by the Y that I would have to get my own membership after age 18.  But, the Y never bothered to check my age and they didn't forcibly remove me when I turned 18, so I just kept going with it.  Didn't say a word, and I've always looked younger than my age so they never checked to see if I was over 18.  I managed to pull that off for years and I don't believe it cost my mom any extra money.  Win win!

Yes, a cushy bike seat is super important!  I spent something like $180 on my bike and another $30 just on the gel seat - a bit pricey, but soooo worth it (my booty has been through enough punishment already!).  The gel seat has a quick-release on it too, so I pop it off and bring it with me when I park my bike so that nobody steals the seat.  I am hoping that makes my bike less steal-worthy too, hopefully no thief would want to take a bike that has no seat.  Obviously I lock my bike but there was a comment in that other thread that cruiser bikes are popular among bike thieves, and that made me a bit paranoid!

The stationary bike I have at home, that also has a comfy seat.  I wanted an exercise bike so I looked on craigslist and found one that fit my needs:  It was cheap, and it had a really nice-looking seat.  It's recumbent-style so you kind of sit back in it.  I like it a lot, it is really comfortable.  The seat itself is really padded, and the back is mesh for more airflow.  The hubby and I brought it home and set it up, and my cat immediately hopped in the seat, so I know it's comfy if I have to fight my pets for it.    It's in my guest bedroom so I kind of hate when we have guests over, because that means I can't use my exercise bike!  Ha ha.  I'm even putting a flatscreen TV in the guest room because I watch TV while I ride the bike.  I have some older game systems hooked up in there too (Gamecube, Dreamcast and Genesis) so that I can play video games when I ride the bike.  Yep, I'm awesome.  

Okay, so this is weird - it's been snowing all day, pretty heavily too - and my hip hasn't so much as made a peep!  No pain!  I do have a headache, and I'm not sure if that's because of the snowstorm (I tend to get barometric pressure headaches in certain weather) or if it's because I got new glasses yesterday and I'm still adjusting to them.  But at any rate, it's snowing and my hip is not aching, that never happens.  I'm going to see my GP next week for my yearly physical (I thought I wasn't due for another month or two but they said I could be seen next week if I wanted to), so I'm going to get my arthritis re-checked then.  Of course it goes quiet the day I make a doctor appointment!  Sneaky old hip!


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## Beach

I certainly hope so.  It would be nice to get in and see the Y, give it a trail membership run.  I am having a few second thoughts about, this evening, ever since the idea came up from my father.  Don't know it is the dreary weather, or maybe my colon is being irritated from being used properly of late, but I'm tired!, more so than normal.  I can see myself going, getting in, running into friends, and next thing I know I'm in the biking class that goes for 3 hours straight!  Nightmare scenario.  The never ending bike ride on a hard seat.  We all go through the low energy problem at some point.  I've been there, so know this will pass.  Well, I'm looking forward to giving the Y a try.  Imagine I'll be able to get in one way or another.  Maybe I'll have to start with the pool first.  Lounging sounds about right at the moment.  

I've heard of people watching TV, playing video games while riding a bike. That sounds like fun.  Kind of a funny story in a way, but a few years back there was a small fire in my place.  I had some video games, along with an old Japanese pachinko arcade game.  My nephews loved coming over to play them.  And when I was at my worse with the gut, not much energy to do much, I would play the games myself.  Well, one day the nephews were playing with the video games when the old classic pachinko game caught on fire.  The room was burnt to a crisp.  Not good.  No one was hurt thankfully.  Well, I got to talking with my neighbors later on, many of them are retired former professors, and they let me know that they had been watching me!  They saw i was wasting my time playing video games!  Nosy neighbors.  Well, I never did replace the video games.  Instead I rebuilt the room and set up a gym with some weights, a tread mill, even have an exercise bike but rarely use that anymore.  And when tired, worn down from the gut with little energy I lounge on the couch, reading, near the window were nosy neighbors can see me.  I often fall asleep.  Haven't heard a complaint about that.  Figure this is probably what many of them do themselves!  

Great that this stormy weather isn't aggravating the hips!  I was happy that it rained considerable here the last few days.  Not that I enjoy rain much, but better than gobs of snow, and reminded me of spring showers.  Warmth will be here soon!  Can't wait to break out the shorts.  Hmmm.... then again I've seen a few crazy mid-westerners already breaking out shorts in 40F weather.  It always kind of amazes me, during winter here the weather gets slightly above freezing and half the town is driving around with their windows down.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Beach, a 3 hour bike class does sound horrifying!  I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist though.    Or if it did, you probably wouldn't be the first person to walk out of it.  You can do a lot of "on your own" type stuff at the Y too, you don't have to take a class.  A pool does sound nice - I belong to Planet Fitness which is a pretty basic gym, so no pool there.  Not that I'm in any kind of swimsuit shape anyway - my arms and legs are toning up nicely, but my midsection is still flabby due to the steroids I was on 2 years ago.  Entocort put me into remission and let me gain my weight back, but all the weight went to my belly area and has stubbornly stayed there.  It's gross!

Yeah, it's kind of difficult playing video games while riding the bike.  I can do it, but if I concentrate on the game too much then I forget to pedal or I pedal too slowly, so I don't get a very good workout.  So mostly I watch TV/movies while riding the bike at home.  That way I can make sure I'm doing what I need to on the bike but can still be entertained.

And yes, here in WI it's the same.  If the weather gets even mildly warm (like 35 degrees), people start wearing shorts and sandals, and playing frisbee outside and stuff like that.  I don't get it!  I won't leave the house without a jacket if it's under 60 and I certainly won't wear shorts when it's 40.  Just because it's warmer than it was doesn't mean it's warm outside.    A lot of people here in the midwest get really anxious for springtime though, so any warmup feels like spring to some people I guess.

Ugh.  So my update for today, 2-28-13.  I feel yucky.  The hubby made dinner last night, and we're in desperate need of going grocery shopping, so he just threw something together with what few ingredients we had.  He made some pasta concoction but he put shittake mushrooms in it.  I love mushrooms, but I sometimes have a hard time digesting them, particularly shittake.  So I ate the pasta anyway and I feel unwell today.  Had the runs this morning and there were pieces of undigested shittake mushroom in my poo.  I feel a bit nauseous and the guts are unhappy.  I'm not obstructed or anything, my body just doesn't like when I eat things that it can't break down.  It gets very grumbly when that happens.

Fortunately we hit the gym before the mushroom incident, and I felt great there.  My hip gave me one twinge of pain when I was putting on my gym shoes, but otherwise I had no pain at all and was able to do everything I wanted to in the gym.  After working out was when I ate the mushroom pasta, and it all went downhill from there.  In addition to my guts being unhappy, I woke up today feeling sore, like I had been tossing and turning all night, and I also woke up with a pounding headache.  Fun times!  In spite of all this, I'm still planning on hitting my stationary bike tonight.  I always feel better after a workout, so even though I feel crappy now, I don't feel so crappy that I need to skip my workout, and I should feel better afterwards.  So that's the plan.


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## AlliRuns

I've been to a 2 hour spin class, but not 3 
I feel yucky today too, I'm on leave and have been to the bathroom a million times already. Still going to run, but may opt for a treadmill where I can be close to a bathroom.


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## Beach

I was joking around a bit about being stuck in a 3 hour biking class, but something like does happen at the Y!  We have a family friend that participates in it on the weekends.  He rides all morning with the group apparently, which is great to see.  

He has been battling a few health conditions of late, diverticulitis in particular.  He also had esophagus cancer that was somewhat recently operated on at the Mayo clinic.  Being as ill as he was, I never thought Denny would do as well as he has of late with sticking to his new diet and working out.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Alli, I hope you feel better soon.  I totally hear you on the treadmill thing, that's why I like the stationary bike.  My bathroom is just down the hall from the bike.  

Beach, that's great about your friend overcoming his health issues and working out.  I hope he continues to do well!  Wow, riding for 3 hours, that sounds very tough.  I'm hoping to be able to ride one full hour soon.  I can ride for an hour on my actual bike, but of course I'm not pedaling the whole way and sometimes I stop to take a quick break, have a drink of water, etc.  When I'm riding the stationary bike, I pedal the whole time and don't take breaks unless absolutely necessary.  I can do that for about 45 minutes at this point, there's no way I'd be able to hang on for 3 hours!  Not yet anyway.  Maybe someday...


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## Beach

Cat- Yeah, I don't know how the friend does it.  We used to workout with the same gym trainer.  The trainer would give me updates on how the friend was doing.  Overall, early on the working out wasn't much of a success.  Basically, after being pushed hard, the friend being a sweet guy overall, had a bad habit of flipping out on the trainer!  

Then the esophagus cancer diagnosis came in.  He originally visited the local hospital for diagnosis, and heard what they had to say about treatment.  Here they wanted to remove most of his esophagus, and tie his stomach basically to his throat.  The operation had a 25% death rate.  

Wanting a second opinion he visited the Mayo clinic.  There he was told the esophagus  removal operation was old, had not been used at their clinic in over 20 years.  Instead it was thought possible to simply use a scope to remove the cancer.  It would be a simple one day, in and out operation.  It pays to get second opinions.    

The friends health was poor though for years.  The cancer diagnosis seems to have been a wake up call.  I don't know what he did to change his diet, but over the holidays we talked and he mentioned all "junk food" had been removed from what he ate.  It showed!  He probably weighed 100lbs less than the last time we had seen each other.  And now he exercises like nobodies business.  As far as I know he hasn't flipped out on any Y personal trainers!  

Best of luck in reaching the goal of an hours ride!  It is amazing at how our bodies are able to adapt over time, even with these tough stomach conditions.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Wow, it certainly does pay to get a second opinion!  I'm glad your friend was able to get good treatment without losing his esophagus.  It's always really interesting to me too how some people just thrive during/after something like that.  Years ago, I always assumed I'd just moan and whine if I became ill (and I did more than my fair share of whining during my first year of IBD) but I never thought I'd be one of those people who wants to work out a lot and actively get healthier and could even thrive, but I think that's what I am.  Your friend definitely sounds like that type too!  Good for him, I love hearing about when people bounce back from something like that and come back fighting & better than ever.  

But I've known people on the opposite end of the spectrum as well.  A former co-worker of mine had stage 3 throat cancer.  He went through surgery, chemo, radiation, all sorts of awful stuff.  He beat the cancer and is now cancer-free - but he acts like a victim and still refers to himself as a "cancer victim" instead of a cancer survivor.  He doesn't work, he doesn't do anything.  Last I heard, all he does all day is watch TV.  He used to get dressed and cook for his wife and stuff, but he doesn't even do that anymore.  I just want to smack him and make him wake up and stop being a victim!  During his cancer battle, that was around the time when I was at my sickest too, and he confided that he worried a lot about me.  It made me really sad in a way, he obviously cared about my health, but it seems like he doesn't care at all about his own.  He's so weak from doing nothing that he can barely walk 10 feet.  But he worries about me.  I wish I could convey that I'm fine, I'm fighting hard every day for my health, and I wish he would do the same.  Some people just won't be helped though.

Anyway, my long roundabout point is that it's really interesting to me that some people respond to illness like your friend does and it really brings out the positive in them, and other people respond to illness like my friend and just shrivel up and let the illness win even when it really hasn't.  I'm grateful that I'm able to be the former and a bit surprised I didn't end up being the latter.  

My stomach is still a mess but I'm still definitely hitting the bike in a little bit.  I have an hour-long DVD ready to go so we'll see how far I get into my DVD before I have to stop pedaling.  It's a music DVD I burned for myself, and I purposely put some of my favorite songs at the end as an incentive to try to get through an hourlong ride.    We'll see if it happens today!  Wish me luck!


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## Beach

Good luck Cat!  For inspiration in the future, to keep you going, you'll have to watch the biking movie Breaking Away while pedaling!  I suppose to there is the other biking movie I recall, Pee Wees Big Adventure, but wouldn't recommend that.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I actually really like Pee Wee's Big Adventure!    The film geek in me likes that it was Tim Burton's directorial debut.  I loved it as a kid, and it's held up pretty well over the years.  Every so often I'll watch it and it's still good in a campy, nostalgic kind of way.  

I did an hour on the bike yesterday!    It wasn't pretty, but I got it done.  Just like last time, right around 40 minutes in, my left knee started hurting.  I decided to go for it anyway to see if the knee pain is anything like my hip arthritis.  With my hip, if it starts hurting and I try to keep going, the pain gradually gets worse and I remain in pain for days afterwards.  Fortunately the knee didn't act the same way - it stopped hurting when I finished my ride, and hasn't hurt since.  I've always had iffy knees anyway (they dislocate fairly easily which is super painful) so I'm just going to attribute it to that.  I may ask my GP to check my knees too when he checks my lower back & good hip for arthritis - just in case.

My stomach is still pretty unhappy with me though.  I did the hour on the bike and took a shower... and then I had to figure out something for dinner.  We're in dire need of going grocery shopping so I didn't have many options, and I ended up grabbing a frozen pizza because it was quick & easy.  I knew my guts wouldn't like it but I was exhausted from my ride and couldn't spend any more energy on cooking.  So, I had some pizza and the guts stayed upset and I had some more d (and passed yet more undigested shittake mushrooms, along with my undigested Asacol tablets, that's just great).  This morning I was feeling so-so and felt like I might try some leftover cold pizza for breakfast.  I usually don't eat breakfast but cold pizza sounded good.  Um, ouch.  It caused terrible heartburn!  I very rarely, almost never get heartburn with my GERD.  I get every other reflux symptom but never heartburn.  I sure got it this morning though, wow!  Because of my GERD, I carry Zantac and Tums with me everywhere anyway, so I had some on hand and got it under control, but it sucked for a little while.

So yeah.  The stomach is still angry with me but I'm hanging in there.  Planning on hitting the weights at the big gym tonight.  I really like going to the big gym on Friday nights because nobody is there!  It's so empty, just a handful of people there.  I hate when the gym is too crowded, if it were totally empty it would be just perfect.  Friday nights and Sunday mornings seem to be when the gym is the most empty, so I try to take advantage of those times, and that's the plan this week.  Saturday I'll walk the dog and I'm not sure if I'll ride the bike or try some yoga.  I have to do grocery shopping too which can kind of be a workout in itself sometimes!  The hubby works weekends right now so I'll be lifting the heavy grocery bags all by myself.    I'm pretty organized but often I forget something I need that's on the other end of the store, so I walk around quite a lot too when I'm grocery shopping.


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## AlliRuns

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I actually really like Pee Wee's Big Adventure!    The film geek in me likes that it was Tim Burton's directorial debut.  I loved it as a kid, and it's held up pretty well over the years.  Every so often I'll watch it and it's still good in a campy, nostalgic kind of way.
> 
> I did an hour on the bike yesterday!    It wasn't pretty, but I got it done.  Just like last time, right around 40 minutes in, my left knee started hurting.  I decided to go for it anyway to see if the knee pain is anything like my hip arthritis.  With my hip, if it starts hurting and I try to keep going, the pain gradually gets worse and I remain in pain for days afterwards.  Fortunately the knee didn't act the same way - it stopped hurting when I finished my ride, and hasn't hurt since.  I've always had iffy knees anyway (they dislocate fairly easily which is super painful) so I'm just going to attribute it to that.  I may ask my GP to check my knees too when he checks my lower back & good hip for arthritis - just in case.
> 
> My stomach is still pretty unhappy with me though.  I did the hour on the bike and took a shower... and then I had to figure out something for dinner.  We're in dire need of going grocery shopping so I didn't have many options, and I ended up grabbing a frozen pizza because it was quick & easy.  I knew my guts wouldn't like it but I was exhausted from my ride and couldn't spend any more energy on cooking.  So, I had some pizza and the guts stayed upset and I had some more d (and passed yet more undigested shittake mushrooms, along with my undigested Asacol tablets, that's just great).  This morning I was feeling so-so and felt like I might try some leftover cold pizza for breakfast.  I usually don't eat breakfast but cold pizza sounded good.  Um, ouch.  It caused terrible heartburn!  I very rarely, almost never get heartburn with my GERD.  I get every other reflux symptom but never heartburn.  I sure got it this morning though, wow!  Because of my GERD, I carry Zantac and Tums with me everywhere anyway, so I had some on hand and got it under control, but it sucked for a little while.
> 
> So yeah.  The stomach is still angry with me but I'm hanging in there.  Planning on hitting the weights at the big gym tonight.  I really like going to the big gym on Friday nights because nobody is there!  It's so empty, just a handful of people there.  I hate when the gym is too crowded, if it were totally empty it would be just perfect.  Friday nights and Sunday mornings seem to be when the gym is the most empty, so I try to take advantage of those times, and that's the plan this week.  Saturday I'll walk the dog and I'm not sure if I'll ride the bike or try some yoga.  I have to do grocery shopping too which can kind of be a workout in itself sometimes!  The hubby works weekends right now so I'll be lifting the heavy grocery bags all by myself.    I'm pretty organized but often I forget something I need that's on the other end of the store, so I walk around quite a lot too when I'm grocery shopping.


1 hour - yay, that's awesome  
Cycling is the one thing I can usually tolerate if my tummy is acting up, though if it's acting up to the point where I can't fuel properly, I have to stick to 50k or less.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

50 k - that's about 30 miles, right?  Maybe in my dreams I could ride for 30 miles.    I did about 11 miles in my hour ride yesterday and that's the farthest I've ever done.  And that was on a hill program so I am thinking I could go further on flat terrain.  30 miles sounds incredibly tough to me though!  My goal this spring/summer is to ride my bike around the small lake in my city and through the arboretum.  It shouldn't be more than 10 miles total.  Now that I've done 11 miles on the stationary bike and didn't die, I'm pretty sure I can do 10 miles on my real bike on real hills.  I think.  I hope!  

Does anyone else's city do something called "Ride the Drive"?  It's where the city shuts down some major streets for the day and lets everyone ride their bikes.  Not like a race or anything, just a casual ride around downtown in the middle of the streets without having to worry about cars.  It's a nightmare for traffic but really fun for bike riders.  I did it last year and it was lovely.  There's a big uphill on part of it though and I just couldn't do it, it was too tough and I wasn't in good enough shape.  I had to get off and walk my bike up the hill, and I felt like a loser.  That's part of why I've been doing hill programs on the stationary bike, because I'd like to make it up that hill this year without stopping and walking.  That's one of my fitness goals.  Big hill, you won't beat me again!  Probably!


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## AlliRuns

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> 50 k - that's about 30 miles, right?  Maybe in my dreams I could ride for 30 miles.    I did about 11 miles in my hour ride yesterday and that's the farthest I've ever done.  And that was on a hill program so I am thinking I could go further on flat terrain.  30 miles sounds incredibly tough to me though!  My goal this spring/summer is to ride my bike around the small lake in my city and through the arboretum.  It shouldn't be more than 10 miles total.  Now that I've done 11 miles on the stationary bike and didn't die, I'm pretty sure I can do 10 miles on my real bike on real hills.  I think.  I hope!
> 
> Does anyone else's city do something called "Ride the Drive"?  It's where the city shuts down some major streets for the day and lets everyone ride their bikes.  Not like a race or anything, just a casual ride around downtown in the middle of the streets without having to worry about cars.  It's a nightmare for traffic but really fun for bike riders.  I did it last year and it was lovely.  There's a big uphill on part of it though and I just couldn't do it, it was too tough and I wasn't in good enough shape.  I had to get off and walk my bike up the hill, and I felt like a loser.  That's part of why I've been doing hill programs on the stationary bike, because I'd like to make it up that hill this year without stopping and walking.  That's one of my fitness goals.  Big hill, you won't beat me again!  Probably!


31.25 miles.. The computers on the spin bikes at the base gym are in imperial measurements, So are the treadmills, I'm good at conversions now 

You can do it, cycling, like anything, is about building up your tolerance to it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update for 3/2/13:  I hit the big gym yesterday but was a little disappointed.  It's usually dead quiet in there on a Friday night, but it was surprisingly a bit busy.  Also, there was a total creep in there who kept bugging me, ick.  I like working out with the hubby because then I don't get hit on at the gym, but when I go by myself then the creepwads seem to gravitate towards me.  I'm a total introvert and don't like talking to people anyway, but when I'm working out I'm all business and my mind is on getting strong and nothing else, so I really don't want to be bothered.  Especially by someone who's clearly just there to pick up women.  Yuck.

But anyway, in spite of that I got in a good workout and did everything I wanted to do.  Today I'm taking it somewhat easy, going to walk the dog and either yoga or ride the bike (but not for an hour this time, my legs need a bit of a break).  I'm going to walk the dog first and then see how I feel and will plan the rest of the day accordingly.


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## AlliRuns

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Update for 3/2/13:  I hit the big gym yesterday but was a little disappointed.  It's usually dead quiet in there on a Friday night, but it was surprisingly a bit busy.  Also, there was a total creep in there who kept bugging me, ick.  I like working out with the hubby because then I don't get hit on at the gym, but when I go by myself then the creepwads seem to gravitate towards me.  I'm a total introvert and don't like talking to people anyway, but when I'm working out I'm all business and my mind is on getting strong and nothing else, so I really don't want to be bothered.  Especially by someone who's clearly just there to pick up women.  Yuck.
> 
> But anyway, in spite of that I got in a good workout and did everything I wanted to do.  Today I'm taking it somewhat easy, going to walk the dog and either yoga or ride the bike (but not for an hour this time, my legs need a bit of a break).  I'm going to walk the dog first and then see how I feel and will plan the rest of the day accordingly.


I work out in a military gym, there are always creepy guys. Being a woman is like being a moving target. We also share our gym with the military college, getting hit on by 20 year old sex crazed university students is not my thing. (downside to looking 20 when I'm actually 30) I always wear headphones, it deters them from trying to talk to me.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Alli, I'm 33 and I look much younger than my age too and I also find a wide range of guys are hitting on me.  The dude from yesterday was probably in his late 30s (big fat dude with a bald head and a beard, even if I were single that's not exactly my type, ha ha!).  I always wear headphones too which is usually a good deterrent but not always.  I feel like I need to wear a t-shirt to the gym that says, "I'm married, I'm an introvert, I'm just here to work out, I don't like you, go away."


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

AlliRuns said:


> . We also share our gym with the military college, getting hit on by 20 year old sex crazed university students is not my thing. (downside to looking 20 when I'm actually 30) I always wear headphones, it deters them from trying to talk to me.


That sounds like my thing! 

I felt a bit self conscious at the gym yesterday when I realised I was the only female in my gym. There were some 17 year old looking guys who were just chatting on the weight machine right next to me which was annoying.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3-3-13:  Today I lifted weights in the big gym, and that went great.  No creeps this time.    I went around noon - the gym at noon on a Sunday is pretty empty so I was able to breeze through my workout.  Then I ran errands, and then the dog and I went on a long walk.  I'm quite tired now!  I feel good, but I'm definitely going to veg out for the rest of the afternoon & evening.  Tomorrow is cardio day so I'll do the bike - hopefully for another hour-long session.  We're due for yet another #$%&* snowstorm Monday night/all day Tuesday so I'm not looking forward to that.  It's a bit warm and sunny today so the snow is actually melting.  This seems to be a theme - it snows 6 inches, then it mostly melts over the next 2 days, then it snows another 6 inches.  That's seemed to be the pattern here for most of the winter!  I'm so sick of it!  My hip is not a fan of it either!


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## AlliRuns

I will gladly take all of your snow! I love snow! 

My iPod was dead this morning when I went to the gym, and it would happen to be the day that I would run into the biggest slime ball in existence. Not a stranger slime ball, guy I know from work who has a habit of sleeping with subordinates. Then of course I saw him again in the grocery store this evening. That's way more douche bag than I can handle for one day.


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## Beach

I'm laughing mentioning this, but recall a problem I had with a few ladies at a gym I used to be a member with.  The ladies farted.  The gym was a large place, split in half.  One side was a more basic gym with typical popular aerobic machines.  The other side was where the lifters hanged out, some of them professional from what I was told.  A few of the men and women would travel to different body building contests.  

Sometimes while in the lifters section I'd find myself waiting on a machine to open up.  A few times while waiting on one of the body building females to finish with a machine, she would let the farts fly.  I figured the lady was either:

1) Had an IBD condition much as myself
2) Was marking her territory
3) Was drinking protein drinks to excess in the morning, with the combination of heavy lifting placing stress onto the abdominal area leading to gassing the area.  

Rather gross.  

Played tennis last night for 90 minutes.  Hit wonderfully!  I've been hitting very well over the last month.  And I'm so tired.  Kind of odd but the more well I become with the gut, I'm responding well to diet changes, the more tired I become.  I'm not sure what is happening but suspect it might have something to do with heat.  I've noticed some mention that with their IBD they sweat often for no known reason.  Since being healthier with the gut I no longer have those mysterious sweats myself.  Instead I feel cooler.  Figure possibly my inflammation is going down, resulting in the body needing to spend more precious energy on keeping body temperature up.  Who knows.  Hopfully this run down feeling should pass soon.  At least my tennis hitting has been wonderful.  My long time hitting partner must wonder what is going on!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Alli, oh no, that sounds awful!  And having to see him twice in one day, double yuck.  I've had that issue with my ipod classic dying on me in the middle of a workout, but so far so good (knock on wood) with my ipod shuffle.  The battery life on that thing is great, I forgot to charge it for a couple weeks but it was still at 50% battery life when I finally got around to it.

Beach, eek!  I can usually hold in my farts in the gym, it's the belching that is my problem.  I have severe GERD on top of the IBD, and the IBD is well-controlled but the GERD isn't.  I take a 300 mg Zantac and a handful (about 8 or so) Tums just before hitting the gym.  The only other thing in my stomach before/during a workout is water.  But even so, usually about halfway through my workout, my stomach will start bubbling and I'll start burping.  I try not to be obvious about it, but yeah, sometimes I can get gross.  I'm working on that.  I got accustomed to just working out in the little gym, where I'm almost always alone, so I picked up some gross habits like belching and also wiping my nose on my sleeve.    Now that I often am at a bigger gym where there are other people around, I have to try not to do that stuff.  So, I kind of feel for the farting lady.  I'm sure there must be people out there who think of me as the belching lady.  (At least I'm not the vomiting lady - yet - I have managed to keep my reflux from coming out my mouth in the gym, so far anyway.  It has gotten really close a few times though!)

Update 3-4-13.  Alli, I would seriously give you all this snow if I could.  It hasn't even started snowing yet, it's supposed to start sometime between 6 PM and midnight, but my hip started aching around 10 AM and has only gotten worse as the day has gone on.  Not fun!  I'm still planning on hitting the bike, although I'm not optimistic about making it a full hour tonight.  I'm still going to try, but if it hurts too much then I will concede defeat.  They're saying 6 to 10 inches of snow for my area, and areas just west of here could get over a foot of snow.  The worse the snowstorm, the worse my hip feels, so with the way I feel, I'm betting we'll be more in the 10 inch range than the 6 inch.  Anyway, I'm still going to hit the bike regardless, and will do what I can.

Oh, I finally went grocery shopping too (we were almost out of food, ha ha) so we have actual food in the house again.  I was able to eat a healthy snack and that feels good (oatmeal and a mango - one of the few fruits I can still eat without problem).  I know I need to eat healthier so I'm trying.  I'm still so limited, certain foods still kill me even in remission, but I'm going to try harder because I know it's not good to eat ramen noodles and a slim fast for dinner.    Our juicer is broken (it still kind of works but it won't last long, we had to glue and tape it back together) so I haven't been juicing lately either, I feel really unhealthy diet-wise.  I have a little extra money in the account this month though so I'm researching juicers and will hopefully buy a new one soon.  I can't wait to get back to juicing!  It's like drinking a big glass of health, and it's always easy on my tummy.


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## Beach

Cat - I remember in the past your mention about having bad GERD.  It reminded me of Dr. Eades.  He often has written about his battles with the uncomfortable condition.  I don't know if this will be of help, but he recently had a writing about a digestive book on dealing with GERD.  Sadly, the book was available for free a month ago!  There might still be a promotion going on though.  The sight might be worth a peek.    

"Free book on heartburn"

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/low-carb-library/free-book-on-heartburn/#more-5059

Another GERD article of his on dealing with the condition, that might be of help.  

"Protexid and Protexid ND and adventures in DR"

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/supplements/protexid-and-protexid-nd-and-adventures-in-dr/


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Beach, I'll check out those links.  I used to think my GERD was so severe because of a hiatal hernia.  And I do have one - but my GI says it's a small and "sliding" hernia, so it shouldn't be causing symptoms on this scale.  So, the GERD is still somewhat a mystery.  It's tolerable most of the time, and I'd rather not have surgery on the hiatal hernia at this point, so I usually just deal with it.

Update 3/5/13.  I did the bike for an hour again last night!    And it seemed easier, although my knee still gave me some pain.  It's still hurting a bit today too when I walk.  I see my GP on Monday so I'll mention it to him then.  The hip feels pretty good today - it was aching quite a bit yesterday before the snowstorm hit, but now that it's snowing buckets, the hip feels okay.  It didn't give me any trouble on the bike either.

I was hoping to hit the big gym tonight, but I'd rather not drive any more than I have to in this crazy weather.  So I'm going to hit the little gym this afternoon instead.  I don't like changing my plans, but any workout is better than no workout.  Tomorrow I'll do the bike again and will hopefully be able to do another hour-long ride.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another update for today:  I hit the little gym and felt good.  It's been snowing heavily all day (I think we got about a foot of snow!) but the hip has been feeling pretty good.  After my workout, my knee felt much better too.  I got home from work... and the hubby hadn't shoveled yet!  A foot of snow in our driveway plus a mountain at the end of the driveway where the plow had pushed it up, so I couldn't even park my car.  So, we got to shovel (fortunately our neighbor with a snowblower came over to help with the end of the driveway).  Still, I got two workouts in today.  I feel good though, I don't feel like I overdid things.

Ooh, and I got my new TV!  Got a little 19 inch flat-screen for the back bedroom where the stationary bike is kept.  It's kind of hilarious, I knew it was energy efficient when I got it, but the paperwork that came with the TV says that it will cost me approximately $4 per year to power.  I think my old big heavy console TV cost me about $4 in electricity every time I turned it on!    I'm excited to ride the bike tomorrow and watch my new TV.    (Another funny side note - the package with the TV arrived and the box was huge, but hubby didn't open it until I got home and he had no idea what it was.  Sometimes I order jewelry online, and hubby said he thought it was a package full of jewelry!  Um, no, ha ha.)


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## Ya noy

hi Cat,

Eleven miles on your bike is not too shabby!  Speaking of bike rides such as "Ride the drive" just thought I'd ask if you have "Critical Mass" rides in Madison, and if so, well, I personally recommend against them.  Critical Mass is supposed to raise bike awaress, but instead, they refuse to obtain the required permits, and take up every single lane of traffic, to intentionally block traffic, preferably during rush hour, on Friday evenings.  They do this to force people to notice them and raise cycling awareness, which it does, but not in a positive manner.  There's been violence and arrests, because basically, their rides are illegal. 

Here in Chicago they usually ride on the last friday of every month, and have tried to get our cycling clubs to join them, but they generate way too much hostility against cyclists, and the bike messengers in downtown Chicago are usually the ones who bear the brunt.  

Critical Mass bike rides are actually world-wide.  I know they've had rides in Madison, but I personally don't agree with their methods, and stay as far away from them and their rides as possible.  There are much  better (ie., legally organized) bike rides to participate in instead.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ya noy, no, I haven't heard of Critical Mass, if we have it here I am not aware of it.  Ride the Drive is organized by the city and is legal and all that, the police re-route traffic away from downtown (it's usually done on a Sunday I think, so not too much traffic to re-route).  They have bands and activities and stuff along the way so it's a fun time.

And sheesh, isn't Chicago traffic bad enough already without people purposely making that much worse?  My hubby lived in Chicago years ago when we were long-distance dating, and I drove through that nightmare traffic every other weekend or so for 4 long years.  It was awful!  (It didn't help that I had a stick shift at the time either - driving in traffic with that car was like, clutch, first gear, clutch, brake, clutch, first gear, clutch, brake.  Clutch, first gear, whoa second gear, it feels like I'm driving fast!  Nevermind, clutch, brake.)

Update for today 3/6/13:  Nothing much new to report.  I had to shovel my driveway again this morning and I'll be riding the bike this evening, so it's another day of getting multiple forms of exercise.  Which is fine with me, I have the energy to do it.  I have been looking at juicers online and I think I've found the one I want to get, so hopefully I'll be ordering it tonight.  I'm excited to watch my new TV and also excited to get a new juicer!  I'm usually pretty poor so getting new stuff is a real treat.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update for 3/7/13:  I did another hour on the exercise bike yesterday evening.    It gets a little easier every time.  My knee gave me a little bit of pain, but the pain gets a little less each time too, so I'm not sure if that knee is just weak or what.  I'm hoping to get to the point where my knee doesn't hurt at all when I'm riding.  My new TV is cool but the sound isn't so great, so now I'm hoping the hubby can hook up some better speakers.    I think my real bike has a flat tire so I've also asked the hubby to look into that and hopefully repair it because I don't know how to fix a bike flat tire.  I'd like to get my bike into tip-top shape by the time springtime hits so I can start riding outside!  I'm so looking forward to it!  My city just announced that Ride the Drive will be held on June 2nd, so I will be there for sure!  That big hill won't beat me again, I'm going to ride up the whole thing without getting off to walk!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, that was a joke.  About an hour before I went to the gym, I started feeling nauseous.  I could feel myself refluxing too so I took some Zantac and a few Tums.  That didn't do much.  I went to the gym anyway - I gave myself the "You're tough, you've been through this before, you can do this" pep talk.  I managed to do 5 of the 8 weight machines before I had to stop, and I could do all my stretches but mostly I walked on the treadmill.  I didn't get in a very good workout, in other words.  Took a Zofran after I left the gym and started feeling better, so I tried eating some food.  Found myself just scarfing down a sandwich!  What is up with this, I go from nauseous to hungry with no stops in between.  Last night's dinner didn't agree with me which is where I think the nausea came from, but it's just so weird how my stomach decides it's nauseous one minute and hungry the next.  And I hate when nausea affects my gym performance.  It's like, that's the one hour a day I get to just de-stress and feel really good, and I hate when that it taken away from me.  Urgh.  Anyway.  I'm going to take it easy this evening and hopefully will be fully back to my old fit & fighting self tomorrow.  Tomorrow's plan is an hour on the bike, and I'm hoping to do 12 miles in that hour.  I did about 11.75 miles yesterday so I need to do just a little bit more!  Fingers crossed for no nausea tomorrow!


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## Beach

No fun Cat!  Hope you feel better soon.  Maybe with the down time, it will give you a chance to fiddle with the new exercise TV.  That's been a key with me, getting through a workout, having music to listen to or TVs to watch while exercising.   

I had an off ill day the other day myself.  During the worst of the snow storm the gut really acted up.  It ended any idea of working out for a couple days actually.  It is never enjoyable being ill, but I was kind of excited about it.  I've been doing decently well with diet, then added a new food the other day, cinnamon, for a trial and next thing I know I'm nauseated, giving the bathroom a workout.  Think I found a trigger food!  Got back into the swing of things today.  I  had a nice hour long walk.  Tomorrow is leg workout day.  And then it is onto working on taxes.  That's liable to make me nauseous again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ew, we have to do our taxes soon too.  And I hate the "bathroom workout", I'd rather jog on my arthritic hip for an hour!  Although back in the days when I was ill and flaring all the time, I recall thinking that I should have some awesome washboard abs with all the going and straining and heaving and so on that I was doing at the time.    It never happened though!  I'm still trying to get those awesome abs, ha ha.

I'm sorry to hear you had an "off" day too.  That snow storm was pretty bad - we got about a foot of snow here!  I had to shovel multiple times, which is always iffy with my GERD.  All that bending over forward to shovel is dangerous, sometimes the acid comes pouring up my throat when I bend over forward.  Anyway, I'm glad to hear you're feeling better already, that's very good news.  Glad you got in a good walk and I'm hoping things go smoothly with your workout tomorrow.  

Oh, and the new TV has been fully fiddled with.  It's got the Roku box hooked up as well as the Gamecube and Dreamcast and Genesis (I'm kind of an old school gamer).  It has a built-in DVD player so I just watched a music DVD yesterday while I was riding the bike.  We don't have cable but I can get Netflix and Hulu over the Roku box, so I'm pretty well set for entertainment now.    Not sure what to do with my old TV though - it's a huge old console TV that weighs like 70 lbs!  The hubby wants to just put it in the basement, but I'm afraid he'll drop it or hurt himself carrying the gigantic thing down the stairs!  Maybe I can use it in my exercises and lift it.    TV bench presses!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update for today 3/8/13.  I feel SO much better today and I think I figured out the cause of my nausea (too much folic acid!).  No nausea today, the sun is shining and it's close to 40 degrees outside, my mood is fantastic and I'm looking forward to hitting the bike this evening.    It's supposed to rain this weekend so I'm curious to see whether my hip acts up or not.  Usually it starts aching hours before the weather hits, but it's supposed to start around midnight tonight and so far the hip is quiet, so hopefully it stays that way.


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## Mary:)

Cat..I live near you!!! I also have started working out and notice my gerd is really bad when I do..I started Zumba. Its so much fun. Its an hour class and you dont realize that its been an hour until its over. So glad you started this thread because I have gained weight in the last year and its depressing...all around my stomach!! I blame the Humira tho!!! 

I live in Huntley just off the 90 expressway!!!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Ew, we have to do our taxes soon too.  And I hate the "bathroom workout", I'd rather jog on my arthritic hip for an hour!  Although back in the days when I was ill and flaring all the time, I recall thinking that I should have some awesome washboard abs with all the going and straining and heaving and so on that I was doing at the time.    It never happened though!  I'm still trying to get those awesome abs, ha ha.


I don't know about anyone else- but I had the nicest flattest stomach ever before I got ill with this thing (Admittedly that puts me at 16). But still - I used to complain about that way there was a tiny little curvature in it! My mum said where are your intestines supposed to go?!

Then I got ill and I got so skinny, every bone stuck out, and my stomach was rounded. It has never been flat again. I always just assumed it was inflammation. But it is like it now even though I have no pain, no bloatedness and I'm going to toilet once a day :banana: (Thought I would just put him in there for that last comment!).  

So I'm putting the stomach thing down to this illness. I don't know what it is though, scare tissue? I don't know.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hi Mary, small world isn't it!    I was on Entocort and I also gained weight all around my midsection.  It's not pretty!  It's sloooooowly going away with exercise, although I love chocolate and ice cream and all that stuff so I'm sure it would go away more quickly if my diet was better too.  Baby steps, right?    My sister-in-law does Zumba and she loves it, it helped her lose a bunch of weight too.  I've never tried it but maybe I'll accompany my sis-in-law to a class sometime.  Thanks for the suggestion!

LMV, I can SO relate!  I didn't become ill with IBD until just before I turned 30, and I had a really cute flat tummy up until then too.  I don't know if I'll ever get that cute little flat tummy back again!  My stomach is relatively flat in the mornings (like a flat tummy with a layer of Entocort flab over it, ha ha), but then with every little thing I eat or drink (even water), I bloat out more and more.  By evening, I have something of a fat round tummy, it grosses me out.  I'm in remission and am back to the same weight I was before I became ill, but my body is definitely a lot different.  I don't think it's because I'm eating a particular food that bloats me, because even water will do it.  It's just the way my body works now I guess!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Oh its sad isn't it! I wish I didn't complain about that tummy!
I'm the same as well actually that it is flatter in the morning.


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## AlliRuns

My tummy isn't flat either, some days I am so bloated that I look pregnant. I think all the bloating over the past few years has destroyed my abs. All of my running friends have nice abs


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm sure I have really nice abs, you know, underneath all the flab and the bloat.    It's nearly 2 years that I've been working out regularly and my arms & legs and even my booty are looking so much nicer and toned, but I've pretty much given up on having nice looking abs at this point.  I still do the abdominals machines and the plank position just in case, in the hopes that I might someday wake up and have a nice looking tummy again, but I've mostly conceded defeat.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/9/13:  I did it!  12.35 miles in one hour on a hill program on the exercise bike yesterday!  I really had to push myself hard to do 12 miles, but it felt great when I was done.  At one point I was pushing myself so hard that breathing started becoming difficult, so I had to dial back the intensity a little bit and then I could breathe okay again.  I knew I had to go at least 12 mph average and that was not easy to do at times.  Proud of myself!  Yeah!  

Going to lift weights at the big gym this evening.  Ordered my new juicer last night too!  I'm making more of an effort to eat as healthy as I can.  There are several fruits I can still eat, mango and berries (except for strawberries - but I can do blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc).  I had blueberries or mango every day last week.  I'm going to load up on veggies too when my new juicer arrives, I can't wait to start juicing regularly again.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

well done


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## AlliRuns

WoohoO! Never be afraid to breath hard. Makes you faster and stronger.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Alli, I was afraid of passing out!  I didn't want to fall off the bike, especially since my husband wasn't home at the time and my pets wouldn't be of much help if I hurt myself.  I usually breathe hard when I work out, but that was past the limit of my brain being able to get enough oxygen I think.


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## AlliRuns

My coach use to tell me to never be afraid to throw up during a work-out. I have passed out after workouts, but it wasn't from not being able to get enough oxygen, it was from low blood sugar.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Admittedly I'm kind of afraid to puke during a workout.    Just because I hate to barf and I think that would derail my workout entirely!  It would be awful, I can't stand vomit or vomiting, I would definitely not be in a working out mood after that happened.  Yuck!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/10/13:  I hit the gym last night with hubby and did great.  Got pretty refluxy towards the end and belched quite a lot, super classy I know.  Fortunately not many people are at the gym on a Saturday night so I think I only grossed out one person who was nearby.    It's raining and foggy today and my hip feels a little bit iffy but not nearly as bad as it gets when it snows.  I'm planning on doing an hour on the bike today, I made myself a new music playlist and am excited to listen to it while on the bike.  It's amazing how little things like that can motivate me!  I want to listen to it now but I'm telling myself I can't until I exercise, which obviously makes me want to exercise.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/11/13:  I saw my GP this morning.  Mainly for a routine yearly physical, but also to ask him if he could re-check my arthritis, as I feel like it's getting worse and maybe spreading to the other hip/lower back.  He feels that getting a fresh set of eyes on my case would be a good idea and I haven't seen a rheumatologist yet, so he's referring me there.  The referral should take up to 2 weeks and then he said it might take 2 or 3 months before I can actually get in to see a rheumy, so I'm going to be waiting awhile.  Still, I'm happy to be referred to a rheumy, I feel like that's a good step forward.  Maybe they can actually diagnose what type of arthritis I have!  Wouldn't that be nice if I could actually get one of my illnesses a proper name instead of just calling them "probably IBD" and "some type of arthritis".    I'm glad in a way that at least my GERD has a name for sure!

So anyway.  I did the bike yesterday and didn't push myself quite as hard, so I did about 11.75 miles again instead of going over 12.  Tonight I'm going to the big gym for weights, although I'm not really looking forward to it because that gym is always so crowded on Monday evenings.  It rained all weekend and my hip felt fine, but today we're supposed to get just a few snow flurries, and now I can feel the hip acting up just a little bit.  My stomach is back to normal though, no nausea whatsoever, so I'm feeling pretty good overall.


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## AlliRuns

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Update 3/11/13:  I saw my GP this morning.  Mainly for a routine yearly physical, but also to ask him if he could re-check my arthritis, as I feel like it's getting worse and maybe spreading to the other hip/lower back.  He feels that getting a fresh set of eyes on my case would be a good idea and I haven't seen a rheumatologist yet, so he's referring me there.  The referral should take up to 2 weeks and then he said it might take 2 or 3 months before I can actually get in to see a rheumy, so I'm going to be waiting awhile.  Still, I'm happy to be referred to a rheumy, I feel like that's a good step forward.  Maybe they can actually diagnose what type of arthritis I have!  Wouldn't that be nice if I could actually get one of my illnesses a proper name instead of just calling them "probably IBD" and "some type of arthritis".    I'm glad in a way that at least my GERD has a name for sure!
> 
> So anyway.  I did the bike yesterday and didn't push myself quite as hard, so I did about 11.75 miles again instead of going over 12.  Tonight I'm going to the big gym for weights, although I'm not really looking forward to it because that gym is always so crowded on Monday evenings.  It rained all weekend and my hip felt fine, but today we're supposed to get just a few snow flurries, and now I can feel the hip acting up just a little bit.  My stomach is back to normal though, no nausea whatsoever, so I'm feeling pretty good overall.


I went 7 years without a diagnosis and for 6 months up to my diagnosis, my doctor skirted around actually naming it and the he was forced too because he wanted to put me in Remicade. 

I hate crowded gyms, especially crowded with smelly army boys.. Eww


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Alli, it's been about 3.5 years so far that I've gone without a diagnosis.  I'm being treated as though I have IBD (I've been on pred & Entocort and am currently on Asacol) so at least I'm being taken seriously and treated for what I've likely got.  So it's mostly just irritating at this point that I have no diagnosis - it's not the living hell that it was the first year that I was undiagnosed and on no meds whatsoever.

Just got back from the gym - it was crowded but surprisingly not terrible.  I didn't have to wait for any machines to open up, no creepers, the hubby was with me and he was in a good mood, etc.  Nobody emitting any foul odors either as far as I could tell anyway!  My reflux even behaved itself which is kind of unusual.  All in all a good workout!  Tomorrow, the bike again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update for 3/12/13:  So, yesterday I said that my reflux was behaving itself?  The opposite of that is true today.  I hardly ever get heartburn with my GERD, but sometimes I get this weird left lung/ribcage area pain.  I didn't know what it was the first few times it happened, but on a whim I once took some Tums when I was having that pain, and it went away.  So it's apparently some sort of referred heartburn/reflux pain?  I woke up with that pain this morning.  Tums took the edge off but it's still been niggling just a bit ever since.  Sometimes if I take a deep breath, the pain gets much sharper.  And if I lie on my left side, it sometimes gets unbearable.  It's only ever on the left, which is weird.  I don't know if I'm maybe aspirating reflux into my left lung or something?  Not sure why it happens but it seems to be GERD-related anyway.

So, that's been going on all day.  I'm still going to hit the bike tonight though, I can't let something like this stand in my way.  It's uncomfortable but not too bad right now so I should be fine on the bike.  I'm used to refluxing when I work out anyway so it's not like this is anything new.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/13/13:  I did an hour on the bike again yesterday.  I didn't quite make it to 12 miles again, but I felt great!  It gets a little easier every time, and yesterday I really wasn't huffing and puffing and struggling quite as much as I usually do.  Also, no knee pain for the first time ever!  The knee pain first started when I first did an hour on the bike, but it's been gradually getting a little less painful each time I've ridden since then, and yesterday finally there was no pain at all.

Then, though, I was doing laundry and was going up and down the basement stairs, and I did feel a little knee pain then.  Nothing bad at all though and only when I was on the stairs.  My legs feel really strong, too.  When I touch my thighs they don't feel so flabby & jiggly anymore - they feel strong and muscular!  There's still some flab and jiggle, but it's being replaced with muscle and that feels amazing.  If my abs could just follow suit, I'd be so happy!  

Going to lift weights in a bit.  Hopefully the big gym isn't too busy tonight.  The GERD has been quiet today and the arthritis has been mostly quiet so it should be a pretty good workout if my body continues behaving itself.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/14/13:  I had a good workout yesterday although the reflux did kick in, which is not unusual, so I spent the latter half of my workout belching.  My legs feel tired today, I think I've been doing too much.  I was going to ride the bike for an hour tonight, but I think I'm going to go a little easy on myself and do 30 mins on the bike and 30 mins of yoga instead.  Tomorrow is weights again - I really like lifting on Friday nights because usually the gym is pretty empty.  Hubby's work schedule is changing again so he may actually be able to come to the gym with me tomorrow (usually he works Fri evenings).

It's snowing AGAIN and my hip is aching a little bit.  So, so, so sick of this weather!


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## AlliRuns

Cold here again today, it was so warm earlier this week, mother nature is mixing it up.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It's been much colder than average here for March.  Last year it was the opposite - I remember last year, it was really warm (like 70+ degrees!) on St. Patrick's day, and my whole family wore t-shirts to the parade.  This year it sounds like it will be a high temp of 32 (or zero for those who use celsius!) on St. Pats.  We always go to the St. Pats parade but we will be cold this year!  That's pretty much how it's been, it was so warm in early spring last year but this year is much colder and snowier on average.  My hip does not like that.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Ours has been cold as well! But it was a bit warmer today. I went for a short walk to the shops and it was nice.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/15/13:  My legs were too tired to do much of anything yesterday, so I just did yoga instead of the bike.  That felt pretty good although my legs are still a bit tired today.  The hip is acting up too because we're getting, guess what, more snow!  They're saying only 2 inches of snow today but freezing rain & sleet in addition to that, yuck.  Hopefully the roads are not too bad this evening because I plan on going to the gym for weights.  The hubby's work schedule did get changed so he gets to go to the gym with me tonight, yay.  I'm really tired though, this has been a long week and I had such a hard time adjusting to Daylight Savings time so my energy is pretty sapped.  I'm so ready for this week to be over!


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## Beach

That's wonderful Cat that you are really sticking with the workouts!  Congrats!  Sounds like you will be ready for outdoor activities once the warmer weather moves into the area.  Hopfully that will be soon.  As always here in the midwest,  the cold snowy weather lasts to long.       

I'm just checking in quick, taking a bit of time off from working out myself!  I have to rest the tired bones from time to time.  Spring/summer tennis hitting is coming soon.  Good fun, enjoy chasing after little green fuzzy balls, but it stresses the body pretty good.  My legs will be rubbery by the end of the outdoor season.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Beach!  I'm making a big effort to do some form of exercise every day if I can.  My body is responding well for the most part, and I'm enjoying it.  It's not always easy, sometimes at the end of a long day I would rather just crawl into bed than hit the gym, but I make myself do it anyway - and I'm always glad I did, too.  I never regret a workout.

One side effect of this is that I'm fitting into clothes better and that's becoming dangerous, ha ha!  Back when I was so ill and flaring all the time, the weight dropped right off of me, and I was skinny to begin with.  To cheer myself up, sometimes I'd buy really cute tiny clothes - they fit back then (they don't anymore!) and I felt like the weight loss was the one benefit I was getting out of being so sick, so I used it to feel better about myself.  Then came the steroids and I gained all my weight back and then some.  No more size XS clothes for me!  I can still fit into a size small depending on the brand, I'm more like a small/medium now.  But now, I'm back to the same weight I was when I was healthy, and apart from my flabby tummy, my body is looking nice & fit so I fit into cute clothes nicely (although not size XS).  So I've been shopping and that's dangerous, because I'm finding a lot of things look cute on me!  It's payday today so I went to the ATM on my lunch break and took out my budgeted amount of weekend fun money... and then immediately blew it all on clothes!  Oops, ha ha.  I justified the purchase by getting one workout top in addition to a few other things.  "Oh, I'm just buying clothes for the gym, really, it's a sensible purchase, really..."


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Haha, its nice to spend money on your self like that sometimes though 
I haven't splashed out on myself in so long having no job and no money coming in 
Me and my sister went into the shop sweaty betty today which has really nice sports clothes. Its quite expensive but it was nice to look at 
We both want to buy sports bras but have no money!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh yeah LMV, some of those cute little shops that sell workout clothes are SO expensive!  I've found a few sports bras (new with the tags still on them) at thrift shops and yard sales, so keep your eye out at those kinds of places.  I literally once got a brand new Victoria's Secret sports bra in my size for free - it in a "free" box at a garage sale - score!  I can't afford that stuff brand new either, I went to the thrift shop for today's clothes shopping.  There are a bunch of thrift shops in my city, some are high-end and stuff is still ridiculously overpriced - I skip those shops altogether.  There's one thrift shop near here that carries nice stuff but isn't too expensive, and that's the one I was at today.  And then there are the icky thrift shops where stuff is really cheap but usually not nice, but sometimes you get lucky and find something nice, so I check those out on ocassion too.  So anyway, yeah, I spent a chunk of money but didn't break the bank or anything, and I got some nice stuff.  The workout top I got fits really nice, it's a dark blue short-sleeve top made out of that fancy workout fabric that I don't remember the name of.  Ha ha.  I also got a jacket, a sweater, and a hooded top and they're all really cute.  I may or may not have a jacket addiction.    I cannot resist a cute jacket and this one is really cute!  Just because I bought a jacket last week doesn't mean I didn't need this one too...


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## Beach

Today was one of those pull the covers over, stay in bed days for me!  Don't know, just kind of a funky, run down day, bla.  We all get those from time to time I suppose.  I should be back with it, into the exercise groove this weekend!  I'm in the yo-yo weight gain loss, cloth buying club too!  It can be addictive.  And good fun.  Few benefits of having an IBD?  Possibly. Hope the new cloths are a hit!  I think blue is the "in" color this summer.  I've seen it highlighted everywhere, it seems.


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## AlliRuns

I have to admit to having a workout clothes addiction.. The expensive kind. I made the mistake of buying a pair of Lululemon shorts a few years ago when I got promoted (couldn't afford it before that) it kind of spiralled. Oops! I own more workout clothes than regular clothes, but of course I wear a uniform to work so I don't really need "real" clothes.


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## Beach

As mentioned in another thread, had a nice workout this morning!  Glad I did it.  With out weights did around 150 squats, 60 calf raises, and many lunges.  By lunges my mind was to tired and worn out for counting accuracy.  

Helped warm me up, and get me going!  Now off to the hardware store for some home repair goods, and a stop off at the tailors.  I picked up a pair of blue colored pants.  I suspect the pants were intended for nordic tall giants.  They need hemming.


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## Chay

I just started reading this from the beginning THANK you I've been driving myself crazy with fear of the gym, thinking a weak Crohnie couldn't possibly be successful in implementing a strength building routine although (this is the "least weak" I've felt in a long time.) This was the push and confirmation I needed. Very inspiring Cat :cheers::cheers:


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Chay, you can do it!  I was weak when I started out, but I've been working out regularly for awhile now (close to 2 years!) and I just get stronger and stronger.  I still have bad days, and I'm sure things are still more challenging for me than for a healthy person, but that just makes me want to get fit even more.    It makes me work harder and want to overcome the challenges my illnesses put in front of me.

My update for 3/17/13:  I had a really good weekend!  I walked the dog yesterday, which was quite challenging because it had rained on Friday and then froze, so the dog park was a field of ice again.  I made it through without falling though so I consider that a success!  Then I rode the stationary bike yesterday for an hour, but I think my craigslist bike is dying.  The display isn't working properly, but it's still usable.  For something that cost me a whole $25, I've certainly gotten a lot of use out of it.  I'm a bit of a tinkerer so I'm going to play around with it and see if I can fix it.  Anyway.  Today I saw my parents for St. Patrick's day and then hit the gym afterwards for weights.  My hamstrings feel a bit sore now but otherwise I feel good.

Oh, and we got our new juicer on Friday!    Hubby and I went to the grocery store and bought a whole bunch of produce to juice.  I had some juice that was primarily carrots, then I poo'ed orange for 2 days.  Hmmm.  We made green juice today (mostly kale & spinach) so I'm wondering if I'll poo green now.  I haven't juiced in awhile so I'm hoping the orange poo is just because my body wasn't used to juice.  I'm hoping to have juice as often as I can because I know I don't get enough nutrients from natural sources.  Even if I continue to poo the color of my juice, surely I'm still getting some nutrients and not pooing them all out... right?


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## Chay

I did my first at home body weight work out this morning and while it took me a half hour longer than I anticipated I didn't quit and it felt good. All of you ladies are inspiring and I also struggle with the slim frame and round tummy look. My goal is to gain muscle and flexibility with out loosing weight and I intend to do this with weights, cardio and yoga. 

If it's not too much trouble, can you please post your set/weight routine Cat-A-Tonic? Or anyone else that has similar goals as the ones I stated. I would appreciate it! Looking forward to starting the gym when I get paid this month for now youtube is my fitness instructor! :ybiggrin: 

Chay


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Honestly, I just do whatever weight machines are in the gym.  I go to 2 different gyms.  In the little gym that's in my workplace, there are 8 machines - 2 for legs (quads & hamstrings), 1 abdominals machine (sometimes I have to skip that one), and the other 5 are arms/shoulders/back.  Biceps, triceps, forward press, upward press, and a rowing one (that one is mostly for the back).  The big gym I go to has all those plus others - there's machines for lower back, inner thighs, hips, calves, several different abdominals machines, etc.  I do everything I can although I usually limit myself to one abdominals machine, because I reflux too much and get too close to vomiting if I do more than one per workout.  I do the heaviest weight I can comfortably do, and try to do 12 to 15 reps per machine.  I lift weights every other day, with cardio or sometimes yoga on the days I'm not lifting.  I have lost a little weight since I started exercising, but not much and I needed to lose it - I'm now back to my "healthy" weight and am maintaining that.


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## Beach

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Oh, and we got our new juicer on Friday!    Hubby and I went to the grocery store and bought a whole bunch of produce to juice.  I had some juice that was primarily carrots, then I poo'ed orange for 2 days.  Hmmm.  We made green juice today (mostly kale & spinach) so I'm wondering if I'll poo green now.  I haven't juiced in awhile so I'm hoping the orange poo is just because my body wasn't used to juice.  I'm hoping to have juice as often as I can because I know I don't get enough nutrients from natural sources.  Even if I continue to poo the color of my juice, surely I'm still getting some nutrients and not pooing them all out... right?


Made me chuckle seeing this - it might be more of a guy thing, but have to admit, if telling friends the day after St. Patricks Day that the poo is green and it is due to the large amount of green vegetables eaten and drunk the day before - you're likely to see a few eye rolls.  :lol2:  (Of course it makes good sense on this sight!)  

Glad the workouts continue to go well, and the juicer arrived, and already getting a workout too.  I might have to buy a juicer myself some day in the future.  I've enjoyed V8 juice in the past.  Figure it could be similar to that.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I was going to ask about weights as well. I realised I definitely haven't improved or concentrated on them as much as I have with the cardio. 
I don't really like some of the machines, or know how to use them so I only use two, then do some free weights. 
How do you know when to weight up?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, on the weight machines I use, there are instructions printed right on the machines as to how to use them - hopefully the machines at your gym also have instructions printed on them.  You can also ask someone who works in the gym about how to use the machines if you're still unsure.  

As for when to add weight, my understanding is that ideally, your muscles should be pushed to the point that you just can't do any more when you get to 12-15 or so reps.  If you can do that number of reps easily and feel like you could do more, it's time to add more weight - and if you can't get to even 10 reps, take a little weight off.  That's what I've been doing, and it's working quite well for me.  When I get to the point where I can do more reps, I add 5 lbs and that makes it challenging again.  So it doesn't take much.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/19/13.  I was just not feeling it yesterday!  I made myself do the bike anyway but it was a struggle.  I felt wiped out, and I only did about 45 mins instead of an hour.  I sometimes have issues with Mondays, I never sleep well Sunday nights and I slept particularly poorly this week, so I was exhausted yesterday.  I got a much better night's sleep last night so I'm doing the weights today and am optimistic that today will be a much better workout than yesterday.


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## AlliRuns

I never sleep well on Sunday night's either. I have problems sleeping in general, but Sundays are definitely the worse.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Well done cat! Its great you did that even when you weren't feeling it!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Alli, glad to hear I'm not alone.  What is up with Sunday nights?  Is it just that I'm all thrown off from the weekend and have a hard time getting back to my work week sleep schedule?  I *do* love to sleep in on the weekends so maybe that's it.

LMV, thank you.    It was tough, I did what I could.

Update 3/20/13.  I hit the little gym yesterday for weights and that went great.  After having an "off" day on Monday where I just didn't want to work out, I got right back into it yesterday and wanted to work out and felt great doing it.    Tonight I'm planning on hitting the bike again - hopefully it will go much better than Monday!  I find that even though I do basically the same cardio (exercise bike) over and over again, I can keep things fresh as long as I have good music to listen to.  So I've got a new music playlist on youtube and I also put some new songs on my ipod.  There's also a show I want to watch on my Roku box so I am spoiled for entertainment lately!  Not sure which option I'm going to take on my bike ride tonight.  

I still have to try to fix my bike's display too - I remembered that we don't have a power cord for it, so the display has been running off of battery power, and it's the display that has been acting funny lately.  I'm hoping that just replacing the batteries will fix the issue.  How nice would that be!  If that doesn't do it then I might have to take some things apart and see if I can see anything out of whack.  I don't know much about electronics, but tinkering really isn't very difficult.  I took apart our VCR when I was a kid because it wasn't working right - I found a gear that wasn't hitting its mark, so I put it back into position and then it worked fine.  And more recently I had a roomba that wasn't working right - took it apart, and found the gear box was clogged with dog hair.  I suspect that if there's an issue with my bike apart from the batteries, then it's probably beyond my scope of repair, but I'll try anyway.  Hopefully it just needs batteries!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for tonight:  I did an hour on the bike and felt great!  Also, fixed my bike, it did just need new batteries.    I feel SO much better than I did on Monday.  It's amazing what a decent night's sleep will do.


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## AlliRuns

Excellent! Good job!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/21/13.  I'm having a bit of a bad tummy day but nothing major, and I'm still definitely going to hit the gym for weights in a few hours.  Bad tummy day somewhat due to stress and somewhat due to food.  Work got pizza delivered in today, and I just could not resist a few slices.  Fortunately I had lactaid enzyme pills and Zofran on hand and I needed both.    Stressed because we're finally doing our taxes today.  And when I say we, I mean my hubby is doing most of the work, and I'm thankful for that.  But it's still stressful.  So yeah, pizza + taxes = Cat is feeling a little bit urpy.

But yeah, still hitting the gym tonight in spite of not feeling 100% today.  I am looking forward to it, there's no stress relief in the world like getting a good workout.    If only going to the gym could combat a pizza binge...


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/22/13:  I hit the gym as planned yesterday and felt pretty well.  My diet totally fell off the wagon yesterday though!  Pizza at lunch,  cookie for my snack, and then a sandwich with greasy cheese on it for dinner - shameful.  I've been eating much healthier today - had some oatmeal this morning and hard boiled eggs as a snack.  Going to hit the bike tonight, weights again tomorrow.  Maybe someday springtime will actually come to Wisconsin and I will be able to ride my bike outside, but for now I'm still riding the stationary bike in my guest bedroom.  Sigh!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

We don't have spring yet either! Just heard on the news we are having the coldest march for 50 years. 10-11C below average! Not fun!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, that's how it is here too, we have nothing even resembling spring here.  The ground is still covered with snow and there are no flowers, nothing is green.  My dad said the flowers are starting to come up in his yard (in another city), but in my yard there is only snow.  Our temps are way below normal too for this time of year.  I read that someone is actually suing a groundhog, because on Groundhog's Day the groundhog predicted an early spring.  You know winter is getting ridiculous when you sue an animal for lying!  
http://www.metro.us/newyork/news/na...hil-seeks-death-penalty-for-being-dirty-liar/

Yep, so I think I'm addicted to buying workout clothes.  Went to Target a little while ago and they had a couple of cute sports bras in my size on the clearance rack for like $6 each.  They fit pretty well so I bought both.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

We luckily don't have any snow, and have some flowers. The blossoms have started to come out but it doesn't feel right!
They do keep predicting snow though and I think they have some up north!


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## AlliRuns

Cat, there are worse addictions. I like the sport bras at Target. The last one I got was purple and lime green  I do buy expensive sport bras once a year though, I get a reimbursement up to $160 each year from work.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

We have a 30% chance of snow here over the weekend (downgraded from 80% chance so hopefully it won't snow!).  We've had so much snow here this winter, it's just been ridiculous.  We usually get a fair amount of snow but not like we've had this winter.

Alli, I didn't see any purple/lime green ones.  I got a hot pink one and a black one with zebra/tiger stripes.  How cool that you get reimbursed for stuff like this!  I could get soooo much stuff with $160 - I'm quite thrifty and only really buy clothes from thrift/consignment shops or off of clearance racks, or even at garage sales.


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## AlliRuns

I wanted the zebra stripes last time I was there, but there were no XS left :-( 
Our bra reimbursement is up to 160, but it's a maximum of 4, so I think of it as an excuse to shop at Lulelemon. Tax payers dollars hard at work. I'm sure with all the budget cutbacks lately though that the sports bra entitlement will disappear soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ah, I see.  In that case then I'd get spendy too.    And for what it's worth, I'd feel better about my tax dollars going to workout gear than to political pork projects or war or whatever.

Another quick update for tonight:  I hit the bike and felt good for the first 30 mins.  Then my stupid knee started hurting and I started running out of steam.  I wanted to quit but kept going, and pushed through it.  My knee stopped hurting and I felt more energetic the last 10 minutes or so.  Glad I kept up with it, I made it through for the full hour!    Hitting the gym for weights tomorrow, then going to head to the grocery store for more fruit & veggies to juice.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Ahh, I spoke too soon! I've woken up to snow this morning! I have to get to Dorset for my friends's (twins) bday! I'll be ok as long as the trains are running!


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## Jam300

No snow here in Brighton thankfully, though apparently it's started back home in London. Still on the waiting list for the gym, but in the meantime i've been playing around with my house mates dumbells.


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## Beach

I can remember when moving from the warm sunny south to here in the chilly mid-west of the US.  It didn't take me long to grow a dislike for the cold windy weather.  That year I bought a calendar and began X'ing the days till the first day of spring.  And on that day, it snowed.  :yrolleyes:

Official warnings are out saying 5 to 8 inches of snow expected here today.  It has the possibility of being the worst snow storm of the year.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yikes, everybody's getting snow!  They're saying snow for us tomorrow but today should be okay.  So I'm going to walk the dog today but maybe not tomorrow.

Beach, living in a climate that includes winter makes me REALLY appreciate summer.    I imagine living down south is kinda like having summer all year long, and while that would be nice, absence of summer definitely makes the heart grow fonder for it.


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## Beach

Cat - when I first moved here to the mid-west so many people came up to me saying how lucky I must feel to live in Illinois where there are 4 seasons.  It was ridiculous.  Began to joke that I didn't realize how ruff I've had it living in Florida.  

The mid-west does not have 4 seasons!  There are two, winter and wham suddenly summer!  Well, at least that is the case here in central Illinois.  I was told yesterday Chicago has 4 seasons.  (really?)  

California, where some of the most beautiful weather in the nation can be found and where I lived as a child tends to have 4 seasons.  I always liked it out west too with the rolling golden hills and low humidity.  The largest hill we have around here is the highway overpass.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, Chicago has a discernable spring & fall, so does Wisconsin.  Although there is the old joke, there are only 2 seasons in Wisconsin, winter and road construction.


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## Ya noy

Beach said:


> Official warnings are out saying 5 to 8 inches of snow expected here today.  It has the possibility of being the worst snow storm of the year.


What?!  It better not!  I've think we've had more than our fair share of snow already this year.


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## Beach

I know!  Rather frightening.  Winter was nice and mild, relatively speaking, and now Spring starts off with this.  I've been re-checking the winter storm warnings from time to time to see if the forecast is revised downward.   That typically seems to happen here.  I'm guessing the same case in Chicago.  I see though the weather guys are sticking with their story, with the latest news showing the worst of the storm dumping right over where I'm at, beginning later this evening, early tomorrow!  

Oh well, at least this time of year when it does snow it doesn't remain around long.  Don't imagine there will be any spring time tornado sirens going off with a snow storm.  The siren is close to my place, next to a Catholic school, giving one an extra jolt.  I stocked up on essential supplies this morning.  Gassed up the SUV, and should have enough chocolate and water to make it through the storm. 

Kind of chuckling about this, the local hill begins a year long road construction in a few days.           

"Work set for April 1 to replace Windsor Road bridge over I-57" 

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/ro...-1-replace-windsor-road-bridge-over-i-57.html


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## Cat-a-Tonic

5 to 8 inches is not so bad.  We've had at least 2 storms already this winter where we got over a foot of snow.  In the worst storm this year, we got 18 inches of heavy wet snow (that was so tough to shovel!).

Update for 3/23/13:  I walked the dog this morning - that was interesting.  It's been sunny and slightly above freezing, so the ice field in the dog park has been thawing somewhat.  This meant that the dog park is now about half ice and half mud, fun.  After a long walk with the dog, hubby and I hit the gym for weights.  That felt quite good, although my legs were already kind of tired from walking the dog.  Then we went grocery shopping and bought way too much stuff, a lot of produce to juice mostly.  I'm going to rest for the remainder of the evening, did a lot today and am feeling like I deserve to be lazy for a bit.  Tomorrow, I think I'm going to do 30 mins on the bike and 30 mins of yoga.  The legs are tired and don't want to overdo it.


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## Beach

Spoken as a true northern!  For here this will be a good amount of snow fall.  It doesn't appear that it will last long thankfully as temps I see are to be above freezing days afterward.  

Should not be a problem, but I'll need to give up the truck I've been driving later next week to a friend.  My Florida car, that has been sitting in a garage, isn't made for slick weather.  I imagine I'll be fine, but a bit concerned about it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My car isn't made for winter either - I drive a Toyota Echo.    She's cute and tiny and super reliable and gets great gas mileage, but she doesn't do very well in snow.  Still, I haven't really had any issues, I've driven her every winter since I got her in 2004.  You just have to go slow and give yourself plenty of time to brake, and don't drive if you don't have to in snowy/icy conditions.

My dog absolutely loves snow so that's the one bright side of winter.  When we get fresh snow, she runs all around in it so fast, freaking out because she's so happy.  She's a total spaz but it's her favorite thing.  My dog spent the first 2 years of her life in California, then her former owners moved here but couldn't keep her, so I got her.  I think she must have hated California.  Her first blizzard here, oh she was so thrilled, she was like swimming through the snow.  She's seriously the happiest dog ever when it snows.


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## AlliRuns

I had a Dodge Neon until I experienced a New Brunswick winter from hell and decided that was enough of that, so now I have a Santa Fe  We have two cars though, my husband's car is a small car, Elantra, so we drive that around town (when there's no snow). We will probably get rid of one car if the decision finally comes that I will be released from the CF, but I'm not sure which one we'll keep. Love my Santa Fe, but it's a gas pig in the city. 

One of my dogs loves the snow to, her favourite thing, well everything is her favourite thing, the other one absolutely despises it.


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## Beach

I have a Ford Escape Hybrid two wheel drive.  It gets great gas milage, but with its special friction resistant tires it has a tough time handling even slick rainy weather.  I imagine I'll do well for a few days driving it in questionable weather.  I'll need to be extra careful when out and about.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/24/13.  Fortunately we didn't get much snow, just a dusting.  We mostly stayed in and rested today.  My legs were pretty tired but I managed 30 mins on a hill program on my bike - and since I only planned to do 30 mins from the get-go, I pushed myself harder than usual.  My legs feel pretty good now but still tired too.  I'm going to attempt to go to bed early tonight in the hopes that I can get a halfway decent night's rest on a Sunday night - wish me luck!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Luckily our snow wasn't too bad, was only really in my area so I was able to get away for the weekend.


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## hawkeye

Still snow on the ground here, although this time last week it was mostly gone.  We got about 15 cm (6") last Tuesday / Wednesday.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/25/13:  Hubby and I are hitting the gym this evening and we're trying something new.  The gym is usually SO busy on Monday evenings, but it seems to get quieter and emptier as the evening goes on, so we're going to go a little bit later than usual and see if that makes it easier on us.  I hate waiting for machines to open up and just don't like it in general when it's crowded.  Hopefully a little change will make a big difference.  I feel like I get a better workout when not many people are in the gym and I can just do my thing without others getting in my way.  Wish me luck!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/26/13.  Well, our plan from yesterday did not work.  We went to the gym later than usual but it was still crazy busy.  Going later meant we got home later and so I didn't end up eating dinner until about 8:30 PM.  I had forgotten that my guts really don't like it when I eat too late in the evening, so as a result I'm having a bit of a bad tummy day today.  Going to ride the bike tonight.  Also, it's supposedly going to be 50 degrees by the weekend!  I'm going to ask hubby to fill my bike tires with air, and hopefully I might be able to take my actual bike out for a spin on Saturday!  Could it be, is it finally actually springtime?  I hope so!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I hope you get some springtime! 
Our weather forecast predicts it will still be cold over the easter weekend


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/27/13:  I did another hour on the bike last night, and pushed myself to do 12 miles again.    That felt great.  I'm planning on hitting the little gym today for weights.  However, last night as I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep, I felt these sharp shooting pains in the back of my head.  Managed to fall asleep anyway and slept well, but woke up with a bad headache.  Not sure why that is.  My sinuses are affected too - my sinuses always act up when I get a headache (I messed up my sinuses when I was a kid, I broke my nose at age 11 and it was never set properly and as a result I have sinus & nasal issues still).  So I'm feeling congested and my head is kind of throbbing.  It's not fun.  But I'm still going to the gym, I'm determined not to let health stuff/pain stop me when at all possible.  Wish me luck because I might need it!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I hit the gym in spite of the headache and I did really well.  I went slightly slower than I normally go (I stopped to breathe and walk around a little bit in between machines, where normally I'd just hop from one weight machine to the next), but I was able to accomplish everything I wanted to.  I feel much better now too!  The headache is mostly gone and my sinuses feel much better too.  I was hoping to rest up this evening, but it's my turn to cook dinner (hubby works late tonight) plus I have to do laundry, so no rest for the wicked I guess.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/28/13:  The headache from yesterday is gone, but today my left knee is hurting for some unknown reason.  It's the same knee that hurts sometimes when I ride the exercise bike and it's a similar pain.  I'm planning on riding the exercise bike tonight but I'm a little worried that might just make the knee pain worse, so I'm not going to push myself too hard at first.  I've ridden the bike with knee pain before so it's not like this is anything new, but usually the pain goes away when my workout is over, and it's never spontaneously started hurting like this before.  Hmm, frustrating, but I think I can push through it.

Speaking of joint pain and frustration, my referral to rheumatology got messed up somehow, so now they have to re-submit the referral.  I knew it was going to be a long wait to get an appointment, but just the referral alone is taking ages!  It's been 3 weeks already and I still don't even have an appointment.  

I can end this post on some good news though - it's finally springtime!  The weather today is finally not so cold, it's sunny and gorgeous out and the snow is melting, and that's just done wonders for my mood.  I'm hoping to go on a bike ride outside soon now that the weather is so nice.  I asked hubby if he could take a look at my bicycle as one of the tires is pretty flat.  Hopefully that's just from it not being used all winter, but it might need to be repaired.  I was hoping to go for a ride on Saturday but there's a 60% chance of rain, so that'll be tire-dependent and weather-dependent I guess.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/30/13:  I didn't have a chance to update yesterday, hubby and I were so busy all day.  I took the day off of work and we drove down to Illinois (Northwest Chicago suburbs area) to do some shopping, then drove back home and hit the gym.  The gym at like 8 PM on a Friday night is awesome, it was so empty in there!  But we were exhausted by the time we got home from the gym at about 9:30.  Long day!  Today I walked the dog, am going to clean the house, and then will either hit the bike or do some yoga, depending on how tired I am.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/1/13.  Work has been insane today!  I'm feeling stressed.  Going to ride the exercise bike tonight as far and as fast as I can to de-stress.  We had like one nice spingtimey warm-ish day, but now it's back to cold (like 35 degrees) and really windy and feels like winter again (it snowed again yesterday!), so I haven't gotten my real bike outside yet.  Hubby and I did the weights last night after visiting with my parents - visiting family is also a stressful situation, so I was glad to go to the gym afterwards and de-stress.  I don't like holidays except for Halloween.  Anyway, yeah, bike tonight.  I got a new hula hoop the other day too as I've been meaning to do more hooping - it seems like a good abdominal exercise but is not rough on the tummy area.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Apparently in the UK this Easter has been the coldest on record! (this seems to be the thread where I update you on my weather!!)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

No worries, LMV, update me on the weather all you want, it's interesting to me.    That's terrible that it was the coldest Easter on record where you are!  Our Easter was cold but not the coldest so I can't complain too much I guess.  We did a bit of bird-watching outside yesterday as there's a great gray owl hanging out in a suburb of my city and that type of owl hardly ever comes around these parts, and it was really cool to see the owl, but it was super windy and so cold!  We looked at the owl for all of 5 minutes, then went back to my house to warm up and to drink some hot chocolate!  Brrr!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Thats cool about the owl 
My house is right next to some woodland and sometimes when I'm in bed I can hear an owl and its so cozy to be cuddled up in bed listening to an owl.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That's cool!  When was much younger and I lived with my parents in a different city, sometimes we'd have a screech owl come around at night, but that was hardly relaxing (they really do screech!).    Now I live in a fairly large city and we don't get many owls, I haven't seen any near my house and I only knew about the great grey owl because people were posting online about where it had been spotted, so we knew right where to look.  There was a crowd of maybe 30 people standing in the street next to a tree, so that was how we knew where the owl was specifically.    The owl didn't seem bothered by the people at all though, and he looked right at my camera for one picture which was really cool.  So it was worth it to brave the cold to see that.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/2/13:  I rode the bike last night and that felt really good.  I did an hour on the hill program, and I was sweating like crazy, but I felt like I could do even more.  It was past 7 PM though and I have to eat dinner before 8 PM or else my guts get unhappy, so I didn't go further.  When the weather finally gets nice, I am going to go for a nice long bike ride outside!  I have a route in mind, not too far but fairly far, with some long rolling hills.  I can't wait to try it - just have to wait a little longer for springtime I guess!  The sun is shining today but the high is only in the 30s again.  I think it's supposed to get up into the 50s by the weekend, but it's also supposed to rain.  Boo.

Today I'm going to hit the little gym for weights on my lunch hour.  I often work out after work, but since I'm going on my lunch, that means my evening is free.  So, I'm planning on pampering myself a bit this evening.    My gray hairs are making a re-appearance, so I have a box of hair dye at home calling my name.  I also want to do my nails and just generally relax and listen to some nice music.  Hubby works late tonight so it'll just be me, and I really want to do something nice for myself and relax too.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Your evening plans sound lush! I need to do my nails and do a face mask at some point


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## jwfoise

Just noticed this thread Cat-a-Tonic.  I wish you the best of luck, but the title of the thread makes me laugh: "Cat's Exercise Diary" makes me think about the "exercise" that our two feline cats get and what their diary might look like....

Day 1 - Ate usual two meals.  Only got about 18 hours of sleep, felt drowsy the rest of the day.  Moved to sunny window in afternoon.

Day 2 - Caught up a little on sleep, almost 20 hours.  Person 2 was moving a ribbon around and I chased it for about 2 minutes - I'm exhausted.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Jwfoise, that pretty much sounds like my cat's typical day too.    My cat's would specifically go something like, "Took a nap, hissed at the dog, took a nap, ate something I found in the basement, took a nap, got hair all over everything, took a nap, drank water from the dog's bowl even though I have an expensive cat drinking fountain of my own, took a nap, barfed, took a nap."


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## jwfoise

Years ago I saw a "Cat watch".  Instead of numbers (1, 2, 3...) around the dial it had "sleep, sleep, sleep, eat, sleep, sleep, sleep, play, sleep, eat, sleep, sleep"


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/3/13:  I'm not feeling great today.  If you didn't see my other thread, long story short I've been eating cottage cheese regularly lately, but I think it's making me bleed.  At any rate, there was a little blood in the toilet today and my stomach is fairly unsettled.  I'm still hoping to hit the bike tonight.  I may take it easier than usual though.  I'm grumpy because it feels like every time I try to give my body something healthy, it freaks out and I get pain/d/nausea/bleeding/whatever.  I am rocking it at exercise, why can't I do well at all with diet??  It's so frustrating.  Juicing seems to be the one and only healthy thing I can have in my diet.  But I need solid food too, I cannot subsist on juice alone.  This just drives me nuts!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

That sounds so frustrating! You will feel better about yourself after an hour on your bike, even if you do take it slower. What happens if you eat mostly plain solids with the juicing?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, I can eat carbs and protein just fine, but it seems unhealthy to me to eat basically the same thing every day.  A typical day, like yesterday for example, I had a small breakfast - an Ensure and one of those "Skinny cow" chocolate bars.  Tuna sandwich on white bread for lunch, chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner.  It's bland and not particularly healthy.  So instead of Ensure, I'll sometimes have fresh juice for breakfast and that makes me feel healthier - but I'm still having all that other bland, white stuff the rest of the day.  I would love to have a salad but that's just not happening.  If I have a snack, I used to snack on junk food (candy or potato chips) so lately I've been trying to swap out that stuff for healthier food (hence the cottage cheese).  I seem to digest mango okay as well so sometimes I'll have a mango for a snack, but I can't have mango every day (it's expensive and not always available at the store) and most other fruits/veg/healthy foods cause me problems.  Even in remission, my diet is so limited and so many foods still cause me trouble.  So I still end up eating a lot of low-res foods because I know they're safe - they're not healthy though.  Me being frustrated about one food causing me trouble, it's just another food to add to the long list of foods that cause me trouble.  It's an ongoing frustration really.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Yeah it must be really annoying! Have you ever seen a dietitian/nutritionist. With all your different things it definitely makes it harder!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, I have not seen a dietician nor a nutritionist.  It is probably something I should do, I'll add it to the long list of things I need to do to get my health on track.  The list so far is:  I need to get my arthritis figured out (what type of arthritis do I have, has it spread or worsened, etc), I need to get my brain figured out (do I have Asperger's or am I just introverted with OCD), I obviously need to get my guts figured out (do I have IBD for sure, and what type), I need to get my GERD figured out (why is my GERD so severe when my hiatal hernia is small and sliding), and I need to get my liver figured out (why do I have benign tumors on it, what caused them, do they need to be removed, etc).  Phew!  That's just the list off the top of my head, I'm sure there's more than that.  That's the main stuff though.  

Update 4/4/13:  I rode the bike last night and did a full hour and that went okay.  It didn't make me feel worse.  I still feel pretty crappy today though, nauseous and having some d, but not bleeding any more.  It depresses me when something like that happens, I'm not normally a bleeder and it's so worrisome when I do pass blood, even though it was just a little bit.  I'm not flaring so it seems to be just a really bad reaction to food.  I slept okay but I feel exhausted today, having any symptoms just takes the wind right out of my sails and fatigues me.  Still, I'm not giving up.  I told hubby we're going to the gym tonight regardless of how I feel.  I have to try.  As long as I don't pass out or puke in the gym, I'll consider it a success.  Wish me luck!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/5/13.  I feel much better today!  I was still feeling yucky yesterday evening but decided I just had to try doing my workout, and I'm so glad I did.  I had been feeling dizzy and weak, but I felt so much better as soon as I started working out.  I took it a little bit easy (I avoided the abdominals machines).  I felt so much better afterwards and am still feeling pretty good today.  No more nausea, I haven't passed any blood yesterday nor today, and my bowels are getting back to normal.  I still feel fairly tired, but I can sleep late over the weekend so I'm not too concerned about that.  Tonight I'll ride the exercise bike.  Today it's still kind of cold out, and tomorrow it's supposed to be warmer but rainy, so I just haven't had a good day yet where I can ride the bike outside.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Glad you are feeling better  x


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/6/13:  I feel great today, no tummy issues whatsoever.  I did an hour on the exercise bike last night and was able to push myself and no issues there.  I just got back from the gym and I did all the weights, including the abdominals machine, and that felt fine too.  Oh, and tomorrow, it might be sort of warm (high temp 57 degrees) and it might not rain!  So I may actually be able to ride my bike outside!  Today it's about 60 out, but it's rainy and really windy, so no bike ride today.  I'm optimistic about tomorrow though!  Wish me luck!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/7/13:  I was hoping to ride the bike outside today, but it's still too cold & windy for me.  Boo!  I walked the dog and got quite chilled, it's not quite feeling like springtime yet!  I checked the forecast and it's supposed to rain all next week, yuck!  So no bike ride outside in the near future for me.  Sigh!  At least I got outside, but I didn't enjoy it.    I'll either ride the stationary bike or do some yoga tonight, depending on how tired I am.  Hubby got called in to work today because his boss hurt her leg, so that leaves me to do all the stuff around the house today.  Hm, I'm not liking this weekend!  Bad weather and chores, no fun!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I actually sat out in the garden today for the first time! Not for too long but it was warm enough


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, you're brave, ha ha.  My neighbors next door have a bunch of kids, and their kids were all outside playing football (American football) all day today.  I kept looking out the window and thinking they must be cold!  I was too chilled from walking the dog, brr.  I think it would be nice out if it weren't windy (and according to the weather report it wasn't supposed to be windy today, so that's upsetting), the sun is shining and it's trying to warm up, but the wind still has a frigid bite to it.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Haha, its been lovely and sunny the last few days but still cold. But this weekend its been a bit warmer. My parents were outside for a while so I thought I should go out. It was nice


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/8/13:  I did some yoga last night and that felt pretty good, but my back has been bothering me.  It was aching off and on so I decided to do some yoga in the hopes that it would stretch out my back and make me feel better, but it's still aching.  I get these lower back pains sometimes where it kind of feels like my back isn't fitting together quite right, like something's just a bit out of place.  If I move in certain ways then the spot that doesn't fit right feels pinched and I get some sharp pains.  I'm going to mention all this to the rheumy when I finally have my appointment (in July).  So yeah, yoga didn't help my back and it's still iffy today.  I'm still planning on hitting the gym tonight for weights though.  There's a lower back machine at the gym and I'm debating whether or not I want to risk doing that machine or not.  But I'll do everything else for sure.

I think I need a massage again soon too.  I'm really lucky - a friend of ours is a massage therapist, and for friends & family he'll make house calls AND charge a reduced rate, so for $25 I can have someone I trust come to me and give me a nice long massage.  He isn't always available though as he works long hours and he lives in another city, so I can only get massages when he's around.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/9/13:  I'm depressed today.  That thing about Asacol being discontinued has got me in a funk.  I've been taking Asacol for close to 2 years and it's helped keep me in remission and has worked pretty well overall - I would rather stay on it, but I can't now that the manufacturer has stopped making it, and there's no generic.  I'm worried about switching meds, I really want to stay in remission and don't want to deal with possible side effects of a new med, etc.  So I'm feeling upset about that.  It's also raining and very gloomy here today which is not helping my mood at all.

I'm planning on riding the bike tonight but I don't know if it'll help.  I was feeling really depressed yesterday about the Asacol thing too, and I hit the gym hard and pushed myself and worked harder than I usually do, then I ate some of my favorite comfort food afterwards.  But I still couldn't shake the depresed/upset/nervous feeling about switching meds.  Oh, and my lower back is hurting more today than it was yesterday, that's just swell.  I had to go to my GP to get more x-rays done of my arthritic hip, as I'm being referred to rheumatology finally and rheumatology wanted updated x-rays.  Lying on that hard x-ray table seemed to throw my back even more out of whack somehow.  Walking hurts quite a bit today.  That's not helping my mood either.

So yeah, long story short I'm feeling very blah.  Still going to exercise but my heart really isn't in it today.  Just going to have to fake some enthusiasm I guess and make myself do it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update for 4/10/13:  I'm feeling more chipper today, more like my old self again.  My GI emailed me back and we're working out the Asacol issue.  I'm going to try Asacol HD, even though it's somewhat a different thing and is stronger.  I hope it goes okay.  I'm less anxious now that I have a plan anyway.  I rode the bike last night but I really didn't want to.  I made myself ride for 30 mins, that was all I could manage.  Then afterwards I did about 10 mins of hula hooping.  I'm trying to incorporate more abdominal exercises any way I can, and hooping is fun and still pretty easy on the tummy.  I have a regular (okay, children's) hula hoop which is really light and easy to use, and then I have a heavier (adult) hoop that has these like massage ball things built into it.  It's supposed to massage your belly as you hoop, but it kind of hurts.  I just got it the other week so I'm hoping that the more I use it, the more I'll get used to it and the less it'll hurt.  It's not so much pain I guess as discomfort.  Mini massage balls on a hula hoop sounded like such a good idea but it just doesn't work very well in reality I think.  I'll keep trying with it though.  I like that that hoop is heavier, it gives me a better workout and makes me work harder to keep the hoop up.  My other hoop requires hardly any effort at all to keep up, it's easy and I could do it forever.  And while that's fun, I don't think it's doing me much good in terms of fitness.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

hehe, I enjoyed your little hoop ramble! 
As for the asacol thing, annoying you have to change. Whats the difference between asacol and pentasa? 
I was on pentasa for a few years and I really liked it. Didn't get any side effects. I had the sachets so I just poured it out onto my tongue and swallowed it. My current GI took me off it though because he said it doesn't do anything for crohn's.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My understanding is, Asacol and Pentasa are the same basic drug, but work on different areas of the digestive tract.  Pentasa mainly works on the small intestine, Asacol works on the terminal ileum & colon.  Since I'm still not fully diagnosed, my GI feels I have IBD but we really don't know where it's located.  My main "pain spot" is in the LRQ, so I feel like it's probably in or near the TI.  My GI has a hunch that I have microscopic colitis, so he feels I have colon involvement.  So Asacol works on both places that my GI and I feel my illness might be hiding, and Asacol's been working well for me.  Entocort worked well too, and that also works mainly in the TI and colon.  So we still don't know what type of IBD I have, but logically it pretty much has to be in the TI and/or colon!

That's odd that your GI would say Pentasa doesn't work for Crohn's - unless you don't have Crohn's in the small intestine?  Is it just in your colon?  It is a mild med, so it doesn't work for everyone, and it probably won't stop a flare, but it's pretty decent for remission maintenance.  Asacol has been keeping me in remission, 2 years and counting now.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I hope the new stuff works for you!  I think my crohns is in TI, colon and rectum. Who knows!?! Doesn't seem to have made a difference stopping it though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/11/13:  Hubby and I hit the gym last night and did really well.  I had a bad GERD attack though, that was the closest I've been in a long time to vomiting!  I managed to keep it all in and didn't puke, but I was refluxing heavily into my mouth and that was not fun.  I kept drinking water to try to get it back down but it just came right back up.  Yuck!  It seems ridiculous that I take 300 mg Zantac (ranitidine) and 8 to 10 Tums just before working out, but I still sometimes reflux that badly anyway during my workout.

Oh, and I've been noticing some issues with my gym.  When stuff breaks, it's like they just leave it rather than fix it.  One of the bathroom stalls in the ladies' room has had an "out of order" sign on it for literally at least 2 months.  A lightbulb burned out by the drinking fountain weeks ago and hasn't been replaced.  Now one of the weight machines is broken with an "out of order" sign on it, who knows when that'll be fixed?  There's been a lot of stuff like that lately at the gym.  So I messaged my gym's facebook page telling them about all this stuff.  They actually responded immediately, apologized, and said they'd get upper management working on it.  I was pleased with that response - now to see if they actually follow through.  I'm going to the little gym tomorrow so I'll be back at the big gym on Sunday.  What are the odds that anything is fixed by Sunday?  I'll be interested to see!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Lol, When I was at the gym the other day, a guy was doing an induction for two girls and I kept hearing him say "this is out of order at the moment" "this bit doesn't work at the moment". I haven't noticed it with anything I want to use yet.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Do they actually eventually fix the broken equipment at your gym, LMV?  Because they never seem to fix it at my gym, although maybe they will now that I said something.  That ladies' room bathroom stall is the worst though, there's only like 2 other bathroom stalls in there and tons of people go to my gym, so either you have to wait to use the bathroom or sometimes it's really gross because they haven't cleaned in a few hours.  Either way, it's inexcusable to leave one stall broken for months on end.  But they put fresh flowers in vases in the ladies' room every day, so I know the staff is going in there, and they're spending money on the flowers - in my fb message to the gym I did say I'd rather they fix things than buy flowers.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I don't know if they fix it! I'll keep an eye out tomorrow! 
Yeah thats not on, I bet they get enough money out of memberships to keep it in running order!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/12/13:  My lower back has been killing me!  I don't know if it's arthritis or what.  It kind of feels like the pain spreads from my lower back to my right hip, so I think it's either referred arthritis pain from my hip, or maybe the arthritis has spread to my lower back?  Either way, it sucks.  It's been raining every day which is probably aggravating the arthritis (my hip usually hurts when it snows - this is a different pain though so I don't know for sure).

So, with the back pain, I decided against riding the bike last night and opted to do yoga instead.  Somehow that actually seemed to make the back pain worse!  So then I sat in a hot bath.  That also frustratingly made the back pain worse.  I'm getting a massage tonight so with my luck that'll also make it worse - hopefully not though!  My heating pad does seem to help it though so at least I've found one thing that helps.  I'm going to hit the little gym today before my massage, so hopefully that doesn't do further damage.  I'm going to rest up most of the weekend although I will work out at some point, so hopefully getting some rest will do me good too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/15/13.  I haven't updated in a couple of days.  I had a rough weekend with lots of arthritis pain, and also a really nasty sinus headache.  And to top it all off, I got a letter from my GP with the results of my recent x-rays.  He says I now have arthritis in both hips, although it still looks to be mild.  I've been having sharp (not mild!) lower back pains, which feels like it might be referred hip pains but I don't know.  My rheumatology appointment isn't until mid-July so 3 more months to wait.  

*sigh*  I feel like such an old lady since I found out that both my hips are now bad.  It's depressing.  I'm only 33.  This just shouldn't happen.  I've been exercising every day, even when the pains are bad.  I had hoped that regular exercise would prevent the arthritis from spreading/worsening, but it hasn't.  I'm still going to exercise of course, I know there are still lots of benefits to it, but this has taken a lot of the wind out of my sails.  It's so frustrating - I've done everything I could to prevent this but it happened anyway.  Two bad hips and I'm still fairly young - not cool, body.

Anyway.  Gotta keep going, right?  Can't let life get me down too much.  I did weights yesterday and am doing the bike tonight.  I still haven't been able to take my real bike out for a ride yet, it's been too cold/rainy/snowy/windy/you name it.  Today it's almost sort of warm out but really windy, so I'll be on the exercise bike in my spare room as usual.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

That sucks about your arthritis! 
Hope you can get something sorted at your rheumatology appointment!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/16/13.  As you can see from my last post, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself yesterday.  That feeling stopped when I heard about the Boston marathon being bombed - what a horrible thing!  I am not feeling so sorry for myself anymore, more just shocked and horrified.  What a tragedy, so sad.  My mom is a marathon runner and she's run Boston 4 times, but fortunately she wasn't there this year.  I've been at the finish line cheering for her 2 of those 4 times.  This could have easily happened to us, it hits so close to home.  Scary, awful stuff.  It's always such a happy atmosphere at a marathon finish line and I cannot fathom someone doing this.  It's just terrible.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/17/13.  Ugh, blah.  This weather is killing me!  Yeah, I'm back to feeling sorry for myself.    Yesterday it was so nice out!  It didn't rain at all, it was like the one day in recent memory where it didn't rain.  And I had no arthritis pain, I could even walk the dog without pain.  Today though it's right back to pouring rain all day, and my hip is hurting.  Miserable!  It's supposed to rain for at least 3 days so I just have to deal with the pain for awhile longer.  I'm going to try to ride the bike tonight, wish me luck.  If the pain is bad then I'll switch to yoga.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/18/13:  Yesterday was a bad day.  It poured rain all day and my arthritis was quite painful.  I tried riding the bike, but only managed about 10 minutes and then just gave up, it just was not happening.  I switched to yoga, did 30 mins of that and felt okay.  Today it's overcast but not raining right now, and the arthritis feels better - it's still a little bit painful but so much better than it was.  I got a really good night's sleep last night too so I feel better overall than I did yesterday.  Lifting weights tonight!  Can't let a bad day get me down, gotta keep going.

Oh, and for some weird reason, I actually gained about 4 lbs this week.  I have no idea how.  I haven't been snacking more than usual.  Honestly when I get depressed or feel sick/in pain, I tend to not eat very much, so I have no clue how I gained weight!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Thats strange about the weight gain! Maybe its muscle?
Still a lot in a week though


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I wish, sadly I don't put on muscle that much that fast!    It would be awesome if I did though!  I'm wondering if, just by me taking it a bit easier on bad arthritis days, maybe I didn't burn enough calories?  4 lbs is still a lot though, I only burn like 300 calories in an hour on the bike so I don't really think that's it either (it's what, like 5000 calories per lb or something like that?).  I don't know.  I'm going to chalk it up as being a fluke.  My weight usually does fluctuate a little bit, like 1 to 2 lbs up or down, but 4 lbs is a little bit much.  It still could be a fluke/normal fluctuation though I guess, so I have decided not to worry about it for now.  If I keep on gaining then that'll be a problem though!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Its 3,500kcal per lb. I still wouldn't have thought it would make that much difference though, you never burn off as many calories as you think you deserve to when exercising! 
Unless less exercise has effected your metabolism, again I wouldn't have thought it would make that much difference. 
It could be water retention depending on what part of the month you are in?
I guess it could be a combination of all of these things!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Maybe I'm just retaining water because it's been raining so much lately.    I'm just absorbing it through my pores or something.  Ha ha.  My period isn't due for another 10 days or so, so I don't think that could be it.  You're probably right, just a combination of things.  I'm just going to carry on working out and eating what I usually do and will keep an eye on things.  I see my GI on Monday and he's always interested to hear what my weight is doing (he gets very concerned if I lose any weight at all) so if my weight is still being weird then I'll get his opinion on things.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/19/13:  It snowed (!!) here all morning which made both my hips ache, but the weather seems better this afternoon so I'm feeling less achey now.  I'm planning on riding the bike tonight.  I did weights last night and that went fine, although the gym was really busy and crowded so I had to wait for a few machines to open up.  I still was able to do everything I wanted to, though, so it worked out okay.  

I will say, though, I'm a bit jealous of my hubby's ability to eat anything.  When we go to the gym in the evenings, sometimes we're too tired afterwards to think of cooking dinner, so we go to this cute little cafe near our gym.  Lately hubby has been ordering this amazing-looking salad at the cafe and I just drool whenever I see it - I miss salad!  It just kills my guts though so I know I have to avoid it.  And I know hubby is trying to eat healthier so I can't exactly complain to his face that he's eating a big salad in front of me, but it just kills me.  I want to sneak bites of it but I know I'd pay for it.  So yeah, we went to the cafe after our workout last night and he had his big beautiful salad and I had my bland, safe meal.  *sigh!*


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## AlliRuns

Snow? It's really warm here, 15 degrees,but it's rainy and windy


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It's super windy here, cold, and yes - snow.  It had been raining for about 2 weeks almost non-stop, then decided to snow today.  It didn't stick, but it was enough to make the arthritis angry (and it's already been angry about the massive amounts of rain we've gotten).  We had one nice day in the last 2 weeks, and that was the one day my arthritis didn't hurt.  It was warm-ish, sunny, no rain, and it actually felt like springtime that one day!  Today it feels like back to being winter again.  

At least the snow didn't stick.  I heard that in some parts of Minnesota, it did stick, and they got something like 5 inches of snow?!  So I guess it could always be worse!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/20/13:  So I didn't do anything yesterday.    I was exhausted and decided to take a rest day, which I rarely take, so I don't feel too bad about it.  Hubby said that we haven't had a date night in forever, so we decided to do that and we went out for a nice dinner and then did a little shopping.  It was nice, it felt refreshing to break up my usual schedule.

Today it's right back to the gym.  I'm feeling productive today and am going to rock my workout.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Aw that sounds nice to swap the gym for a date night


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It was nice having a date night.    We hardly ever go out for Chinese food but it sounded really good last night.  It was cold & windy when we got to the restaurant.  As soon as we sat down, it started snowing really hard!  It looked like a blizzard outside.  By the time we were done eating, the snow had stopped.  It was nice to be indoors during the mini-snowstorm.  As we were finishing our meal, the restaurant owner told us that the Boston PD found the bombing suspect and he turned on the TV so we could all watch.  So yeah, it was a memorable evening!

Another quick update for today:  I said I was going to rock my workout today, and I totally did.    I pushed myself hard and I feel great.  I also walked the dog today so I got in 2 forms of exercise - I guess that  kind of makes up for my lack of ambition yesterday.  I'm about to do even more too - hubby and I are remodeling our living room lately, and we're getting our new fireplace/mantel put in on Monday, plus we are getting a new couch and loveseat next week too (yay tax refund, ha ha) so we have to clean our living room and move most of our stuff to other rooms to make way for the new stuff.  It's going to be so nice when it's finished but it's looking like a lot of work right now!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/22/13:  So, remember when I said we were getting our living room remodel underway with today?  There was a last minute change of plans, and now we have to wait a week.  This is an inconvenience because we had already moved most everything out of our living room!  And a lot of it was moved to our back bedroom, where my exercise bike is.  This means some annoying inconvenience for the next week, as it'll be harder to get to where my bike is, and I can't do yoga right now (I do yoga on the Wii fit, and we disconnected the Wii when we moved everything).  I guess I could do yoga without the Wii, but I like having the virtual instructor there to tell me what my muscles should be doing and how long to do it for, etc.

So, yeah, fun times.  I'm going to try to keep my exercise schedule as best I can.  It was cluttered but I did manage to ride the bike last night, and I'm headed to the gym tonight.  I'll just do the best I can with the situation!

Oh, and this is kind of funny.  I visited my grandparents yesterday.  My grandmother is a hoarder, including a food hoarder.  She has an upright freezer that is jam packed with food, and she decided she actually wanted to clean it out.  Apparently "cleaning out the freezer" meant giving a ton of frozen food to me.  She asked if I could eat turkey, and I said yes.  So she gave me about 100 lbs of frozen turkey!  (That's not even an exaggeration, she literally gave me dozens of packages of frozen turkey thighs.)  I don't mind, it's frozen so it'll keep for awhile, and it'll all get eaten eventually (we often do turkey/chicken/duck in the crock pot) so yeah, now I have a huge supply of lean protein in my freezer.  Yes, I will be eating turkey for dinner tonight when I get home from the gym!


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## hawkeye

That's great - I like a well stocked freezer.  I make a list of what I have in the freezer downstairs and pin it on the fridge in the kitchen so I know what's down there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, I like a well-stocked freezer too - that's a great idea about making a list.  We have a chest freezer in our basement and now it is quite full!  It was kind of empty before.  My grandmother gave me other stuff too besides turkey - pork and beef (the hubby will eat those as I don't do red meat), but also gross junk food like Hot pockets and microwave burritos.  Ick.  I learned a long time ago that it's easiest to never say no to my grandmother, so I just accepted all the food, and I'll either throw that gross stuff away or give it to my brother.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Yes a well stocked freezer is great! If you run out of money you can keep going on dinners for a couple of weeks!  The annoying thing is when I was at uni we had to defrost our freezer coz it all froze over and we couldn't open the drawers. So I lost a load of my food!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, that sucks!  We went through something similar.  My freezer is really old - we bought it used from craigslist, so I don't know quite how old it is, but really old.  We thought it broke at one point, but it turns out the electrical outlet that it was plugged into had died or something, so the freezer was fine.  But it was off for a couple of days when the outlet stopped working, so we lost all the food we had in there too.  I was sad, I had like 4 containers of ice cream in there that all became melted and inedible.    Now I make sure to try to check it once a day to make sure it's still on and working, because I don't want to have to throw out so much food again.


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## hawkeye

I also write the date and weight of the frozen food on the outside of the Ziploc bag and include that on the fridge list as well - sounds like I should be working in a commercial kitchen  / restaurant. Maybe Gordon Ramsay would be impressed.

Our fridge went about 6 months ago, but it was only a $ 100 fix luckily.


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## Ya noy

Our freezer is a Subzero--made in Madison Wisconsin!  I understand they're normally expensive, like over $10k, but we got ours at a liquidation sale.  We bought a kitchen display and it came with the cabinets.  In fact, we didn't even realize it was a freezer at first, because it's a couple of sliding drawers under the counter that looks like one of the cabinets, so does the matching frig.  Got it really cheap too because the owner had just died, his widow needed to liquidate quickly, and I don't think she realized that freezer alone was worth more than the entire kitchen.  Neither did we. Who puts something like that in a store display anyway?  It's almost hard to believe just how much longer food stays fresh. Salads don't wilt, milk doesn't sour, and we have to take bananas out for them to ripen. 

Anyway, we had a power outage last year that lasted almost 5 days, and our frozen food stayed frozen.  A single pot of ice kept all the food in our frig. frosty cold as well


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ya noy, that's an awesome deal!  Puts my $50 ancient craigslist freezer to shame for sure.    Can't complain too much though since we've had it for a few years and it's still working, so we've definitely gotten our $50 worth.

Hawkeye, I think Gordon Ramsay would be impressed!  Ha ha, I find that when I go to restaurants, I start wondering what Chef Ramsay would think of the place.  My hubby and I went out to eat with my grandparents at this very iffy restaurant yesterday, and I was like, "Gordon Ramsay would be so mad that there are like 700 different things on the menu, and he would totally send this soup back because it's gross, and he would think the decor here is really ugly."    I told my hubby that and he agreed.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/23/13.  I feel pretty good today.  I had a rough few days - I made the switch from Asacol to Asacol HD on the 18th, and that just did not go well.  Asacol HD is not for me.  So yesterday I saw my  GI, and he switched me from Asacol HD to Delzicol.  I only just started on it today, but I'm feeling hopeful that it'll work better for me.  I have a hard time breaking down these type of pills that have the special coatings, I used to pass undigested Asacol sometimes every day.  But since I was taking 6 pills a day and passing 1 or 2, I was still getting enough medicine for me to feel okay.  I was only taking 2 Asacol HDs every day though, so passing 1 or 2 of those daily obviously was a worse situation!  I'm taking 6 Delzicols daily so hopefully I can break down the majority of them and get enough mesalamine in my system for it to be worthwhile.

So yeah, I had a rough few days on Asacol HD, the diarrhea came back and I was pretty nauseous for a few hours yesterday.  Not fun.  I managed to make it to the gym anyway and did pretty well.  Hubby actually organized the back bedroom so I can get to my exercise bike without having to walk over piles of stuff, so I'm excited to ride the bike tonight.    I *still* haven't been able to get my real bike outside for a ride, it's been cold/rainy/snowy/you name it.  It's looking like the weather might be ideal on Saturday for a ride, so I'm hoping the forecast doesn't change.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/24/13.  Things still aren't quite right in tummy land, I've had several episodes of d today and a bad one last night too.  I'm hoping I adjust to the Delzicol soon and get back to relatively normal.  In spite of this, I did an hour on the exercise bike last night.  I felt better than usual and I think that was because it was cooler in my house than normal.  We had a warm-ish spring day the other day, so hubby turned off the heat in the house, and I guess we forgot to turn it back on.  It seems like the cooler I am during a workout, the better I do and feel.  So the heat was off in the house and I did 12 miles no problem in spite of having an iffy tummy.

I hit the little gym for weights today too and did fine.  I'm hoping to get another massage tonight too - after the last massage, my painful lower back felt even worse, so I'll be curious to see how I feel after this one.  The lower back has generally been feeling somewhat better lately, although I got a sharp twinge of pain in the lower back as I was finishing up my workout today, so who knows.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/25/13.  I wish the Delzicol would kick in already!  I'm feeling a bit better, but it's deceiving.  Mostly I feel okay, but every so often I'm hit with cramps and urgency and I have to run for the bathroom.  Not fun, but it seems to be getting a little better.  I think.

It's sunny and it actually looks nice outside - but when I went out earlier, it was quite chilly.  So I'd love to try to ride my bike outside tonight, but I think it's still too cold.  Plus with the guts not being quite right, it's safest to ride the exercise bike at home.  So I'll do that, again, but it's getting really boring!    I need a change of scenery!  I'm getting spring fever or something, I just want to get outside!  But it's in the low 40s which is just too cold.  Grr!  I'm still holding out hope for Saturday, they're saying it'll be in the 60s and no rain.  Oh, and Sunday it might be as warm as 70 (!!), and my in-laws may be visiting that day, so that sounds even more ideal for a bike ride.  A long, long bike ride far away from my house...


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## Dexky

Sorry you're having trouble Cat!  Was there a lay off between Azacol and Delzicol?  I hope you get straightened out soon!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Mark.    I was on mesalamine the whole time, but I went from Asacol to Asacol HD to Delzicol.  The Asacol HD did not work well for me at all - I could not break it down very well and was passing it undigested.  I was on HD for 5 days, and during that 5 days I started to feel noticeably worse, so I may as well have been on nothing for that time.  I'm on day 4 of Delzicol now and I think things are starting to turn around - I do seem to be able to break those down at any rate, so much better than the Asacol HD.  I'm still having some diarrhea - my poor anus is so sore and swollen from the d, it started bleeding a little bit yesterday.  Fortunately I had some hydrocortisone suppositories on hand, so I did one of those last night and things back there feel significantly better now.  I love how fast and effective steroids are!

With the anal issues though, I decided it was best to avoid the bike altogether last night as I didn't want to make things worse back there.  So I just did yoga instead and that went fine.  Tonight I'll do weights, and tomorrow I am hoping to ride my bike outside.  We've *finally* got some nice springtimey weather, yeah!  Tomorrow's temp mid 60s, no rain, and no wind - this sounds so ideal for a bike ride!  Hopefully my backside will be up for a ride.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/27/13:  I rode my bike outside today!    I feel out of shape though!  I have been riding the stationary bike all winter and I have been pushing myself on it and doing hill programs, so I thought I'd be okay to ride my regular bike.  But wow, riding a real bike is very different from an exercise bike!  My legs feel okay, but my abs feel tired and my butt feels sore.    There's all this balancing and stuff that I don't have to do on my exercise bike, so the abs got a good workout.  And real hills are much tougher than computerized hills!  And, even though I have a cushy gel seat on my bike, it's still a bike seat and my booty is not used to a real bike seat, so yeah.  I'm going to feel sore tomorrow for sure!  But I did a decent ride, I rode through the Arboretum in my city.  I saw a turtle and lots of ducks & geese, it was nice.  Nothing's really flowering yet so it wasn't super pretty in there, but I'm looking forward to doing another ride soon.  I feel good, but tired.

After I got home from my ride, I saw my hubby was outside working on the garden, so I helped him out with that.  Because apparently I am crazy and wanted to be REALLY sore tomorrow, ha ha.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

That sounds great cat! I can't wait to go out on my bike! Still waiting for my sister's bf to take a look at it...


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## AlliRuns

Woohoo for riding your bike! 
Got out on my bike today too, it wasn't pretty though, I had a rough night and was severely dehydrated this morning. My insides were still churning when I went for my ride. Managed 96km, barely.


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## Sparkle2012

Cat:  your exercise diary is inspiring.  I used to work out pre-marriage, that was 12 years ago.  I was doing cardio and kickboxing several times a week and was getting really toned.  The body wants to be toned...it happens quickly if you are persistent.  However, that being said, I am no longer toned - upper legs look very cellulity since Entacort - thanks Entacort!!!  --- and have gained 45 lbs.  over the years...especially during the Entcort.   I have started back on the treadmill and yoga - one or 2 days of this and I felt noticeably better, especially from the stretching from yoga.  I am 63 so I won't be doing the kick boxing and have a bad knee from an aerobics injury years ago.  My yoga instructor is in her 70's and avoided knee surgery with certain poses - she is working with me.  

An interesting note:  Like you, I started getting the sore joints after Entacort and honestly, I think Entacort somehow opened the door for it some how.  I had a "virus" that left me so stiff in the joints that I could barely move around and it lasted for 2 days.  My joints are still somewhat achy.  I think it may not have been a virus and it happened shortly after I ended Entacort.  Same thing happened to my mother.  She started a medication of some kind and the next day she could not get out of bed.  Her RA had begun overnight.  They say it does that sometimes and I'm hoping it is not RA for me.  I'm making healthy food choices and trying to exercise at least 4 days a week.  I feel great other than the achy joints but I think the yoga has started to help that.  Thanks again for sharing your story.

One more question Cat--- are you on medication?  I don't see on your profile.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sparkle, my joint pains started while I was on Entocort too, and my GI said that sometimes Entocort can cause a type of arthritis that usually occurs in the hips.  Well, I have arthritis in both hips now, and I'm only 33 so too young for it to be wear-and-tear type arthritis.  I'm going to see a rheumatologist about it but my appointment isn't until July.  I don't seem to have RA, as my bloodwork (ANA) was normal/negative for that.

The medications I'm currently on are:  Delzicol for remission maintenance for the presumed IBD (just switched from Asacol - did a brief stint on Asacol HD but that didn't work for me), Nexium & Zantac for the reflux plus Tums as needed, Nuvaring for birth control, Amitriptyline to prevent migraines, and generic Zofran as needed for nausea.  I also take a handful of supplements and psyllium too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/29/13:  I thought I was going to be sore yesterday after Saturday's bike ride and gardening, but I actually felt really good, hardly any soreness at all!  So I went to the gym yesterday and did my usual weights routine.  And today I feel really sore!  Particularly my legs.  So I don't know if it was a delayed reaction or what, but I feel like I've overdone things with my legs.  I was hoping for another bike ride tonight but I'm not going to push it too much, so I will do yoga instead - hopefully.  

I say hopefully because my living room remodel is happening today!  Our new fireplace/mantel/built-in shelving is being installed, and hubby is walling-over a window and putting in new wall studs so that we can wall-mount our TV.  IF the work gets all done today then hopefully hubby can hook up the Wii and I can do yoga on the Wii Fit.  I prefer that to just doing yoga on my own, as the virtual instructor can give me feedback.  I like that a lot.  But anyway, the room needs to be mostly put back together so that I can do yoga properly.  Wish me luck!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Sounds exciting!


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## Sparkle2012

Awesome!  Yoga on the WII.  I have a WII, I'll check it out.

Cat:  we have some similarities.  I have stiff joints in all joints since Entacort, but I do notice in the joints when I stand after sitting a long time.  I will have to mention that to my doctor. I also have migraines and gerd which I just ignore and sleep inclined.  What is the test for RA....is that what you meant by ANA?  I should check for that as my mom has it.  I'm hoping mine is osteo or temporary.    Good luck with the remodelling.  I hate the remodelling process.

We had cermaic tile put down our house throughout a few years ago, dust was everywhere and the inexpensive contractor neighbor of ours kept getting a "virus" everytime he got paid.  We were like to never get it done. haha


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sparkle, yes, ANA is a blood test that they use to check for things like RA and Lupus.  I'm not sure exactly how ANA works, but I was told mine was normal/negative so I don't have RA nor Lupus.  It's just a simple blood test, so it's worth looking into.

And fortunately we do not have a contractor doing the work on our house!  My father-in-law is a woodworker so he built us a mantle & some built-in cabinets.  He also built all our kitchen cabinets custom from scratch.  And the best part is, he's not charging us - he wouldn't even let us pay for the wood!  He does great, beautiful work too.  It's not quite done yet, we need to do some minor stuff like wiring (we're running the wires through the walls so that there aren't a bunch of cords coming off the TV when we wall-mount it) and we have to paint one spot, etc.  But the built-in cabinets/mantel are installed and they are so gorgeous!  

So yeah, the living room remodel is like 85% done at this point.  And that's great - I just wish the bathroom remodel would happen already.  I have the ugliest bathroom I've ever seen - it's an older house and whoever built it really loved pink.  Our bathroom is mostly pink - pink tub, pink sink, pink toilet, pink countertop - and brown tiles on the walls, and on the parts where there are no tiles, the walls are painted yellow.  Pink, brown and yellow - I always think of pee, poo, and Pepto.  

I get migraines too - I never got them until IBD came along - and I have severe GERD.  I wish I could ignore it but it's too severe.  I have to take Nexium, a quadruple dose of Zantac, and Tums as needed just to get through the day.  I do have a chaise lounge, which I will sleep in if I need to sleep upright.  Usually I can get away with propping myself up on pillows in my own bed though.  The GERD is sadly worst when I'm exercising - I have to take a Zantac and a handful of Tums just before I hit the gym.  And even so, I'm usually refluxing pretty badly by the end of my workout.  I will even vurp water, it's terrible.  My GI tried reducing my dose of Zantac but I told him no way!  I'm functional on the medications I'm on right now, I don't want to change!

So, update 4/30/13.  Hubby didn't hook up the Wii yesterday so I walked the dog instead of doing yoga.  I usually don't consider walking to be enough exercise, but I was really tired so I let it slide.  I hit the little gym today for weights and that went fine.  I feel a lot less sore than I did yesterday, so I'm hoping to take another bike ride tomorrow evening if it doesn't rain.


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## Sparkle2012

Wow how lucky to have such a nice father-in-law.  When I visualize the pink bathroom--- it was a dream in the 50's...with those little princess pink phones and all.   That thought brings back warm memories.  Sounds like the paint etc with the yellow is the 70's where everything was earthtones.  Ugh.  How did we tolerate that color scheme-- everything was harvest gold. avocado green, orange and brown.  Sounds like you needed a good update.  Hope it turns out well!  The GERD - it's the pits.  There is a theory about GERD that made sense to me....it's from not enough acid as opposed to too much acid.  I read up on this in the 90's but have lost all my bookmarks for that stuff.  Also, a lot of people swear by Bragg's vinegar - organic.  Read up on it.  Who knows...it helps with arthritis I've read.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sparkle, my father-in-law is nice now, but he was actually really mean to me when I first got sick (he said some really awful things to me and wouldn't stop even when I started crying).  He's gotten a lot better since then and is actually supportive of me now, but I don't totally trust that he's going to stay nice.  It is of course an incredible gesture that he's done all this work for us on our house and I'm appreciative of that - I still don't totally trust it though and I don't always like talking to him (he drinks a lot and I think part of it is that he can sometimes be a mean drunk).  My mother-in-law, although we're not very close, has always been really understanding of my illness, so I think she told him to stop being mean to me.

And you guessed the time periods correctly, my house was built in the mid 1950s and was last remodeled in 1977.  There was a lot of pink when we moved in - pink walls, pink siding - and we're gradually removing the pink.  Whoever built/remodeled the house sure loved pink!

Update 5/1/13:  My arthritis is killing me today for some reason!  Usually it acts up when it rains/snows or if it's bitterly cold out.  Well, today it's sunny and 75 degrees, no rain, no cold, no snow.  But the hip is quite painful and Tylenol isn't touching it, that's just great.  Sometimes my hip aches in anticipation of a big storm, but I don't think we're supposed to get a storm in the near future, so I really don't know what's up with this stupid pain today.  I'm going to try to go for a bike ride tonight anyway - usually exercise (except for jogging) helps my hip feel better.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I went on a nice long bike ride by the lake tonight and that went well.  I feel better than I did after my previous bike ride, although the booty is still sore!  I also figured out a really easy route for riding my bike to the gym!  I'm not sure if I'm ready to try it - I don't know if I would have enough energy to ride my bike, lift weights at the gym, then ride home.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/2/13:  It just started pouring rain here which means the hip has just started acting up too - the bad hip does not like rain or snow.  I'm still planning on going to the gym in a little bit though, hopefully the rain will keep people away from the gym and it won't be too crowded.  I went shopping earlier today and found a cute new workout top (well, new to me, as I'm mainly a thrift-store shopper).  It's black with red trim and it fits really nice.  I'm not sure what is up with sizes in workout clothes though.  I have sports bras that are size x-small, small, medium - and this new one that I just bought is a large!  They all fit really well, but the sizing seems to differ drastically from brand to brand.  I'm definitely not "large", I usually wear a small (size 6 jeans) so I don't get it.  And if the one I bought today was a large, then the small size in that brand probably only fits a doll.


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## Dexky

I think you're wearing kid's clothes Cat!!  You definitely ain't large!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, I had wondered for a minute if it was a children's size large, but it's a workout top with a built in sports bra and children don't need bras!  So it has to be an adult size, and it fits me perfectly, and I know I'm not a large.  I have no idea.  Maybe when they made the top, they sewed in the wrong tag or something.  Fortunately I hate tags and removed it immediately so now nobody will know my size large secret.


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## mccindy

Cat,
I am a size four but I usually have to buy a medium to a large in sports bras (which is odd, my band size in a bra is only 32-34).  So then I wonder, what options are there for plus-size shoppers who want to work out and wear a sports bra?  I think our marketing system is for the birds.  Seems the clothing companies want to make us all feel like a bunch of fatties!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mccindy, I don't know that I've ever seen a plus-sized sports bra in a store (although I haven't specifically looked).  That's a good point and I do wonder what larger women do for workout clothes.  It's sometimes hard to find cute workout clothes even in my size so it must be a nightmare for someone larger!  I recently wanted to buy more workout pants - I prefer yoga style pants because I do not do short shorts - and I had to go to at least 4 different stores before I found some I liked and that fit well.  If I were a bigger girl, I don't know that I would have been able to find anything.


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## mccindy

That is so sad.  Our culture seems to be ignoring the needs of the larger-sized person.  They keep being told to eat right and exercise... but the "bad for you" foods are much cheaper and the workout clothes can't be found.  I've had trouble finding yoga pants in the past too.  When I work out at home I wear shorts but I do like yoga pants.  Seems when I do find them they are always too short in the leg!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I have seen sports bras in large sizes here in the UK. Really people with bigger boobs need it even more!


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## mccindy

And really that's just it - I think having just a "small-medium-large" range doesn't work, because I am thin with a larger chest so I need a large, but have to hook to the innermost set of hooks.  But if someone with a larger torso circumference and a smaller chest would try it, wouldn't it be baggy in the boobs?  They just don't account for all of the possiblities!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Depending on where you shop you can get sports bras in real bra sizes. Mine is my actual bra size, I got it from Marks and Spencer.


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## mccindy

I had a bra that I ordered online from Marks and Spencer (they must be only a British company). It was one of the best bras I've had.  I'll have to check into their sports bras.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Yes I believe they are British  I get all my bras from there


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I've never heard of that company but I'm intrigued.  I'm quite thrifty and mostly buy my workout clothes from thrift stores/garage sales or clearance racks.  The last brand new sports bras I bought were about $6 apiece on the Target clearance rack.


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## hawkeye

I remember that they had stores in Canada in the '70's and '80's


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## mccindy

Cat - sports bras are one area you want to spend a bit more to get something really good and supportive.  I tend to buy high-impact bras even though my workout is technically no-impact.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mccindy, I've never been "well endowed" in the chest area (I'm a small B cup) so there's not a whole lotta jiggling going on when I work out.    So I feel like I can get away with cheaper sports bras.

Update 5/4/13:  I took a rest day yesterday.  Haven't had one in a little while, and was so exhausted when I got home from work.  I am going to the gym in a little bit.  I'm hoping to go for another bike ride tomorrow too.  I think I had a dream last night about riding my bike but I don't remember much of it!  It seems to me like my bike was morphing into different things in the dream.  I guess I really shouldn't have salsa before bedtime.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/5/13.  I went on a long bike ride today (well, long for me, about 10 miles I think - I've been meaning to get an odometer for my bike so I know exactly how far I'm riding).  I rode from my house to the arboretum and all the way through it!  Last time I only made it halfway through the arboretum before I got exhausted and turned around.  This time I felt like I could do the whole thing, and it was exhausting, but I did it!  I feel proud.  I feel really good now, too!  My legs were so achey earlier today, hubby and I went to see Iron Man 3 and I got really achey sitting for hours on end in a movie theater.  It felt great to get out and get my legs moving.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Sounds like a great way to spend a sunday


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## mccindy

sounds like a nice day!  We went to St. Cloud for the day which was fun, but I had broccoli for lunch (thought it was mushy enough to be okay) and am paying for it now.  Thinking I will have to skip the afternoon elliptical.
How was the movie?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mccindy, the movie was okay.  The hubby REALLY wanted to see it so I kinda got dragged along, ha ha.  It was better than the 2nd Iron Man, I didn't really like that one.  As hubby said, "It was weird."  The plot was not what I expected.  It wasn't bad, just different.

I suspect I'll be getting dragged along to the new Star Trek movie in a few weeks too.


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## mccindy

I'll think of you!  I'll be dragging my husband to the new Star Trek too.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I'll probably be seeing the new startrek one with my dad. i saw the last one with my ex and his friends. it was really annoying coz they all thought he dragged me along but i wanted to go. then at the end he basically ignored me coz he was talking avidly to his mates about it. it was 10 or more mins till he acknowledged i was there. i should have just walked off and gone home. or would that have been childish?


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## mccindy

Nope, I think you would have been justified!  If you go together then you deserve his attention.  If you wanted to see it too then he should have been discussing it with you!  Good thing he's an ex - sounds like that's what he deserves to be.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Aha! Yes. He was kind hearted, but was silly and immature. Which I suppose is allowed at 17/18. I definitely put up with too much in that relationship which I think he learned when I left and could not even entertain the idea of going back. I hope I learned to stand up for myself. But three years on since it ended I haven't been in another relationship... I still feel like I just can't be bothered with the hassle, but I hope thats just the excuse I give myself rather than a lasting effect of that relationship. 
Anyway... This probably isn't the place to discuss this although I know Cat will forgive me


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## Cat-a-Tonic

No worries LMV, it's cool to go off-topic in my threads.    I do it all the time myself!

Update 5/6/13:  I'm planning on going to the gym tonight to lift weights.  It might suck though!  On the first Monday of each month, my gym provides free pizza to everyone who comes in.  Which means it's by far the busiest night at the gym!  And sometimes the pizza smell makes me nauseous.  It's gross and it sucks.  I could just work out by myself at the gym in my workplace, but the hubby wants to work out too which means we have to contend with pizza night.  I'm not looking forward to it, but I'll get through it.  Wish me luck!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Enjoy Pizza night! 
Its public holiday over here and we have had such a lovely sunny day, I've spent most of it in the garden. There is a pub in our village which does Thai food and there is an offer on a Monday night so we are going there for dinner tonight.
I'm really looking forward to it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thai food, eek!  I used to *love* pad thai before I got sick, but even when I was "healthy", it would give me terrible diarrhea.    I would ask for it to be as mild as possible but it was still always too spicy for me.  Spices do me no favors, and I believe there were peanuts in it as well which are also a big no-no for me.  It would probably kill me now!  You're brave, LMV!


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## mccindy

A gym with a pizza night?  That seems a bit, well.... opposite of what people are at the gym for!  ha ha.  I hope it goes well for you and you're able to work out despite the smell.  My husband makes the best homemade pizza for me sometimes, but it's looking like I'll have to give that up.  :ymad:  Oh well.  I also used to love Pad Thai but I don't think I could tolerate it now.   Makes me sad, I love love love spicy food but can't have it now?  Ugh!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I don't really understand pizza night.  My gym offers tanning too, and I swear a lot of people go just for the tanning & pizza.    They also offer free bagels at the gym on a certain morning each month, I don't remember when as I never go to the gym in the mornings.  It's a no-frills gym except for that stuff so I don't really get it!  I don't do tanning, pizza, nor bagels.  I'm there to work out and that's it!

Ooh, homemade pizza is so yummy!  I am lactose intolerant so regular pizza is problematic for me.  Sometimes we'll make homemade pizza using goat cheese - I haven't had any issues with goat dairy, and it melts & tastes so much better than the other dairy alternatives like rice cheese, soy cheese, etc.  It's really yummy!


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## mccindy

That does sound good!  I'm also lactose intolerant, so he would buy the good imitation mozzarella, and we'd add gorgonzola and sharp cheddar.  OMG so yummy!  So goat cheese works for lactose intolerance?  I've never tried it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It works for my lactose intolerance!  I'm not sure if it works for everyone or not.  Give it a try.  If there's a Trader Joe's near you, they carry goat gouda which is so yummy.  We also have a Woodman's store here which carries goat muenster - I think Woodman's is a Wisconsin-only store though (?).  And if I'm remembering right, Whole Foods carries goat mozzarella & goat cheddar.  I can't find goat cheese at a lot of grocery stores, but those are the places I've had luck with.  Have a look around and give it a try.

I will say, be prepared for goat cheese to have a slightly stronger taste than standard cow cheeses.  It's not bad though, it's stronger if you eat it as-is and gets milder if it's melted like on a pizza.  Some goat products are wayyy too strong though.  I tried goat yogurt once on a whim, and it was terrible!  The taste was so strong I was gagging as I tried to eat it.  My hubby will eat just about anything, but even he had a hard time choking that stuff down.    So go for the cheeses but skip the yogurt!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Yumm... I had Pad Thai. It wasn't spicy at all so it was perfect for me. 
I'm quite well atm so I probably would have been ok with a little bit of spice. But I don't want to have something spicy the night before work in case the worst happens! I'll save those things for the weekends if I have to. Now I need to try and chill a bit before bed coz it totally feels like a weekend night!! I'll feel shocked when the alarm goes off in the morning. I've had a really nice weekend though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  The gym was surprisingly not busy!  I think it's due to the warm weather?  It's usually busy on any Monday and more busy on pizza Mondays, but it was the quietest I've ever seen for any Monday.  I didn't have to wait for any machines to open up!  And usually on a Monday, every treadmill is filled, but today only about half were occupied.  Very odd!  If it's going to be like this all summer, I'll be quite happy.


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## mccindy

Cat - that's one thing I've always liked about this time of year.  As it starts to warm up more people decide to run outside or bike or other activities, so that the gym is not as busy and hectic.  Bonus!  I hope it keeps up for you.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mccindy, yeah, I like to get outside this time of year too (I'm planning on a bike ride tonight and I'm hoping to get my kayak out on the water this weekend!).  But I lift weights every other day and you can't really do that outside, I have to go to the gym for it.    On my cardio days, sure, I will be outside on my bike or in my kayak.  But I'm still at the gym at least half the time.  So yeah, bonus!    Weight lifting is my #1 favorite type of exercise, so the fewer people there, the better for me.


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## mccindy

I am not able to do much weight lifting at all because I have a 20 lb. lifting restriction and no repetitive lifting.    If I want to use weights I have to lie on the floor to do it.  I've done it but it doesn't work the same!  I love my elliptical and I used to really like the arc trainer at the gym.  Biking is fun too.  I don't think I could kayak with my back but the people I know who do it seem to really enjoy it!  I miss running outside but inside working out is cool too, I get to watch movies while I work out!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh yeah, I love the arc trainer at the gym!  It's challenging but fun.  I usually do that as my warm-up for 10 or 15 min before lifting weights.  That sucks that you can't lift!  I have some sort of back issues too, I think related to my arthritis.  I have arthritis in both hips - it started on the right and more recently spread to the left, and I think it spread to the lower back too on its way to the left hip.  Not sure though, but I see a rheumatologist in a couple months so hopefully I'll find out more then.  Fortunately, exercise usually makes my arthritis feel better (jogging makes it worse).

Kayaking is super fun.  I used to kayak a lot before I became ill - then when I got sick, my kayak just sat there and collected dust in my basement for a few years.  We finally took it out a few times last year (it's a 2-person kayak) and it was just like old times again.    We even brought our dog with us in the kayak - we weren't sure if she'd freak out, as she doesn't like water, but she loves it.  She likes looking at ducks but will not bark at them ever (I think she doesn't want to scare them away?).  And she sits behind me, so if I stop paddling, she'll start nudging my elbow with her nose.  Too cute!

It's funny, when we bought our house, two of the big selling points for us were that there's a dog park right nearby and a creek next to the park which looked ideal for kayaking, so we had dreams of getting a dog and a kayak.  I obviously didn't plan to get sick, but when I'm in the kayak with my dog, I feel like I've accomplished something that I set out to do and I didn't let illness get in my way.

Quick update for today:  Crazy work stress!  I definitely need to take a looong bike ride tonight to work through this stress!  Fortunately the weather is beautiful and absolutely ideal for a bike ride.


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## mccindy

That is wonderful.  You did accomplish exactly what you wanted!  We have two dogs and we are considering taking them out in the boat this summer.  A little worried that they will freak out and jump out but maybe we'll give it a try. 
It's hilarious that your dog nudges you to paddle.  Mine will come up to me and nudge me in the leg with her nose if I'm late feeding her or she really wants to go out.  It's better than barking I guess!  
I hope you get a nice long ride tonight.  It's supposed to rain here so I will be hanging out in the basement on the elliptical.  I'll think of you!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/8/13.  I did go on a long bike ride last night, and it felt good for the most part.  For some reason though my booty really was not liking the bike seat on yesterday's ride though!  Things are quite sore and a bit swollen back there now.  I thought I might have a new hemmie, but fortunately not.  Still, not good.  I'm lifting weights tonight, that's never rough on the booty so that'll be fine.  Tomorrow I was thinking of taking another bike ride, but I'm going to switch to yoga to let things heal.  I may take a bike ride on Saturday if things are feeling better.

Mccindy, I would say give it a try with taking your dogs in the boat.  Do they have life jackets?  My dog is a corgi so she is not a strong swimmer with those stumpy little legs, so we got her a life jacket "just in case".  She's never tried to jump out of the boat though, she hates swimming.  She just likes to sit there and look at things and sniff the air.  She's sort of a spazz sometimes so I'm glad she's so well-behaved in the boat.


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## mccindy

Cat - I'm so sorry to hear you're having trouble "back there"!  That sucks.  At least you got the ride in that you were looking forward to.  Do you have a gel seat on your bike?  I have one on mine and it does really help with the comfort. 
I don't have life preservers for the dogs, they are pretty good swimmers.  I think we'll try it close to shore the first time though, so they can swim to shore if they do jump out!  I can imagine a short-legged dog would find swimming challenging!  It's cute to think of a life preserver on a dog.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, I have a gel seat on my bike.  It's better than a standard bike seat but I guess there's only so much that can be done with bike seats.  I have a recumbent exercise bike and it has like a regular chair seat, it's wide and cushy, and I think I've been spoiled by that.    I'm learning that my real bike and my exercise bike are very different!

I also apply Calmoseptine cream to the backside before any workout session, bike or otherwise, to try to keep things happy back there and prevent chafing.  But even that wasn't enough to prevent yuckiness from happening on my ride yesterday.  I've heard that there is a such thing as padded bike shorts, and I think I am going to look around and see if I can find a pair in my budget.  I'm sure that will not be a very cute look, but if it saves me from further butt troubles then it'll be worth it.

Yeah, it seems short dogs are not good swimmers in general.  They have this thing here at the end of every summer, before they close the public pool for the winter they take the chemicals out of the water and let people bring their dogs as a fundraiser for the local K-9 police dogs.  The people aren't allowed to swim but the dogs are, it's really cute.  We brought our dog to it 2 years ago, we had never taken her swimming before so we wanted to see how she'd do.  Right away we bought her a life jacket, but even so my dog clearly was not having fun in the water - she tried, but she hated it.  There were other corgis there and they were not good swimmers either.  My neighbor's corgi jumped right in but couldn't swim and my hubby had to fish the poor pooch out of the water!  The dog was fine, just a little waterlogged.    I saw basset hounds and daschunds that were not even attempting to swim, I guess they were smarter than the corgis.


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## Dexky

I've never seen a dog that "couldn't" swim!!

You just need some more junk in the trunk Cat!!  Stop exercising so much and you can have some built in padding!!


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## mccindy

Cat - that's hilarious!   I'm glad nothing happened to your poor pooch, but I'll bet it was funny to see the poor Corgis trying to swim.  I'd imagine if I took my dogs to a swim like that, they'd probably embarrass me by trying to play with the other dogs rather than swim. 
I've seen the padded bike shorts - they have them at Scheel's All Sports around here, and Cabela's I think as well.  I've thought about checking into them myself, as I don't have much padding in the backside myself and my lady parts hurt on the seat!  I don't think they look too funny, they are made to still be fairly stylish I think.  Maybe just give you a little ghetto booty look?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha ha, Mark!  I am a skinny girl but I have, as one former friend once put it, "a butt that's too big for my frame".    The booty has gotten smaller since I've been exercising regularly, now it's about just right for my frame, but it's not small or bony or anything.  I'm definitely not one of those skinny girls with no butt.  The trunk has enough junk.  

Mccindy, I giggled at the ghetto booty line!    Too funny.  I'm going to check around and see if I can find some of those padded shorts - hopefully the padding is fairly discreet for the reasons mentioned in the above paragraph, as I don't need any further fullness back there or it will definitely look like a ghetto booty!    Yikes, ha ha.

Ugh, it's raining here again.  I did weights yesterday and felt really good, stronger than usual.  Had hardly any reflux too which is always nice!  The rain is light today so the arthritis is just making itself known a little bit, but even so I'm going to do yoga tonight.  I was hoping to take the kayak out on Saturday, but they're saying rain then too.  Boo!  And it sounds like we're going to visit the in-laws on Sunday, so I think a nice long gym session beforehand is in order to pre-de-stress.  I don't usually work out in the mornings but I'll make an exception when I need to.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

ahhaaa I'm laughing at this padded shorts convo! 

I wouldn't fancy padding out my bum, I think its fine as it is. But for practical reasons I get where you are coming from. I mean, say you are going from your house out on the bike and straight back again, that would be fine. I wouldn't fancy it for a day out though, if you actually got off your bike.

I suppose it might be ok if the padding is on the bottom, kinda underneath, I'm quite small so I dont reckon anyone would notice. Ahahaha.... Imagine you got groped or something and the guy realises its not all your bum!!!


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## mccindy

I know they actually make pants that have booty padding in them!  I guess if you were going to get off the bike and walk around, you'd want to have a long shirt that would cover the butt pads?  Lol!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Eek!  Ha ha.  I think if I got padded bike shorts I'd wear a skirt or something over them so that it wouldn't be obvious.  The thought of booty padded pants that are not for bike riding, that's scary!  And yeah, LMV, I would not want to wear padded bike shorts anywhere but while on my bike.  I wouldn't wear them if I was going to be doing any walking/standing/anything besides bike riding!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/10/13:  I'm exhausted today.  It's been a long, stressful work week!  I can't wait to get to the gym.  I did yoga last night and it kind of sucked.    My balance was all off, I just couldn't do much of anything.  I don't have very good balance to begin with but it was worse than usual yesterday.  I'm not sure what's up with that.  Anyway, I got through it, but it wasn't pretty.


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## mccindy

Cat, I'm sorry to hear you're not having a good day.    Hopefully things go well at the gym and you get a nice endorphin rush to boost your spirits!  Hugs.


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## Ya noy

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Eek!  Ha ha.  I think if I got padded bike shorts I'd wear a skirt or something over them so that it wouldn't be obvious.  The thought of booty padded pants that are not for bike riding, that's scary!  And yeah, LMV, I would not want to wear padded bike shorts anywhere but while on my bike.  I wouldn't wear them if I was going to be doing any walking/standing/anything besides bike riding!


There are cycling skirts with built in padded shorts, also known as "skorts". 







I have quite a few, none of which are either denim or blue.  They don't look anything like my khakis either (and if you were me, that little rant would all make sense).

Mine are all spandex, and kind of look like tennis skirts. They cover up the padding on the bottom and make me feel less self-conscious in public. You can also cover up by wearing a long tee shirt, but the skorts feel a little more dressy.  

To me, this just isn't a good look.


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## Ya noy

The padding is shorts is called a chamois.  There's different types of chamois's for various body types, riding styles and personal preferences.  

	
	
		
		
	


	





The padding in the chamois is not the same as the padding in a bicycle seat, and the one is not a substitute for the other, and a thicker bike pad is not always better.  It depends on the type of riding you do, your body build, and your riding style.  

For casual riding in more of an upright position, where most  of your weight rests in your bottom, a wider, well padded seat is almost always far more comfortable. However, when riding long distance, or racing, where you are bent over and a good portion of your weight is actually being supported by your arms and handlebars, a very thin narrow seat can be better, by reducing contact with your bottom and thighs, so there's less rubbing, friction and chaffing. 

The padding/chamois of bike shorts functions in a much different way.  Bike shorts are intended to be worn without any undergarments, and the chamois is designed to help prevent chaffing, by using materials that allows the skin to breath and stay cool, while wicking moisture away from your body, along with padding that is strategically placed, to reduce the pressure in precise areas where it can provide the greatest protection against friction and chaffing. 

There's also chamois cream designed to be used in conjunction with padded cycling shorts, which can either be applied to the chamois, skin, or both.  In addition to helping prevent chaffing, most also have ingredients that help prevent rash, and infections, heal wounds, and sooth the skin. 

I was able to pick up all my bike shorts and "skorts" during year end clearance sales, when they discount by as much as 70-80%.  I also have a pair of padded cycling pants that are flannel lined for winter riding, and are especially wonderful. 

Bibs rarely go on sale because they're a very a "hot" item, the preferred choice of many cyclists because there is no waistline to cut in or fall down, especially beneficial for those who have a bit of a tummy, or not much of a waistline.  My waist is small, my hips are wide, so there's no danger of my pants falling down or of the waistband cutting into my skin.   

This is my bike seat.  It's called a Terry butterfly and for a road bike, it's well padded, but still pretty thin and narrow. ,





If I don't wear padded bike shorts, the chaffing can become unbearable, and I end up not only with rashes, but gigantic angry red welts and even blisters.  The padding really helps, but if I overdo without advance training, even padding will only go just so far.


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## mccindy

The little skirts are cute!  I could definitely see wearing one of them, and the padding wouldn't even be noticeable.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Those skirts are cute (definitely cuter than the shorts!).  I will definitely keep an eye out for sales.  Thanks for all the info, Ya noy!  

Update 5/13/13.  I had a pretty good weekend.  Didn't do much on Saturday as far as actual working out, but I did walk the dog and I also did a bunch of cleaning in my craft room.  We just remodeled our living room, and the craft room became the dumping ground for all the stuff we moved out of the living room.  I wanted to do some sewing, which meant I had to clean/move all of the stuff that had been dumped in that room.  That was kind of a chore!  My arms were tired afterwards so it felt like I kind of did get a workout from it.

Yesterday, I knew we were going to visit my in-laws for mother's day, so I went to the gym beforehand to pre-de-stress.    That was nice, I had a good workout, and then I had a pretty good visit with the in-laws.  My sister-in-law was there too and she's pregnant with her fifth (!!) child.  She brought her 4 kids with so that was kind of stressful, I always come away exhausted after seeing my nieces & nephews and can't believe I'll have another one soon!  I brought my dog, who tolerates children, but even my dog was exhausted from so many kids playing with her.  

It's a sunny day, although not particularly warm (I think the high temp is 60, although supposedly it'll be 85 tomorrow).  I'm hoping to go for a bike ride tonight.  There's a section of bike path here where you need to pay a fee and get a permit to ride on - it looks like a really nice path though, so I think I'm going to pay the fee tonight and go for it.


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## Ya noy

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> It's a sunny day, although not particularly warm (I think the high temp is 60, although supposedly it'll be 85 tomorrow).  I'm hoping to go for a bike ride tonight.  There's a section of bike path here where you need to pay a fee and get a permit to ride on - it looks like a really nice path though, so I think I'm going to pay the fee tonight and go for it.


Is it the Badger State Trail?  Cool trail.  Have you ever been through the Stewart Tunnel?  If not, the tunnel alone is worth the permit fee.  







It's only 1200 feet long, but curves so you can't see from one end to the other, and flashlights or headlamps are advised.  You also have to walk your bike through.  Of course, the tunnels on the Sparta-McElroy trail are longer, and spookier, Stewart Tunnel's worth a visit.

I'm doing some work for a friend at her hotel, and she has a group of  touring cyclists staying here on their way across the state to the Mississippi, so They've been entertaining me with tales of their adventures.


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## AlliRuns

Padded shorts are not so bad, but I prefer bibs: my new fav bike kit http://twitter.com/twosix_two/status/327595981724065795/photo/1


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## Ya noy

AlliRuns said:


> Padded shorts are not so bad, but I prefer bibs: my new fav bike kit http://twitter.com/twosix_two/status/327595981724065795/photo/1


Nice!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ya noy, I had to google that tunnel - that's a fair ways south of here (it said south of Belleville), too far for me I think!  I mostly just ride around the city.  The fee trail I stumbled upon is called the "9 springs E-way" (appears to be part of the Capital City trail) and it appears to go just south of the city and then back north again, kind of a horseshoe shape.  Google says that trail is about 16 miles one way which is still a bit much for me!  I am by no means a professional bicyclist and currently 12ish miles is my upper limit.

Update 5/14/13:  Speaking of bicycles, it was just about to rain yesterday evening as I was preparing for my bike ride, so I decided to play it safe and rode the exercise bike in my back bedroom for an hour instead.  That was fine although it's always a bit boring to ride in place and not go anywhere.    I did watch a DVD while I was riding so at least I was entertained.  Hoping to go on a real bike ride tomorrow, hitting the little gym in a bit for weights.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/16/13:  I went on a nice long bike ride yesterday and that was fun.  I feel like I'm getting stronger and am gradually getting confident enough to ride farther.  The route I took yesterday, it went through the country and there were NO bathrooms anywhere.  That was a bit disconcerting, but fortunately I didn't need a bathroom.

Today I'm hitting the gym for weights.  And I'm thinking, possibly on Sunday morning, I might try riding my bike to the gym, lift weights at the gym, and then ride home.  I haven't done that yet so I'm a bit nervous, but I think I can do it!  I'm going to see my grandparents on Sunday for lunch, so maybe I could squeeze that bike/lift/bike thing in in the morning.  It's something like 3 or 4 miles to the gym each way, so it'd be a decent little ride with weights too.  I'm just hoping I have enough stamina to do all that.  Wish me luck?


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## mccindy

Good luck Cat! You are brave and tough.  I have faith that you will have the stamina to make the whole trip and enjoy it!

I was feeling pretty bad yesterday, but I did manage to get on the elliptical when I got home for 1/2 hour.  I felt good afterward (endorphin rush) despite the burning in my belly.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/17/13:  I impressed a co-worker yesterday with my muscles.    She's off today so I have to fill in for her, and she was telling me about this heavy pocket wall I would need to move out of the way.  She made some comment like, "A tiny little thing like you might have trouble moving that big heavy thing!"  And I was like, "Hey, I work out, I have muscles, I'll be fine."  And I flexed a bicep (tacky I know!) and my co-worker was like, "Wow, okay, you'll be fine - you've got guns!"    Hah!

It's rainy today so no bike ride - I'm thinking I'll do yoga tonight and maybe attempt riding my bike to the gym tomorrow for weights.  I have to clean my house tomorrow too which should be a workout in itself!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

ahahaha! Cat thats so funny because the other week I flexed a muscle at work too! 
We were moving boxes and I was like, its ok I'm quite strong look! And she was like oooh wow yes! haha


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Too funny, LMV!    We're a couple of strong ladies showing off our muscles at work.    And I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one doing this kind of thing!


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## mccindy

I have to laugh!  I told one of my staff today that I'm very strong and he laughed, said I'm too small to be strong... so I flexed.... lol!
Rainy here too, hitting the elliptical tonight and tomorrow morning.  Cat, I'll think of you while I'm cleaning tomorrow as well.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Its good to be proud of our hard work


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hah, so we're all flexing at work!    We're all just awesome like that.  

McCindy, I'll think of you too when I'm cleaning tomorrow!  I have to clean really well, because my OCD grandmother is coming over on Sunday, and if anything is dirty or in disarray, she will clean/arrange it for me.  And she's 80 (nearly 81) and should not be cleaning my house for me at her age and in her poor health!  So I have to do a really thorough job.  I hope you don't have to clean as much as I do!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/18/13:  It's gorgeous out today!  I'm feeling good, going to try to ride my bike to the gym & lift weights and then ride home.  I'm cleaning my house too, which is slow-going because I get easily distracted.  I come across something I haven't seen in awhile ("I love this movie!  I'm going to put it on and just have it on in the background while I clean" and then cut to 2 hours later and I'm just watching the movie, not cleaning).


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Aha, Cat ill do anything not to clean as well!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Quick update:  I DID IT!  I managed to ride my bike to the gym, lift weights at the gym, and then ride home.  I probably did 8ish miles on my bike AND all the weight machines (except for the quads machine - my quads were already getting a good workout from all the bike riding and I didn't want to overdo it).  I felt kind of shaky on the ride home, like I had used up most of my energy, but I felt great too.  Totally exhausted now!  Not to mention sweaty and gross.    But feeling proud, I wasn't sure if I could do this but I tried anyway and I did it.    I will definitely be doing this again too!

Now I have to shower and eat and continue avoiding to clean.    I mean, I have to clean my house.  Yeah, sure.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

So, I've been thinking I should add some "before and after" photos so people can see my progress.  Here's a "before" picture.  Please note that this is a terrible picture of me!  I didn't know at the time that I was going to embark on a workout journey so I didn't take a proper "before" picture.  But this is before remission and before working out.  I had just started on Entocort at the time this was taken, I had literally been on it for like a week so I hadn't gained any of my weight back yet.  I was about 115 lbs here and skinny skinny!  My legs look like sticks.  I was playing a ring toss game here so it's hard to see but my arms were skinny too.  No muscle mass whatsoever and hardly any weight at all on me.  This photo was taken in Oct 2010.







Here's an "after" picture, which I took myself in my bathroom mirror just now.    (Please ignore how ugly my bathroom is, we're hoping to remodel it soon!)  This is after my workout today so I was sweaty and gross looking, but you can see that I have muscles and more weight on me (I'm at about 139 lbs now).


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## Ya noy

xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx said:


> Aha, Cat ill do anything not to clean as well!


Having to sit at a desk and stare at a computer all day and night, there are times I desperately need to go on a good cleaning binge.   I've been helping a friend with the books at her hotel, and felt the need to burn off some energy last night so strongly, that I snuck into the kitchen at midnight, and scrubbed all the stainless steel countertops until they were bright and shiny, cleaned the ovens, hosed down the walk-in cooler, and just for good measure, bricked the grills--which the cooks should have done before leaving.  She's still getting the hang of managing, and is a little lax on her employees.  My opinion, of course.  

After upgrading the computers tonight, depending on my mood, I'm thinking of either painting the back hallway, or cleaning the maintenance closet. I'd do my house, but there's nothing left to do. 

It's all exercise, but this way, I get immediate gratification of seeing an accomplishment.


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## Ya noy

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> So, I've been thinking I should add some "before and after" photos so people can see my progress.


Nice!


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## AlliRuns

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> So, I've been thinking I should add some "before and after" photos so people can see my progress.  Here's a "before" picture.  Please note that this is a terrible picture of me!  I didn't know at the time that I was going to embark on a workout journey so I didn't take a proper "before" picture.  But this is before remission and before working out.  I had just started on Entocort at the time this was taken, I had literally been on it for like a week so I hadn't gained any of my weight back yet.  I was about 115 lbs here and skinny skinny!  My legs look like sticks.  I was playing a ring toss game here so it's hard to see but my arms were skinny too.  No muscle mass whatsoever and hardly any weight at all on me.  This photo was taken in Oct 2010.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here's an "after" picture, which I took myself in my bathroom mirror just now.    (Please ignore how ugly my bathroom is, we're hoping to remodel it soon!)  This is after my workout today so I was sweaty and gross looking, but you can see that I have muscles and more weight on me (I'm at about 139 lbs now).


nice pipes!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Cat you look great!  

Your muscles look a lot more defined than mine do, I think my arms just kinda look big and slightly more shaped. I can keep working towards your arms!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks everybody for the compliments!  LMV, I've been working out for like 2 years now so it's taken awhile for my muscles to get to where they are!  And as you can kinda see through my shirt, my tummy is still flabby.  It's not flat and definitely no nice ab muscles showing through (they're underneath the flab, really!).  So just keep at it, it's taken me awhile to get this far with my muscle tone & definition.

Update 5/19/13:  I feel good after yesterday's bike/lift/bike.  I was hoping to take a bike ride today, but it suddenly started pouring rain!  It was literally sunny and nice out a few minutes ago, then all of a sudden the wind picked up and the clouds rolled in and I started hearing thunder, and then it started pouring rain.  So I guess no bike ride for me!  I was hoping to do a bit of gardening too but that's also out.  Maybe I'll do yoga instead.  I did finish up cleaning my house this morning so I got a bit of activity in anyway.  I'm not sure if vacuuming counts as exercise though.


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## Dexky

You look great Cat!!  No snarky comments here!!


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## mccindy

Cat, nice guns!  Looks like you have done some great work getting into shape.  It's nice to see the picture of you too, good to put a person to the "voice".  I need to do some work on my arms but it's tough because I have to lay down to use weights. 

I did get the house cleaning done on Saturday!  It was a nice feeling to be done.  I got started and just worked my way around the whole house.  Probably did a bit too much because the back pain was quite elevated by the time I was done.  We did get to go for a motorcycle ride Saturday and grilled out for supper, and Sunday was a nice lazy day with just some sheet changing and washing, and grocery shopping.  Good thing too, because I tried a small amount of grilled steak Saturday night (first time since flare started) and had burning belly pain all day Sunday.  So no more of that either.....


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## Cat-a-Tonic

McCindy, I feel for you, I can't do red meat at all either.  I stopped eating beef & pork when I was a teenager.  Apparently when you stop eating beef for awhile, your body stops making the enzymes necessary to digest it.  So every few years I'll get a hamburger craving and will try to eat one, but about 2 bites in, I get stomach pain and horrible nausea (this was happening even before I developed IBD).  It just sits in my system, it doesn't break down and it causes nothing but problems for days.  So no red meat for me ever, I just can't break it down at all!

Ugh.  I'm so tired today!  There were thunderstorms rolling through all last night and I think I woke up every time there was a big boom of thunder.  Then at one point I could hear the rain just pouring down and I got a little worried about my basement.  Definitely not a restful night!  I'm going to hit the gym tonight regardless, but I might not do very well as I'm not running on all cylinders today.


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## mccindy

Cat, I did not know that!  I've been eating less and less red meat the last couple of years, but still had some once in a while before this flare happened.  So I suppose if I have to stop now I won't be able to start up again even if this flare calms down?  boo.    I guess it is a good thing I like turkey burgers better than beef burgers!

We had storms all weekend too (I'm sure our system moved over to you, you're not too far away).  I woke up all night Friday night because the thunder was so loud!  Even the dogs were up and fussing because of the noise.  I'm sorry you're so tired.  I'm planning on a half-hour on the elliptical when I get home, even though my belly is bad today... I'll think of you and send some mental energy your way!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Hmm... Its starting to look stormy here too...
I doubt your storm got here that quick though!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

McCindy, I'm not sure how long it takes for the body to stop producing those enzymes.  I didn't eat any beef for probably 5 years in my teen years, and I would guess it probably does take years, not months.  So hopefully once you get this flare under control you'll be able to eat beef again.  But yeah, like you said, I use ground turkey in everything!  My hubby is a pretty good cook and he LOVES red meat, so he's found ways of making ground turkey taste fairly close to beef.  That works for both of us.  

LMV, stay safe!  We've had some bad storms here lately so I hope you're not getting one of our storms!.  Oh, McCindy, my dog hates thunder too.  Poor thing, the first of these thunderstorms rolled through yesterday afternoon and my dog wouldn't leave my side.  She gets so scared.  She didn't bark during the night though so at least that wasn't waking me up on top of everything else.


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## mccindy

I'll stay hopeful for the red meat - mostly I'd miss venison, which I've eaten much more than beef.  A steak is nice once in a while though.  I like to use ground venison in combination with ground turkey, so the result is still very lean and satisfies my husband's love for red meat and mine for the turkey.  The combination is actually very tasty - both of us think better than beef.  I'll have to do mine separately now though, and stick to the poultry.  Good thing I really like chicken, turkey and seafood!  My main source of protein.  Along with eggs, which I seem to tolerate so far.  

Poor puppy!  I feel bad for dogs when thunder scares them, they don't understand it, they are just scared.  My wolf-dog that I had to put down in March was terrified of thunder and would try to climb his 130-lb self into my lap!  He would be glued to me during all storms.  The two dogs I have now usually aren't too frightened but Saturday's storms were pretty violent and loud!  

LMV, I hope you get a nice pleasant mild storm and nothing too violent or dangerous!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I think the enzyme thing mainly affects beef digestion.  My father-in-law is a hunter and every so often he'll give us some venison.  I can eat a little bit of it without any trouble (haven't been brave enough to try eating a larger amount!).  So I'd say try a little venison, and if that goes okay then try a little more.

My dog is afraid of all thunderstorms (and fireworks and any other loud noises), and the worse the storm is, the more scared she gets.  During a terrible storm she'll just tremble and she looks so sad.  She refuses to leave my side and has to be touching me at all times.  The worst is if I have to let her out to go potty during a bad storm - I know she has to go, and she knows she has to go, but she absolutely does not want to go out there.  Sometimes I can coax her to go out, but other times she just refuses and holds it.  Poor pooch!


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## mccindy

Good to know, I will definitely try a little venison when I'm feeling better than today.  Hopeful!

Your poor girl, holding it in.... we have one that will do that too, she'd rather hold it than go out in the storm.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I don't think we ever get really bad storms tbh. (touch wood!) When its stormy I really like hearing it in bed coz it feels cozy! People always complain about the weather in this country but I'm not too bothered about it tbh. It could defo be a lot worse!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, my dog doesn't even like going out in a non-thunder rain storm.  She hates water!  But oddly enough she loves snow!  It's pretty much her favorite thing (well, peanut butter might be her #1 favorite thing, but snow is definitely #2!).  I remember the first time it snowed last winter, I opened the door and let her out, and you could just see the surprise and joy on her face when she saw that the ground was all white.  She ran all around at top speed, within like 2 minutes my yard was nothing but dog prints in the snow while all the neighbors still had pristine untouched snow in their yards.  

LMV, hearing a steady rain is cozy, I agree.  But thunder is a whole other matter, especially when it's happening loudly & all night!  I'd sleep with earplugs but it would mean I would probably sleep through my alarm!  And we get a lot of thunderstorms in the spring so I am sure I will have more sleepless nights soon.


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## Ya noy

First crack of thunder last night and we lost power--yet again!  The rain hadn't even started!  

It's supposed to storm again tonight, so I don't imagine we'll have power tonight either.  It's been continuous.  Ever since last summer when there was a bad storm that apparently damaged and weakened a lot of the power lines.  Every time it rains now, power lines break, and transformers pop all up and down our street, sometimes exploding in balls of fire.  Just wonderful.  Several of our neighbors have gotten generators.  We're thinking about it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ya noy, it sounds to me like a generator is a good idea!  Or at least a good stash of candles, flashlights, and some card games or a fully charged laptop.  I'd complain to the electric company each time it happens, too.  You might at least get a credit on your bill or something like that, and hopefully it'll light a fire under them to repair the older/weaker equipment.

Speaking of storms, I want to go on a bike right tonight, but not sure if that'll happen.  It's been threatening to storm for most of the day, it's been windy and cloudy although so far no storm.  I think they said storms are more likely in the evening today though so I'm not sure about that bike ride!  I may have to ride the boring old stationary bike in my back bedroom again.  Blah.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I accomplished one of my fitness goals today!  I rode my bike all around one of the lakes here.  Okay, yes, it was the smallest lake in the city, but it was still a decent ride and was challenging.  I'm quite tired now!  But feel great too, this was something I wanted to do and I set out to do it tonight.  It was really windy and the wind was in my face for about the first half of my ride, and admittedly there were a few times I wanted to stop.  But I kept going and I'm glad I did.    I get a little more confident in my bicycling abilities each time I am able to do a ride like that.


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## Dexky

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> It was really windy and the wind was in my face for about the first half of my ride, and admittedly there were a few times I wanted to stop.


…but then, miraculously, the wind was at my back and I felt like I could go around again but then, it was in my face again so I thought about stopping, but then…

Hahaha!!  Sorry Cat!  I just had to get back into character


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## mccindy

Nice job, Cat!  What a rewarding ride. You are getting into great shape, it sounds like!

 We are bringing our bikes home from Wisconsin this weekend so we'll finally get to go for rides again!  I'm looking forward to it.  There are state bike trails right across the road from our house so we'll be exploring those for a while.


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## kel

Do you have a Nightmare before Christmas shower curtain?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kel - yep!  We used to have a map of the world shower curtain, which was quite informative to learn all the countries and capitals while on the toilet.  The Jack Skellington shower curtain is fine but not nearly as informative.  

Mark, sadly that's pretty much true!  I wanted to stop when I was riding into the wind, and when I was riding with the wind, suddenly it was easier and I could keep going.  

Cindy, congrats on getting your bike back soon!  There's a bike path right near my house too and it connects with other bike paths, so I can ride pretty much anywhere in the city.  I love how convenient that is and I really like being able to mostly avoid car traffic when I'm on my bike.

Update 5/22/13.  Ugh, I feel terrible today!  Not sure what's going on, if I caught a bug or ate something that was off or what.  When I woke up I just felt a little bit off, like I might be coming down with a cold.  I looked in the mirror and my face looked more pale than usual.  Then I had a rather rough time on the toilet with loose orange stool (I didn't eat anything orange!) and when I tried to eat something, I got hit with horrible nausea.  I took a Zofran which just kicked in so the nausea's a little better, but something is definitely "off" today.  It doesn't feel like a full-blown flare, it kinda feels like I'm coming down with something.  Yuck!  Whatever this is, I hope it passes soon.  I'm holding out hope that I'll still be able to lift weights tonight, but I guess it depends on how awful I feel this evening.  I hate skipping a workout and I particularly hate skipping weights, as that is my favorite thing, so I'm hoping this passes soon or doesn't get worse.  Blah!


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## mccindy

Cat, that sucks!  I'm sorry to hear you're not feeling well. Hopefully it passes, but if it doesn't, you should probably skip the weights.  Your body will likely need the rest to fight off whatever is going on, and pushing could stress it and make you worse or start a flare.  Not that you need me to tell you what to do.... 
I hope you feel better soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Cindy.  I went home sick from work so I'm on the couch with my heating pad on and that's making me feel a little bit better.  I think I am skipping the weights tonight, might do some light yoga if I feel up to it.  Just gotta listen to my body and rest for now though.


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## mccindy

Yep, good idea.  Taking a rest day now and then is a good idea!  Take care of yourself today and hopefully things improve quickly for you.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Hope you feel better soon cat! And great about riding around the lake


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## kel

Bone daddy shower curtain = respect


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## hawkeye

I want a periodic table of the elements shower curtain


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## Sparkle2012

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Thanks everybody for the compliments!  LMV, I've been working out for like 2 years now so it's taken awhile for my muscles to get to where they are!  And as you can kinda see through my shirt, my tummy is still flabby.  It's not flat and definitely no nice ab muscles showing through (they're underneath the flab, really!).  So just keep at it, it's taken me awhile to get this far with my muscle tone & definition.
> 
> Update 5/19/13:  I feel good after yesterday's bike/lift/bike.  I was hoping to take a bike ride today, but it suddenly started pouring rain!  It was literally sunny and nice out a few minutes ago, then all of a sudden the wind picked up and the clouds rolled in and I started hearing thunder, and then it started pouring rain.  So I guess no bike ride for me!  I was hoping to do a bit of gardening too but that's also out.  Maybe I'll do yoga instead.  I did finish up cleaning my house this morning so I got a bit of activity in anyway.  I'm not sure if vacuuming counts as exercise though.


Your arms look GREAT!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm still feeling unwell today, although a little better than yesterday (this may be just because I haven't eaten yet today).  The good news is, it's not a flare.  No chills and no night sweats - so either I ate something that was off, or I caught a virus, something like that.  I called in to work again, because if it is a virus, I don't want to infect my co-workers (I wish they'd have the same respect for me and not come in sick!).  Going to continue to rest today, may attempt yoga tonight.  Just rested up yesterday, didn't even attempt any exercise.  I tried eating mac & cheese for dinner yesterday (usually one of my safest foods) and I couldn't get down more than a few bites before the nausea came back.  So yeah, just trying to listen to and heal my body, hopefully will be back to my old self again soon!


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## mccindy

Hi Cat,
I'm sorry to hear that you're still not feeling well.    I was hoping you'd be feeling better!   It sucks that you aren't able to eat at all.  Hopefully another day of rest will get you feeling up to snuff and able to work out again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I seem to be able to eat a little better today.  I just had a piece of toast.  So far it's sitting fine... hopefully it stays that way!


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## mccindy

Hooray for toast!  Get that strength up!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/24/13:  I felt gradually a little better as the day went on yesterday, I had more toast and an ensure and those sat fine, and I was starting to feel okay again.  Then yesterday evening I went to the bathroom and passed a whole bunch of bright red blood into the toilet.  I'm not usually a bleeder so that was quite disconcerting!  It only happened once, and I still feel okay, so I'm not sure what was up with that.  I'll treat it as a fluke if it doesn't happen again - if it does happen again, I'll call my doctor.  The stress and worry about that are making my guts a bit upset so I'm trying not to worry too much.  Really a scary thing though when you typically do not pass blood!

So I'm going to go in to work today.  Partly because I'm feeling somewhat better, and partly because I don't want my boss to think I'm just taking a really long Memorial Day weekend!  I'm feeling pretty fatigued, haven't slept well throughout this entire episode, so I expect it to be a rough day.  I'm hoping to mostly rest up over the long weekend.  Hubby works Sat & Sun so we have no plans and I can just stay in and rest those days for sure.  Monday we were thinking of maybe taking the kayak out for some paddling.  I'll have to see how I'm feeling then.  I am kind of wanting to try going to the gym tonight too, and again that'll depend on how I feel this evening, if I pass more blood, etc.  I know I can always go to the gym and take it easier than usual, so that's what I'm aiming for.  I'll skip the abdominals machines if I do go!


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## mccindy

Oh my, Cat! I'm not a bleeder either so I can imagine how you felt, seeing blood.  I hope that it doesn't happen again but definitely call the doc if it does.  Take it easy at work and don't overdo things.  I'll be thinking of you.  
Make sure you get plenty of rest this weekend.  Take it easy at the gym too.  

Be well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ugh.  I just passed blood again.  I hate this!  I am *not* a bleeder, this is highly unusual for me.  Guess I'll be making a doctor appointment.  I'm thinking I'll go through my GP first, as I can get in to see him quicker.  This doesn't feel like a flare (I never bleed even in a flare - and right now I don't have night sweats, joint pains etc which I always get in a flare), so I'll probably ask him to do stool samples to see if I've got a bacterial infection or something like that.  If he can't figure it out then I'll see my GI.

This kind of thing really gets me down.  This is not supposed to happen - I'm supposed to be in remission, I'm not supposed to pass blood!  I'm upset.  Trying not to cry at work.  There's nothing quite like being horrified at what you see in the toilet to bring you down!

And as for the gym, I'm torn.  Part of me wants to go and put in a good workout because I know that always makes me feel better & happier, it makes the stress and the blues go away.  But the other part of me thinks I should just rest and try to heal from whatever is going on.  I don't know what to do.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Quick update:  I called my GP's office.  He's not in today but another doctor in his clinic can see me this afternoon.  I'm kind of relieved that I don't have to wait the long weekend before I get to see a doctor.  The nurse I talked to on the phone said that they take rectal bleeding seriously so she wanted me to be seen ASAP.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Good luck I hope everything is ok.
I do often bleed with my crohn's and I'm not usually worried about it if I see a little bit, but if there is quite a lot or its in clots its horrible.
Having said that, since I have been better recently, if I saw a bit of blood now I would be worried a little.
Sorry that was a bit of a ramble!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks LMV.  The only times I've bled are that time I ate greek yogurt (probiotics + dairy kill me) and the time I ate cottage cheese multiple days in a row (apparently that also contains probiotics), but that was just a tiny bit of blood.  Or if I get an anal fissure there will be a teeny bit of blood on the TP, like just a drop or two.  This is more significant bleeding than those times, and I can't trace it back to anything that may have caused it (I don't have a fissure, I don't seem to have hemorrhoids, and I haven't eaten probiotics/dairy).  So yeah, I have bled a very minor amount a handful of times in the past, but this is new and scary!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Let us know what the doctor says x


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I just got back from the doctor.  I wrote a much longer post about this in Vent Away, but in a nutshell, they think the bleeding is from something like salmonella.  No hemorrhoids seen on exam and probably not viral either.

But I suspect I will have a virus shortly - the doctor was really sick with gastroenteritis, and didn't bother to tell me this right away!  She shook my hand, examined me, then said that viral gastroenteritis is going around, and in fact she has it herself.  Great - I've been exposed to a highly contagious stomach bug, that's just super.  Good thing I didn't have any plans for the long weekend because I think I'll be spending even more quality time with my toilet.  I'm so mad about this!  I hope somehow I avoid getting it, but with my luck and crappy immune system, the odds are not in my favor.  At this point I'll never get back to the gym...


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

So I'm reading the information sheet that came with my Cipro.  And it says things like, "tell your doctor if you do any strenuous exercise" and, "this medication may cause tendon damage".  From the sounds of it, I'm guessing it's safest to skip the gym altogether when I'm on it, either that or take things much easier.  Not that I'm in any state to be able to work out right now anyway.  I realized a little while ago that it's 4 PM and I haven't eaten today.  I'm drinking an Ensure right now for the calories but I have zero appetite, none.  As a result of barely eating, I'm still quite weak.  I so want to hit the gym, but it's not going to happen for a little while.  That sucks.  But I guess I would rather skip the gym for a week than rupture my achilles tendon or pass out from weakness.  Blah!  I feel like I'm supposed to be tougher than this, I'm supposed to be able to keep going no matter what hurdles come up in my path.  I hate feeling weak and unable to work out.  Not cool, body, and not cool, Cipro.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Maybe when you have a bit more energy you could just do your yoga or a short bike ride rather than anything too strenuous like the gym. Chin up cat  do you have any other hobbies you can focus on while you are going to be less active ? 

I'm into my knitting a lot at the moment.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Funny you mention knitting, I've been crocheting a blanket!  I have a few other crafts I'm working on too, and there's always work to be done outside in the yard & garden.  I won't be bored, but it is frustrating to not be able to exercise for a little while.  I know I could do yoga, but honestly, even that right now sounds like too much.  I've had a lot of weakness since this bacterial thing or whatever it is started, and dizzy spells too.  I'm afraid I'm just going to fall over/fail if I try even yoga.  Maybe when I start the Cipro, I'll feel better and could handle yoga then.

Speaking of Cipro, I can't start it until I turn in some stool samples.  I've been trying to collect them, but I am having issues.    I keep getting urine in the collection hat thing.  The last time I did stool samples was a couple years ago, and I recall it being really easy then.  For some reason it's more difficult this time around!  I empty my bladder, then I try to poop in the hat, but more urine ends up getting squeezed out somehow and ends up in there too.  And I don't have much poo to work with since I haven't been eating much.    This is getting just silly now.  I gotta get it together so I can actually start Cipro.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update:  Finally got my stool samples taken care of.    It only took 4 tries!  I kept getting a little bit of urine in the collection hat.  (Why do they call it a hat, anyway?)  So I took my first Cipro tablet just now.  I haven't taken Cipro before, so I'm not really sure what to expect - wish me luck.  I recall my husband was on it when he had kidney stones and he did fine, so hopefully I will too.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Oh god! I hate doing stool samples!  

also, I have crocheted a blanked recently too! I think there is a pic on my profile on here


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## Cat-a-Tonic

So, Cipro is interesting.  It makes me feel a little loopy and... silly?  I feel like I'm just slightly drunk, things are slightly funnier/more awesome and I feel a bit more gregarious.  I probably shouldn't drive while I'm on this stuff!  Seriously, I had to take my stool samples to the lab so I did have to drive.  I had my car stereo on and I thought at one point, my music is too quiet.  Oh well.  Then like 5 minutes later I was like, Oh, right, I can turn up the volume!  Yeah, I'm not going to drive any more until I get used to Cipro, pretty sure I'm dangerous!  Hopefully this weird effect wears off by the end of the long weekend.


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## Dexky

Hope you're ok Cat!  Sounds like a reaction you should maybe ask about before taking the next dose!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Mark.  The effect only seemed to last 3-4 hours, then I felt like myself again.  The loopy feeling didn't come back when I took my 2nd tablet.  I just took my 3rd Cipro tablet and still feel fine, so I guess just a weird initial reaction?

I'm still not quite up to working out though.  I took my dog on a short walk, and the guts were cramping like crazy when we got back.  I might try yoga this evening, but feeling like this I know I'm not up to lifting weights, and I don't feel brave enough to ride my bike like this for fear of needing a bathroom.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Okay, so I managed to do a little bit of exercise today and I feel good, this is encouraging.    Hubby was on his way out the door to go to work when he reminded me that there is a lot of yard work to do.  Ugh, okay.  So I did a ton of work in the yard, more than I thought I was up for.  I trimmed all the hedges & bushes, and sawed a bunch of branches off my lilac bush (it's a seriously huge lilac bush, more like a lilac monster!).  My arms are tired now but I feel good.  Depending on how I feel tomorrow, I am tempted to go to the gym.


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## Ya noy

Oh Cat!  I'm so sorry to hear all that  

I ended up having to take Benadryl, and have no energy. I had no choice. Someone checked someone else into the room I've been staying in at the hotel by mistake, and I had to take a different room--where apparently, someone had snuck either a cat or dog into and my eyes swelled up, and I had to take Benadryl to make them go back down.  I wish I had just put up with the swollen eyes, because I ended up sleeping for 20 hours solid and it's been 2 days and I still can't even make it through a tv show without falling back asleep.  Exercise is out of the question.  I can't go back to work because I'm not capable of driving yet.  

Joys of meds.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ya noy, that sucks!  I don't take Benadryl because it makes me like that too.  Hope you start to feel more alert soon!

I'm feeling better, but things are still somewhat weird.  Yesterday after my first Cipro dose, I got so hungry.  I pigged out on pizza, chips, and candy.  But today, I'm back to having no appetite again.  Not nauseous, no pain, no d - just no appetite.  I had an Ensure for breakfast just out of habit, but then I basically forgot to eat until just now.  I didn't feel hungry at all the whole day, but around 3 PM my hands started shaking, presumably out of hunger.  I made myself eat and the hands aren't shaky anymore.  I'm going to have to remind myself to eat until I fully recover!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I get that sometimes when I'm a bit under the weather, where you don't feel hungry but start getting shakey so try and eat something. 

Thinking about it, it hasn't happened for a while and could have been when I was on antibiotics for my abscess. I'm not sure if it was cipro because we don't use that name here but it could have been as I know it is used widely for that.


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Okay, so I managed to do a little bit of exercise today and I feel good, this is encouraging.    Hubby was on his way out the door to go to work when he reminded me that there is a lot of yard work to do.  Ugh, okay.  So I did a ton of work in the yard, more than I thought I was up for.  I trimmed all the hedges & bushes, and sawed a bunch of branches off my lilac bush (it's a seriously huge lilac bush, more like a lilac monster!).  My arms are tired now but I feel good.  Depending on how I feel tomorrow, I am tempted to go to the gym.


I miss the lilac we had at our old house Trim a bit more over the next couple of years, apparently the branches won't flower unless the wood is 3 years old


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, I try to cut bits off of the lilac bush every year, otherwise it's just too huge.  It always flowers, no worries there.  It looks & smells nice for about 5 days a year, and the rest of the year it's not flowering.  

Uggh, my body is just throwing me for a loop this week!  Hubby and I did some grocery shopping and I felt fine.  Then we came home and I was sitting on the couch, going over our finances.  As I was sitting there, I noticed my foot kind of hurts.  Not the achilles tendon area fortunately - I know Cipro can cause tendons, particularly the achilles, to rupture.  This is more on the top of my foot.  It has been hurting more and more!  I don't know why, I didn't hurt it in any way that I can recall and it looks fine from the outside.  But it freaking hurts to the point I can barely walk on it!  I have ice on it right now which is helping a little bit (it feels swollen/bruised).  This is just getting ridiculous though, I stop exercising for a few days and I fall apart completely.    No appetite and now can barely walk, that's just great.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

My mum had a pain in her foot like that once. It ended up going into a lump and they said it was some kind of tumour thing which she may have to have removed and to walk on it less.
A while later she went to the doctors again, it was feeling better and only then did they do an x-ray. It turned out the first time it was fractured! She didn't even do anything to it. But walking on it less it managed to heal itself! Amazing!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That's crazy, LMV!  I hope mine isn't a tumor nor a break!  It feels a bit better today, I can put some weight on it although not my full weight.  My hip hurts - it's the left foot that hurts, so I've been limping along putting most of my weight on my right leg, and my right hip is the bad one with arthritis (both of my hips have arthritis, but the right one is far worse in terms of pain).  The right hip clearly did not like me putting all my weight on it the few times I tried to walk last night, plus it's raining today, so the hip is aching.  Days like this, I feel like a little old lady.  And still going to the gym is nowhere in sight...


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## Ya noy

I'm glad to hear you're feeling better.  The swelling left gigantic bags under my eyes, but I'm going into work regardless.  Otherwise someone else would be called in to cover the shift, and I don't want to ruin Memorial Day plans for anyone else.  

it's raining here too, but had just enough energy to get my flowers planted first.


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## mccindy

Cat - I've been out of touch for three days and look what happened to you!  I'm so sorry to hear you've been having such a hard time. I hope that you are feeling better today and able to eat and get around.  Sounds like you had a traumatic weekend.  I had one myself, posted about it in the support forum so I won't repeat it here.  I just wanted to give you a virtual hug and let you know I'm thinking of you!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Aw Cindy, I just saw your other thread and responded in there - but that's just horrible!  I'm sending you a big hug too!  I feel like a wimp complaining about foot pain when you're going through that.  I'm sorry.  Big hugs!

So, speaking of foot pain.  It's getting better - I can walk without my cane now and can put my full weight on it.  I still feel sorta run down, the guts aren't back to normal yet, I slept horribly and just feel generally blah.  I *so* want to exercise, I think that would help a lot.  So I sort of spontaneously decided today, screw it, I'm going to the gym!  I'm gonna hit up the little gym on my lunch hour, it might go terribly but I have to try.


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## mccindy

Good luck at the gym Cat!  I hope it goes really well for you.  I missed my workouts all weekend due to my whole emergency situation, but got back on the elliptical morning and that really felt great.  Take it easy on that foot though, don't push too hard!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Hope you enjoyed the gym


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, haven't been just yet!  Heading to the gym shortly.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Not your lunch break yet cat? I've just had my dinner!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I take a late lunch.    I am back from the gym for real now.  It went well!  I wasn't quite as energetic as I usually am, and I had to change things up a bit to accommodate my foot, but overall it went well and I feel good now.  Very glad I went.    I did all the weight machines just like usual.  I did my warm-up on the bike and my foot felt fine then, I did my cool-down on the treadmill and the foot wasn't a big fan of that but it wasn't awful either.  The guts were totally quiet and calm the whole time and the foot didn't act up much, so I would say it was a great success.  I could tell that it's been awhile since I had a good workout, I wasn't quite as fast or energetic as usual, but I did everything I wanted to do so not too shabby.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Thats great that you could adapt your workout so you could still enjoy it despite being ill.


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## mccindy

Cat, I'm so glad to hear your workout went well!  There's nothing like that feeling to pump you up (pun intended, ha ha!).  Hopefully your foot gets better and better and you get back to your normal activity level.  Glad too that your belly was quiet!

I've been doing all right with my elliptical, but whoo the Keppra makes me feel a bit funny so I feel like I am working harder to finish a 1/2 hour workout on it than I used to for an hour.  

LMV, it's funny to think you are so many hours ahead of us here! At one point we're even on different days.  Interesting!  Especially considering we're kind of having Englandish weather here lately, cool and rainy.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I can relate, the Cipro made me feel a little funny too.  When I first took it, it was like I was a bit drunk!  I felt very silly and loopy.  That feeling lasted about 4 hours and fortunately hasn't come back.  I have been getting dizzy spells too - the Delzicol gave me dizzy spells for the first few weeks I was on it, and now the Cipro is giving me dizzy spells.  (Fortunately I only have to be on Cipro for a few more days.)  I always get nervous about going to the gym when I'm having dizzy spells, don't want to pass out while on the treadmill or while doing weights, as I could get injured.  Plus, in the little gym I'm usually the only one there, so if I pass out and don't wake up right away or if I get injured, nobody would find me for awhile.  That's a scary thought.  I hope this is just an initial side effect for you that wears off quickly so that you can get back to your regular workout length/intensity soon!

I was going to see how I feel today before deciding whether or not to work out - I wasn't sure how I'd be affected, doing a workout after having a week away from the gym.  Fortunately I feel good, the tummy is getting back to normal and the foot is too, and I don't have any muscle soreness or anything like that.  So I'm hoping to ride my bike tonight, although we're supposed to get storms.  So, I'll probably either ride the stationary bike or do yoga.

Oh, and this weekend is Ride the Drive!  I've talked about it a little bit in this thread before, but basically the city shuts down some major downtown streets for a day and lets everyone ride their bikes in the middle of the roads.  There are fun activities along the way, bands, food, and of course bathrooms.    I did it last year and it was fun, but I wasn't in very good biking shape then, and there's this one big hill leading up to the state capitol building and I just could not make it up that hill.  I made it up about halfway, got too exhausted to continue, and had to stop and walk my bike up the rest of the way.  I'm determined, this is one of my fitness goals, that this year I'm going to make it up that stupid hill all the way without stopping & walking!  I'm pretty sure I can do it, and I'm determined to try.

The other thing I'm thinking about doing is, I read that the Ride the Drive course is about 5 miles (it's a loop).  I know I can ride for 10 miles on my bike, so I'm thinking about doing the course twice.  This would mean though that I have to face that big hill twice though, and that's kind of a scary thought.  I kind of want to try it though!  If I can do it once, I should be able to do it twice, right?...


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## mccindy

I know you can.  I think it sounds like a lot of fun!  You've been working hard, might as well reward yourself with a challenge to prove how far you've come!  I'm so glad to hear your foot and belly have settled and are allowing you to ride again.  We're stuck in the same weather pattern as you so we will probably have some rainy storms tonight.  My mom is coming tonight though, she's taking me to my appointment tomorrow since I can't drive (grr).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, rain/storms are in the forecast every day from now through Saturday here - fortunately Ride the Drive is on Sunday, and right now they're saying it shouldn't rain on Sunday.  Fingers crossed that the weather holds out!

I'm glad your mother can take you to your appointment.  Is she supportive?  My mom isn't particularly supportive, she feels like gluten is the source of all evil (she's self-diagnosed with celiac, I feel like she's incorrect in her self-diagnosis, there's a lot more to it than that but this is it in a nutshell).  So she thinks if I just cut gluten out that I'd get better, even though my doctors have all said tht I definitely don't have celiac (I don't feel like I have a gluten sensitivity either).  It boils down to, my mom doesn't listen to me, and how can you be supportive of someone if you don't even listen to them?  This is turning into a vent so I'll stop here.  Long story short, I hope your mom is a lot more supportive than mine is.  

Okay.  Back to Ride the Drive.    A lot of people dress up or decorate their bikes for it and I'm thinking about doing that too.  Not sure what I'd do though.  Tape cat ears to my bike helmet?    I have a lot of ribbon and other craft supplies so I could so something, just not sure what.  Anybody have ideas?


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## mccindy

My mom is super-supportive.  She knows about all my medical stuff (list just keeps getting longer!) and is completely helpful and supportive.  My husband is too.  So one bonus for me is that I have such a great support system.  I almost consider it a web now, with all of you, and them, and my kids and my friends!  I'm lucky that way.  

You should put cat ears on your bike helmet and a tail on the back of your bike and make some kind of whiskers for your handlebars... maybe cat eyes on the front too?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm afraid a tail would get caught in my back wheel!  I think I will have to be a tail-less cat.    I have a basket on the front of my bike so I could put something in there, like a stuffed animal or some flowers or something.  I feel like I need a theme.  My bike is turquoise blue and so is my helmet, maybe I could wear all blue.  Hmm, I don't know.  I'm good at coming up with Halloween costumes but not really with this kind of thing.  The only bike-related costume I can think of is Pee Wee Herman from Pee Wee's Big Adventure.    My bike isn't red and it isn't as cool as Pee Wee's bike though so that won't work.  Hmmm...


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## mccindy

Oh, I thought maybe you could find something stiff to make the tail from, so it would stick straight out the back and not drape into the wheel.  LOL!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/30/13:  I managed to go on a bike ride last night.  I was feeling slow & sluggish, but I managed to do maybe 8ish miles in an hour.  I felt like I could have gone longer, but there was a storm rolling in so I played it safe and went home.  It's encouraging that even on a day where I wasn't really feeling it, after a week away from my bike, I was still able to do a halfway decent ride.

Going to go to the big gym tonight for weights.  I am excited about that!  I'm probably weird that I get excited about working out.  

Health-wise I'm still a bit iffy.  I may or may not have had blood in my stool again last night.  (I'm on my period so it's difficult to tell, but it looked like there might have been a bit of blood mixed in with the poo.)  I'm still on Cipro through tomorrow (they gave me a 1-week prescription), although the doctor called and said they found no evidence of bacterial infection in my stool samples, and as always my bloodwork came back looking good.  The doctor had ruled out internal hemmies on a rectal exam already so that's not causing the bleeding either.  So, they're not sure what caused the blood in my stool, and I'm not even sure if it's still happening.  That's frustrating.


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## mccindy

well what the heck.  That is frustrating.  Finding blood in stool and not finding a cause.... not hemorrhoids, not infection.  Sheesh!

I'm at least glad for you that you are looking forward to a good workout!  That's always a good sign.  I get excited about working out too and I'm disappointed when I can't do it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a good workout last night.    It was pouring rain when we were at the gym though so it was more crowded than usual - people couldn't exercise outside so they all went to the gym in the rain I guess.  Oh well, I still did everything in the gym I wanted to & didn't have to wait for any machines to open up, so it was fine.  I was thinking of doing some yoga tonight, but then I found out my massage therapist is available to give me a massage tonight.  That's kind of like a workout in itself - my muscles are usually sore the next day anyway!  So I'll have a massage and skip the yoga.  And tomorrow I'll feel like I went through a meat tenderizer because of the massage.   

But I'll pick myself right back up and go to the gym.  I read an article recently that said that the best way to get rid of muscle soreness is actually to exercise the sore muscles!  And I believe it, I've experienced that for myself.  If I'm feeling sore, working out alleviates it.  Strange but true!  So I'll exercise away the massage soreness tomorrow and then I'll feel better.    Sort of weird that I have to recover from a massage - maybe my massage therapist is being too rough on me?  The massage itself always feels good, it's only the next day that I feel sore.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Yeah, I remember you saying this before and I was shocked that a massage would cause soreness. I thought the whole point was the opposite and its kinda put me off to be honest! haha


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## mccindy

Most people I know really enjoy massages and don't get too sore.  I experience a lot of pain with massage but that's because my back is so messed up.  I think if you are experiencing pain after a massage your therapist must be pretty rough on you!  At least it feels good though.  Getting the blood flowing through those muscles is very good for them, releases toxins and oxygenates the muscles for better repair.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, my back is kind of messed up too - not nearly as bad as yours from the sounds of it though - and apparently my neck is pretty screwed up too.  So maybe that's contributing to the soreness.  I think part of it too is that I'm just not very comfortable lying face-down - it's not super easy on the tummy to be squished onto a massage table, plus my screwy sinuses freak out and try to drain when I'm face-down but it's like they can't drain fully or something.  So I am congested and not comfortable during a massage, that doesn't exactly lead to me being relaxed.    But I do think massages are beneficial so I keep getting them.  And it is really nice that our massage therapist is a friend of ours, so he gives us a special rate and makes house calls.

LMV, sorry to have put you off!  I think you just need to find the right massage therapist, mine maybe isn't the right one for me but like I said he's a friend, I trust him (I don't know that I'd want a stranger's hands on my body), and he makes house calls so I at least can be comfortable knowing I'm in my own house and basically just hanging out with a friend while he rubs oil on me.    And it does feel nice during the massage, it's just afterwards that I usually feel like I've been beaten up.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/2/13:  I'm feeling good.  I didn't have too much pain/soreness from the massage fortunately.  Haven't had any more blood in my stool, so hopefully it was just a fluke or a virus or whatever.  I lifted weights yesterday and felt good, although the bad hip was acting up a bit afterwards.  I did Ride the Drive today, 2 laps, and I did manage to get up that big hill without stopping!  The first lap, I tried it, but felt like I was going to pass out so had to stop to catch my breath and have a drink of water.  On the 2nd lap, I went slower, and it was tough but I did it the hill without stopping.    The hip is hurting a little bit again but I think that's because I took a nap when I got home and I was sort of lying on top of the bad hip during my nap.

Oh, I did have some fairly wicked cramps after riding.  I think this was because it was really cold out today!  It was something like 45 degrees F when I headed out, with strong cold winds.  I usually ride in warmer weather and feel fine, I haven't ridden my bike in such cold miserable weather until today.  My body doesn't like weird temperature fluctuations, although it typically cramps up in response to really hot humid weather.


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## AlliRuns

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Update 6/2/13:  I'm feeling good.  I didn't have too much pain/soreness from the massage fortunately.  Haven't had any more blood in my stool, so hopefully it was just a fluke or a virus or whatever.  I lifted weights yesterday and felt good, although the bad hip was acting up a bit afterwards.  I did Ride the Drive today, 2 laps, and I did manage to get up that big hill without stopping!  The first lap, I tried it, but felt like I was going to pass out so had to stop to catch my breath and have a drink of water.  On the 2nd lap, I went slower, and it was tough but I did it the hill without stopping.    The hip is hurting a little bit again but I think that's because I took a nap when I got home and I was sort of lying on top of the bad hip during my nap.
> 
> Oh, I did have some fairly wicked cramps after riding.  I think this was because it was really cold out today!  It was something like 45 degrees F when I headed out, with strong cold winds.  I usually ride in warmer weather and feel fine, I haven't ridden my bike in such cold miserable weather until today.  My body doesn't like weird temperature fluctuations, although it typically cramps up in response to really hot humid weather.


I would have traded weather with you. It was really hot and humid here and I had a race this morning. I get crampy in high heat too, think this is normal for anyone.


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## mccindy

Hooray, Cat! Sounds like you were able to really get out there during the bike ride, which I know you were hoping for.  Darn that hip, I hope it eases up on you and you're able to keep going.  This weather we're having in MN/WI sucks!  We're about a month behind, my hubs figures.  It's only supposed to be in the 50s again tomorrow, and might get to 70 by the weekend but is supposed to rain.  Of course!  Argh!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Well done! Thats great you managed to get up that hill. 

So you have reached two of your fitness goals with that and the lake! Have you planned any more?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, I do have other goals.  I rode my bike around the smallest lake in my city - there are other, much larger lakes that I'd love to ride around someday.  That probably won't happen anytime soon but is something to keep trying for.

Cindy, yeah, we're having cool weather here too, in the 60s all week with rain off and on.  My arthritis is still acting up unfortunately.  I took 2 Tylenol PM last night to try to get the pain under control and help me sleep, but the pain is still around and I just feel groggy from too much sleep medicine today.  I also woke up super nauseous this morning so had to take 2 Zofrans.  Not sure where the nausea came from!  I'm feeling somewhat better now, I was able to eat some potato chips and have some tea.  Going to hit the gym tonight but I'm pretty much running on empty at this point between the nausea, tiredness and joint pain!  I think I'm going to go to bed as soon as I get home from the gym, I'm just wiped out today.

Oh, so here's something I'm looking forward to exercise-wise.  I was on facebook last night, chatting with an old friend from high school.  I haven't seen her in over a decade, she moved down south to Georgia awhile ago.  But I guess she really misses Wisconsin and she wants to either take an extended vacation to WI this summer, or maybe even move back here for good.  She used to be overweight but she's lost a lot of weight and she really likes to exercise, so we're already talking about going on bike rides together when she comes back to WI.  She and I have an interesting history (we went to a concert together many years ago where we met 2 guys, one of whom was cute - we both developed a crush on the cute guy, he liked me better than my friend, and long story short I married him!  She was really mad for years about that!  But hey, I'm still with hubby and I feel like it all worked out pretty well).  She's kind of a flake too, I rememer the last few times we tried to hang out - we made plans, she said she'd pick me up at a certain time, then she wouldn't show up and wouldn't answer her phone.  So I'm cautiously optimistic about going on bike rides with my old friend.  I feel like we're both adults now (a lot of that stuff happened in college) and I've certainly matured and can forgive & forget, so I'm hopeful that my friend has grown up too and that we can hang out again.  Anyway, I'm rambling a lot here.  Short version - I'm hoping to go on bike rides with an old friend.


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## kel

Workout buddies can be very good - usually not reliable in my experience however. Especially since you mentioned she's a bit of a flake, don't count on her to go with you. Just stick to your own plan IMO.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kel, yeah, I usually work out alone so I'm fine with doing my own thing if my friend flakes out on me.  All that stuff I mentioned happened when I was like 18/19, and I'm 33 now, so it's been 15 years and a person can grow & change a lot in that amount of time.  So I am hopeful, but I can easily do my own thing if she repeats her old patterns.


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## kel

If you simply want to use this opportunity as a social thing by all means be flexible and accommodate your schedule to hers.

If not, you have the right idea. Training is training, not time to chit chat.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kel, I completely agree - one of my big pet peeves is people at the gym who just stand there and chat forever.  Sometimes my hubby comes to the gym with me, but I don't even really consider him to be a workout buddy, because we literally do not talk to each other at all when we're at the gym.  I do my thing, he does his thing, we both have headphones on, we meet up when we're done.  We usually check in on each other, I look to see how far he is in his workout and we do often stretch & cool down together, but I think we've said like 10 words to each other in the gym at most.  He asked me once if I know how to reset an ipod shuffle because his wasn't working and I said no, I don't know.  And that was the longest gym conversation we've had!    So yeah, I can work out with another person there with me but still totally do my own thing, so I'm not too worried about that.  I'll give my friend a chance, and I'll work with her schedule (she has a kid so I know she'll need to get a babysitter), but if she impedes my workout then I won't exercise with her again.


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## kel

I am curious, with all the weight gain threads popping up, if you have reached your healthy weight goal? I noticed in your OP you mentioned you lost about 20 lbs at some point.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh yes, I'm back at a healthy weight now.    I had lost about 20 lbs from being ill & undiagnosed (and therefore untreated) over the course of about a year.  After a year of that, even though I'm still technically undiagnosed, my GI felt it's probably IBD and he put me on Entocort.  I was on that for about 7 months and I gained back about 25ish lbs.  I'm still in remission and at about the same weight - I was about 136 before I got sick, dropped down to about 115 that first year, and now I'm currently about 139 lbs.  The Entocort weight gain was all fat, and most of it came back around my midsection, so working out regularly has turned a lot of that flab into muscle.  I still have a little bit of flab on my belly but not too bad.


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## mccindy

Cat, that's funny.  My hubs and I were pretty much the same way when we were at the gym together.  I hate the chatterboxes at the gym!  He would come by to ask me a question but that was it, he knew how much I hated it.  I kind of get "in the zone" when I'm working out and just don't want to be bothered.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, Cindy, I hear you, I totally get in the zone too!  I'm a huge introvert, and once my headphones are on, I'm officially in my own little world inside my head and I don't wish to be bothered by the outside world.    Having someone try to talk to me when I'm in the my own head like that, I either won't hear them or I will get very annoyed.  Gym time is me time!

Someone in a different thread said that the gym is like their sanctuary, their safe happy place.  I love that analogy and completely agree.  Particularly the little gym in the basement of my workplace, because hardly anyone else ever goes there besides me.  I can be all alone, crank my music, collect my thoughts, do a great workout, and just basically recharge my batteries.


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## kel

Glad to hear you're managing your weight well


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## mccindy

that is exactly it!  It is like a sanctuary.  Now that I have my elliptical in my basement, it's nice to have that quiet room to go to and be alone and work out.  Sometimes the dogs come in there and I even tell them to get out if they are getting rowdy!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I am the same way when I exercise at home - I have my exercise bike in my guest bedroom, and I do not let my dog in the room at all when I'm riding the bike.  She likes to sit really close to me, but she ends up getting bonked in the head with the pedals, so I don't let her in the room anymore.  She sits right outside the door and sighs sadly and looks at me with very sad eyes the whole time.    She also tries to sneak out of the house with me when I take my bike out for a ride.  And if I'm on the floor stretching/doing yoga, she also tries to sit right next to me and/or will lick me until I pet her, so I kick her out of the room during yoga too!  She's a good dog but kind of a pest sometimes.

Update 6/4/13:  I'm feeling much better today!  I hit the gym last night for weights, that was a really tough workout.  I had no energy and was feeling crappy so I really had to dig deep to get through it.  After the gym I came home, had an Ensure for dinner, went to bed early, and woke up feeling a lot better.  No more nausea, the arthritis pain is still there but is better than it was yesterday, and my energy levels are much improved.  I'm going to do yoga tonight since it's supposed to rain (so no bike ride).  Weights again tomorrow, hopefully a bike ride on Thurs if the weather is nice.  Weights on Friday and hopefully kayaking this weekend (again, totally weather-dependent!).  Hubby's birthday is on the 13th so I'm taking a few days off of work next week for that, so hopefully we can go kayaking at least once during my time off too.  That's a form of exercise that my dog actually gets to go along for - she loves riding in the kayak and looking at ducks!  So my dog and I will both be happy if we get to take the kayak out.


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## mccindy

Hooray!  I'm so glad to hear you are finally feeling better.  It's about time!  Sounds like you have some good times ahead. We're going to try taking our dogs out in the boat this summer and see how they do, they haven't been yet but we think they might like it since they like riding in the car so much.  Here's a funny - my dogs wait until I am done on the elliptical and then they come and lick my legs like crazy because I'm all sweaty and salty!  I try to get away but with two of them it's a challenge.  They really are a couple of funny girls.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, do your dogs like swimming?  My dog hates to swim but loves riding in the car - so she loves riding in the kayak too, and there's little risk of her jumping out of the kayak into the water.  If she liked water, it might be another story though.  But she really loves riding in the boat.  It's cute, she likes it so much that if I stop paddling, she'll start nudging me with her nose.  She likes to keep moving forward and doesn't want to stop!  She's the same way in the car too, if we stop at a red light she starts whining and barking because she wants to go go go.  I've actually started saying to her in the car, as I'm slowing down, "Red light, Lily!"  And she seems to know that means we have to stop temporarily but that she shouldn't freak out - and she doesn't.  I swear, sometimes I think she understands English!  

She also knows a few other completely silly commands that I've taught her.  If I say, "Lily, whisper!"  She'll do a very quiet "grrr".  And if I say, "Get the kitty", she'll go find the cat and nudge her with her nose.    She's my first dog and I wasn't sure at first how I would go about teaching her new tricks, but she pretty easily picks up any silly thing I try to teach her.


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## mccindy

Cat, it sounds like you have a very smart dog there!  And entertaining, as well.  My girls, Molly and Maia, are quite the characters as well.  Molly won't ever lay down when we're traveling in the car, I think because she's afraid she'll miss something.  Even if she sits down, if the car slows or stops, she's right up at the window checking everything out.  Maia, on the other hand, would rather lay down and snooze until the ride's over. 

We've only taken them swimming a couple of times, but they seemed to enjoy it.  They only like water if they CHOOSE to go in though!  Baths are fun because Molly especially hates going into the water if she didn't want to go, and she doesn't like going out in the rain either much.  She's pretty silly!

I think dogs do learn to understand our language.  My dogs know "wait" and "treat" and which toy to go get when I tell them, as well as "ride".  They are smart creatures!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh yeah, my dog knows way too many words too.  We now have to say we're going to the "bark" because she learned the word "park" and we don't want her to freak out too much on our way over there.    She knows sit, down (lie down), off (as in, don't jump up on people or furniture), come, wait, spin, roll over, shake, go potty, treat... I'm sure there's more than that.  We got her at age 2 and she already knew a lot of the basic commands then so we've mostly been teaching her tricks.  She knows a few full sentences too.  If I say, "Lily, you have stinky breath!" she'll start woofing and spazzing out.  I shush her so she's quiet again, and then I say, "Lily, do you need a breath mint?"  And she'll spazz and woof even more until I give her a doggy breath mint.    She's ridiculous.

Update 6/5/13:  I did yoga last night and that went well, and I'm still feeling good today.  I've been eating less in the evenings the past couple of days and I think that's contributing to me feeling better - if I eat a heavy dinner, I never feel well.  I had an Ensure for dinner 2 nights ago, and a small amount of pasta salad last night, and I woke up the following mornings feeling quite well.  So I'm going to try to stick to eating small amounts in the evenings and not have big dinners.  I had a science teacher in school many many years ago who said that it's best for the body to have a large breakfast, a medium sized lunch, and a small light dinner.  I've never been a breakfast person, but I'm going to try to adapt that lifestyle as best as I can.  I know for IBD it's ideal to have 5 or 6 small meals, but I don't have the time or energy to plan or prepare that much.  Plus I'm on Delzicol and you're not supposed to eat 1 hour before or 2 hours after taking it, and I take it 3x per day, so that pretty much dictates that my eating schedule cannot be 5 or 6 meals a day!  So anyway, I'm rambling again, but I'm going to eat light dinners and try to eat a little more during the day to balance things out.


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## mccindy

I have been kind of the opposite - not hungry in the morning, eating a few times during the day, eating more later in the day. It's funny how we are all different!  I've been a 5-6 small meals a day person for the last few years and that does seem to work well for me, but then again I don't have medication dictating when I can eat!  
I'm glad you are finally feeling good.  Yay!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/6/13:  We hit the gym last night for weights and it went really well.  Sometimes I have rough days where all the weights feel heavier, and sometimes I have great days where everything is an absolute breeze and I feel strong and awesome.  Last night was one of the latter types, I felt great and my workout, although intense, also felt easy peasy.

The trouble happened though after the gym - hubby and I didn't feel like cooking, so we decided to go to a little cafe near our gym.  We go there fairly often after workouts, I know there is safe food there I can eat.  But when we got there, they were closed!  They apparently just changed their hours and aren't serving dinner on weeknights anymore.  Ugh!  So we had to try to find another place to eat, and we were starving so we didn't make the best decision.  We ended up going out for Mexican food - not safe, I know.  Spices, meat, dairy, veggies, corn products - so many trigger foods!  I felt mostly okay afterwards, but was burping guacamole for the rest of the evening and felt rather unsettled as I tried to go to sleep.  I don't think that dinner sat well with hubby either because he got up really early this morning because he couldn't sleep.  I didn't sleep great either.  I just said recently that I need to make better choices for dinner, and then I totally did the opposite of that last night!  Urgh.  Lesson learned.  I need to pay more attention to my diet, particularly in the evenings.


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## kel

I love texmex  Makes me miss living in Houston.

Does guac by itself bother you? I always heard avocados were one of the best things for crohns patients to eat.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I do fine with avocado by itself, but with guacamole it seems like they add in things like spices and sometimes raw onions, and stuff like that does upset me.  I can do cooked onions, but raw is more problematic.  Of course, I have severe GERD too, so sometimes I'll belch whatever I've eaten, even if it was a safe food.  I had a tin of sardines for a snack earlier today and have had fishy burps ever since.  Back when I was still eating bananas, I would get awful banana vurps that would last all day.

So yeah, when hubby and I make homemade "Mexican" food, we make it safe for me to eat.  Goat cheese, ground turkey instead of beef, very mild spices, and avocado instead of guac.  Sometimes eating like that at home lets me fool myself into thinking I can eat Mexican food at a restaurant, but really I can't/shouldn't.


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## mccindy

Poor cat!  I'm sorry that happened.  I've found it's always a struggle when we're trying to find a place to go out to eat too.  Mexican at home is easier because we have so much more control over what we're eating!  At least you had a stellar workout and you were able to get back to your beloved weights.


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## hawkeye

Cat - have you ever tried digestive supplements?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, I have tried those lactaid dairy digestive enzymes but that's about it.  Those work so-so for me - in a flare they do nothing, and in remission they work okayish.  I haven't tried any other type of digestive supplement.

Update 6/8/13:  I hit the gym last night for weights.  I tried the assisted chin-up bar for the first time (I think it's fairly new at my gym, I just noticed it the other day).  It was interesting, a little weird.  I'm not strong enough yet to do a pull-up on my own so it was nice to have a counterweight to help me along.  Today, I was going to ride my bike but ended up doing a lot of gardening instead, which was a workout in itself.  Planted some basil, transplanted a bunch of lilies, sawed off more branches from my monster-sized lilac bush.  Oh, and walked the dog too, so I've definitely gotten a decent amount of exercise in today.  Back at the gym tomorrow for more weights and more chin ups.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I've seen people on that chin up bar at my gym. You just helped me work out what its for!  I just saw people going up and down and wondered...


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## Cat-a-Tonic

You should try the assisted chin-up machine, LMV!  It's a surprisingly good exercise, even with the counterweight.  My arms/shoulders are still sore today from it.  And it is kind of fun going up and down.    Although I felt a bit silly doing it (I tried it for the first time last night, as Friday nights are really empty in my gym - I didn't want many people to see me try it the first time in case I messed up or looked stupid!).


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Hawkeye, I have tried those lactaid dairy digestive enzymes but that's about it.  Those work so-so for me - in a flare they do nothing, and in remission they work okayish.  I haven't tried any other type of digestive supplement.


Thanks.  I was looking at some DPP IV enzymes I had left over from when my little guy was having a hard time with formula. Giving probiotics or enzymes some thought as I still have little appetite and am down about 20 lbs since January.  Going to the GP on Monday to see if we can figure out what is up.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh yeah, I have tried probiotics too - they didn't work for me though, they only make me worse.  I think I'm in the minority there though, most people seem to do well with probiotics.  Good luck on Monday, I know you've had some ongoing issues and I hope you can figure things out!


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## Dexky

Did you try more than one brand probio Cat?  I know they can be a little pricey to be experimenting with but EJ's had good results with Culturelle.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, I tried a few kinds.  None seemed to do me any good, and the longer I took them, the worse my GERD became.  Once I stopped probiotics, my GERD got somewhat better.  And if I have dairy + probiotics together, I pass blood - Greek yogurt just kills me!


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## mccindy

I haven't tried probiotics as a supplement yet.  I do get them in the kefir milk I drink daily, and I do notice that my belly is much calmer lately than it has been in a long time.  Of course, I've been a good girl with trigger foods too, that can't hurt!

Cat- I'm jealous of your gardening!  I have some flowers I need to move from one area to another before they die, but it has literally rained every day of the last seven.  The ground is so wet.  I'm hoping over the next couple of days it dries out so I can move them.  There are a billion hostas taking over where they are and I don't think they'll last much longer.


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## kel

Have you tried goat yogurt? Or kefir?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kel, I did actually try goat yogurt at one point - the taste/smell was too strong for me though, I couldn't get a mouthful down without gagging.  I haven't tried kefir because I'm afraid I would end up with the same bleeding issue that I get from Greek yogurt (and I also bleed if I eat cottage cheese multiple days in a row).  The risk doesn't seem worth the reward.

Cindy, I have about a zillion hostas too.  That awful drought we had last year didn't kill them, so I'm pretty sure at this point that nothing will kill them.  I'm not very good with plants so I actually kind of enjoy having things like hostas in the yard because no matter what stupid thing I do, I probably won't kill them.    Although I heard it's pretty much impossible to kill a fern, but I planted a bunch of ferns along one side of the house, and I guess the drought did kill them because I have no ferns this year.  But yeah, I'm awful with plants - I bought a basil plant at the farmer's market on Saturday, and I'm pretty proud that it hasn't died yet.    Earlier in the year we bought a basil plant, hubby watered it, and it died literally the next day.  That's how bad we are with plants!

Update 6/10/13 - It's been raining here a lot too.  But there's only a 20% chance of rain today, so I'm hoping the weather holds out so I can go on a bike ride tonight.  With the weather being so rainy lately, I've been doing yoga instead of the bike, and I know I need more cardio.  Also, I got an odometer for my bike, so I can see how far I'm actually riding.  I actually had the odometer hooked up last week, but hubby calibrated it wrong - I think I had ridden about 11 or 12 miles, but the odometer said 18 miles, which I know was wrong.  So hubby re-calibrated it, hopefully it's more accurate this time around.  Assuming it works properly, I can see how many miles I ride in the real world (I know I can do 12 miles in an hour on the stationary bike, but that's not the same).  Then I can start setting goals for myself with how far I want to ride in a day, etc.


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## mccindy

Sounds like you and I have the same problem, keeping plants alive!  The only houseplant that I've been able to keep alive is a black shamock.  Every other plant I've had died a miserable death, including an aloe vera and a peace lily, both of which are supposed to be pretty difficult to kill.  So the hostas are a good thing for me too!

I hope you get a good long bike ride in.  It finally warmed up above 70 here so I'm thinking I might take a nice long walk with my sister tonight when I get home, since she's here visiting from Oklahoma.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It's funny you mention aloe vera plants, I've got some that seem to be impossible to kill.  When we bought our house in 2008, I thought it'd be nice to try having some houseplants.  I found 3 aloe vera plants for free on craigslist and took them home.  My cat promptly tried to eat them (she ate pieces of them & puked them up all over the place, I found out later that aloe is mildly poisonous to cats which would explain the vomiting).  I salvaged what I could from the cat-chewed plants and ended up with 2 of the 3 surviving.  I watered them every day for a couple of years and they grew huge.  Then I moved them to a different windowsill and I stopped remembering to water them as often.  For some reason, that caused them to reproduce, and suddenly I had a bunch of baby aloe plants coming up along with the 2 big ones!  I transplanted one and gave the other baby plants away.  It now has literally been months since I've watered any of my aloe plants, and they're all still apparently doing just fine.  So whether I water them every day or not at all, they just keep thriving somehow.  I have no idea how, these plants should have died like 10 times over already.  

So far so good weather-wise, it's in the mid-70s and a bit cloudy, but it doesn't look like it's going to rain.  Not windy out either so it should be great weather for a bike ride (I hate riding into the wind).


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## Dexky

Aloe is a succulent.  It doesn't want to be watered everyday


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## mccindy

I do remember that aloes don't like a lot of water.  Mine actually broke at the base and never recovered.  My black shamrock does better when I just keep the dirt damp and don't overwater as well - right now it's shooting up new plants like crazy!

I hope, Cat, that you were able to get that bike ride in!  I was on the elliptical for 1/2 hour this morning and felt like I was going to fall over when I was done. I think it's from the head stuff I've got going on, though, because my belly has actually been fairly quiet lately.  Hopefully I'm getting over this flare!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Uggh.  Well, I did get a nice long bike ride in last night, probably about 14 miles or so (my odometer apparently still isn't calibrated quite correctly as it said I did 20 miles, and I know I didn't do 20 miles!).  But I've come to the realization that riding my bike might be doing me more harm than good.  I feel terrible today!  I felt good, probably from endorphins, after my ride last night.  My left knee was hurting, as it usually does after a ride, so I put ice on it.  Had a bad attack of diarrhea last night and then slept very poorly.  I had a dream that I just kept vomiting and vomiting, then I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep easily and was quite restless all night.  The guts are bad today, It's not even 9 AM yet and I've already been to the bathroom 3x with loose stools.  And to top it all off, 2 of those 3 bowel movements were bloody.

I am trying to think back to the last time I rode my bike - it was for Ride the Drive, which was on Sunday June 2nd.  And I do recall, the next day I felt terrible then too.  I wasn't really sure why, but it was only for one day (although I did not pass blood that day).  I'm starting to think, maybe riding my bike is just too much for my guts to handle.  It's low-impact, yes, but I have to keep my core muscles tight and engaged the whole time I'm riding.  I am starting to think, maybe my core just cannot handle being worked like that for that amount of time.  The longer the bike ride, the worse I seem to feel the next day.  This is the worst I've felt yet, and it was probably my longest ride ever yesterday.  I'm seeing a correlation.  And I don't feel this way after riding my stationary bike, which makes sense too - I don't have to balance or steer on it, so my core is much more relaxed.

So, long story short, I'm going to take a break from riding my bike (I will still ride the stationary bike sometimes as I have never had an issue with it).  If I don't pass any more blood during my hiatus from bike riding, then I will assume that riding my bike was the cause.  The doctor never did find the cause of my bleeding during the first round of it - no hemorrhoids and no bacterial infection.  I'm not flaring either (no night sweats, I feel bad but not flare bad, no chills, etc).  So I'm going to go for now with the theory that riding my bike is causing all this trouble.  If I continue to bleed, I'll of course contact my GI right away.

Yeah.  So.  I'm kind of depressed about this though.  I really like riding my bike and I'm going to miss it.  I'm trying to tell myself that it's okay, I can still do cardio on my stationary bike, but it's not the same at all.  More than anything, I think I'm upset that my body is able to dictate once again what I cannot do, and that's so frustrating.  I can push through the knee pain, I can push through feeling exhausted, I can make it up big hills, I can get past almost every hurdle in my path - but I have hit a wall once again with my digestive system.  I hate that my body gets to call the shots like this.  Blah.  Feeling very down!

Going to go lift weights on my lunch break anyway.  Not going to let some blood stop me, and I know I can lift weights without my body punishing me.  Tempted to do yoga tonight too.  I know exercise always makes me feel happier when I'm feeling down, so my instinct is to exercise as much as I can today.  Just not on my bike...


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Cindy, I have about a zillion hostas too.


Too many deer in our hood for the hostas, we'd have to plant then in the fenced yard. Anything that is not fenced in our neighbourhood pretty much as to be deer resistant.  We've had great luck with Russain Sage, Shasta Dasies, Boxwood, Astilbe, Barberry and Karl Forrester (ornamental grass)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/14/13:  Sorry for not being on more the last couple of days - took a few days off of work for the hubby's birthday.  Anyway, I'm coming to terms with the fact that I am not able to ride my bike right now.  I've decided to re-dedicate my efforts to weight lifting, as it is my favorite thing anyway.  I went to the gym yesterday and pushed myself harder than usual on the weights, and I felt so great.  I always feel good during/after a workout, but I felt so good, like a big smile was on my face the whole time.  (On a side note, I'm sure I look creepy when I smile throughout my workout!)  I haven't had any more bleeding.  I'm going to give it a few months of no bike riding - it's getting hot now anyway so not really ideal bike weather anymore - and will maybe try riding again in the late summer/early fall when the weather gets a little cooler again.


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## mccindy

I can see you working out with that big smile on your face!   How cute.  I know the feeling though, sometimes when I'm on the elliptical I just feel so good I smile!  Working out is a great feeling.  It sucks you have to give up the bike riding, but maybe by fall when it's cooler and more fun to ride you'll be able to get back on. (I hope)  

Hopefully your hubby's bday was a lot of fun for both of you.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/16/13.  Weights yesterday, and we took the kayak out today!  I can tell that weightlifting is doing both me and hubby a lot of good, the kayak seemed far less heavy this year than it has in previous years (it's a 2-person kayak and is something like 16 feet long so it's big and unwieldy).  We were on the water for about 2 hours and my shoulders & arms are quite tired now!  It was really fun though, we went to a local creek that not a lot of other people seem to know about, so it was mostly just us.  We brought our dog of course and she had a great time too (she's currently zonked out napping, I guess riding in a boat and looking at ducks is really tiring).


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Sounds really fun! 

Are your creeks natural or man made?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Natural, as far as I know.  I did some googling but could only come up with this:
http://starkweatherfriends.org/aboutCreek.asp
^That's the creek we paddled today.  Yes, as the link says, it's pretty polluted and kind of gross.  I think it's probably really difficult to keep an urban creek from getting polluted though.  Some major roadways pass over this creek so I think that's a big part of the problem.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/17/13:  I'm still feeling good today, so I believe that means my kayak is treating me better than my bike was (so far anyway!).  I did have to use my core muscles quite a bit when paddling yesterday so that was a bit worrisome, but so far no symptoms & no blood.  I think the issue with my bike was, I had to keep my core muscles tight at all times when on the bike - with the kayak, I really only have to tighten on each dip of the paddle, and I can stop paddling as needed (it's a 2-person kayak, so hubby can paddle while I rest or vice versa).  And, I think with my bike, I would sometimes automatically just tighten my abdomen even more when going over bumps which probably only made the problem worse.  In the kayak, we paddle on really calm little creeks (we avoid the lakes, too many waves, too much risk of flipping and our kayak is not meant to be flipped).  So anyway, I do use my core muscles on the kayak, but not to the point where it makes me pass blood.  That's good, although I know I won't be able to take the kayak out nearly as often as I was biking, so still not ideal, but better.  No blood is a good thing anyway.

I'm going to the gym in a little bit for weights.  The weather is nice today so hopefully the gym will be empty.  Hubby is working all this coming weekend so I'm trying to think of fun workouts I can do by myself on the weekend.  Kayaking is out - I can't paddle that thing by myself let alone transport it (hubby's car is the one with the roof rack).  Biking is of course out too.  I'll do weights Sunday, but not sure what to do on Saturday.  Has anyone done yoga outside?  I usually do yoga in my living room, but I live in a city with a lot of free spirit-types, and I've noticed a lot of people doing yoga outside by the lake.  That seems cool in a way, but also kind of horrifying.    Like, I admire people who do that, but I am not confident enough to do that myself.  So I kind of want to do something fitness-related that's fun/different like that, but maybe not that exactly!  Anybody have ideas?


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## kel

So you're saying contracting your abdominals causes you to pass blood? That is not normal at all. Do you have blood in your stool after or do you basically just have blood come out by itself?


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## Dexky

Yeah Cat!  WTF?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I don't know how or why, it's just my current theory based on what I know so far.  It only happens after long bike rides, and it doesn't happen when I ride the stationary bike.  The last time it happened, I went on a 15ish mile bike ride in the evening, then came home and felt okay for a bit (due to the endorphins probably) but later in the evening I started having diarrhea and not feeling well.  The next morning, I passed blood in my stool 3 separate times.  By afternoon I wasn't passing blood anymore and was starting to feel better.  That's basically how it happened before as well, it happened shortly after a bike ride, and the blood was in the stool.  Bright red blood, always with stool, never coming out by itself.  I did see the doctor the first time it happened, and she ruled out bacterial infection (stool samples came back clear) and hemorrhoids (she checked for internal & external, none were found).  So it's not like riding my bike is aggravating hemorrhoids or anything like that, there's no obvious cause of bleeding that the doctor could see.  It's a mystery for now, and I don't exactly want to cause it to happen again to try to find out more.


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## kel

So when you use weights at the gym you don't have this issue? And you're maintaining a solid abdominal contraction with a normal lordotic arch?


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## Dexky

Cat, you may have some chronic inflammation in your colon that you are somehow irritating.  That's EJ's current problem and the reason he will occasionally pass a little blood.  

When was the last time you were scoped?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

kel said:


> So when you use weights at the gym you don't have this issue? And you're maintaining a solid abdominal contraction with a normal lordotic arch?


I'm not exactly sure what the second sentence means, but no, it never happens when I lift weights.  I do try to maintain proper form when lifting if that's what the 2nd sentence is asking.  I don't lift particularly heavy weights (I'm a slim female so I lift as heavy as I can, which isn't a whole lot) and I do the weight machines rather than free weights.

Mark, I had an upper endoscopy in November '12 (which found a small hiatal hernia and everything else looked fine), but I haven't had a colonoscopy since April '10.  I'm pretty sure I'm still in remission - I haven't had any of the chills, night sweats, all-over joint pains, etc that always seem to accompany my flares.  I see my GI again in August and I'm definitely going to talk to him about this bleeding issue then, so we'll see what his thoughts are on the matter.  My most recent bloodwork (taken during the first episode of bleeding) was exactly what I expected it to be - almost totally normal, except my sodium was slightly low and my potassium was borderline (that's typical for me).  So I don't know.  Knowing my GI, he's already seen the report from the other doctor about how I was bleeding and they couldn't find the source, and probably he's already brainstorming some ideas.  The good news is, he feels I have IBD and IBS - he feels that since I'm in remission, any symptoms I have now must be IBS.  I disagree and feel like IBD can still affect things even though it's not active, maybe I have scar tissue or my gut motility has changed, stuff like that.  I'm definitely not normal like I was before I got sick.  But at any rate, he can't write off colon/rectal bleeding as being due to IBS, so this will hopefully but the IBS thing to rest anyway.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/19/13:  I wasn't in a mood to do much exercise yesterday, so all I did was walk the dog.  But there were so many creeps out, yuck!  Seriously, I got hit on by a homeless guy - yeah, no thanks.  Then as I was walking past a wooded area on my way to the dog park, I saw a man and a woman come out of the woods and they were buttoning up their shirts - ew!  Come on, kids play in those woods, seriously get a room!  The dog park itself was full of creepy dudes too, including one who apparently didn't want his dog to interact with any other dogs (I think he completely missed the point of the dog park).  When my dog approached him, he sat on the ground and hugged his dog to his chest so that my dog wouldn't attempt to play with his dog.  My dog, though, feels that anyone who gets down on her level like that, is obviously there just to pet her.  So she tried snuggling up to the guy which totally perplexed him and he freaked out.  It was so weird.  This is why I like to exercise at home or in the gym when it's empty, so many creepy people in the world!


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## mccindy

wow, what an odd experience!  Jeez, is it a full moon or something?  And sex in the woods, wth.  Ew!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Haha, do you not walk your dog very often cat?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, according to my calendar it is not a full moon until Sunday.  I have no idea why the creeps all congregated in/near the dog park!  Maybe there is a weirdo convention in town that I missed hearing about.  

LMV, admittedly I usually only walk the dog on the weekends.  I work a standard Mon-Fri job, so hubby usually walks her during the week (he does a lot of random part-time/freelance type work, so his schedule is much more flexible than mine is).  Yesterday evening when I got home, hubby was working on a big freelance project that had him stressed out, and he hadn't walked the dog all day.  So I took her out to the park, it sounded nice in theory!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Ahaha... Ok. 

I was just reading it thinking, if you walk your dog every day doesn't this happen all the time!? 

Your community sounds great btw  x


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm sensing some sarcasm, LMV!    Yeah, our neighborhood is not the best - we're not rich by any means so we couldn't afford a to buy house in a really nice neighborhood.  And actually we really do like our neighbors, but our block is right next to a big park so sometimes weird people hang out there.  I think different types of people go to the park in the evenings as opposed to the mornings, too.  When I walk the dog on the weekends, I usually walk her in the morning, and there are really nice people who go to the dog park on weekend mornings.  I guess the weirdos all come out in the evening!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Lol, Don't worry I'm not judging you! Just sounds a bit creepy! x


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## Dexky

I think you need to get Lily a friend…I'm thinking a big German Shepherd!!  Since I know you're not going to get a concealed carry permit


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, we are at maximum capacity for pets.  We have a dog, a cat, and a hedgehog.  We had 2 gerbils too but they died of old age.  Our house is only like 1000 square feet and it's already full of dog hair, we don't have room for another dog or more pet hair!    And we can't afford more pet food or more vet visits.  Plus, my hubby has repeatedly said, "Don't get a dog that you couldn't take down in a fight if it snapped and attacked you."  So no German Shepherds for us.  No, I won't get a concealed carry permit and I certainly won't ever own a gun, but if it makes you feel better, hubby has a shotgun that he uses for clay pigeon shooting (or whatever that is called).  He keeps it under the bed, unloaded of course and we don't even keep ammo in the house.  But if someone ever breaks in, it will probably still scare the crap out of them.  Feel better about my safety?    I've been thinking of taking martial arts/self defense classes too.  I think I'm in good enough shape now to be able to handle that, as long as nobody kicks me in the guts or the arthritis...

I hit the gym tonight for weights and it was mostly great.  Hubby was supposed to come with me, but at the last minute he was feeling lazy so I went alone.  As I was working my way through the weight machines, I noticed a group of 3 guys who were just standing there talking, and talking, and talking.  I hate that, it's such an annoyance.  Why go to the gym if you're just going to stand around talking and being in other people's way?  I hopped on a weight machine near them, and one of the guys tried to beat me to it.  He was like, "Uh, I was using that!"  No, dude, you weren't.  You were talking to your dumb friends for the last 15 minutes while standing 6 feet away from this machine - you were NOT using the machine - that would require you to shut up and actually exercise.  I didn't say any of that, but I did shoot him a death glare, and that was enough to get him to back off.  Him and his friends kept chatting while I finished my workout.  When I was done, I went to stretch.  These idiots actually came back to the stretching area too and started stretching.  Why were they stretching??  It wasn't like they did any actual exercise!    Sheesh, maybe I just have a short fuse for BS lately, I'm finding myself being annoyed by a multitude of people.


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## Dexky

You are a nut magnet Cat!!!  My wife is a nut magnet too.  She sees fights in parking lots, wild cases of road rage and all sorts of crazy commotion!  She had a guy flash her once!  She just laughed and made a size comment with her fingers.  I work out in the public all day, everyday and never get to witness anything cool…I only attract nuts on the internet!!


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## mccindy

Cat, jeez!  You really are attracting all the weirdos.  I would totally have been right with you on the death glare.  What a load of crap!  I hate the lollygaggers who want to go to the gym for social hour.  And then to try to take your machine - what a loser!  Way to stick to your guns.

Have you checking into getting some pepper spray or something like that?  At least you'd be safer from the whackos when you do take an evening stroll.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I bought a thing of pepper spray once after a former friend told me she was attacked, but I stopped carrying it after talking with my mom.  (Side note - that former friend turned out to be a pathological liar, which is why she's a former friend, and I don't think she was even really attacked.)  My mom worked at the post office, and she had all sorts of horror stories that the mail carriers would tell her about pepper spray.  The carriers all had to have pepper spray to deter vicious dogs, etc.  But very often when the carriers went to use it, either the pepper spray wouldn't work (like it was too old and had dried up or clogged) or they didn't aim it right and hit themselves with it.  Too many things can go wrong with pepper spray, and you're really in trouble if you miss your target and hit yourself with it instead!

Mark, your wife's reaction to the flasher is hilarious!  I am going to mentally file that one away just in case I ever need to use it myself.    But uh-oh, am I one of the "nuts on the internet" you're referring to?


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## mccindy

My boss is a runner, and she carries a can of stuff that is spefically made to repel attacking dogs.  I think it was about $8.  It doesn't clog up or anything on her.  I don't know, she likes it.  Hopefully you just don't need to worry about it!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh FFS.  I am just not having a good week.  For some reason, I passed a little bit more blood today.  It was a VERY small amount, more on the TP than anything, but there was a tiny bit on the poo too, so this is not looking like a fissure.  The guts are mildly upset but not as bad as they've been in the previous bleeding incidents.  I didn't ride my bike this time so I really don't know what's causing it.  I did go to the gym for weights yesterday, but didn't do anything differently.  This is so frustrating, I am *not* a bleeder!  I've bled out my butt more in the last few weeks than I have in the entire time I've had IBD!

The only thing I can think is, the Delzicol?  I switched from Asacol to Delzicol about 3 months ago.  I've been doing fine on it - I was feeling crappy before starting Delzicol, as I had tried switching from Asacol to Asacol HD.  HD did not work well for me and I kept passing it undigested, so I basically wasn't getting any benefit from it, and I started feeling crappy pretty quickly.  My GI switched me from HD to Delzicol and I started feeling better.  So I know it's doing me some good - I do see that rectal bleeding is listed as one of the potential side effects though.  I don't know.  I feel a little dizzy, the guts are a little upset, and I passed a little blood - other than that though I feel fine.  I'm not going to call my GI just yet.  I see him in early August anyway so I'm going to see what happens in between now and then.

I'm not sure that it's the Delzicol though - how is it that I could be on it for 2ish months and be fine, and then suddenly start bleeding?  That doesn't make sense to me.  Plus, if my GI takes me off the Delzicol, I'm not sure what I'll do.  Since I'm still not fully diagnosed, we aren't totally sure where my IBD is located.  I feel like it's in the TI (since when I flare, I get LRQ pains right around where the TI is located) but my GI is leaning towards microscopic colitis, so he feels my illness is in my colon.  The other mesalamine drugs don't cover both the colon and the TI, only Asacol HD and Delzicol work specifically on those areas.  Pentasa works on the small intestine and the TI - that's the one I'd push for.  Lialda works on the colon & rectum, and I know that's what my GI would want to put me on.  What if my GI and I can't agree on Lialda vs Pentasa?  What if neither of those work though?  What if I truly do need something that works on both the colon and the TI?  

Argh.  I'm just venting some frustrations here and thinking out loud.  I don't know what to do, so for now I'm carrying on as if everything is normal.  I wish I could just be in total denial about this bleeding issue.  Maybe it'll go away on its own before August 7th.  Yeah, right...

Edited to add:  Maybe I could switch to Apriso.  I always forget about that one.  I think it works on the colon, not sure about the TI.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

It might be worth getting a scan, Cat. Could be something has formed (thinking fistula but could be something else) to suddenly cause the bleeding, or your rectal area is now effected? 

Or a scope?

Sending hugs your way, I know this isnt fun x x x x x


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thank you LMV.    I don't think it's a fistula, wouldn't that hurt or cause more symptoms besides the ocassional episode of bright red blood?  And I don't think my rectum is inflamed, when the bleeding first started I went to a doctor and she did a rectal exam, and she didn't see anything cause for the bleeding (no inflammation, no hemmies, no fissure, etc).  She did stool tests too which ruled out bacterial infection, and my bloodwork was normal.  I'm guessing that my GI will want to look further for the cause if this continues, so you're probably right, a scope or scan may be in my relatively near future.  I guess mainly I'm just scared that if we don't find anything, my GI will pull me off of the Delzicol and won't put me on anything else - it's so hard to convince a doctor that I need IBD meds when I don't have a proper diagnosis!  And sometimes I get so tired of fighting and worrying about stuff like that, I think that's one of the worst parts of having an illness.  This crap never really ends, even in remission, does it?  Oh well.

My joints are acting up so I'm going to go do some yoga in a bit.  Hopefully that will cheer me up.  I got some new yoga pants today too, they're cute - mostly dark grey with a purple waistband, and they fit really well.  Nice soft fabric too, I really like them.  Shopping cheers me up almost as much as exercise does.    Exercise is better and wayyy cheaper though!  Ha ha.


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## Dexky

Sorry Cat!  I know it's been a long frustrating journey for you!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I don't think a fistula would necessarily hurt. I apparently have complex fistulas which I only found out about after a scan coz of an abscess. So I have felt the complications of them, but not them especially. Doctors seem to think you have to be quite ill to get fistulas but I completely disagree with that. I got mine when I thought I was in remission.

So yeah I completely agree with you, this stuff doesn't go away when you are in remission. It just gives you a chance to pretend your healthy for a while. And I can never get the what if thoughts out of my head either! I feel like I don't want to commit to something in case my illness makes me not do it. To be honest after the last week that I have had I realise how much all of this has effected my confidence too! It never goes away.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Honestly, I think I'm the opposite, being ill has given me a confidence boost.  I used to be *so* shy and introverted, and yes I still am very introverted, but I'm less meek I guess.  I've learned the hard way that I will only get proper treatment from doctors if I specifically tell them what I want and why, and that means talking and being persuasive and even arguing.  I'm not good at any of that stuff!  But I'm getting better at it the more I do it.  And like with that thing earlier this week where some guy at the gym was talking with his friends but then tried to tell me he was using the machine I wanted to use, I shot him a death glare and was prepared to tell him off if that wasn't enough.  Me before I got sick, I would have been so meek I probably would have just let him have the machine.  Particularly when I'm feeling less than great, I just have such a low tolerance for BS so I actually stand up for myself now rather than letting people walk all over me.  So I guess there's one benefit to being ill, it's made me tougher in a lot of ways!

It's pouring rain here and super dark outside with a lot of thunder/lightning - pretty much matches my mood right now.  I did yoga last night but avoided doing any type of abdominal exercise.  Usually I do the plank for 30 seconds and also the grounded V pose, but I skipped both.  Maybe if I'm just super nice to my abdomen for awhile, it'll stop bleeding.  I haven't passed any blood since yesterday morning, so that's a good sign anyway.  I'm going to go to the little gym today for weights, and I will skip the abdominals machine there too.  I'm going to look so weird if I keep this up, muscular arms & legs and a flabby disgusting belly.    Not that my belly looks toned now, but it's only going to get worse if I neglect it.  I don't know what else to do though, so I'll give the belly area a break from exercise for a little while.

I am looking forward to a restful weekend, so that'll be nice.  Hubby works all weekend at the costume shop so I'll have a lot of alone time, that'll be nice.  I'm hoping to pamper myself a little bit.  My gray hairs are starting to make a comeback so I bought a box of hair dye.  I have a few sewing projects I'd like to do too.  So a low-key, quiet weekend for me, which sounds perfect.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I might be flaring.  I talked to my GI last night and we'll do a flexi-sig soon or I might request a full colonoscopy.  My guts are definitely not right, and after 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep, I woke up exhausted.  I'm nauseous and distended, although not really having d.  Looser stools yes, but not d, and I've only gone twice so far today (in a bad flare, I'd typically have liquid d anywhere from 10 to 30+ times a day).  I haven't had night sweats or chills yet either.  Things are definitely not right though.  If this is a flare, it's the weirdest flare I've ever had.  I'm getting symptoms I've never had before and not having many of my typical symptoms.

My GI called me last night and he said I'm supposed to keep a close eye on my symptoms for the next couple weeks.  He also said not to lift anything heavy, no weight lifting.  At first I was mad about that, but with how I feel today, it might be the right decision.  I feel pretty awful.  My body is telling me to rest so I'm going to listen as much as I can.  I'm going to do yoga when I can, I think that's the most exercise I can muster.  This sucks, but I'm just trying to do what's best for my body, and right now it's saying rest.  If this is a flare, I gotta get through it so I can get back to remission and proper exercise, so right now it's about healing from whatever is going on.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I hope you are soon on the mend  x x


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thank you.  I keep going back and forth between, I think I'm flaring and no I'm not.  My mom and brother came over to visit me today and I managed to hide my symptoms from them.  My brother is on drugs and is also a huge jerk, and he was in top form today, he showed up high and then when he became more coherent he said some rude things to my mom and they had a big fight.  I can feel the stress of that affecting my guts, but overall I feel better now than I did this morning.  I was able to eat and walk around a bit.  And now I feel like, if I can do all that and deal with my brother's stupid drama, maybe I'm not flaring.  I just don't know what to think at all!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Oh cat that doesn't sound like fun!  

Are you going to have a relaxing day tomorrow?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, nobody's coming over tomorrow and hubby works.  I'm just going to lie around and not do much.  I might play video games or crochet, but I'm going to rest as much as I can.  If I feel okay, I'll try some yoga.    I just hate not exercising!


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## Dexky

Hey Cat, I remember at one point your bro was going to move in with you all.  Did that ever happen?  I'm sorry he still hasn't got his act together!  Yeah, you don't need to be around that drama now especially!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, my brother lived with us for a year and a half!  And that was a miserable time for me, he causes me so much stress.  He moved out over a year ago and I'm so glad, now I hardly ever have to see him.  He does drugs and it's like warped his brain, he's not pleasant to talk to and he's kind of deluded.  He thinks everything he says is so wise and true and that he's smarter than everyone else, but in reality he just spews BS all the time.  Speaking of me being a nut magnet, my brother is one of the biggest nuts I know!  I really don't like him.  He's not fun or easy to talk to.  I did him a huge favor by giving him a place to live, and he basically repaid me by being a huge jerk to me all the time.  He literally once told me I just need to want to be well and I'll get better.  And he told me to look to him as my "digestive role model" whatever that means!  He's crazy!

I'm so bad at being a sick person.    I get restless and antsy just sitting at home on the couch.  I should be resting, but instead I went to the farmer's market and the store.  My GI said not to lift anything heavy, so what have I been doing?  Haven't lifted actual weights per se, but last night my dog refused to go in her crate at bedtime (there was a thunderstorm and she was freaked out and wanted to stay by us) so I had to pick her up and put her in her crate.  That was 42 lbs I probably shouldn't have lifted.    I also had to go buy laundry detergent today at the store, and I didn't get a cart and I got the heaviest one, and just carried it all around the store.  I'm such a rebel, ha ha!  I realized my GI also didn't say specifically no pushups.  And I know I can do yoga.

I realize I'm SO much like my grandfather.  When he was in the hospital after his heart surgery, the doctors told him he had to wait 3 or 4 months before he could drive again.  So he did a bunch of research and found some pamphlet that said that people in his situation can drive after 1 month, and he used that to argue with his doctors.  He's a retired judge/lawyer and is always looking for a loophole!  That's how I am right now too, gotta find some loopholes!  Don't lift weights?  Laundry detergent isn't a weight.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Quick update:  I tried pushups, couldn't get past two without my stomach asking me not to continue.  I was able to do some hand weights though (I have a couple of 8 lb dumbbells at home) so I was able to do a quick arm workout without affecting the tummy area too much.  I think I might do some yoga tonight... and I kind of want to do yard work too before the next rain storm hits.  Like I said earlier, I'm kind of terrible at resting!  I played video games for a couple hours, then I started some laundry and now I'm about to head to the grocery store.    Yes, I'm awful at just letting myself be sick.  I'm great at being in denial, and I'm also pretty stellar at getting restless and having cabin fever.  And I hate feeling worthless, so I need to do something to make me feel like I have some purpose.

Oh, and to continue on my vent about my stupid brother - my mom left me a voicemail, saying from now on she's either going to visit with him or with me, not both of us together, because "he feels like a third wheel" when she and he and I get together, and she thinks that's why he acts like a jackass.  Um, no, he acts that way because he's on drugs.  Stop allowing and enabling that awful behavior of his and see how fast he changes!  But hey, I'm happy to cut him out of my life even more if this means I don't have to see him when my mom is around.  He's always been the favorite though and I know my mom can't cut him off or stop him when he's behaving horribly to her.  When he was living with me and treating me like dirt, the 3 of us had a huge fight one day and he said he'd just go live in his car.  I was happy to let him to - but my mom was like, no, my poor baby can't live in his car!  Let the kid face some actual adversity, then maybe he'd grow up.  But hey, he's not my kid, what do I know.  I guess long story short, the less I see of him, the better, so I guess this is a good thing.


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## Dexky

It's hard when you love someone but you don't like them Cat!  I'm with you though.  He's young and needs to get his act together!  Tough love is the way to go!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, too bad nobody else in my family feels like tough love is the way to go with my brother.  He's not even all that young, either (I call him a kid because he acts like one).  He'll be 27 next month so yeah, it's way past time he started acting like an adult.  I'm the older one (it's just the 2 of us, I'm 33) and it was always drilled into my head that I need to be responsible.  I always had to do chores, my bro never did.  I had to work and save for a year to buy my first car, he was gifted a car when he turned 16.  I had to be home by 10 PM when I was a teenager (I recall once staying out till 10:30 and oh did I get in trouble!) but my brother didn't seem to have a curfew.  There was lots of stuff like that as we were growing up - like I said, he was the favorite.  Spoiling a kid turns them into a rotten adult, that's for sure.  And favoring one kid over the other just turns them both bitter against the parents and against each other.

Okay, vent over!  So, I'm still not really able to exercise.  I went to the grocery store yesterday afternoon and lifted some heavy groceries in & out of the car.  That was enough to really make my stomach/abdomen upset, so I did sit down and rest for the remainder of the day.  I'm going to try some gentle yoga tonight, and if that goes well, I might try a short easy program on my stationary bike tomorrow night.  Baby steps!  I haven't passed any blood since Thursday, but things are still definitely not right in my abdomen.  It's still a mystery as to what exactly is going on though.  I'm just not sure if it's a flare or what!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/25/13:  I was planning to do yoga last night, but cardio sounded better so I hit the exercise bike.  I took it very easy on myself and did 30 mins of slow riding on one of the lower hill programs (it didn't go above a level 6 - the hill programs I usually do on the stationary bike go up to level 10).  I did about 4.5 miles in that time so about 9 mph average - usually I do more like 12 mph average.  I know I can't compare a maybe-flare workout to a remission workout though.  At any rate, that's what I did, and I actually feel really good today.  My legs are sore today which I wasn't expecting - it hasn't been all that long since the last time I worked out!  Although it has been a little while since I did the bike, but still, was totally not expecting to have sore legs today.  I feel really good though - my stomach has been quiet as a mouse today, my stools are somewhat normal and no blood, and I'm slightly fatigued but only because I stayed up too late last night.  Still don't know if this is a flare, because today definitely doesn't feel like it at all!  I'm sooo tempted to go lift weights for a little bit, but I'm trying hard to stick to doctor's orders and am also still trying to go easy on myself, so I'm planning to do yoga tonight instead.

I've been trying something new as far as nutrition goes too.  I'm attempting to make my own smoothies in the morning.  I've been using crushed ice, carrageenan-free almond milk, a bit of honey, a bit of almond butter, a scoop or two of soy "meal replacement drink mix" (it's basically generic carnation instant breakfast I think, but no carrageenan), and a tablespoon of psyllium.  Put it all in the blender and make a smoothie.  Oh, and I've been trying to add stuff for flavor too - yesterday I added raspberries, today a sprig of mint.  I could not taste the raspberries at all yesterday, it just tasted like almond butter - today I did taste the mint but I also tasted the almond butter, and I'm just not sure if they go together.  This is all still a work in progress.  So anyway, my other problem besides the flavor is that that it's awfully thick, which I think is caused by the psyllium.  So I might leave out the psyllium and the almond butter tomorrow and see how that goes.  (I'll of course drink the psyllium separately - I cannot go a day without my psyllium.)  I'd love to add a banana to my smoothie, but I have such trouble with bananas.  I need to think further about what else I could add to a smoothie to make it nutritious and tummy-safe and still taste good.


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## Dexky

I always put yogurt in ours  But I make fruit smoothies.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Probiotics are problematic for me too, worse than bananas in terms of the symptoms they cause, so putting yogurt into smoothies is out.  I probably could get away with a banana every so often, but I wouldn't even try yogurt, not worth the trouble it'll cause.

I did yoga tonight and I feel good.  I'm starting to get desperate to lift weights again though.  I really, really want to hit the gym properly!  Today's the first day in a little while that I've felt really well though, and I don't totally trust it yet.  So still going to continue taking it a bit easy for at least another day or two.  If all continues to go well then I'll try an easy weights workout and see how that goes.  I know my GI said don't lift anything heavy for 2 weeks, but I just don't know if I can commit to that!  It's been like 4 days since I did anything close to a proper weights workout and I'm already chomping at the bit to get back to it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/26/13:  I really miss weight-lifting.  I'm thinking I'm going to hit the gym on Friday for weights - that'll make it one full week without lifting, and that's going to have to be good enough.  My muscles are begging to be put to use and I miss the gym!  If I bleed again, well at least I'll have the weekend to recover.  I was doing some cleaning the other day and I found a DVD that I thought I had lost (Utada Unplugged!), and I really want to watch it, so I'm going to ride the exercise bike tonight and watch the DVD while I ride.  I usually get pretty bored riding to nowhere, but hopefully this will be enough to keep me entertained.

I made a smoothie this morning with crushed ice, soy milk, that meal replacement powder stuff, a banana and a dash of vanilla extract.  I purposely left out the almond butter and the psyllium (had the psyllium separately in a glass of water).  That was much better, it had the consistency of a proper smoothie.  I think the psyllium was making it wayy too thick.  It reminded me of the time my hubby tried to make pudding with psyllium in it - it was like, a solid mass glob of pudding.  It tasted fine but the consistency was so weird, like eating something that wasn't entirely food.  We still joke about how weird that pudding was!  So yeah, leaving the psyllium out of the smoothie was definitely the way to go.  The banana didn't cause me trouble either which is good.  I can usually get away with bananas as long as I don't eat them often, so I won't add a banana to a smoothie again for a little while.  I run into problems if I eat bananas every day (it makes my GERD worse), or if I go crazy and eat multiple bananas in the same day then it is awful (pain!!).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/27/13:  I rode the exercise bike for 30 mins yesterday.  Did about 5.5 miles, so 11 mph average, which is faster than what I was able to do the other day.  I did the next level up hill program from what I did the other day, so slightly steeper/more difficult too.  I could feel my stomach getting kind of upset with me while I was riding, but afterwards and today it feels fine.  So I can push it a little bit and still be okay, this is very promising.  Going to do yoga tonight, and planning on lifting weights tomorrow which will be the real test of what my stomach can handle right now.  I'll probably avoid the abdominals weight machine just to be safe, but I want to do everything else like I usually do.  Arms, shoulders, legs, back, etc.  I might try a couple of yoga moves tonight too which mainly incorporate the abdominal muscles and see how that goes - if I can use my abs in yoga, then surely I should be able to lift weights if I'm avoiding the abs machine.  Right?  I hope so!

I should start doing DVD reviews in this thread.    Just kidding, but I always find myself bored watching DVDs on the stationary bike.  Utada is/was my favorite singer (she quit making music in 2010), and I hadn't watched Utada Unplugged in quite awhile, so I was looking forward to it - but man, it was still boring.  She did the Unplugged thing way early in her career, even before she had written Hikari (her biggest hit song), and she hadn't developed a lot of style yet or stage charisma.  Watching her later concerts, like her Wild Life concert DVD, she evolved tremendously as a performer and also as a singer/songwriter.  Her early stuff was so mainstream pop, but her more recent stuff is more artistic and much better, less radio-friendly but great nonetheless.  Anyway, I guess I did do a DVD review after all!    Long story short, Utada Wild Life > Utada Unplugged.


----------



## Dexky

Who the hell is Utada??

Don't overdo it Cat!!  Ease back into the abdo workout!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Who's Utada???  I swear, you don't listen to a single ramble I write about my favorite music.    Okay, so, I used to listen to J-pop (Japanese pop), listened to it for like 10 years.  Utada Hikaru was always one of my favorite singers.  When she quit the business at the end of 2010, suddenly J-pop started sounding stale to me.  I couldn't find other artists I liked nearly as much as Utada, she has a specialness that nobody else seems to embody.  I grew frustrated at the lack of good J-pop with Utada gone.  I had a little K-pop (Korean pop) on my ipod, and I started listening to that more, so now I'm a total K-popper, as you surely already know.    I like that K-pop has a lot of good dance music that really keeps me going through my workouts.

But Utada's still my favorite and always will be.  The thing that really cemented her as being my favorite is, shortly before she quit, she released a song called "Show me love (not a dream)".  She sings the refrain in English, and the refrain goes "It's all in my head, it's all in my head."  This song came out right around the time that my doctors were finally taking me really seriously and actually treating me for IBD, but up until that point, I had those nagging doubts about maybe my illness is all in my head.  Hearing Utada say it, it made me cry.  Her song is about her emotional and mental journey to get to the point where she decided it was the right thing to walk away from her music career.  She was going on an emotional journey at the same time I was.  The song just really affected me and it's still my favorite song.  It's not on youtube, but I found a video on a Chinese site - hopefully this works (sometimes I have to refresh it a few times and then it works).

http://video.sina.com.cn/v/b/45258598-1463781897.html

Or if you want a happier song, here's something from her Wild Life tour.    Goodbye Happiness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFkvLN9pt-k

And as I mentioned previously, Hikari is her most famous song.  The video, well, it's just her washing the dishes and that's it.  But it's a lovely song and it was the theme song for the first Kingdom Hearts video game.  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOSNIIx5u_U


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/28/13.  I did yoga last night and I feel good today.  I felt kind of shaky while doing yoga, like my muscles are getting a little weak, but I got through it fine.  I did just one yoga move that focuses on the abdominal muscles - the grounded V.  That was fine, no pain while doing it and no issues today either.  That's very encouraging so I'm giving myself the green light to do weights tonight.  I'm still going to avoid the abdominals machines, I know my abs will get somewhat of a workout by me doing the various other machines anyway and I don't want to push things too much just yet.  But I'm seriously so excited to go to the gym, I miss it!  Cannot wait to actually fully use my muscles again!  Yoga and stationary bike are fine but they just aren't enough, I gotta do weights.  

Edited to add:  I forgot to mention, I have lost a little weight this week.  My Wii Fit (what I use to do yoga) said I've lost about 3 lbs since last week.  I have had some d off and on, and my appetite hasn't been great, so that's not surprising.  I'm going to keep an eye on it though.  I'm at about 136 lbs now (was 139) so I'm still at a healthy weight, but I don't want to go much lower than this or I'll be underweight again.  Still don't know if I'm actually flaring or not, so the weight loss will be an important clue.  If it continues, probably flaring.  Hopefully it's just a fluke and/or I need to eat a bit more.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/29/30:  I did weights at the gym last night and feel good today!  Yeah!  I avoided anything to do with my abdominals, skipped the abs machines, skipped the lower back machine as I can always feel my abs working hard on that one, and skipped the assisted pull-up bar as I usually feel my abs working on that one too.  Did everything else and could feel my stomach getting iffy for a bit, but felt fine afterwards and feel fine today too.  This is very good!    Maybe next time I'm at the gym I'll try the assisted pull-up but will keep skipping the others, to continue easing my way back into the swing of things.

It's raining today so I'm stuck inside, can't walk the dog or do yard work.  I think I'll do yoga or maybe the exercise bike.  The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow so I'm hoping we'll take the kayak out.  The last time I kayaked, my stomach was nice and quiet, so hopefully that trend continues.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/30/13:  Well, we were hoping to take the kayak out today, but my dog is sick so for now I'm sitting home with a dog who needs to go out to have bloody diarrhea every 20 minutes or so (I can relate, poor thing).  I sometimes get like "sympathy nausea" when someone else is sick, so I see my dog puking and pooping blood and it makes me feel a bit unwell myself.  So I think kayaking is out, too much time investment and Lily can't come with today.  I told hubby we should go to the gym later, so we'll do that instead.  That'll take less time than kayaking, so we'll be able to get back to Lily sooner.  Poor pooch, back to the vet tomorrow.  Not sure how we're going to pay for yet another vet visit.

I didn't exercise at all yesterday either.  Couldn't walk the dog due to the rain, and I got really lazy and just sat on the couch most of the day.  Pampered myself a bit in the evening (colored my hair, painted my nails).  I hate not doing anything, but I know that rest days are okay.


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## mccindy

Oh Cat!  It sounds like you are really having a rough time.  I feel bad for missing all you went through last week, I was in Canada with no phone or computer!  

So the weight-lifting - is it the core use that you are supposed to avoid?  If you lie on the floor and do some weights it might help, to avoid the vertical strain of lifting.  I have to do that if I want to do weight work because of my back.  It sounds like you are like me;  you know what you are not supposed to do, but there is a limit to what you will give up!  I hope that both you and the poor pooch are feeling better today.  Thinking of you and hoping for the best.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, my GI has cautioned me in the past about using my abdominal muscles too much - he felt my GERD symptoms would improve if I stopped lifting weights.  Well, of course it would - I already know that my GERD is at its worst when I'm working out, particularly if I'm doing weights.  But weightlifting has given me so many benefits that I feel like the pros outweigh the cons, and my GI knows that too.  So, for now I am lifting weights, but avoiding using my abdominals as much as possible for now.  It's impossible to avoid using them altogether, but I skip doing the abdominals machines of course, and certain other machines as well.  I'm slowly easing into using my abdominals a little more every day, and so far so good there.  I haven't passed blood in over a week - a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.  

I'm still unsure if I'm flaring - my hair is falling out a little bit, my lips are really weird (like semi-numb in the mornings, red all the time, peeling skin in the afternoons) and I'm randomly having some d at times, it doesn't seem to be related to what I eat.  I don't know if this is a flare - I know Crohn's can affect the mouth/lips, but I've never had lip involvement before.  So is this something new?  Or just a really atypical flare?  In a typical flare I'd have d like 20+ times a day, and I'm only going 2 or 3 times a day lately.  So I really have no idea!

I see the rheumatologist for the first time next week.  I'll be interested to see what he has to say about my exercise regimen.  Hopefully he gives me the green light to do what I want in the gym - okay, I pretty much do what I want anyway, but I guess I mean that hopefully he'll say that exercise is doing me more good than harm, and that if I'm bleeding then my GI should investigate the cause rather than tell me not to lift weights.

I did hit the gym for weights yesterday and that went so-so.  I had very low energy, it was one of those days where I had to fight for every rep, and every weight felt much heavier than usual.  I'm not sure why that is, but I got through my workout as best I could.  I had to shave off a few reps here and there to do it, which I'm not pleased about.  Going to do yoga tonight I think.

Oh, and thank you - my dog is feeling MUCH better today.    She had a normal, non-diarrhea, non-bloody poo last night, and is totally interested in food again and hasn't vomited any further.  I wrote a longer post about my dog in member's only, but basically I was told that a few different things could have caused my dog's illness, including it could have just been a regular old stomach bug.  Apparently dogs can get gastroenteritis too just like humans can.  If she relapses into bloody stools then I'll get her checked for Giardia, that was the other big possibility.  But so far so good - I was thinking we'd have to take her to the vet this morning, but she pretty much bounced back last night and seems like her old self again, so for now we're just keeping an eye on things.  That's a big relief.


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## mccindy

It does sound like an odd type of flare, but the blood and diarrhea, and pain.... possible?  I haven't heard about the lip thing before.  My hair has a tendency to fall out when my body is stressed hormonally.  
Hopefully you'll get the go-ahead for weights again next week!  Although I suspect you'll continue on with your clandestine weight work anyway.....


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/2/13:  I didn't do yoga yesterday.  I didn't do anything.  Had a rough day at work and just didn't feel great.  Went home, sat on the couch, and didn't leave the couch until it was time for bed.  Had a rough episode of d last night and again this morning too.  I'm going to go hit the little gym for weights today but am not feeling energetic or excited about it.  Sometimes you just have to fake it, so that's what I'll do today.  I read an article recently, they studied people who just weren't feeling like working out and put them into 2 groups - the people who didn't go work out, and the people who faked their way through it even though they weren't feeling it at all.  The people who worked out anyway got TONS more health benefits than the people who didn't.  Which is obvious, but I feel like I need to remind myself of it on days like this.  Even if I'm not feeling it, I'm doing myself a world of good by going to the gym anyway.  That's all the motivation I need - I may not want to do it, but my body needs it to get healthy.  So I'll go and do everything I can.

I'm feeling bummed about my music situation though.  (Sorry Dexky, I know I've already been going on and on about this on facebook!)  But basically, I *need* good music to get me through a workout.  I cannot work out without really good, pumping music to keep me going.  And one of my favorite singers was just involved in a huge scandal where he basically proved himself to be a terrible person (K-pop singer named Se7en - I won't go into all the sordid details here or Dexky might kill me  but in a nutshell, Se7en had to join the Korean army - he left his dorm without permission, went drinking, then went to a brothel - when he got caught on camera, he hit the reporter and tried to break the camera - he's facing a year in jail just for leaving his dorm, not to even mention the other stuff!).  So now I just can't listen to Se7en's music anymore, it all sounds so hollow and insincere.  I can't separate the music from the singer, that just doesn't work in my brain.  So there goes a whole bunch of music that I used to like to listen to, down the tubes.  I *hate* that!  I usually tweak my workout playlist regularly to keep it fresh, but now I have to take a bunch of songs out?  Nooooo, what now?  I stopped listening to J-pop because it got stale very quickly with my all-time favorite singer out on a looong hiatus - now I lose one of my favorite K-pop singers to scandal?  My workout playlist is suddenly much smaller and that sucks.


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## mccindy

Boo!  I'm sad that you're not feeling well.

I guess you have to fake it 'til you make it.... right Cat?  

I hope the workout goes well and you feel better.  And that you find some more good music to work out with!


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## mccindy

Cat, I read some information about vitamin B6 and it says a B6 deficiency can lead to cracked and sore lips and peeling skin.  Something to check out?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hm, interesting about the vit B6!  I will definitely get it checked out, just added it to my list of things to ask my GI about - thanks for the info!  I just googled and found this:  "Major sources of vitamin B6 include cereal grains, legumes, vegetables (carrots, spinach, peas, and potatoes), milk, cheese, eggs, fish, liver, meat, and flour."  I eat about half of those - I juice carrots and spinach, I eat a fair amount of eggs and some fish, I definitely eat a lot of flour (bread, pasta), and I'm not sure what they mean by cereal grains but I had a bowl of cereal for dinner last night.  I also eat sweet potatoes but not regular potatoes, and I do almond milk & goat cheese - not sure if those count though.  And I wonder if I'm just not absorbing enough B6 in this potential flare.  This is the link I was looking at:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-b6/NS_patient-b6

Yep, that's right, gotta fake it till I make it!  Make what, I'm not sure.    Make more muscles I guess.  Hopefully don't make myself bleed.  Now if someone in the K-pop or J-pop world would just make some really awesome compelling new music...


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Cereal grains just mean, rice, wheat, corn etc. (I can't think of any others??)

I've been to the gym before when I haven't really been in the mood and really enjoyed it. I guess thats the reasoning behind having a strict routine.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, I just got back from the gym and that was my experience today too - I was so not in the mood to go to the gym, but I went and really had a good, fun, refreshing workout.  Last time I was at the gym, everything was such a chore and all the weights felt so heavy (I hate days like that!) so I wasn't in the mood to do that all over again.  But today, everything was a breeze!  The weights didn't feel heavy, in fact I increased the weight on one of the machines and did extra reps on another.  I did everything but the abdominals machine, and I actually thought about doing that one too.  I even sat down on the abs machine, but my guts gave me a clear "no" so I walked away.  Felt really good the whole way through the rest of the machines!  My guts gave me one sharp cramp as I was changing back into my regular clothes, but that was it.  I feel quite good now.    It's amazing what a good workout can do for my mood too!  I was feeling pretty blah the whole day, now I feel much peppier and happier.

Ah, thanks for clarifying about the cereal grains.  I do eat a lot of rice & wheat products.  I try to avoid corn products as they tend to cause me problems.  (Admittedly though sometimes I can't resist Cheetos!)


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## kel

Few things are as gratifying as going to the gym on an off day and really doing well  I often find I'm strongest once I push through that initial sluggishness.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/4/13.  Happy Independence Day!  Sadly, my hubby actually has to work today.  He was initially told he had to go in at noon, but then his boss changed it so he is going in at 4 PM.  So we're hoping to take the kayak out for a quick paddle up and down a local creek before he heads to work.  (On a side note, WHY is a costume shop open on a national holiday??  He shouldn't have to work at all today - I certainly don't have to!)

Did yoga last night and felt okay.  Guts still aren't right and have been giving me random crampy pains here and there.  I hope I'm okay to go out on the water.  Fortunately we're thinking of paddling the creek near our house, and that creek mostly goes through urban areas, so if all else fails I could hop out and run into a business to use the bathroom.  There are also a couple wooded areas I could hop out and go in.  Ideally though my guts will hopefully behave themselves during our little paddling excursion so it will be a non-issue.  The weather looks ideal for outdoor exercise and my dog is feeling better, so we should be good to go.  Now I have to go wake up hubby, pack lunches, get everything prepared, get the kayak on top of the car, etc etc...


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## Dexky

Maybe some party-goers need an Uncle Sam costume or a Statue of Liberty!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It's not even that kind of costume shop.    It's mostly renaissance, steampunk, that kind of stuff.  No lady liberty nor uncle sam costumes there.

We spent about 2 hours in the kayak and had no issues whatsoever.  Guts behaved themselves, dog behaved herself, the weather was perfect.    I'm going to go walk the dog shortly - I want her to be really tired out for tonight.  She freaks out badly when fireworks are going off, so my theory is, if she's really tired, maybe she'll care less or possibly even sleep through it all!  Wishful thinking probably, but worth a try anyway.


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## kel

You can try giving her a Benadryl. The vet had us do that with our dog because she was afraid of storms.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks - I'll keep that in mind for the future.  I don't have any Benadryl in the house and don't want to venture out tonight.  My dog is afraid of storms too, anything that makes a loud noise like that makes Lily freak and try to either hide or cling to me.  We heard a firework go off a little while ago and she tried to hide under the coffee table (she doesn't fit though) so she just put her head under the table, and apparently now has fallen asleep like that.    Hopefully she'll stay asleep for awhile.


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## Dexky

My wife actually has a few clients whose dogs require valium....at least I think they were giving it to the dogs!  That was some time back so they may be in jail by now!


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## kel

I'd rather keep my valium for myself hehe.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/5/13:  I woke up at about 3 AM feeling awful, was nauseous and needed to use the bathroom desperately.  I was up for about 2 hours, finally was able to get back to sleep after 3 or 4 bathroom trips and a couple of Zofran to quell the nausea.  This flare is starting to act more like my "typical" flares - not that that's a good thing, but at least I feel like I know what I'm dealing with.  I was hoping to hit the gym today but that's out now, there's no way I can go work out feeling like this.  I want to go run some errands soon, I hope that's not too ambitious of me.  Might try to walk the dog later today if I'm feeling up to it.  If not, I'm just going to rest as much as I can.  Hopefully tomorrow will be much better and I can get to the gym then.


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## mccindy

feeling good about being home and getting back in the workout groove.  At least 1/2 hour every day on the elliptical.  Wondering how long I'll have to wait after surgery to work out again!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I'm glad you're still able to exercise daily!  I will be interested to hear what your doc says about when you can get back to exercising after your surgery.  I hope not too long!

It was the right decision not to go to the gym today.  It was maybe the wrong decision to run like 6 errands!  I went to the bank, the vet (to get more of my cat's prescription food), Bath & Body works (a girl needs nice smelling lotions and they had a 75% off sale!), the hardware store, Target, and the grocery store.  I was not feeling well at all by the time I was grocery shopping, and as I was in line to check out, I felt really hot and dizzy like I might pass out.  I kept it together and managed to get my groceries and get home without incident.  Been sitting on the couch with the heating pad ever since.  Going to try to attempt to cook dinner soon.  I'm not hungry but I know I should eat since I've had hardly anything today.


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## hawkeye

Dexky said:


> My wife actually has a few clients whose dogs require valium....at least I think they were giving it to the dogs!  That was some time back so they may be in jail by now!


Our old cat was in the animal hospital once and they gave it Valium to increase its appetite.  Never heard of that before


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I'm not hungry but I know I should eat since I've had hardly anything today.


Target, I can hardly wait, we are getting one this fall as they roll out their Canadian expansion.  Have checked them out the last few times we were in the States (we only live an hour and a bit from the border so if the exchange on the dollar is good we do the occasional shopping trip.

Eating is hard some days.  I am trying to push myself to eat a bit more each day to start to gain some weight back.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, I love Target!  I swear it's impossible to go there for "just one thing" because you end up finding 8 more things you need.    That's funny that you come to the US to shop - when hubby and I have extra fun money, we usually road trip down to Illinois and shop at Ikea & the Woodfield mall.  I guess shopping is just more fun sometimes if you make it a road trip!

Eating definitely is hard on days when I feel like this.  I threw together a pasta salad and made myself eat a little of it.  Wasn't hungry at all but needed the calories.  Feel okay now, or not terrible anyway.  Still tempted to try the gym tomorrow.    I'll see how I feel tomorrow morning before making any crazy decisions about that though.


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## hawkeye

It's almost too hot here to do anything 26C (77F) feels like 34C (91F) 75% humidity, think I might get an air pump and set up my little guy's wading pool


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> That's funny that you come to the US to shop


Depending on the Canadian dollar / US dollar exchange rate the draw for Canadians that live close to the border is quite strong.  Some items are cheaper down there even when the exchange is factored in plus a lot of times the selection is better - the big draw for a lot of people in our part of the Maritimes is Bangor Maine or North Conway New Hampshire (factory outlets with no sales tax)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/6/13.  Still not feeling great today.  Yesterday hubby was telling me that I shouldn't do so much and that errands/chores can wait.  I got mad and told him BS, that stuff's already been waiting (I ran so many errands yesterday because it was payday and I could finally afford to buy groceries etc).  It's not like chores go away if I wait to do them, it just piles up even more, so I just do as much as I can so that it's not overwhelming later.  

Then this morning I asked him if he could please walk the dog before he went to work, and he was like, ugh, I don't want to.  I got mad again and was yelled that he can't have it both ways, he can't tell me to rest but not pick up any of the slack himself!  The dog didn't get walked yesterday and she's getting restless, so I put on my shoes to walk her.  Hubby put on his shoes too.  We're both quite stubborn so we ended up walking her together.  I walked rather slowly and it's super warm out, but I made it through the walk.  Been resting on the couch ever since, crocheting a blanket and watching K-dramas.  No chance of hitting the gym today.    I'll be lucky if I can make it through doing laundry later.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/7/13:  I'm feeling somewhat better today!  Rested up most of yesterday and I think that did me some good.  I have to go to my grandparents' house for my grandmother's birthday party today, but I'm thinking that, depending on what my energy level is like when I get home, I'd like to either do yoga or the stationary bike.  May try lifting weights tomorrow if I continue to feel well.


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## hawkeye

Did my lawn today - hottest day to cut it in ages, had to take 2 rest breaks for water and shade


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## Dexky

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I have to go to my grandparents' house for my grandmother's birthday party today


Did everyone manage to remain civil?, or was Grandpa in an argumentative mood?


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## mccindy

I've missed the last two days of working out.  Belly is so bad in the morning for some reason, as soon as I eat I feel sick and have pain.  This is not usual for me so I'm not sure what's going on.  Perhaps the stress of the upcoming surgery?  Anyway I'm going to try again today and see how it goes... maybe.  Maybe not.  

Cat, I hope you're still feeling better.  Time to tell the hubs he needs to step up and help out if he doesn't want you doing much!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, my grandparents remained totally civil this time around which was a relief - not a word of politics was spoken.  My brother had one little outburst of yelling at my mom (about her supposedly not telling him something back in like 2004) but my mom actually managed to defuse the situation and my brother was almost kind of fun/nice the rest of the time - that was a great surprise.  So overall it was quite a lovely visit!  Of course my grandparents once again gave us all the "we're old, we'll die soon, so this is the last big family gathering, really, we mean it this time".  I've heard that speech many times before (I've heard "we're old, we'll die soon" since I was a child!  And been hearing "this is the last family gathering" for about 6 or 8 years now too).  

Cindy, I didn't work out the past 2 days either.  Felt somewhat better yesterday morning but didn't make the best food choices because of the family gathering (key lime pie & ice cream sounded so yummy but not the best idea to eat both!).  When I got home last night, I was too exhausted to even do yoga.  And with yesterday's bad food choices, today I'm feeling kinda crummy again.  I'm sick of not working out so my stubbornness is telling me I should just suck it up and go to the gym tonight.  I'm going to try!  I feel like I can do it.


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## hawkeye

Did a walk around the block tonight then hung out in the yard for a bit and checked out the construction with my little guy.


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## Dexky

What's being constructed Hawkeye?


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Cat my grandparents allways do the "we're old we'll die soon" thing as well! 

They don't go as far to say, this is the last family gathering. But you can never ever try and plan things too far ahead. About 6/7 years ago it was my Grandparent's 50th wedding aniversary and my Parent's 25th on the same year. Obviously a year or so before we worked out they would fall on the same year. 

We tried to discuss having big celebrations but all we got was... well if we are still here.

We always get this! Its like 7 years later and they are both still here!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, my grandparents just had their 61st wedding anniversary.    My grandpa is really sick so he really does mean it now when he says he won't be around much longer (he has heart problems, diabetes, kidney failure, he's in a wheelchair, he's really falling apart).  So I know there won't be many more family gatherings with my grandparents, I don't need to be reminded of it every single time though!  

Update 7/9/13:  I went to the gym yesterday and did pretty well.  I avoided the abdominals machines as always, but I did everything else.  It was ridiculously warm & humid out yesterday, and the air conditioning in the gym just wasn't able to totally cool such a large space, so it was kind of warm in there and I got super sweaty and it made me feel kind of tired.  I pushed through, though, and felt good otherwise.  I feel so-so today, not awful but not stellar either.  I feel well enough to do yoga or stationary bike tonight, so I'll do whichever one I feel more like doing this evening.

I have my first rheumatology appointment tomorrow (finally!).  I am curious to see what the rheumy will say about my exercise regime and if he thinks it's helping my arthritis.  I know it helped for a long time, but the arthritis pain got worse over the winter and exercise still helps some, but not as much as it did in the past I think.  I'm frustrated that I developed arthritis in my "good" hip in spite of all my exercise efforts.  So it'll be interesting to see what the doc has to say about all that.


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## hawkeye

Dexky said:


> What's being constructed Hawkeye?


A play structure.  We've been going at it since June - got the frame of the structure up and then discovered the back yard was not as level as it needed to be (it sloped from side to side and front to back - there is probably 4 to 5 foot elevation difference from the high corner to the low corner of the upper back yard - some interesting topography in our subdivision) so we got our home builder in to create a pad for it.  

The brochure that came with the play structure recommended pea gravel as opposed to regular lawn in terms of falls so it was a means to get that put down as well.

The pad is done, now to get the play structure wrapped up before too much of the summer passes us by.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/10/13:  Did yoga last night and felt good.  Really nervous today because I am just about to head off to my first rheumatology appointment.  Not quite sure what to expect, but hopeful that I can get some answers about my arthritis and figure out a way to treat it.  I'm a little scared that I'll get bad news and I'm also nervous that he won't be able to figure me out and my arthritis will stay a mystery just like my guts and my GERD (I know I have a hiatal hernia which is contributing to the GERD, but the hernia is small & sliding, so my GERD shouldn't be nearly as severe as it is).  Anyway, gotta make this sort because I have to go!  I'll udpate later!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Just got back from my rheumy appt.  I already wrote all this out in the Undiagnosed Club thread so pasting it here too:

Hi all, I just got back from my rheumy appt.  I think it went quite well!  He examined me thoroughly and did a bit of bloodwork, CRP and ESR and one other thing that I already forgot.    I told him a brief synopsis of my history with the probable IBD and all that.  He said that if it's inflammatory arthritis, then, given my symptoms & history, the arthritis is "definitely" related/being caused by the IBD.  He even said that since my IBD isn't fully diagnosed, it sounds to him like the arthritis is an important piece of the diagnostic puzzle to me, and he said he can certainly give me that puzzle piece.  That was awesome that he said that!  I hope it's true!

He did say that the most common joints in the body that IBD affects are the sacro-iliac joints, and that's what seems to be affected for me.  So this will be a major puzzle piece if it's confirmed that I have arthritis of an inflammatory nature in those specific joints.

So I like him, he seemed pretty good.  He wasn't sure what to make of the x-rays and he didn't give me any diagnosis today.  He felt like the images on my recent x-rays were a bit fuzzy so he would like to see things in better detail, and he's sending me to have an MRI.  When he said MRI, I figured it'd be a 6 month wait like it was when I had my liver MRI.  Nope, he had his staff get me into the soonest available slot - they could have gotten me in next week but my work schedule wouldn't have allowed that, so instead I'm going in the following week, on the 22nd.  This means I may have my answers to my arthritis questions before my next GI appt (on Aug 7th)!!  I wonder what my GI will say if I tell him I have inflammatory arthritis that's being caused by IBD.    I feel like I'm getting so close now.  I probably won't get an official IBD diagnosis even if I definitely have inflammatory arthritis, but the evidence is really starting to pile up in IBD's favor.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Well, its not exactly good news but its great you are getting some answers! And that you liked the doctor too


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## hawkeye

Cat, that is great that you are on the road to getting some answers


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks guys!  I have to admit it put me in a really good mood to think I might be finally getting somewhere diagnostically.    Hit the gym tonight and did great, had to skip the abdominals machines again but did everything else (tried doing the plank position as I was stretching, to test my abdominal muscles, and my body gave me a clear "stop" signal, so things are still not quite right).  So yeah, had a good workout and a good dinner and I feel pretty okay about things at the moment.


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## mccindy

Cat, I'm so glad to hear things are going well!  Sounds like you got some good answers from the rheumy and will be getting some more. Hooray!:dance:

Tomorrow is my big day, I have to check into the hospital at 5:45 m.  :eek2:  My hubs will be updating the caring bridge site after it's over!:hug:  Hoping the hospital food doesn't bother my belly, this has not been a good belly week at all.

love and hugs, hope the belly treats you good!


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## Dexky

Hopes and prayers your way today Cindy!!

Cat, I hope this isn't just another dead end!  Good luck!  I hate to say that it's good news but when you've been fighting for so long, I'm sure you feel vindicated at the least!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy!  You're probably already in surgery by now, but best of luck and I'm keeping you in my thoughts!  Big hugs and I hope you have a great outcome from the surgery.  I'll be checking your caring bridge page!

Mark, I do feel kind of vindicated.  Nobody wants to have arthritis, but I've already got it so I may as well use it to tie things together and try to solve my health mysteries.  Knowledge is power, and the more I know about what's going on in my body, the better I'll be able to treat it.  

Update 7/11/13:  I felt good yesterday right up until bedtime.  Then my guts decided to empty all at once, and there was a bit of blood in the stool.  That took some of the wind out of my sails - I hadn't passed blood in close to 3 weeks, and had almost fooled myself into thinking I wasn't going to bleed anymore because I was feeling well-ish.  So much for the power of denial.  It was a teeny bit of blood though so I'm torn as to whether or not to let my GI know about it.  I really want to focus on the arthritis stuff right now with my MRI just about 10 days away.  Once the MRI results are in, then I feel like I can focus on my guts.  So I think I'm going to hold off for now on calling my GI, and will call him after I know the MRI results.

Just thinking out loud here, but I wonder if I bled just a little because I used my abdominal muscles at the gym just a little?  I tried the plank for like 10 seconds just to test my abs, and I stopped when it became clear that pain would be in my future if I didn't stop.  If I request a colonoscopy from my GI in the near future, I think I'm going to do a bunch of abs exercises the day before my scope.  If they can see the bleeding on scope, they can at least see where it's coming from and maybe put a stop to the bleeding.  I'm only bleeding once every week or two, so if I just left it up to chance, they probably wouldn't see the source of the bleed on the scope.  But if I purposely trigger bleeding by working my abs, the scope would surely see that.  I realize it'll suck a lot to do abs exercises while prepping, but it seems like something I need to at least try.


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## Dexky

It's a shame you've been frustrated so many times you would actually attempt to make yourself bleed before a scope!!  I know you're serious though!  Good luck Cat


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I know it's not the best idea, but with my last c-scope (over 3 years ago), I was feeling awful and was sure they'd find something.  Nope, I looked completely fine both visually and on biopsy (and they took like a dozen biopsies including at least one from the TI).  When your symptoms don't match up with the test results, sometimes you get a little desperate for answers.  I don't feel as awful lately as I did back then, so that doesn't really bode well for them finding anything, and pushing myself to bleed might be my best shot this time around.  I mean, the bleeding has to come from somewhere, and since it's always been bright red blood, it's likely coming from somewhere that can be seen by the scope.

My other option is, I can eat some Greek yogurt before prepping.  Greek yogurt made me pass blood the one time I had attempted to eat it.  I don't know why Greek yogurt made me bleed, but it was a truly miserable experience.  Still, if it could get me some answers then it's worth considering.  Greek yogurt plus some strenuous abdominal exercises?  I'd feel horrible for sure, but I'd almost certainly be passing quite a bit of blood.

I haven't even called my GI yet to request a scope - these are just ideas I'm mulling over.  Going to have my MRI first and then will request a scope.  I know I need another scope soon - I am having another day of feeling pretty crappy and it seems I'm gradually having fewer good days and more bad ones.  I felt okay for most of this week but today is not so good.  I wasn't feeling great last night either, so the only exercise I was able to muster was to walk my dog.  It was cute, though.  The fenced-in dog park is right next to a big field that's usually used for soccer, although last night there was a game of "ultimate frisbee" going on.  A girl on one of the teams saw my dog and shrieked, "Corgi!!"  Then a couple girls on the other team were like, "Corgi!  Oh my god, corgi!  So cute!  Corgi!"    You don't really get that with other dog breeds.  I don't think anyone has ever yelled, "Poodle!" or "Golden retriever!"  But I hear "Corgi!!" regularly when I take my dog out for walks.


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## kel

Do you have a problem digesting protein?  Most greek yogurts available in the grocery store have almost no carbs or fat in them and around 20+ grams of protein per serving.  Also, what brand are you buying?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I honestly don't remember what brand it was, it was about a year ago that I tried it and bled.  I can do some types of protein okay but I'm kind of limited there.  I can't do red meat and I have trouble with most dairy too, but I can do chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, etc.  So I eat a lot of eggs, use ground turkey in a lot of recipes, and so on.  I think it's the probiotics in the Greek yogurt that my body really didn't like - I've had trouble with probiotics in the past (they seemed to make my GERD much worse, and my GERD improved when I stopped taking probiotics).  I'm lactose intolerant too so the dairy aspect of it probably didn't help matters either.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ugh.  I am not feeling well at all today.  There is a lot of grumbling in my tummy, and I'm having some stabby pains in my rectum, which is just lovely.  Haven't passed any blood today though which is curious.  I was hoping to go to the gym tonight, but now I'm thinking it's better if I rest instead and hopefully will get in a workout tomorrow if I'm feeling better.  I hate skipping workouts, but I really don't want to have an issue in the gym and have to explain to the staff that my rectum hurts!   

And I just don't feel up to it.  The hubby and I are hoping to take the kayak out tomorrow, I hope that can still happen.  Kayaking isn't super strenuous, but strenuous enough, plus I have to have enough strength and stamina to be able to lift the kayak up onto the car and finagle it in and out of my walk-out basement (we don't have a garage) so I don't know if I'll be up to that challenge tomorrow.  I hope I am.  (It's a 16 foot double kayak so it takes both of us to move it and get it up on the car roof rack.)

I hate when my body does this, just random pain out of nowhere.  I got enough sleep last night, I haven't eaten anything iffy, I'm not under any extra stress lately, I haven't forgotten to take my meds.  It's frustrating when I feel like I'm doing everything right but I still get punished by my body anyway.  Oh well.  A night in front of the TV with my heating pad and my crochet project it is then.


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## Dexky

Hope you feel better tomorrow Cat!  Sounds like you better not let hubs walk the dog!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/14/13:  I made it to the gym yesterday evening.    I woke up yesterday morning not feeling great, but as the day went on, I felt somewhat better.  Didn't go kayaking, but around dinnertime I was feeling well enough to try hitting the gym.  That went okay, except  I had drank some orange juice a few hours prior, and even with a 300 mg Zantac and 10 Tums (the max daily dose) in my system, I still got some crazy heartburn.  Drank a ton of water during my workout to try to alleviate it, and that did help somewhat.  Felt better once my workout was over.

Today I walked my dog early in the morning (it was still too hot out!) and we ran into a few of my dog's friends (fellow corgis) so that was nice.  Now I'm just doing stuff around the house, laundry and cleaning and such.  May do yoga later if I feel up to it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/15/13:  Lately we've been making homemade orange juice in our juicer (see post above about horrible heartburn after drinking OJ).  It's absolutely delicious, but apparently it is way too acidic for my poor broken digestive system to handle, so I've had some hideous GERD symptoms lately.  I had 2 glasses of fresh OJ yesterday, and woke up with a sore throat today, which hasn't happened in awhile.  It means I was refluxing a lot as I was sleeping, enough for my throat to become sore from the acid coming up.  Before I was on my current mix of GERD meds, I would wake up with sore throats regularly (I usually lie on my left side when I sleep, and I'd often have a sore throat only on the left side - presumably the refluxate was coming up and pooling in my throat and affecting the low side, which was the left side).  So no more orange juice for me, which is terribly sad.  

I walked the dog yesterday morning, early to try to beat the heat, but it was still too hot out at that time.  That sapped a lot of my energy - my body hates heat & humidity - so I did a few things around the house but then rested for most of the evening.  Felt okay for the most part.  Feeling so-so now, stomach is a bit iffy and I had some pain earlier.  I swear, if this is a flare then it's the weirdest flare I've ever had.  My previous flares, I'd get abdo pain in the same spot every time in the LRQ.  I could pinpoint it for you.  But lately, my pain jumps all around.  Sometimes higher up, near the ribs, sometimes it's in the lower-left, sometimes it's in the LRQ but not in the specific pinpoint spot, sometimes it's in multiple areas at once or all over.  It's really odd!

Anyway, I'm feeling okay-ish so I'm going to attempt to go lift weights tonight if I'm still feeling reasonably okay.  As usual in this flare, I'll skip the abdominal machines but will attempt everything else.  Probably yoga tomorrow or maybe exercise bike if I'm feeling like cardio (I'm usually not feeling like cardio, and have really let that slide lately!).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/16/13:  Well, I think the weather is forcing me to do cardio.    On a nice summer day, I like to go outside on my breaks and sit in the sunshine and read.  It's so ridiculously warm and humid here lately though that going outside has become miserable.  So I'm going to go hit the exercise bike in the basement gym on my lunch instead.  The gym is the coolest area of the building, and even though I get warm when exercising, it'll still be far more pleasant than venturing outside.  My guts like to cramp up on warm and humid days, so I figure this is just me being nice to my guts, right?  

I've been confused (even more so) by my symptoms lately.  Yesterday I hit the gym for weights and felt good afterwards.  Ate a nice dinner and the guts were pretty quiet.  Then I had a whole lot of d just before bed, and there were 3 undigested Delzicols in my poo.  That's a new record for me, and I'm not even sure how it's possible.  I take 2 Delzicols 3x a day.  So I take it when I first wake up, around noonish, and around 5 PM.  Yesterday's episode apparently means that the noon Delzicols just sat there not digesting and somehow met up with the 5 PM Delzicols?  And they all came out at once.  Bleh, I don't like knowing that my guts are that dysfunctional.  And that they can be that dysfunctional when I'm feeling relatively well?  It's all so strange.

So yeah.  I have my hip MRI on Monday, to see if I have inflammatory arthritis in my sacro-iliac joints (it's kind of humorous to me that I seem to have issues with my ileum and my ilia!  Ha ha).  After the MRI, I'll be calling my GI to update him on my symptoms and to request that he order a colonoscopy for me.  I'm so not looking forward to it, I seem to always get severely dehydrated from prep which is by far the worst part for me, but I'm not getting better even though I'm giving my abdo muscles a break.  It's a flare or it's something else, but whatever it is, it needs looking into.  I have a GI appointment on Aug 7th as well, so hopefully by then I'll have the MRI results and we can discuss what that means as far as my probable IBD.  My rheumy said that if it I do have inflammatory arthritis, then it's "definitely" being caused by the IBD, so we'll see what my GI has to say about that.


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## Dexky

Good grief Cat!  You need some kind of answer!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha, I know, I need answers for pretty much all my medical issues.  I still need to know what kind of IBD I have, where it's located, if it is currently flaring, etc (presuming it is indeed IBD!).  I need to know what kind of arthritis I have and what's causing it.  It'd also be nice to know why my GERD is so severe - I have a hiatal hernia but it's "small & sliding" so it shouldn't be causing such severe symptoms like what I experience.  Oh, and just for fun it'd be nice to know why I get migraines, why I have benign tumors on my liver, and what on earth is going on with my lips lately (they're red, numb, and the skin peels off - it was suggested that it may be a vit B6 deficiency, and B6 seemed to help for about a week, but now the lips are getting bad again in spite of B6 supplementation).  You know, all that fun stuff!  

Update 7/17/13:  I rode the exercise bike for 30 mins yesterday on my lunch break.  And afterwards, particularly in the evening, my legs were sore!  It wasn't muscle soreness so much, it was more bone/joint pain.  The knees and hips were not happy at all.  That's not good.  All winter long I rode the stationary bike multiple times a week for an hour at a time and had no issues - sometimes my left knee would give me pain if I rode for more than 45 mins or so, but otherwise everything felt fine.  Yesterday the right knee was worse than the left, and both hips were angry too.  It was so warm out yesterday, so I cranked the air conditioning and took a hot bath to try to soothe my aching leg joints.  That helped a little bit but not much.  I'm feeling somewhat better today but the legs still aren't super happy.  This is frustrating, I feel like I'm backpedaling in terms of my fitness and ability to exercise.

Still, gotta keep moving forward as much as I can.  So I'm planning to go lift weights tonight.  Probably yoga tomorrow, I won't push the cardio thing too much for now.  Friday, probably weights again.  It's finally supposed to cool down a bit and be less humid on the weekend, so I'm tentatively hoping that we might be able to take the kayak out for a bit at some point.  So far this summer we've paddled the 2 easy creeks in the city (they're relatively short and with very little current).  There's one creek that's longer and has stronger currents and is just generally more challenging to paddle, and I'd love to give it a try soon if I'm feeling well enough.  It starts in a suburb and sort of meanders out into the country, so if I had to hop out and go to the bathroom in the woods, that would be more of a possibility with this creek than with the easier urban creeks.  So, that's my hope.  I'm not overly optimistic that it'll happen, but it would be really nice.

And Monday is my MRI!  I kind of want to make my hips hurt beforehand as I feel like that's my best shot at something showing up.  The best way I know of to make my hips hurt is to go jogging, and it doesn't take much (1 mile of jogging will put me in bad hip pain for days & days - the way I'm feeling lately, probably 1/2 mile or less would be enough to cause significant pain).  I am starting to sound like a masochist in this thread what with wanting to make myself bleed before a colonoscopy and now wanting to induce joint pain, and it may be stupid or not worthwhile, but I feel like I need to do everything I can to get a definitive test result.  All it would take is jogging around the block a couple times to make me have to walk with my cane for the remainder of the week - miserable yes, but if it gets me some answers then I say bring on the pain!


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## Dexky

If it'll get you some answers, bring on the pain!  And yeah, to the country creek, no potty breaks in suburbia Cat!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

At this rate I may not even have to jog.    I woke up today with my left hip - AKA the "good" hip - in quite a bit of pain.  I can walk okay without my cane but every so often it hits me with a sharp jab of pain.  It feels like my hip just isn't fitting into the joint correctly today.  I tried stretching it and moving it around but that didn't help at all.  And now of course the right hip, the "bad" hip, is chiming in and acting up as well.  *Sigh.*

I went to the gym for weights yesterday and felt great - no issues, no pain, no reflux.  Everything was a breeze, I felt really strong.  I worked my abs just a teeny bit (20 seconds of plank position) just to see how it'd go, and that felt okay too.  My guts didn't yell at me nor give me pain.  Today, though, I woke up with some pain on the right side of my abdomen.  Between that and the hips, I'm not doing quite as well today.    I was thinking of doing yoga tonight but I might make today a rest day instead.

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off of work so I can go to Maxwell Street Days - it's an annual event where a lot of downtown businesses have a big sidewalk sale and you can find some really great bargains.  But it involves a lot of walking - downtown in my city is basically like a 6-ish block long pedestrian mall.  If my hips are feeling like this tomorrow, I'm going to have to bring a cane with me to make it through Maxwell Street days.  And the worst part is, usually some family members of mine from out of town will come to Maxwell Street Days here, and they're not the most understanding when it comes to my illnesses.  If they see me with a cane, that just won't be good.  They'll gossip about me and I'm sure they'll say mean things like I probably don't even need a cane, I'm too young to have arthritis, I'm just doing it for attention, etc.  So I hope that the hot weather deters them from coming to town this year, or if they do come, I hope I don't run into them (I can usually avoid them, I have done so the previous few years).  Wish me luck!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/19/13:  I did indeed need my cane today.  Left hip and left knee are both sharply painful.  And of course, as expected, I ran into people I know while shopping at the sidewalk sales.  First I saw a former co-worker from like 8 years ago - she didn't say anything about the cane (she's on my facebook so presumably she's seen a few posts from me about arthritis).  Then I ran into my family members, 5 of them.  My aunt was the only one who mentioned the cane, she said, "Oh, did you hurt your foot?"  I said, "No, I'm just having a bad arthritis day."  She was like, "Oh no, you're too young to fall apart like this!"  And she gave me a hug and seemed genuinely concerned.  My other family members all just watched and didn't say a thing and didn't seem concerned either.  I should add this is the branch of the family that feels like gluten is evil and that maybe I'm causing my own problems by eating gluten (I have been tested multiple times and do not have celiac).  So I'm sure the ones who didn't say anything are gossiping about how clearly gluten has caused my arthritis.  

Guts were awful this morning but a lot better now.  Still, I'm mostly resting today.  May go to the gym this evening.


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## hawkeye

Bummer that the hip and knee were painful, were there any great bargains?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

There were a few bargains but not many.  I got a cool pewter tarantula for $8, and my hubby got an interesting-looking board game for $5 (it was originally marked at $40).  We got a couple other things too like a couple drinking glasses etc but overall there wasn't much worth buying.

I think my family already gossiped to my mom about me walking with a cane, because she called me just now and pointedly asked how I'm doing lately.  She usually never asks me how my health is, so that was suspicious.  I told her I have an MRI on Monday, and she was like, "So the doctor doesn't know what's wrong?"  Um, no, that's why he's doing an MRI.  

Hubby and I went kayaking today.  I was a bit worried because I woke up having some fairly sharp abdo pains in the upper/middle right and I wasn't sure how my guts would do.  Plus the fact that we wanted to kayak the more challenging river.  But I decided to just go for it.  So we went to the challenging river, and it was tough, but my guts behaved and we had a good time.  I like this river - it's longer, and it goes between two lakes and there's a park at each lake.  So at the park on the far end, we had a picnic lunch and that was really nice.  We usually bring a picnic lunch, but we usually end up eating on the kayak at some point because there's usually not a good place to stop.  It's not very relaxing though to eat in the boat.  It was much nicer to eat at a picnic table and let the dog run around a little bit before we headed back to our starting point.  It was a more challenging paddle than we usually do though, and as a result both hubby and I have really sore tired shoulders now!  I feel pretty good though, haven't had abdo pains since the morning and the arthritis is better today than it was yesterday.  All good stuff.


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## Dexky

Sounds good Cat!  I'm glad you still feel like doing all the things you like!  What have the temps been like up there?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, last week we had a miserable heat wave with 90+ temps and heat indexes even hotter, plus close to 100% humidity.  Yuck!  The heat wave finally broke on Saturday and the humidity dropped and it's been in the 70s/80s since, which is so much nicer.  

I had my hip MRI today!  It went well for the most part.  I was nervous about it last night so I didn't get much sleep.  The MRI was scheduled for 7:15 AM and my instructions said to please try to be there by 7.  I got there at 6:45, filled out the questionnaire, and waited... and waited, and waited some more.  Apparently, because I had an endoscopy less than a year ago, they needed a nurse to sign off giving me the okay to have the MRI (I'm not sure why that is, it's not like the endoscopy left bits of metal in my esophagus!).  The tech couldn't sign off herself and the nurse was super late - she didn't show up until about 8 AM.  I was like, what is the point of telling me to get there early if the nurse can just waltz in an hour late??

Other than that, it all went pretty well.  When they first put me in the MRI machine, I had a genuine moment of panic.  It felt like I was going in too far and the way out was too far away, like I was trapped.  And it's such a small little opening in the machine - I'm not a big girl but I felt quite confined, it was like being in a coffin - I couldn't imagine being overweight and being put in an MRI machine, that would probably be terrifying!  But I got over the moment of panic pretty quickly, just telling myself that I did this before (liver MRI 3 years ago) and I can do it again.  I had brought a mix CD of my favorite music to listen to as well, and I had specifically made myself a fairly calming playlist, so I calmed down a lot when the music came on over the headphones.    The first song was Utada's "Take 5" and I just told myself, breathe, take 5 and breathe!  (Yes Mark, it was a mix of K-pop and J-pop!)

I had been afraid that, since it was a pelvis/hip MRI, that they might inject the contrast directly into my hip, but they just did it in my arm like a regular IV.  I was also afraid that I might have another adverse reaction to the injected contrast like I had previously - for my liver MRI a few years ago, I got super dizzy and nearly passed out from the contrast, and when I got dizzy I had freaked out inside the machine and had to be pulled out and calmed down.  I told the nurse today about that experience, and she gave me the injection very slowly, and I had no reaction this time.    So all good stuff, and I feel okay.

Because I'm feeling okay, I think I'm going to head to the gym tonight.  I was originally planning to take a rest day if they were going to inject my hip as I figured that'd be painful, but no hip injection and no pain means I should be fine to go lift weights.  I did kind of take a rest day yesterday (I did 30 mins or so of yard work yesterday which was fairly strenuous, so that may count as a workout, but I didn't do a proper workout) and I hate to take 2 rest days in a row if I can avoid it, so I'm happy that I get to go to the gym tonight.


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## mccindy

I miss working out!  No exercise for abot 6 weeks for me, nothing strenous at least until 4-6 weeks after surgery.


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## Dexky

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I had brought a mix CD of my favorite music to listen to


With what??  A sony walkman?


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## hawkeye

Dexky said:


> With what??  A sony walkman?


likely a Discman.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark & Hawkeye, you two are silly.    They make you wear headphones so they can talk to you and give you instructions (hold your breath, etc) while you're in the MRI machine, and you can listen to music when they're not talking to you.  You can bring a CD of your own or they usually have some CDs there that you can listen to.  For my first MRI, I didn't think to bring a CD, so I listened to one of theirs (Alicia Keys) and then today I did bring one of my own to listen to (yay K- and J-pop).  They don't let you bring anything with metal in it into the MRI so of course no walkman/discman.    It's all a special non-metal (or non-magnetic metal anyway) internal audio system thingy.


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## Dexky

Good grief!  I can't believe you tortured the MRI techs with that JK pop!!  Ugh!!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, I think you meant to say, "How kind of you to expose the MRI techs to new and interesting music.  They're probably subjected to crap music all day and I bet it was really refreshing for them to hear beautiful music from other cultures.  Cat, you have the best taste in music and you're way cool too."    Ha ha!

So I've noticed that lately whenever I try to do something right, I feel worse, and if I screw up and do the wrong thing then I usually feel better.  I'm in a flare or whatever this is, and I've been having diarrhea pretty much every day.  I neglected to take my psyllium for like 3 days in a row... and my stools became firmer and more formed.  Or, this issue I'm having with my lips - they're cracked and red and sometimes numb, and the skin peels off of them.  Cindy had suggested I try supplementing vitamin B6.  So I tried that and it helped a bit for like a week, but then the lips got bad again.  I skipped taking my B6 for a few days too, and suddenly my lips felt much better and stopped peeling.  And this is a really weird one, 2 nights ago I couldn't sleep because I was worried about the MRI.  I only got like 3 hours of sleep and expected to be miserable and exhausted all day.  But instead, I felt energetic and happy and fine the whole day.  Last night I got a proper 8 hours of good, restful sleep - and today I feel groggy and headachey and tired and just not great.  Why is my body doing this??  Maybe I should eat some popcorn and stop brushing my teeth - I'd probably end up with great digestion and pearly whites.    I seriously don't get this flare.  Everything about it is so very odd!


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## Dexky

Are you really vigilant about hydration Cat??  Sometimes the very simple/obvious things can make a huge difference.  I can completely relate to the sleep scenario.  More is almost always less for me in sleep!  I will always get a headache if I try to sleep in!

PS..I don't think hubs would appreciate stopping teeth brushing!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I get dehydrated fairly easily, especially when flaring, so I do make a big effort every day to drink lots of fluids.  I don't do carbonation nor caffeine, so I mostly drink water, herbal (caffeine-free) tea, almond milk, juice from my juicer, etc.  If I'm feeling like I want a sugary drink, I'll have a lemonade.  But that's pretty rare, mostly I just drink water.

I think 8 hours of sleep might be slightly too much for me.  I went to bed at about 10:15 last night and woke up around 5, and I feel much more rested today than I did yesterday.  Yeah, I get awful headaches too if I try to sleep in.  Fortunately I have a dog who will start whining loudly in her crate if I don't let her out around the usual time, so I don't often get the opportunity to sleep in anyway.  

I felt pretty wretched yesterday.  I must have looked awful because people kept asking if I felt okay - I looked in the mirror, and I did look a bit more pale than usual, but I don't think I looked horrible so I don't know what was up with that.  My stomach was kind of a mess and my joints were unhappy and I was quite fatigued.  Then I got a call saying my hip MRI result was normal (no inflammatory arthritis) so I should go back to physical therapy.  I told the nurse I already exercise as often as I can and it worked for 2 years for my arthritis but no longer works as well, so I don't think more PT would be beneficial.  She became condescending and said, "Well, if you're not doing the moves with precision, you could be doing more harm than good."  Yes, I'm just flailing around wildly and imprecisely - that's why I had 2 years of no joint pain.  FFS!  So I refused PT and they didn't offer me any other options.  They actually told me to ask my GP about it too - so basically, rheumatology has no idea what to do with me now.  Great.  I scheduled a follow-up with the rheumy in 2 months' time anyway, just so I can pick his brain directly and see if there's anything else he can offer me for my arthritis.  In the meantime, I'm thinking it's a good idea that I just bought a new cane...

Bleh.  So that was yesterday.  A bad day all around.  Today I'm feeling notably better, less fatigue, less joint pain, guts aren't as angry.  I'm planning to hit the gym.  Yesterday I didn't even feel up to yoga, so I just rested and took a hot bath and I think all that helped.  So tonight I'll hit the weights and hopefully that'll go okay.

I read a little blurb online the other day about stereotypical people you see at the gym.  There were things like lady in full makeup (not many of those at my gym), creeps (too many at my gym!), people who spend more time texting than working out (also a ton of those at my gym), etc.  And then at the bottom, it said there are lifers - people who make exercise a way of life and go regularly for health reasons, not to show off or to hook up or to chat with friends.  I think I fit into that category very well - I'm a lifer!    It's all about my health, I couldn't care less about texting or flirting or chatting (I barely say 2 words to my hubby when we're at the gym together and I leave my phone in my locker) or showing off or being seen.  I'm there to fight for my health.  I like that, I'm a lifer.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Sorry about your MRI results! 

So frustrating that you never get any answers!


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## mccindy

CAt you really are going through the ringer!  Sorry to hear the B6 ddnt heop.  I have something strange going on .  Since I had my turmor removed I haaven't had pain and so far i've been able to eat some things I culdnt before.  I'm still planning to have mycolonoscopy no mater what, might as well find out what'sgoing on!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/25/13:  I went to the gym last night and did really well.  Slept well too, feel okay today - except for my left arm.  The upper bicep/shoulder area feels sore, particularly when I move it in certain ways.  I'm not sure if I just slept on it wrong (I usually sleep on the left side) or if I pulled a muscle or otherwise injured myself in the gym yesterday?  Nothing felt painful while I was in the gym so I hope it's just a fluke.  It's not a terrible pain, more like an achey soreness, so hopefully it's nothing.

I'm hoping to do some yoga tonight.  Hopefully the arm is feeling a little better by then and/or responds well to yoga.  I'm thinking about seeing if my massage therapist is available too, maybe massage would help.  I think I'll see how yoga goes first though.


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## mccindy

Hope you didn't pull anythgin.  NOt having worked out much has made me kinda weak!  I didt about 30 squats the other day and yesterday  had a hard time walking as my legs hwere sore!  Sheesh I can imagine how ahrd it will be to get back on the elliptical after two months off.   
I hope the yoga goes well for you.  Then get a massage, why hnot have an enjoyable experience!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/29/13:  Sorry for not updating for a few days, there hasn't been much to report as far as exercise goes.  I haven't been able to do anything much lately.  My shoulder still feels painful - I don't know if I pulled a muscle or tore something or what.  Sometimes it feels okay and I fool myself into thinking it's getting better, but then a few hours later the pain kicks right back in again.  It's frustrating and it's keeping me out of the gym because I don't want to aggravate it.  To top it off, I woke up yesterday morning with tremendous pain in my mid-back.  I don't know what I did there, but that's been even worse than the shoulder.  So yeah, I haven't lifted weights since last Wednesday (the shoulder started hurting Thurs morning, I'm unsure if I did something in the gym on Wed to injure it?).  

I did walk my dog on Sat & Sun, but that's all the exercise I've been able to manage with this stupid pain.  On Saturday, during/after the walk, I felt hot pain coming from my right hip (both my hips have arthritis, but the right one is far worse).  I haven't had pain like that before, I get hip pain all the time but never hot pain like that.  I walked my dog again, slowly because of the back pain, on Sunday, and fortunately the hip stayed quiet then.  But I really feel like I'm falling apart lately.  Oh, and the kicker?  I finally got ahold of my massage therapist - but he can't give me a massage anytime soon, because he injured his neck somehow.  So no massages for me for awhile until he heals.  Boo.

I'm going to do some yoga tonight even if it kills me.  Maybe stretching everything out will help somewhat.  I'm hoping it at least doesn't put me in worse pain.  I'm starting to get depressed at my lack of ability to exercise lately so I need to do _something_, but I also don't want to exacerbate things.  I'm taking a gamble and will do yoga.  Wish me luck!


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## mccindy

Good luck Cat!  I hoe the yoga helps.  I've noticed my back is giving me grief since I havent been able to exercise for so long.  boo us!  Keep those spirits up!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/30/13:  I did yoga last night, and it went better than I expected.  I'm finding that my shoulder feels okay as long as I don't do sudden movements with my left arm, so the slow & deliberate movements in yoga were quite beneficial.  My back is feeling somewhat better too, it still gives me a sharp jab of pain if I need to turn my head around to look behind me, so I'm trying not to do that.  If I can just not do sudden movements with my left arm and not turn around to look behind me, I can fool myself into thinking I've healed from these mystery injuries.  

Yoga went so well that I'm strongly considering going to the little gym in my workplace to lift weights today.  There are fewer weight machines down there than there are in the big gym, so I won't have much opportunity to overdo things.  I think it'll be a nice way to ease back into lifting, assuming it goes well.  I hope I'm not being stupid, but it's been nearly a week and I hate to go that long without lifting.  So I'm stubborn and maybe stupid and I'm going to go lift!    I'm going to take it slow, and may go for less weight than usual, but I have to give it a try.

Other than that, I'm doing okay.  The flare is quiet-ish.  I ate some foods I shouldn't over the weekend, plus I had stress from my parents & brother coming over, so the guts were super unhappy on Sunday evening/Monday morning.  Liquid stools, nothing formed at all.  It's getting a little better now.  One nice thing is, I'm still able to maintain my weight in this flare.  The last time I weighed myself, according to my Wii Fit, was 20 days ago.  And it said I've lost only 0.4 lbs in that time (and that could just be a natural fluctuation since people tend to go up or down a lb or two in the course of a day anyway).  So yay, I'm maintaining my "healthy" weight of 136, even in a flare or whatever this is.  That's encouraging!  But it also makes me wonder even more if this is really a flare, or something new.  In all my past flares, the weight fell right off me, so I really don't know what's going on lately and if this is a flare or not.  I really don't want it to be something new - I haven't even gotten my existing health issues fully diagnosed yet.  Something new, that would be devastating!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I did go to the gym and I managed to lift weights with minimal pain!  As long as I move very slowly and deliberately with the left arm, I can lift weights just fine.  The trouble comes when I'm not thinking and I move my arm quickly to pick something up, I've done that a few times now, and each time there is terrible pain in my left shoulder!  But yay, I can lift weights as long as I take it slow!    That's great.  My back didn't bother me either, it seems to be healing much faster than the shoulder is.

I guess the next test of what my shoulder can handle will be to go to the big gym and see how I do with a lot more weight machines.  I'm thinking Thursday for that, will either rest or do yoga tomorrow depending on what I feel up to.  

(There are only 8 weight machines in the little gym and I usually skip the abdominals machine these days - so that's 7 machines that I typically do in that gym.  Forward press, upward press, rowing/back, biceps, triceps, quads, and hamstrings.  There are at least double that many machines in the big gym.)


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## mccindy

Cat - make sure you don't wait too long to seek a doc's advice if that shoulder doesn't get better too soon.  My husband had shoulder pain for months and ignored it and by the time he went to the doc they found not only a torn rotator cuff, but also a bicep tendon that was torn completely off the shoulder bone.  When one part is injured and you wait and keep using it, other parts have to take the strain is what the doc told him.


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## kel

Is your shoulder painful to the touch? Is there any visible hematoma? And does the pain feel more like it's from the muscle or deeper down in the joint itself?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Cindy, I will keep that in mind.  I think the shoulder is getting better so hopefully nothing is torn.

Kel, nope, not painful to the touch and nothing visible, it looks totally normal.  Pain feels like it's in the muscle, kind of in between the shoulder & bicep, and is worst when I'm reaching quickly either down or straight ahead for something.  Most of the time it's not very painful at all, but I get hit with sharp jabs of pain that linger awhile if I reach for something or otherwise move it wrong.  I do think it's slowly & gradually getting better.  When it first happened it was pretty painful all the time - now it's only really painful if I move it wrong.  As long as I'm careful about it, I can pretty much avoid the pain altogether.


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## kel

Taking a day off completely might be a good idea. And try not to sleep on that side.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did take 5 or 6 days off completely (the shoulder first felt painful last week Thurs morning) - then I got restless and bored and just had to do something!  So I did yoga and that went well, and that encouraged me to try lifting weights, and that went well too.  The shoulder actually feels a bit better today, so lifting didn't exacerbate the injury.  I'm probably taking today as a rest day, and will try lifting again tomorrow.

As for sleeping, unfortunately I tend to sleep on my left side.  I can't sleep on my stomach - it's not comfortable to have the tummy smooshed like that (particularly now that I'm flaring).  I can't sleep on my back - it's just not comfortable and I cannot seem to fall asleep in that position, it just doesn't happen for some reason.  I have a hard time sleeping on my right side - my right hip is the bad one (well, they're both bad, but the right is the worse of the two) and I can't have my bad hip smooshed down either, the pressure is very uncomfortable and sometimes downright painful.  So kind of by default, I usually sleep on my left side.  Not good for the injured shoulder, I know, but unfortunately it's not so easy to not sleep on that side with all my other issues.  I've been trying to sleep on the right side lately, with very limited success.  I think I managed to sleep on that side like one night out of the last week.


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## mccindy

Cat - I can commiserate with your sleeping issues!  My back will not lalow me to sleep on my belly or back.  If I lie on one side too long it really hurts so I wake up and turn over several times a night.  WHen I get up it's usually pretty painful.  Working out was what loosened things up and helped in the morning but I can't do that for a while.  So I've been doing light housework to hep keep things slightly less painful.  IT sucks! I'm very glad to hear you are starting to feel better.(shoulder wise)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I'm sure you've already said but I forgot - when are you allowed to start exercising again?  I'm glad you're keeping active with housework, but I know there's nothing like a good, proper workout, so I hope you can get back on your elliptical soon!  Would you be allowed/able to do anything like yoga to keep your back at least stretched out and hopefully less painful?  I can do yoga even when I can't do much of anything else, and I always feel better after doing it - I try to incorporate yoga moves that involve the hips, since they're the worst of my joints, and they usually do feel better after some yoga.


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## mccindy

Cat,  they told me 4-6 weeks.  So far I have minimal stamina.  The ytold me to try short walks and so far they are tiring me out quickly.  I have been doing some squats and calf raises and some minimal stretching.  Yoga is tough because many of the positions are not good for my back.  so in a couple of weeks I might be able to slowly, start back on the elliptical.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/1/13:  I did take a rest day yesterday, and today the shoulder feels almost back to normal.  It's still a bit sore but I haven't had any jabs of sharp pain from it in something like 2 or 3 days now, so hopefully it won't give me any more trouble.  I'm headed to the big gym tonight for weights - going to take it slowly and carefully so as not to re-injure the shoulder muscles.  Really excited to do a proper workout in that gym, it's been over a week since I've been there and I miss it!  

I see my GI next week.  Starting to get nervous about that.  Since the last time I saw him, I have started passing blood and probably flaring, so I have a long list of questions for him.  I want to request a colonoscopy, I want to try switching meds (from Delzicol to Apriso maybe), I want to know his thoughts on why I'm bleeding especially since I've never been a bleeder in the past, I want to get my vitamin levels checked and I want to see if he has any idea why my lips are cracked/peeling all the time, if he feels the lip issue might be related to my probable IBD.  I have a full page of questions for my GI, so hopefully he can shed light on a few things for me.  I don't expect to get a proper diagnosis out of this, but finding the source of the bleeding would be nice, and getting this flare better controlled would be great too.  Just feeling better and being healthier is my goal - I don't expect to get a proper diagnosis from the colonoscopy (although that would be nice!).


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## mccindy

CAt, I hope you are able to get some new information from your GI!  I know I'm hopig to find something out from my colonoscopy but Im not holding my breath.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/2/13:  I hit the gym last night for weights and that went well - shoulder pain still a bit achey, but wasn't exacerbated by doing weights slowly & carefully.  Today's another rest day, I'm just wiped out from this work week and don't feel up to doing anything today.  Going to hit the gym tomorrow and have errands to run too, so tomorrow should be a pretty active day.  Not sure yet about Sunday, I may do yoga.  Cardio hasn't been my friend lately so I've largely abandoned my stationary bike, but I find that I miss it and I may give it a go on Sunday.


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## mccindy

Hooray for the healing shoulder!  This morning was my bathroom/kitchen cleaning day and it wiped me out.  I did a few lunges and called it good for today.  Lord I hope my stamina comes back soon.  And I hope you're feeling better soon too, Cat!


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## Dexky

I get tired just reading about all the exercising you do!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, you have a pretty active job though, right?  I sit at a desk in front of a computer in a little cubicle for 40 hours a week, so I feel like I need to be really active after sitting for so long at work.  If I had a more active job, I probably wouldn't work out as much.

Speaking of being active, we got up early today and hit the garage sales.  Found some good stuff and went all over the place looking for bargains.  Went out to lunch and we're resting up a bit now.  I feel a bit like I overdid it, and I haven't even been to the gym yet.  Will probably go later this afternoon/evening.  Have to go run a few more errands too, phew!  Tomorrow should largely be a rest day, with maybe a bit of cardio or yoga.


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I sit at a desk in front of a computer in a little cubicle for 40 hours a week, so I feel like I need to be really active after sitting for so long at work.


I hear you on this one.  I find if I have a weekend project or yard work to do, it's almost rejuvenating to do physical work on the weekend after doing office work for 35 hours a week (if there are no evening meetings). 

Haven't been on much, last weekend was spent finishing the playset in the back yard and this week I was in get ready for vacation mode.  Managed to get out to the park today, and head down to the river landing at the end of our street and do a walk around the block after supper.  Our 2 year old almost walked all of the way around the block.


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> we got up early today and hit the garage sales.  Found some good stuff and went all over the place looking for bargains.


Love garage sales, lost of good deals to be had, especially on kids stuff.  I have to have one myself or post some things on kijii.


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## Dexky

Yes Cat!  People pay good money to work out like I do every day!

Yard sales!!  You know what they say, "one man's junk...is another man's junk!!".  OK, that's what I say  I know, I know...sometimes there are some great finds!


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## mccindy

CAt, those busy days can be very tiring! YEsterday we drove backto Wisconsin and met some friends out for the hubs' bday.  afte ra few few hours of visiting, drivign bac kthis mornign, I am wiped out!  Holy cow and I didn't even do much.  I hope your shoulder is muc hbetter nad you are restign today.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I find I'm also getting wiped out more easily these days myself.  On Saturday we did the garage sale-ing plus a few other errands, and we walked the dog too.  That was enough to tire me out, and I didn't end up going to the gym.  I woke up Sunday feeling just not quite right - I woke up too early having to rather desperately use the bathroom, and I just felt fatigued and not quite myself the whole day.  We did go to the gym on Sunday, but it was really tough.  I wanted to quit about 100 times, but I know what I'm capable of and I made myself keep going.  I did my full workout like usual, but it was tough and I was exhausted afterwards!  I always feel better after a workout, and I did feel good, but also still not quite myself if that makes sense.

My diet was awful all weekend, hubby and I both ate terribly!  We went to one of our favorite places for lunch on Saturday - a vintage video game arcade, that is located inside a pizzeria.  So pizza for lunch, oh, and I had a candy bar as a snack beforehand.  On Sunday after the gym, I was too tired to make much of anything for lunch, so ended up sticking a frozen pizza in the oven because it was easy & quick.  Yep, pizza 2 days in a row and yes I'm lactose intolerant!    Not good at all.  I also snacked on potato chips on Sunday.  Bad, bad, bad.  

But, we bought a new blender on Sunday - I'd been trying to make myself healthy smoothies for breakfast, but my old blender was a piece of junk that I have had since college, it barely worked and had some broken pieces, so it was way past time for a new blender.  We picked one up while running errands, and I made my first smoothie with it this morning.  It worked great!  So I'm trying to get back on the "eat relatively healthy" wagon and this is a good step in that direction.  Hubby's making chicken & steamed broccoli for dinner so that will be pretty healthy too.  My diet is probably the area that I'm lacking in the most - I take my meds, I exercise regularly, I do most everything right - but sometimes my diet is total garbage.  I know I need to try harder there, so even though I'm kind of exhausted a lot lately, I'm going to try to cook more and eat better food rather than just reaching for chips or a chocolate bar.

So, that's where I'm at.  I slept pretty poorly last night and am once again feeling exhausted today.  I'm going to do yoga tonight, even if I'm exhausted I can do yoga.  Weights tomorrow in the little gym, probably a rest day on Wednesday (and a GI appt on Wednesday!).  With this flare, I'm trying not to make solid plans too far into the future, so that's as far as my workout plan goes right now.


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## mccindy

Oh, goodness Cat!  pizza two days in a row. You poor thing.  i have found that when I want pizza I ge a gluten-free crust and sauce, turkey pepperoni and dairy-free cheese.  It's not the same as a "real" pizza but much less brutal to the belly!  I hope you are able to stick to the diet and start feeling better.  I'm feelig a little better today than yesterday, trying to mentally prep myself for my "prep" day tomorrow.


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## Dexky

Tsk,tsk Cat!  If you're gonna take a chance on pizza, at least get a good one!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah Mark, I know, if I'm going to torture myself, I should at least make it worthwhile and eat something really decadent.  But the upside of crappy frozen pizza is, they don't put a whole lot of cheese on it, so less icky feeling for me than if I ate a good pizza.  

Update 8/6/13:  I'm having a surprisingly good day!  Yesterday I was exhausted and felt crappy, I was really gassy and had bad heartburn for some reason (probably the after-effects of the pizza), and I just didn't feel well generally speaking.  I struggled through yoga last night and then zonked out and slept like a rock, nearly slept through my alarm!  I never, never do that - my usual way of waking up is to crack my eyes open anywhere between 3 and 5 AM, look at my alarm clock, work out the math in my head as to how long I still have to sleep (I get up at 6), and then drift back off into a light, uneasy sleep, waking up every 15-30 mins to check what time it is now.  But last night, I didn't wake up even once, and I only finally woke up at 6:10!    I feel very rested, completely the opposite from what I felt like yesterday.    I wish I could sleep like that every night!

So I went to the gym today and that went great too.  My shoulder hasn't given me any pain today, it feels like it's finally fully healed.  I was able to do all the machines I wanted (except the abdominals, I'm still avoiding working the abs until we get this bleeding thing figured out) and I did all the reps I aimed for and barely even felt tired - didn't even break a sweat!  My arthritis is even quiet today, not even a twinge of pain from hips nor knees, which is pretty much unheard of lately.  So I'm having a very good day - I don't know how I lucked into this, maybe I'll eat pizza more often!    Ha ha.

(Oh, and Mark, I had a DVD on in the gym while I was working out, of course it was K-pop music videos.  My co-worker was in the gym for a bit and she complimented the music, she said she really liked it - hah!  Okay granted, the music was Lee Hi - that's the female singer I posted a video of awhile back, the one that you said actually didn't make you want to puke.  But still, I got complimented on my awesome taste in K-pop - yeah!)

So yeah, it's oddly a really good day.  I don't trust it and I certainly don't expect to have a day like this again soon, but I'm also trying to enjoy it and make the most of it.  I'm trying to eat healthier, too.  For breakfast I had a homemade smoothie (almond milk, ice, soy-based protein/vitamin powder, honey and almond butter) and, okay, a donut.  That was my one unhealthy food today - I am sometimes nauseous or just have no appetite in the mornings, so if I do have an appetite, I like to give myself a little treat.    Snack was a can of sardines (healthy omega-3s) and a cup of miso soup (it's cold in my office, needed soup to warm up!).  I also had 2 mugs of tea during the course of the morning.  Lunch was a pasta salad (pasta, peeled cucumbers, hardboiled eggs, light viniagrette dressing - I didn't have anything else in the house that I could quickly throw in a pasta salad, but normally I'd add stuff like tofu and tomatoes and green peppers too - I can eat that stuff as long as the skin is removed).  Dinner is cornish hens, which are currently cooking in the crock pot.  I adore poultry in the crock pot, it's so easy and it comes out so nice and moist and juicy!  And we always use the leftover juices to mix in with some instant mashed potatoes, yum yum.  I know instant mash isn't the healthiest thing, but I wouldn't qualify it as junk food either.  So yeah, the only really bad thing I've had today was the donut.  I consider that a pretty successful day diet-wise.


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## mccindy

[Lunch was a pasta salad (pasta, peeled cucumbers, hardboiled eggs, light viniagrette dressing - I didn't have anything else in the house that I could quickly throw in a pasta salad, but normally I'd add stuff like tofu and tomatoes and green peppers too - I can eat that stuff as long as the skin is removed).  Dinner is cornish hens, which are currently cooking in the crock pot.  I adore poultry in the crock pot, it's so easy and it comes out so nice and moist and juicy!  And we always use the leftover juices to mix in with some instant mashed potatoes, yum yum.  I know instant mash isn't the healthiest thing, but I wouldn't qualify it as junk food either.  So yeah, the only really bad thing I've had today was the donut.  I consider that a pretty successful day diet-wise.[/QUOTE]
Cat, you are making me SO hungry!  lol on prep day no less.  I have been craving doughnuts lately which is odd because I nornally don't eat them.  If I get this gut thing figured out and get back to eating normal food I'm totally going to gain weight because I will eat doughnuts and bread and steak, and dessert!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sorry Cindy!  For a minute I forgot how torturous it is hearing about/seeing/smelling food when you're prepping!    I swear, the last time I did prep, the few times I ventured to the couch in between potty breaks, there were pretty much only food commercials on TV.  It all looked amazing, it was like a special kind of torture!  I remember thinking, even tortured prisoners get bread and water, and don't have to watch these commercials!    I hope you can eat something really delicious when your scope is over.


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## Dexky

Sardines!!!  Did you throw that in there just to see if we were really reading your posts?  My dad loves those slimy little bastards!  I could never look at them and think anything but bait!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, there was a thread quite awhile ago that David had started, about how sardines are really healthy & beneficial.  The thread is here:
http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=31694&highlight=sardines
Ever since having read that thread, I've been trying to eat more sardines.  I like them (they're too fishy for me to handle when I'm nauseous, but as long as I'm not nauseous I do fine with them).  I have a hard time with a lot of healthy foods, so I take what I can get.  I usually eat sardines once or twice per week.

Back to the subject of my diet & the heartburn I was experiencing - it was weird because I very rarely get heartburn.  I assumed it was from the pizza.  But then I realized, it was the cucumbers in my pasta salad!  I thought back to the last time I ate cucumbers, which was awhile ago, and I had heartburn then too.  How odd, because cucumbers seem cool and refreshing, not at all like something that would cause heartburn!  So I'm moving cucumbers to the no-no list.  Sigh, yet another veggie I can't tolerate.  That's just great.

I'm thinking today is a rest day but I guess it'll depend on how my GI appt goes - if it's not great, then I may need to work off some frustration in the gym.  So we'll see!  If it's a good GI appt, then I'll be content to have a rest day.


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## hawkeye

Cat, do the sardines give you heartburn? I thought that was a bit of a common side effect.

Apparently they are a very healthy food, these guys are in my part of the world
http://www.cloverleaf.ca/en/company/the-brunswick-story.html


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, sardines do not give me heartburn.  Most foods do not give me heartburn - my GERD is odd in that it is severe and I reflux the majority of the time, but I typically do not have heartburn.  I do get fishy burps/vurps from sardines if I eat them before a workout (I had them as a snack at 11 AM yesterday, hit the gym around 1:30, and had a few fishy burps halfway through my workout).  But other than fish burps, I don't get any bad effects from sardines.  Fish burps are a little gross but certainly tolerable, so I'm happy to continue eating sardines.


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## mccindy

I loved sardine when i was a child.   I liked to eat them on crackers.  Once I'm able to tolerate gluten again I'll to try them once more.


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## Dexky

I don't really get heartburn but I don't eat raw cucumber because I can taste them for days afterwards through burps!  I'm not eatin' sardines either...I don't care how good for me they are


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, you don't need to put them on crackers - I usually don't, I just eat the sardines right out of the tin.  Yum yum!

Mark, that's fine, more sardines for me!  

Update 8/8/13:  Yesterday was a rest day.  I had a really good GI appointment so I didn't feel the need to work off any stress, ha ha.    My GI agreed with me that I need another colonoscopy soon, so he put in an order for one, and he also was on board with switching up my meds after the scope.  Even if the scope shows nothing, he's okay with me trying either Apriso or Pentasa.  I'm hoping the scope shows *something* - I am going to do a crazy ton of abdominal exercises before the prep, to get the bleeding going.  If my GI can at least figure out the source of the bleeding, then I'll be happy.  He seemed to feel some inflammation in the LRQ when he palpated my abdomen, and he said it's likely that I'm in a mild flare.  So, colonoscopy soon (not sure when, the scheduling dept hasn't called me back yet).  I'm almost looking forward to it - my last colonoscopy 3.5 years ago was squeaky clean, no inflammation, everything looked totally normal, and the dozen or so biopsies all came back normal too.  This time around is different with the bleeding though, and the flare symptoms are all different, so this scope could be a game-changer.  Trying not to get my hopes up too much though because I know that usually just leads to massive disappointment.

So, yeah.  That was a good, productive GI appointment and I'm quite happy with the plan.  That takes a lot of worry off my mind - that even if I have a normal scope, I can still switch meds.  And if the scope shows something, well that's even better!    But having those worries taken off my shoulders made me rather complacent last night, so I sat on the couch and watched TV and didn't even think about exercising.  A little stress/worry in my life is kind of a good thing, as it pushes me to get off my butt and work it out.  Regardless, I'm going to the gym tonight - I'll have to find something else to be stressed about.  Oh, I know - I have to go visit my family this weekend - yep, that'll do it!  Anytime I have to see my parents and brother all at once, that is definitely stressful.    Usually my brother shows up high, then as he's coming down he gets very annoyed and picks fights with people (usually with my mom), then she turns it around and tries to guilt trip both me and my brother, I shut down and retreat inside my own head because I'm just not having any of it, and we all leave angry - then later my mom will call me and make lame excuses for my brother's behavior but not actually apologize for anything.  Oh yeah, the thought of that dynamic is going to make me hit the weights hard tonight!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Good to hear you have such a supportive GI! Don't worry about having a rest day! You deserve it


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## Mountaingem

Cat you look gorgeous! So proud of you, I know you've struggled so much and it is a wonderful thing you are doing for yourself  

I am so inspired by you! My problem is I just don't know where to start. I used to be very fit and muscular and after 10 years on and off pred I don't even recognize my body anymore. I've gained 25 pounds which is a lot because I'm 5'3". I don't mean to jack your thread, I just wondered if you have any advice for me and others in my shoes.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

What did you used to enjoy doing mountaingem? I would say start there but start slowly, listen to your body to see how much you can do and slowly build it up!

I only started exercising in January and I have build up my fitness a lot, I have been surprised at how quickly I have build up muscle and made visible changes in my body and strength.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

MountainGem, no worries about jacking the thread!  What type of exercise did you like to do back when you were more fit?  Being on pred for that amount of time has probably robbed you of some bone & muscle mass, so weight-bearing exercise will be great for building yourself back up again.  Do you have arthritis or other issues besides the IBD?  I have arthritis in both hips, and I find that both stretching and strengthening exercises are well-tolerated, but stuff like jogging & walking cause me pain.  I can sometimes do lower-impact cardio like bike riding, elliptical, etc.  My favorite things are weight lifting and yoga, so I mainly do a lot of those, and that's been really beneficial for me.

My advice for you starting out is, start slowly, and if something hurts then don't do it or work around it.  Don't push yourself through pain, listen to your body, and ease into it.  If your body says rest, listen to it (that's been the hardest thing for me to do in this flare!).  When I started lifting weights, I started by lifting very light weights twice a week.  That went okay so I gradually increased the amount of weight and the number of reps I was doing, and within a couple months I was up to 3x per week.  I always give myself a day in between lifting weights so that my muscles can heal, and often on the non-weight days I'll do yoga or cardio.  But it took myself awhile to get up to that point, and it helped that I was in remission during most of the time that I was exercising.  But, I'm in a mild flare lately (started flaring in May I think) and I'm still able to work out about 4 days a week, so it is possible to get some good workouts in even in a flare.

Honestly, if you're looking to lose weight, it's more about diet than it is exercise.  My weight has not shifted much at all since I've been working out, although I have converted a lot of flab into muscle.  My healthy pre-IBD weight was 136.  Then I got sick and gradually lost weight over the course of a year, and dropped down to 115 at my lowest.  At that point, my GI put me on Entocort, and I went up to about 140 lbs, so I gained back just a little bit too much.  I was struggling to lose a few of those lbs, and then I was put on steroid suppositories for hemorrhoids, and those steroids made me gain another 6 lbs so I was at 146, my heaviest weight ever.  That 6 lbs came back off once I stopped the suppositories thankfully, and I'm now back at 136 lbs and maintaining that.  I still have a bit of a flabby tummy from the Entocort (I have a hard time working on my abdominal muscles lately, anytime I try it seems to cause me to bleed!) but my arms & legs are coming along very nicely, my back looks toned, and my hubby tells me that my butt is looking smaller and more toned too.    I honestly don't care how I look though, my fitness goals are all about feeling better inside, being healthier, being in a better position to fight my illnesses, halting the progression of my arthritis, etc.  It's still kind of weird looking in the mirror and seeing muscles!  Particularly in this flare, I feel like sick girl, but in the gym and in the mirror I'm healthy girl.  It's weird.

Sorry, that was a long ramble.  I hope that helped a bit.  Keep me posted on how you're doing!  I'm obviously very excited about fitness and I'm happy whenever I can inspire someone on the forum to hit the gym!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/10/13:  I had a rough day yesterday.  I was planning on taking a rest day anyway, but then I found out an old co-worker had passed away.  I knew he had cancer and wasn't doing well, but I hadn't heard any news from him in awhile, and I guess I just felt like no news is good news?  I had actually been thinking about him on Thursday, I realized it had been awhile and I wanted to drop him a line.  But on Friday, I found out he had died.  That made me really sad, and when I get sad or depressed, I get super fatigued and can't do anything.  I was barely functional and it wasn't good.

I'm feeling somewhat better today.  We walked the dog first thing in the morning, then hit the gym around lunch time.  At the gym, I warmed up on the Arc trainer.  And I felt sluggish, like my legs just weren't going to move as fast as I wanted them to.  Then, I did the assisted chin-up, and my arms felt strong, fresh, and just generally great.  I figured out pretty quickly that I must have sapped my legs' strength by walking the dog - I'm not sure if it's a flare thing or what, since I'm sure I've walked the dog and hit the gym in the same day before.

When I go to the gym, I'm kind of like a little kid going to Disneyland for the first time.  Like, a kid wants to go on ALL the rides.  And I want to use ALL the weight machines.  I know a lot of weight lifters will do a leg day and then an arm day, etc so that they can go to the gym every day.  But I'm not like that, I like to do it all each time I'm there.  I tend to alternate arms & legs, so I'll do an arm machine and then a leg machine and then an arm machine, etc.  And I found that I felt great on all the arm machines, but tired & fatigued on the leg machines.  It was a weird dynamic, going from struggling to feeling strong and back again.

I'm going to rest up the rest of the day.  I feel wiped out!


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## mccindy

Cat, I'm glad to hear you are enjoying the gym.  I can understand your fatigue because every time I do things I get extremely tired.  We went to the Garlic Festival today and walked around (slowly) for about an hour and I have been so tired since then I can barely move !   Ireally need to get my "go" back.
I like reading about your time on the arc trainer.  That was my favorite machine when I was still going to the gym regularly.  I miss it!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I love the Arc trainer!  It's pretty challenging and you definitely work up a sweat on that thing.  I usually do it for about 10 minutes or so to warm up before lifting weights - I usually do the assisted chin-up machine first thing after my warm-up, and the Arc trainers are right near the chin-up machine at my gym, so I can keep an eye on it and see if it's available.  I like hopping quickly from machine to machine without a lot of time in between, so I like to hop directly off the Arc trainer and go right to chin-ups.    Oh, and I like that the Arc trainer doesn't seem to affect my arthritis negatively.  Jogging, and to a lesser extent biking and walking do affect my arthritis, so cardio is not always my friend.  But so far so good with the Arc trainer and the elliptical, they've never caused me pain.

I'm thinking ahead to 2 weeks from now - I have my colonoscopy on the 28th, so I'll be prepping on the 27th.  I need to do some abdominal exercises to try to force myself to have another episode of bleeding.  I'm thinking that on the 26th, I'll hit the gym at lunch and do the abdominals machine, plank position, sit ups, etc - whatever I can think of to work my abs hard.  It won't be pleasant, but if I can cause the bleeding to happen then my GI should see where it's coming from when he scopes me.  I'm also thinking, the evening of the 26th or the morning of the 27th, I'll go for a bike ride - that's often triggered my bleeding too (I need to keep my abs tight when riding, for balance & steering).  So, that's the tentative plan.  I usually don't exercise with this kind of thing in mind, to cause myself bleeding & probably pain (I usually get some pain, nausea, etc with the bleeding).  But you gotta do what you gotta do to get diagnosed, right?  It won't be pretty, but I feel it's necessary.  I'm already getting nervous about it though.  I think that causing myself trouble + doing prep is going to = a very bad time!


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## mccindy

oh goodness! That does sound like a brutal plan. I understand why you want to get the bleeding going but between that and prep, I hope that your days go okay and that you feel all right.  I'll be thinking of you!

With my bad back, I went betwee nthe Arc Trainer adn the elliptical because both are no-impact and very joint and back friendly.  I used to about 45 minutes on each.  the Arc Trainer is a great cardio work out and good for leg toning.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/13/13:  Not a good update to report this time unfortunately.  I had a really rough time in the gym yesterday!  Usually, like 99% of the time, I feel great after a workout.  Last night was the rare 1% where I felt worse afterwards.  My GERD just went haywire.  Usually I reflux anywhere from a little to a lot during a workout, and I'll belch and I'll feel water come up my throat, etc.  But that's usually as bad as it gets.  Yesterday, however, it was worse.  I started vurping (vomity burps) and I felt actual chunks come up!  I had spaghetti for lunch and when I vurped, it tasted like vomity spaghetti, it was so gross.  When I vurp, I know it's a sign of worse things to come.  Fortunately I had nearly finished my workout and was stretching when the vurps came on, so I was able to get to the locker room and take some Zantac and drink some water to try to calm things down.  I went home and still didn't feel well at all, the nausea had kicked in and I knew that gastritis pain was going to follow if I didn't do something, so I took some Prilosec and a Zofran.  That seemed to keep the symptoms somewhat at bay.  I sat for the rest of the evening with my heating pad on my stomach, just trying to hold it together.  It was pretty miserable and I'm still feeling rather nauseous and refluxy today.  I tried eating a little something for breakfast and got really nauseous, blah.

I'm not sure why exactly my reflux decided to act up so badly yesterday evening.  Okay, yes, I had spaghetti for lunch, and the tomato sauce is a known reflux trigger for me.  But I've had spaghetti like a hundred times in the past without having an episode, and I ate it like 4 hours before I hit the gym, so I don't really get it.  My reflux had been under pretty good control for quite awhile, I think it's been close to a year since I've had an episode this bad.  I don't know if it's just a fluke then or if my hiatal hernia is getting worse or...???  No idea.

The scary part is, I really don't want this to happen when I'm doing prep.  I know that abdominal exercises can exacerbate my GERD symptoms so I will be pretty much playing with fire by trying to make myself bleed for my scope.  I don't know if I'll be functional if I feel like this AND have to prep.  So I'm trying to formulate the best plan.  I don't really reflux much if I ride my bike, but I do tend to bleed after a long (1 hour +) bike ride, so I think I'll do that but skip doing the abdominal exercises in the gym.  Hopefully a bike ride is enough to do it - it's been a few months since I've ridden (I don't even know if I can do a full hour bike ride anymore as it's been awhile!).  So now I'm thinking, if I'm relying solely on a bike ride to trigger the bleeding, I might take at least one "practice" ride beforehand to make sure it still causes bleeding.  Maybe this weekend.  I know, it's ridiculous that I'm doing this to myself on purpose, but I don't really know what else to do.  I have to bleed during my scope so that my doctor can figure out why I'm bleeding, and I don't want to trigger more reflux/vurping.  I gotta do what I gotta do!


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## mccindy

Cat, please be careful.  I know you are playign with fire.  I'd hate to see yo uhurt yourself tryig to ake yourself bleed for the scope.  Hopefully becaues of the length of time you've been flaring, things will show up without you hurting yoruself!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/14/13:  I'm feeling somewhat better today.  Going to hit the gym tonight - eating very safe today (no spaghetti!), low-res and no reflux trigger foods, so hopefully I won't have another reflux episode like the one I had the other day.  Getting nervous for my colonoscopy!  It's 2 weeks from today!  Which means that in less than 2 weeks, I'll have to make myself bleed and do prep.  Eek!


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## mccindy

I'm glad you're feeling better Cat.   I get my results tomorrow.  Hopefully good results!  I hope that you have a couple of quiet weeks until it's time for your prep.  Take it easy!

I tried the elliptical this morning for abotu 20 minutes.  It didn't go too badly.  I'm really tired but I'm hoping to be able to build up slowly.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yay Cindy, I'm glad you were able to get onto the elliptical, and I hope it just gets easier from here on out.  Good luck with your results too - is it the biopsy results?  That's pretty quick, it's only been like a week, right?  I know I'm going to be nervous for my biopsy results after the scope too - my GI palpated my abdomen at my appointment, and he seemed to feel inflammation?  Or something abnormal in the LRQ area.  He already told me he's going to take biopsies from the terminal ileum (which was my main "pain spot" for all of my previous flares, and where I suspect my illness is hiding out), so I know I'll be nervous for that too.  Anyway, good luck and keep me posted!

I wish I could take it easy, but I'm naturally a worrier and a planner.    I worry about things, so I try to plan for everything.  I have made myself a long to-do list before my prep & scope.  It's becoming a long list, because I'm putting so much on there that isn't really necessary but will help me feel better for the big day.  So stuff like, "repair bunny slippers" (because I can't wear any of my other 20 pairs of slippers, I have to wear my bunny slippers!), and "refill Zofran prescription" (even though I have at least 20 Zofran tablets at home and won't need more than a few during prep).  I start to freak out if I think I won't be able to wear my bunny slippers or hoard my Zofran, and I imagine myself barefoot and vomiting, so to quell my fears I'm busy doing all that random type of stuff.  I'm a bit OCD for sure, but that's the only way I can feel prepared is to do everything I can think of to be ready for prep day and scope day!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Cat, if you want to prove you are bleeding would a stool sample help? I know they would have to request one from you so you would have to ask them to ask you... 

But stool samples can defo pick up blood and even when its not visible I think.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, it's not so much a matter of if I'm bleeding, it's already in my medical record that I've had some bleeding.  It's more that I want to be actively bleeding when I have the colonoscopy so that they can find the source/cause of the bleeding.  The primary care doc I saw already has ruled out fissure, hemorrhoids (both internal & external were ruled out), and she did stool samples which ruled out bacterial infections like salmonella, campylobacter, etc.  

So yeah, they know that I'm bleeding, but I want to know why since there is no obvious cause, and it's bright red blood so the source should be seen on scope IF it's active at the time of the scope.  I'm only bleeding every few weeks or so, usually after exerting my abdominal muscles too much, so I kind of have to make myself bleed just before the scope - otherwise, I'm afraid the source of the bleed will have healed too much to be detected.  Sooo, long story short, I have to work my abs hard to force an episode of bleeding so that my doctor can figure out why it's happening (as obviously, working my abdominal muscles shouldn't cause me to pass blood!).  I was never a bleeder until a few months ago so something new has to be causing this and I want to know what and why.


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## mccindy

Cat - yep, I will be getting the results of the biopsies and also of the polyp they removed.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/15/13:  We went to the gym last night, and fortunately it went great.  No major reflux issues like last time.  I always reflux to some extent when I work out, and this was pretty standard for me - feeling water reflux up my throat and having to swallow it back, and belching a lot.  No major nausea though, no vurps (and no chunks!), nothing I couldn't deal with and nothing I don't deal with on a daily basis anyway.  At the end of my workout, I felt great - like my body was saying, "Ahh, thank you, that was just what I needed."  I really can't ask for more than that from a workout!  And I was so glad to have a good workout, after having such a bad time with reflux on Monday.  It's like the old saying about getting right back on the horse again - sure, I had a miserable time on Monday, but that didn't stop me or hinder me at all from doing my workout yesterday.  When you have a bad day, you can't let it stop you or discourage you - just keep moving forward!  

My tentative plan for the rest of the week is, rest day today (I want to clean my house tonight and do some other chores, so I will still be active and it won't be particularly restful), tomorrow probably the little gym on my lunch hour as we have a friend coming over in the evening, then Saturday I'll take a practice ride on my bike to make sure I can force myself to bleed.  Sunday I'll rest/recover from the aftermath of the bike ride.


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## mccindy

Hi cat.  sounds like you've been working hard!   Iam tired today after just a short walk and a little shopping.  Tomorrow is kitchen/bathroom cleaning day.  This tiredness is killing me!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/16/13:  I'm not doing well at all - my guts feel okay and everything, but I'm grieving another friend who just passed away.  I wrote a longer post about this in members only, but basically an old friend apparently committed some crimes (nobody was hurt) and then he decided to commit suicide rather than go to prison.  I'm in shock, so angry at him, sad for such a senseless loss, confused as to how he could do this (this is very out of character for my friend), and just emotions all over the map right now.  I've known this guy since like middle school, so 20+ years, and I just can't believe it.  I used to hang out with this guy all the time, he was a friend - and now this.  I'm just a mess today.

So I'm going to the gym.  I need to push my muscles to the breaking point, if for nothing else, to match my body with my mind.  Or to distract myself from feeling so sad/mad for a little while.  All I really know is, I desperately need to have a very intense workout, so that's what I'm going to do.  Going to ride my bike tomorrow too - if I push it hard enough then maybe I can focus on the physical pain and get a break from the emotional.  I know this doesn't sound particularly healthy but this is how I need to cope right now, because sitting around with my thoughts is really hard and I need a break from that.

For those keeping tally, that's 2 of my friends in as many weeks that have passed away.  If all of the people in my life can just stay alive and not do anything stupid next week, that'd be super.  I'd like to stop crying for a bit.


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## mccindy

Oh Cat, stress just keeps on finding you!  I'm so sorry to hear about your friend.  I wish I could give you a hug!  I hope things went well at the gym and you were at least able to enjoy a good workout.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm here.  Just a quick update.  I went for a 10ish mile bike ride on Saturday.  My legs actually felt great and I could have gone further but I didn't want to push it too hard as it was my first ride in awhile.  I could feel my guts being not happy about it for about the first half of the ride, then they settled somewhat.  My ab muscles felt sore and I had some nausea but oddly enough I haven't passed blood so far.  So I have to beat up on my abs more I think to get the bleeding going - good thing I'm starting early.  Gonna hit the gym tonight and will do the abdominals machines if the GERD allows it.  May ride my bike tomorrow too.  Hoping to get in at least 2 more bike rides before my scope.

I'm feeling I guess a little less shocked about the death of my friend.  I'm mostly angry that he took himself out in such a stupid way.  There's a lot more to it than that and I don't know if it's even fully sunk in yet.  I'll be around the forum in bits & pieces.  I'll probably start posting more next week, as I do prep on the 27th and have my scope on the 28th.


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## mccindy

Glad to see you back, Cat.  I know it's going to take some time to heal and recover from the shock of losing yourf friend.  Please know we're here and come to us whenever yo uneed us!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I hit the gym yesterday.  Hubby didn't go with - he's wimping out on exercise lately and he clearly doesn't enjoy it.  He had a headache yesterday so he stayed home.  I went by myself and felt pretty good.  I could feel that my guts/abs area was quite tender and a little painful, but I haven't passed blood yet so I made myself work my abs.  I did the plank position which felt okay, and I did the abdominals machine which also felt okay.  Somehow my abs feel better today??  Not sure how or why.  I know that bike riding is the #1 thing that causes me to bleed, so I'm going to try to do another bike ride tonight.  It's hot though, like 90 degrees today & tomorrow, so I don't know if I can do a long enough ride in such hot weather.  Might have to wait till it cools off on Thurs to do a ride.


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## mccindy

Please be careful exercising in the heat, Cat!  It's much harder on yhour body than in lower humidity.  It's very hot here too, beeign keeping me inside.  Turns out my poor operated head doesn't like the heat much so I'm not spending much time out there.  I went for a short walk with a friend of mine this morning before it got too warm, but that's the extent of my adventures until it cools off!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Too warm yesterday so I didn't ride my bike.  Guts are a mess today, I'm nauseous & crampy & having d, I also have a massive headache.  Hoping for weights tonight & bike tomorrow but we'll see how I feel.  Haven't been able to cause myself to bleed yet so I need to keep going.  I'm thinking if I ride my bike tomorrow (Thurs), Saturday, and Monday, then hopefully I'll be bleeding by the time I prep on Tuesday.  I hope the weather and my body cooperate and allow me to ride that much.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/22/13:  I hit the gym last night for weights and felt great.  I did the abdominals machine and I did the plank position - trying to beat up on my abs as much as I can, but frustratingly I feel okay today and still haven't passed any blood!  Triggering a bleeding episode is proving to be more difficult than I thought.  Bike riding usually does it, so I'm hoping to go for a nice long strenuous bike ride tonight.  The weather report looked good - they said high of 82 (it was in the 90s for the past few days so it's cooled off somewhat) and only a 10% chance of rain.  Somebody must have meant to put 100% and mistyped it though!  It's pitch black out and pouring with lots of thunder.  Ugh!  It's still early, hopefully by this evening the storm will have passed.  I could ride my bike in some rain, but I obviously don't want to be on a metal object when there's lightning, so I can't ride if it's still storming like this tonight.  Yuck!  I need the weather and my body to cooperate a little better!  Scope is in 6 days so I need to be bleeding by then!


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## mccindy

be care ful this weekend cat!  I know here in MN it's supposed to get VERY muggy this wekeend with highs in the 90s.  Don't get a heat stroke trying to make yourself bleed.  Take care of yourself first.  I'll be thinking of you and your prep next week and hping for the best for you!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Cindy - I'm taking it day by day of course and will see what the weekend brings.  Today looks like pretty ideal bike riding weather.  It was stormy this morning but sunny w/ some clouds this afternoon (no more rain this afternoon/evening though).  It's currently about 75 degrees out so really nice and not too hot.  Kind of humid but not awful.  Seems like good weather for a ride!

Oh, and I vented about this in the Undiagnosed Club thread already, but I've hit a snag with my prep.  My GI said he'd send over the prescription - he said he'd do that like 2 days ago - but my pharmacy hasn't heard from him yet!  Eek, not good, I'm supposed to do prep in 5 days!  I called and emailed him so hopefully he gets his act together and writes the prescription quick.  If not, I'm going to be stuck doing Gatorade & Miralax again, which I don't want to do because it dehydrates me too much.  Yuck!  So I'm not a super happy camper today.  Hopefully a nice long bike ride will take some of this stress and anger away.


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## mccindy

totally understand.  My GI sent in the scrip for my new IBS med last Wednesday, insurance stilll hasn't approved it.  So  I can't even start it yet!  GRR.  I hope to heck yours comes through and your prep goes well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

What IBS med is it?  I hope your insurance comes through soon.  In my case it's kind of the opposite, my insurance says it's covered, I just need my GI to send through the prescription already!  

I went on my bike ride.  Took a long ride around the lake.  And jeez, it isn't particularly hot out but it is really humid!  My guts didn't feel particularly bad during the ride, but we'll see what happens.  In the past it seemed like my guts were always far worse the day after a long ride, so tomorrow will be telling.  My left knee did predictably start giving me some pain about halfway through my ride, and it was a pretty tough ride overall.  Hopefully it produces the desired result!  I'm hoping for at least 1 more ride before my scope, maybe 2.  Depends on the weather, how I feel, if I bleed from this ride, etc.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/23/13:  I was thinking I'd be feeling worse today after yesterday's bike ride, but I feel okay.  The abdomen feels a little sore, but I think it's the muscles and not the guts themselves?  I had a poo this morning and it was perfectly formed and no blood, so this is becoming more challenging than I thought it would be.    Tomorrow the weather looks okay, high in the mid 80s so a bit warm, but I think if I head out early I can get in a long ride before it gets too hot, so that's my tentative plan.  Sunday & Monday the temps are supposed to be in the 90s again, so if I can't ride Monday evening then I'll get up early Tuesday and do another early morning ride before it gets too hot.  I think this is the best plan for getting in 2 more rides.  I have to start prep on Tues, but not until the afternoon (my scope is Wed morning).  So I should be able to do a ride on Tues before the liquid diet & the prep starts.

Speaking of prep, haven't heard back from my GI yet.  Getting quite anxious about that!  And I'm letting myself be anxious and not trying to de-stress - the more stress I have right now, hopefully the more that will hopefully show on the scope, right?  Whatever it takes to make myself bleed!  I will scream if I have one more "normal" test result!  If I don't bleed then my hopes are that the biopsies will show something.  My GI seemed to feel inflammation in the TI area when he palpated my abdomen, and he said he'll take lots of biopsies including from the TI, so I've got that if nothing else.  But I would like for some blood to happen too - with my luck, I'm sure it'll happen like the day after my scope.


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## Dexky

What prep have you been pxed?  I'll be glad when it's over for you Cat!  All this talk about making yourself bleed


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, I requested Prepopik (aka Pico Salax/ Picolax) from my GI.  It's relatively new here in the US but it's supposed to be very good, you only have to drink 2 small cups of prep itself (along with lots of clear liquids of your choice so you stay hydrated) and the prep isn't supposed to taste vile, some online reviewers said it actually tastes pretty good.  My GI said sure, I could do that prep and he'd send a prescription to the pharmacy.  That was like 4 or 5  days ago that he said that, and my pharmacy still hasn't gotten anything from my GI yet - so he just basically forgot about me and didn't actually write the prescription.  I've put in 2 calls and sent him 2 emails but he hasn't responded so far.  I have to prep on Tuesday, so if he doesn't get his act together before then, I'm going to have to do the Gatorade & Miralax prep again, which I don't want to do.  I've done it twice, and it was easy to get down, but it made me way too dehydrated both times and I ended up needing to go get IV fluids both times.  Not fun at all and I don't want to do that a third time, but it's looking more and more like I may have to.

And yeah, I know it's not good to want to make myself bleed, I just want the bleeding source to show on scope so they know what & why and can take care of it - I'm trying to bleed now so that I don't have to bleed anymore in the future.    On that subject, I just went for a long (like 90 minute) bike ride.  I think I rode about 15 miles?  The odometer on my bike isn't calibrated right, it says I rode over 20 miles, and I'm sure I didn't go that far.  I also had been hoping to go earlier for a ride, but I got so lazy this morning and didn't get on my bike until like 10:30 (got home around noon).  I just wasn't feeling like going for a bike ride so I had to eventually just make myself go.  It's hot & humid out and it's supposed to get hotter and more humid, lovely.  So, it was a tough ride - it's windy out too and it was miserable trying to get any forward momentum in the wind.  If a ride like that doesn't make me bleed, I don't know what will.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I've had that prep before cat. I think the drinking part isnt too bad. 

It hits you very suddenly though and then you are on the loo for ages. But thats what we expect with prep isnt it! All of them are horrible!!


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## hawkeye

Cat:

Keep us posted how the pico silax goes.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My GI finally responded!  He is sending the Prepopik prescription over to the pharmacy.  I'm excited, I hope it doesn't dehydrate me like the Miralax always does.

LMV, yeah, that's how prep goes!  It seems so wrong to induce diarrhea when you're already prone to it too.    It's been like 3 years since I last did prep though, so that's not bad.  If I had to do it more frequently then I'd be complaining a lot more (and I probably will be complaining on Tues evening when I'm actually prepping!).  I'll keep you guys posted on how it goes.

As for trying to make myself bleed, still no luck there.  My bike ride yesterday was longer and more difficult than rides in the past that have caused me to bleed.  But I had a poo this morning and it was fine, no blood whatsoever.  Hmph!  I did buy some Greek yogurt which has caused me to bleed in the past - will probably make myself eat that today.  Also, hubby and I did some yard work this morning.  It's super hot & humid out, we're in a little heat wave right now.  At one point I pretty much lost all my strength & stamina, felt a bit dizzy and sick.  I think it was the beginning of heat sickness?  So I went right inside in the air conditioning, sat down, and drank some cool water.  I feel better, but my guts are pretty mad.  They don't like heat or humidity at all.  So now I don't know if it's super wise to eat greek yogurt when my guts are already angry.  But if it shows something on the scope, it's worth it, right?  So I'm still pondering eating the yogurt.  My body hates dairy, hates probiotics, and when I eat both together I tend to pass a little blood.  It feels like cheating, since I haven't caused the bleeding with exercise, but bleeding is bleeding right?  It's coming from somewhere, it's happening because my body is all messed up, it's not from fissures or hemmies.  I just want to know the source of the bleeding - but I'm not sure if it'd be from a different source if it's from yogurt rather than exercise.  I don't know what to do, basically!  Must think on this more.


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## mccindy

cat, you certainly are gong through some tough days!  it's hotter than blue blazes here too, which basically has me trapped inside in the a/c.  My head really does not do well out in the heat so I can't be out there for long.  
At least I am going back to work tomorrow!  up to 4 hrs per day so it'll be 7-11 i nthe morning for the next three weeks.  I'm hoping it goes well, it will be nice to get out of the house on a regular basis.
I hope your efforts to bleed do bring on enough to show where it's coming from on the scope but not enough to cause you trouble!

On a fun note, my advice to all of you here is to go see the movie We're the Millers.  We saw it last night and it was absolutely hilarious!


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## Dexky

Hey Cat, assuming the scopes reach the right areas, there should be at least evidence of healing with blood as recent as the last couple of weeks....I'd think.  I remember on EJ's first scope, there were what the doc called "healing scars" in his stomach along with active infl. in his TI.  

Good luck with the prep!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, during my last colonoscopy they were able to get all the way to the TI, so presumably they'll get that far again.  It's been 3.5 years since my last scope though so things could have changed.  I'm just hoping *something* - anything - shows up, so that I can maybe get some answers and get on some better treatment than mesalamine.  I think the last time I passed blood was about a month ago, and there was just a tiny bit then, so I don't know if it'll already be all healed up in there or not.

Speaking of blood, still haven't passed any.  I ate a container of Greek yogurt a couple hours ago but so far no dice there either.  I did feel quite nauseous while eating the Greek yogurt, but I think that's because I'm not used to eating yogurt, and the taste was kind of strong and the texture was weird, so it might have just been that causing the nausea.  Although I did wake up feeling rather icky, my lower abdomen felt hot like lava was flowing through my colon.  I've been having pains off and on today too in that area.  Hopefully this all means that something will show up on the scope.

It's ridiculously hot here today so no bike ride tonight and probably not tomorrow morning either.  My guts got pretty upset because I did yard work outside in the heat yesterday, so I think the gut angriness today is just left over from yesterday.

Oh, and I don't think I vented yet about my latest prep debacle - my GI finally wrote the prescription, and I went to the pharmacy yesterday to pick it up.  But my pharmacy doesn't carry Prepopik!  Grr!  They said they'd special-order it for me and that it should be in by 1:30 today at the latest.  It's just after 1 Pm and nothing yet, so I'm getting worried.  Not going to officially freak out until 1:30, but I am going to unleash some fury upon the pharmacist if 1:30 comes and goes and my Prepopik still isn't available.  This is just getting ridiculous.  Prep day is tomorrow!  I need to have my prep in hand already!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update:  I have my prep in hand!    Had to go through some ridiculousness to get it, but I have my little box of Prepopik and can relax now (as much as a person facing prep can relax anyway!).


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## mccindy

yay!  I'm so glad you got the prep you wanted.  Enjoy as much as you can, lol....


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I will enjoy it as much as a person can enjoy inducing diarrhea!    I made my house as nice and as ready as possible.  I'm going to boil a chicken in the crock pot - I'll drink the broth, and hubby will have the chicken (hopefully not the whole thing, ha ha).  I got out the nail polish colors that I want to paint my nails, I got my ipod playlist ready to go.  I have my wipes and creams out on my bathroom counter, and my bathroom is clean and as nice as it can be (it's a really ugly, small bathroom, so only so much I can do to make it nice!).  I even got little paper party umbrellas to put in my drink cup, ha ha.    Tonight I'll be charging up my kindle and my DS so that I'll have plenty of portable entertainment to bring into the bathroom with me.  I'm trying to think about what movies I want to watch, too.  I have a little portable DVD player, and I have Netflix & Hulu on my Kindle, so I have lots of options!  I definitely won't be bored, I just want to make sure I'm distracted enough so that I'm not miserable.

So yeah, prep tomorrow, scope Wednesday.  Thursday I will rest and recover - if I feel okay on Thurs, then I might think about going to the gym.  If not, though, I'm just going to take it easy and maybe hit the gym on Friday.  It'll all depend on how I feel after putting my body through prep and a scope.


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## mccindy

thinking about you today Cat, hoping prep goes well.  Sounds like you were very prepared and so hopefully are being entertained while working through it.  Good luck wit hthe scope tomorrow!


I have been on the elliptical last couple of days, fifteen minutes each time.  Not the hour I used to do, but it's a stat!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Cindy, I'm doing so-so.  This prep made me super nauseous and dizzy for awhile, but I'm feeling somewhat better now.  Thank goodness for zofran!    Yep, I'm entertained, played my DS for awhile earlier and watching a movie now.

I'm glad to hear you're back on the elliptical - how are you feeling lately?  Your typing seems to be getting better so hopefully you're doing better too.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Are you still on the toilet cat?  Good luck with the scope tomorrow! x x


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, I woke up feeling crappy and had about 7ish bathroom trips before even drinking the prep.  I've had another 7ish bathroom trips after drinking the first cup, haven't had the 2nd cup yet.  I'm close to running clear but not there yet.  Not on the toilet constantly though either - feeling okay after the initial nausea & dizziness went away.


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## Dexky

Glad to hear it all worked out Cat!  Hope you're about finished and good luck tomorrow!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, technically I'm halfway finished because I have another cup of prep to drink.  I'm going to drink that in about an hour or so.  Just trying to relax until then.  Oddly I'm not hungry!  Usually prep is so miserable with not being able to eat, but I don't have appetite and am doing fine with just liquids this time around.  I have some jello in the fridge but that doesn't even sound appealing.  I've got a mug of tea in front of me and have mostly been drinking water & gatorade.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I have felt light headed after prep before as well. But that was when I was in the hospital and I had an enema. I felt so light headed and the nurses were all looking at me concerned! 

After that when they sent me my first home prep... (I think this was the picolax) I was scared to have it all because of what happened before. I was undiagnosed and only 5.5stone then. I think they advised me to take a smaller dose.


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## mccindy

THinking of you today Cat!  I hope the scope went well and you are feeling better.  I also hope you get some good news!


I've been doing mostly better.  Typing is stronger than it was, usually I only have a problem with it when I get really tired, same thing with my talking.  I went back to work, four hoursa day, on Monday, and it's nice to be back but very tiring.  I found something new (bummer)today.  It turns out that I can't sing anymore!  I can, but I am very out of tune.  Before my surgery, I cay say with some confidence that I was a pretty good singer.  I can't even whistle in tune anymore.  SUcky!  I also found a msall dent in my head by my scar.  Feels kind of weird.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

If it makes you feel better, Cindy, I've never been a good singer.  Off-key, weak voice, you name it, I'm just an awful singer.    I'm so bad I sometimes feel embarrassed when I'm singing in the car by myself, ha ha.

So I've already written about this in the Undiagnosed Club, but I'll say it in here too - my scope came back normal.  I had 3 small polyps which my GI said were probably not pre-cancerous but he removed them & will take a look to be sure.  He took a bunch of biopsies too.  Oh, and he found the source of the bleeding - I do have internal hemmies, which were apparently missed by the other doctor who looked for them.

So, since the source of the bleeding is nothing big, I'm giving myself the green light to go back to doing abdominal exercises and ride my bike.  I'm hoping to get back to the gym tomorrow!  Taking today as a rest day to recover after my scope - I'm having a bit of pain, which I expected with the biopsies and polyp removal and all that.  Hoping to be feeling more like my old self tomorrow.  I'm still not diagnosed but I'm not going to let that stop me from hitting the gym.    Onwards and upwards!


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## mccindy

Cat, you rock!  I love how you have found the positive side of the results of yoru scope.  I'm so glad you'll be able to do your biking and abdomianl exercises again.  Hooray!  I know how much you love your workouts so what a good deal.

I will keep singing, only by myself (   ) .  I've talked to some other people who had brain tumors removed who said they lost the ability to sing but that it sometimes will come back.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/30/13:  I'm not going to the gym today.    I had a bit of pain yesterday after my scope, but it wasn't too bad for most of the day.  (They removed 3 polyps and also took a  bunch of biopsies, and in doing so they basically created a bunch of small wounds within my gut, and I'm assuming those wounds are the source of the pain.)  But then, yesterday evening, I was carrying a basket of laundry up the stairs, and I guess it was too much strain on my abdomen or something, as the pain got a fair amount worse.  So I can't push myself to do a workout if even carrying laundry made me feel like that.  The pain has eased again, but I don't think a workout today would be wise.  I might go to the gym tomorrow - it'll all depend on how I'm feeling then.  Hopefully things will heal up quickly so that I can get back to it!


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## hawkeye

Cat:

Sounds like you need a visit from the laundry fairy.

Mark


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## mccindy

hey cat, were you able to get to the gym today?  Hope you're having some relief from the pain as things heal up.

How's everyone else doing today?  Any good workouts?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

No workout today.  We ran a few errands today and are going to walk the dog a little later this evening.  If the walk goes well then I'm going to hit the gym tomorrow.  Still having some pain, but it's minimal.  I just don't want to make it worse again.  Still, I was able to carry a heavy thing of cat litter around the store without any added pain while we were running errands, so I think I'm in the clear!  Hopefully gym tomorrow, finally.


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## David

I'm proud of you for sticking with this diary.  Good for you!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks David!    It's honestly not hard to keep up with this thread - I know I'm going to exercise anyway, so I may as well continue to write about my experiences as I go along.  It's helpful to me and hopefully can inspire others.  Plus you know how I love to ramble on and on, so this is pretty self-indulgent too.    Ha ha.

Update 9/1/13:  I did go to the gym today.    It was tough though!  All the weights felt so heavy, I wasn't able to do as many reps as I usually do on some of the machines because of that.  I felt like I just didn't have enough strength to do what I normally do.  No pain though, so the toughness of the workout was the worst part.  Hopefully next time will be easier as I get back into the swing of things - I think I took too many days off because of my scope, have to make up some lost ground now.

We're thinking about kayaking tomorrow, but we probably won't go.  It hasn't rained much here lately so the water levels of the lakes & creeks are pretty low, I think too low for our little kayak.  So tomorrow might end up being a rest day unless we can figure out a deep enough creek.  Tues I'm going to hit the little gym.  Wednesday - yoga?  Thurs, I have the day off of work but hubby has to work, so I think I'm going to try riding my bike to the gym, lifting weights there, and then riding home.  That's my tentative plan for the week so far.


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## Dexky

I know it doesn't answer your continuing questions about your angry guts but the news is good Cat.  Always onwards!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/2/13:  Happy Labor day!  Finally the weather is not hot!  The high temp today is like 72 degrees which is so lovely, not too hot but not cold either.  We took advantage of the nice weather and took the dog on a long walk.  I'm tempted to ride my bike, too.  Guts have been a little iffy today so I'm just resting a bit right now after the walk.  Not sure if a bike ride is the best idea, but it sounds so nice.  Maybe later this afternoon.

My city is so great for bike riders, too - there are so many bike paths within the city, and they're building a new bike path not far from my house - with a bridge going right over the beltline highway!  A bridge just for bicycles, how awesome is that!  It's still being built, but I'm getting anxious to ride on it already.    It looks really nice from what I've seen!


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## mccindy

that's great, Cat! We are loving the break from the heat too.  Finally able to ope nthe windows adn the weather has been great for sleeping.  

No exercise for me the last couple of days because I have a lot of pain in my head.  Turns out the swelling has finally gone down and my skull is "settling".  This is resulting in some dents in my head, which can't be seen because of my head.  Ufortunately the settling is making the edges of the healing skull very irritated and this is quite painful.  doc says it should subside in a day or two.


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## Sparkle2012

mccindy said:


> THinking of you today Cat!  I hope the scope went well and you are feeling better.  I also hope you get some good news!
> 
> 
> I've been doing mostly better.  Typing is stronger than it was, usually I only have a problem with it when I get really tired, same thing with my talking.  I went back to work, four hoursa day, on Monday, and it's nice to be back but very tiring.  I found something new (bummer)today.  It turns out that I can't sing anymore!  I can, but I am very out of tune.  Before my surgery, I cay say with some confidence that I was a pretty good singer.  I can't even whistle in tune anymore.  SUcky!  I also found a msall dent in my head by my scar.  Feels kind of weird.


You keep singing.  If people can learn to walk again, you can get your singing back!!  Best of luck to you.


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## Sparkle2012

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Update 8/30/13:  I'm not going to the gym today.    I had a bit of pain yesterday after my scope, but it wasn't too bad for most of the day.  (They removed 3 polyps and also took a  bunch of biopsies, and in doing so they basically created a bunch of small wounds within my gut, and I'm assuming those wounds are the source of the pain.)  But then, yesterday evening, I was carrying a basket of laundry up the stairs, and I guess it was too much strain on my abdomen or something, as the pain got a fair amount worse.  So I can't push myself to do a workout if even carrying laundry made me feel like that.  The pain has eased again, but I don't think a workout today would be wise.  I might go to the gym tomorrow - it'll all depend on how I'm feeling then.  Hopefully things will heal up quickly so that I can get back to it!


Cat, should you be lifting things and working out so close to your surgery?  I would take every precaution - you don't want to end up in hospital.  I had bowel resection and I really pampered myself...but made sure I was active.  But in no way did I want something coming "undone" or "breaking open."  Be careful!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sparkle, it was just a scope, not surgery.  They did a bunch of biopsies and removed a few polyps, so I had some small wounds inside which were hurting for a few days.  I'm okay now though!


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> My city is so great for bike riders, too - there are so many bike paths within the city, and they're building a new bike path not far from my house - with a bridge going right over the beltline highway!  A bridge just for bicycles, how awesome is that!  It's still being built, but I'm getting anxious to ride on it already.    It looks really nice from what I've seen!


Do you get snow and "harsh" winters there?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, oh yes, we get lots of snow and bitter cold here.  Winter seems to last about 8 months.  My city is VERY bike-friendly though, and some crazy people will stubbornly ride their bikes all year round.  We had a blizzard last year, about 18 inches of wet heavy snow.  I saw people trying to ride their bikes in that - craziness!  I am not that crazy, I will only ride my bike if it's reasonably pleasant outside.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/3/13:  So there's this thing going on at work, for the month of September we were told we could form teams and compete against each other to "take steps".  The goal is to wear a pedometer and take something like 10,000 steps per day (and there are calculations for other forms of exercise besides walking, so my weight lifting counts for a certain number of steps for each minute that I am lifting, etc).  I became captain of my team, but my teammates are already making excuses!  One teammate said she was just plain lazy over the weekend and has no real excuse for it.  Another just told me her laptop at home broke so she can't watch workout videos.  Sheesh, I thought I had picked good people for my team!    And 10,000 steps per day is no easy feat either - even with weight lifting and yoga and walking my dog and stuff, for the first day I had about 5,000 steps and about 6,000 for the second day.  Not off to a great start!  But this just gives me more motivation - since my colonoscopy was good and the bleeding is just from hemmies, I don't have to limit myself in the gym anymore, so I'm going to try to go all out this month to carry my team.  Weights today, maybe walking my dog this evening.  Bike or yoga tomorrow, depending on how energetic I feel.  Thursday I'm riding my bike to the gym to lift.  Friday, not sure yet.  But wow, I have to do a lot this month to be a good captain for my team!  Not that I'm going to be all lazy as soon as the month is over, but I feel like I need to go above & beyond this month.

Edit:  Ha ha, I apparently did the math wrong.  I had about 9,000 steps the first day, not 5,000.  That makes me feel better.  Phew!  I just lifted weights in the gym and so I'm already at about 8,000 steps so far today.  Okay, so I know I can make the 10,000 steps a day goal by myself - might have to do a bit more than that to make up for my team members though!  Well, I have a dog who is a bit overweight, so a few extra walks won't hurt her.    I need to movitvate my team though... how does one go about motivating other people?  Hmmm...


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## mccindy

how frustrating!  Cat,  I hope that you are able to get some motivation to get those people moving.  is there some good incentive for them to win at the end, or something they can work toward to get them working?  I am a competitive person just like you are, so if we were on the same team we would totally win!       I know you'll carry the team well on your own but I hope they get moving on your behalf.


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## Dexky

Cat-a-Tonic;698354 I need to movitvate my team though... how does one go about motivating other people?  Hmmm...[/QUOTE said:
			
		

> Every cat has a little tiger just waiting to be unleashed...roar Cat, roar!!!


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## Axelfl3333

Cold hard cash usually works!or plan B,Nag them


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/4/13:  I am *so* exhausted today.  I haven't been sleeping well, and last night was awful.  I couldn't fall asleep, my guts were mad and I kept having to get up and go to the bathroom.  I tossed & turned the whole night, I think I got about 2 hours of sleep total.  I don't function well on that little amount of sleep, so I'm not doing great today.  Which, in turn, is making my guts upset all over again.    I would say it's one of those days where I should have just stayed in bed, but it's not like I would get any sleep even if I stayed in bed.  Ha ha.  

So I'm going to take it semi-easy today.  I'm thinking of walking my dog tonight, but other than that I'm not going to do much physical activity.  Going to try to go to bed early tonight in the hopes of catching up on some sleep.  The good news is, I'm off work tomorrow & Friday, so I've got a 4-day weekend to look forward to starting tomorrow.  So if need be, I can sleep in and rest up tomorrow too.  Hubby actually works tomorrow so I'll be on my own for most of the day (I'm a huge introvert so that's not a bad thing, I find alone time to be very refreshing and recharging).  I'm still hoping to ride my bike to the gym tomorrow - as long as my guts are reasonably okay then I can do it, even if I'm tired.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Ha ha, apparently my brain no longer has the ability to do math or understand numbers.    This walking challenge thing at work?  I thought the goal was for each person to do 10,000 steps a day.  Which is not easy, but is definitely do-able.  Well, I looked over the info again for this challenge, and I re-crunched the numbers - in order to meet the goal, each person on my team only needs to walk about 3,500 steps per day.  Way less than 10,000!  So I'm feeling a lot less stressed about this.  To top it off, one of my team members told me she's already at 60,000 steps just within the past 4 days (she went on a long bike ride, which counts for a lot of steps).  Wow!  Okay, we're definitely going to win this thing.    Well, we're going to qualify anyway.  All the qualifying teams are entered into a drawing to win prizes, so there's a chance we'll win something at any rate.  I'm glad I was able to pick at least one competent team member, too!  I was getting scared after 2 of my 4 teammates were already coming up with excuses for being lazy!


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## mccindy

Hooray, Cat!  I'm glad to hear your team has one good person on it to help you out.  Enjoy your quiet day to yourself, it's alwayas good to recharge and rest.  I am a huge extrovert but I've leraned to love those days where it's just me.


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## Dexky

Fellow introvert here Cat!!  I love it when I'm home alone  Enjoy your break!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/6/13:  Sorry, forgot to update yesterday!  Yesterday was a very active day - I rode my bike to the gym, lifted weights, then rode home.  That was tough but I did it!  I've been counting roughly how long it takes me to do these things, so that I can log them for the walking thing at work.  So, it took me 25 mins to ride to the gym (I think it's about 4ish miles) - I was riding into the wind the whole way there so that was a bit difficult.  It took me 20 mins to do all the weights and another 10 mins stretching afterwards.  Then it took me 20 mins to ride home (wind was at my back so it was faster and easier going home!).  That all exhausted me so I didn't do much else besides that yesterday.

Today will be less active - going to walk the dog for sure, and I'm trying to convince hubby to take me to the zoo (I took the day off of work because our anniversary is tomorrow).  So I'll be walking around quite a bit but not doing anything particularly strenuous.


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## mccindy

I'm glad to hear you're able to do more finally, Cat!  Keep up the good work.  I was hoping you'd be starting to feel better.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/8/13:  Well, our anniversary was yesterday.    Hubby and I decided to take a day trip down to Illinois to do a bit of shopping.  Between the walking (Ikea is a huge store!), and all the driving, plus the food (we splurged on sushi, yum!), we were exhausted!  We went to bed at like 9 PM.    It was a good day though, my body mostly cooperated (I was actually a bit constipated which wasn't totally pleasant, but at least I wasn't running to the bathroom a lot).  Oh, and I got to see my all-time favorite band play yesterday too.    They've held up pretty well over the years and are having a bit of a comeback lately!

Today is a bit of a lazy day, although I will be hitting the gym in a bit.  Other than that, though, my only plans are to sit on the couch and watch the Packer game.

.....

I guess I should add, if you were confused by my comment about my favorite band, here's a couple videos for you.  The band is called the Rock-afire Explosion and they've been around since the early 80s.    Here's the "classic" version of the band, singing a newer hit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsqKLT4v4x0

Sadly, I didn't get to see their classic set-up yesterday.  I saw the "new" version, which looked like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBEMjLGN6M8
(They didn't look quite as good live as in the video, their age is showing a little bit and there were a few, er, issues, although they mostly still looked great and I'm always so happy to get to see them play!)


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## Dexky

Do they speak English??  That must have been terrible for you!!


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## mccindy

what a fun day, Cat!  Hope you are not getting too much of a workout watching this Packer Game!  As a Cowboys fan you know I gotta root against them but they sure are playing hard.  My back was bother me so much I decided to get on the elliptical today rather than just be lazy.  So I feel pretty good, although it didn't help that much with my back.  We splurged and had some wings and fries to watch the games with, but fortunately my belly is not giving me too much trouble.  Hope your feeling better!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, funny you should ask - the Rock-Afire Explosion actually introduced me to K-pop and to Big Bang!  An amusement park in South Korea bought a Rock-afire show, and as a courtesy the creator of the RAE programmed in a couple Korean songs for them.  So yeah, here's a video of the RAE singing Big Bang's "Tonight."    This is the video that introduced me to K-pop (although I had already been listening to J-pop for like 10 years at this point!).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YOwlWuPkoo


----------



## Dexky

Yeah, not my thing Cat!!  Sorry about your Packers!!


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Ugh, don't get me started on the Packers.  That game was frustrating to watch!

I'm feeling a bit "off" today.  Hubby and I ate something yesterday that upset us both, so we both got hit with d and gas yesterday afternoon.  Of course today he's fine and I'm still having some d.  (He's one of those people who will catch a cold and then be fine the next day, whereas I'll catch the same cold and will be sick for weeks and sometimes it turns into bronchitis.)  I didn't sleep very well so I'm tired and just not feeling great today.  I'm thinking about doing some yoga this evening, but not going to attempt anything more strenuous than that.  Tomorrow, hopefully I'll be feeling more like myself, and I'm hoping to do weights.  It's really hot here today, about 90 degrees, and it's supposed to be warm tomorrow and Wednesday too.  Then it's supposed to cool down significantly and be in the 60s by Friday!  So I'm thinking a lovely bike ride later in the week sounds really good to me.  I hate exercising outside when it's too hot, it just cramps up my guts, so cooler fall weather sounds really nice!  I can't wait until the leaves start to change color, I'm hoping to do at least one bike ride through the arboretum so that I can gawk at all the prettiness.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/10/13:  Still feeling blah today.  I was going to do yoga last night, but when I got home, hubby had dinner ready.  I cannot do any exercise with food in my stomach, so my choices were put the food in the fridge and eat later, or skip yoga and eat hot food and veg out.  I went for the second option.  I know I should have done yoga, and eating was an easy out.  I don't feel good about that choice.  Hubby usually waits to make dinner until he knows if I'm going to exercise that evening or not, so I'm not sure why he had dinner ready to go right away last night.

Anyway.  So I'm still feeling blah.  Need a good workout to hopefully get me feeling better mentally & physically.  Going to go hit the gym shortly, and am planning to give it all I've got!  My guts are still kind of a mess, I've been to the bathroom 8ish times already today, but I don't care and can work out through that.  The abdominals machine is the one iffy one, but I'll give it a go and see what happens.

It's still ridiculously hot out here too (currently 91 degrees F) which does not help matters any - but they're still saying it'll cool way down by Friday, so I'm hopeful that my guts can chill out along with the weather.  Oh, and I'm officially switching from Delzicol to Pentasa too - my GI okayed Pentasa for me.  I can't afford to pick it up until payday, so I'll be starting that on Friday.

On a side note, why does veterinary medicine cost so much less than human medicine?  My hubby took our dog and cat to the vet today for a quick check-up and booster shots.  My dog got a rabies booster, got her allergies re-assessed (we're going to try benadryl as she's no longer getting hot spots but is still itchy), and got a 3 month supply of frontline.  My cat got diagnosed with feline acne on her chin and it looks like she has mild allergies as well.  Total cost for all that was about $80 (including all the meds except the benadryl).  For me to get a one month supply of Pentasa (or Asacol or Asacol HD or Delzicol or Entocort or pretty much any name brand drug), it is $75.  That's just one prescription without any office visit or anything.  My pets got 2 office visits and 4 medications for about the same amount.  That seems so very wrong to me!  I'm tempted to start going to the vet myself!  It's so cheap!


----------



## mccindy

Hey there Cat.  Hoping you are cooling down a bit already - it's humid here in MN today but not as hot, supposed to be maybe 70 tomorrow.  finally a cool down!  hopefully you'll be able to get in a nice bike ride.  

I've been able to increase the elliptical to about 25 minutes a day, I'm really enjoying that so much!  Still trying to do my squats and lunges daily.  The NP told me the other day she might be extending my part-time status out longer, because I am still so exhausted after a 4-hour work day.


----------



## Dexky

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> On a side note, why does veterinary medicine cost so much less than human medicine?


Because "most" people wouldn't pay 1000's$$$$ to maintain the health of a chronically ill animal and, while there are some pet med insurers, it is very rare and "most" people aren't going to pay for that either  If med service providers didn't have insurance to pay their astronomical bills, the cost of human care would go down too...maybe not as much as we'd all like, but it would definitely go down!!  Otherwise, they'd be out of work!  I know I'm just stating the obvious but it does allow me to blow off a little directed steam!!


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, feel free to let off steam - but to clarify, is the steam about the veterinary industry or the human healthcare industry?  Because I imagine you could vent on and on about both!  

Cindy, yes, it's finally cooling down here.  It poured rain off and on all night which seemed to cool things down.  The high today is mid 80s, tomorrow mid 70s, and Friday mid 60s!  So the cooldown is underway, thankfully.  I just cannot deal with 90+ degree temps and neither can my guts!

I did weights yesterday and that went okay for the most part.  The abdominals machine seems so difficult, probably because I didn't work my abs for a few months and now they've gotten flabby & lazy.    My guts still aren't very happy.  I had a low-res dinner (boiled chicken and mashed potatoes) but my guts even rejected that - just before bed, I had a bad bathroom episode where my guts cramped up terribly and just basically got rid of everything that was in my system.  No puking, but I felt pretty empty once that episode was over!  I've had a few episodes like that lately, and I just haven't quite felt like myself since the colonoscopy.  I wonder if I lost some vital gut bacteria or something like that during the prep.  I really haven't had a normal poo since the scope which was 2 weeks ago.  I'm tempted to try probiotics again, even though I know they do bad things to me.  Hmm.

At any rate, I did hit the gym yesterday and I'm hoping to do yoga tonight (I told hubby not to have dinner ready!   ).  By tomorrow the weather should have cooled down more and then I'll start thinking about doing more bike rides and also walking more with my dog - she hates the hot weather as much as I do, so I know we're both looking forward to cooler fall weather.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Okay, so, kind of a big thing for me.  I bought workout shorts today!  I usually wear long yoga-style pants to the gym, either full length or capris.  (Usually capris for bike/weights, and long pants for yoga.)  I don't really wear shorts that come above the knee because I have always had a little cellulite on my thighs and so I hate showing my legs.  Yes, I'm a skinny girl, and yes I work out, but cellulite happens anyway apparently.  It's gross and I hate it.  But, I think it's finally going away?  I haven't noticed it as much lately.  Hah, it only took 2.5 years of going to the gym to lose that little bit of cellulite!  

So anyway, I was at the thrift shop today checking out what they had for workout clothes, and I found a cute little pair of workout shorts.  Not short-shorts, I will not be wearing those ever regardless of how good my legs look!  But sort of mid-length, above the knee but not super short shorts.  I tried them on and they were pretty cute and also in my price range, so I bravely purchased them.  Not quite sure if I'll be brave enough to actually wear them to the gym anytime soon!  Eek!  But this is big for me, I'm not a shorts person so I'm easing myself into shorts territory now.    Sloooooowly getting more confident in how I look.  I think I'll wear my shorts at the gym on like, a Sunday afternoon, because nobody's there at that time.  If I don't get laughed off the planet then I might wear them again at a slightly busier time... maybe.


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## Dexky

Yes


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/12/13:  Hah, so I didn't do yoga last night either.    The weather was really nice, not too warm and it had stopped raining (it was pretty humid but other than that it was nice), and my dog hadn't been walked yet due to the rain earlier in the day, so hubby and I took her for a nice long walk.  We met up with our neighbor who has 2 corgis, so my dog got to play with her buddies for awhile.  It was a nice, long walk - about 2 miles according to my pedometer.  It was fun, we chatted with our neighbor and the corgis all played together (there was a beagle running around and all the corgis were trying to herd it, it was pretty cute!).  I know walking isn't the best form of exercise, it's not super easy on my bad hips and I am in some pain today because of all the walking.  But I did get out and do some exercise.  I have been wanting to do yoga, but I also want to take advantage of nice days and let my dog get some exercise too, so yeah.  I'm sure I'll do lots more yoga this winter as I don't tend to do much outdoor exercise in the cold months!  

Tonight we're hitting the gym for weights.  (No, I won't be wearing my new shorts just yet, I have to wash them first and I usually do laundry on the weekends.)  I'm feeling pretty strong today so hopefully I'll have a good gym session.  I'm still having some d/loose stools, but I've been sleeping a little better and I feel okay overall.


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## Dexky

Sounds like an upswing Cat!  I hope it keeps getting better!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/13/13:  Happy Friday the 13th!  Hubby and I hit the gym last night, and we both did great.  The gym was busier than usual, so I had to wait a bit for a couple machines I wanted to use, but I felt really good.  I didn't feel tired or weak, nothing felt too difficult except for the abdominal machine.  I'm still trying to ease myself back into doing abs exercises, so I only did 8 reps on that instead of my usual 10-12 reps.  But with everything else, I felt strong and nothing was a struggle, and I felt great afterwards.  Hubby said he felt similar.  So it was a really good workout for both of us.    After the workout, we went and got dinner and had some nice conversation, it was a really nice evening.

Today I'm back to feeling exhausted, of course.    Nothing good ever lasts very long it seems!  I had a hard time falling asleep and then slept right up until my alarm went off.  I almost never do that - my brain apparently gets really stressed by my alarm going off so 99% of the time I wake up well before my alarm goes off.  I always get up at 6 AM on work days, and I set my alarm for 6:30 on the off chance that my brain doesn't wake me up before then.  Today I slept right to 6:30 which is just not normal for me, so I'm feeling a bit off.  

So, today's probably going to be a rest day.  I need to rest up as much as I can anyway - I'm going to my in-laws' tomorrow for a party, and my mother and maybe my brother are coming.  So I have to see my family and my in-laws, eek!  Getting stressed out already just thinking of it.    And hubby has to work, so he won't be showing up until later in the evening, so I'll be stuck there by myself until he arrives.  (I am bringing my dog, and my favorite niece will be there, so it won't be entirely awful.)  I'm thinking I'll hit the gym tomorrow earlier in the day before I head to the party, so that I can pre-de-stress.    And I can unwind on Sunday, hubby works then too so I'll be all alone and can relax.  If the Packers could actually win on Sunday then things would really be looking up, ha ha!


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## mccindy

good for you on the shorts, Cat!  Keep building up that confidence.  Cellulite is one of those things that everyone has, including beautiful movie stars.  I've always had some on my thighs and behind, and I'm a size three at 136 lbs.  even when I lost weight after my brain surgery and was skinny I still had some.  Don't worry about it, you are beautiful!  Have a fabulous weekend.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thank you Cindy.    Yeah, I know even beautiful celebrities have cellulite and then some.  My father-in-law works in a place that prints stuff like magazines & catalogs, and sometimes he sees the photos of models before they get airbrushed.  He said there's a huge difference between how people really look and how they look in magazines.  And he sees everything (Playboy is one of the magazines that gets printed at his workplace!) so I believe him when he says that.  On a random side note, when my husband was a teenager, he didn't have to hide a stack of illicit Playboy magazines like most teen boys, because his father would bring Playboys home from work and just give them to him!    Ha ha.

I'm feeling a little less exhausted.  I think it's because I accomplished part of my to-do list so I'm feeling less overwhelmed with what I have to get done.  I had to go and buy birthday presents for all my nieces & nephews (I usually don't see them on their birthdays, but they all have summer birthdays, so I just give them their gifts whenever I see them during the summer).  There are 4 of them, soon to be 5 (I'm going to have a new niece in about 3 weeks!) so that's a lot of gifts to buy, and I hadn't gotten anything yet and I'm seeing them tomorrow, so it was crunch time and that made me stress.  I went to the bookstore on my lunch break and I managed to get books for all 4 kids, so that's a big relief!  For my nieces, who are 10 and 8, I got them pretty blank hardcover journals to write in.  My oldest niece loves reading and writing, and there's sometimes drama if the younger girl doesn't get the same thing as her sister, so they both get journals.  My 6 year old nephew gets a book about the Avengers because I remembered that he likes that movie, and my 3 year old nephew for some reason is obsessed with My Little Pony, so I got him an MLP storybook.    It's a relief to have all those gifts purchased, now I just have to wrap them, and bake cookies for the party... and I have to go grocery shopping... I didn't say I got my whole to-do list done, but at least I checked off the gift buying part!  And I *will* be going to the gym at some point tomorrow before I go to the party - I need to after all this stress!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/14/13:  Uggghh.  I don't feel well.  I did go to the gym this morning, but it was really tough.  I felt too hot and too cold all at once, if that makes sense.  And I felt like I might pass out at certain points during my workout.  It was the complete opposite of my last workout, I felt great & strong then and awful & weak today.  Now I'm home and I'm feeling kinda nauseous and just run down (waiting for my zofran to kick in and then hopefully the nausea will stop).  Not sure if this is the flare getting a bit angrier or if I picked up a bug or if it's just a bad day.  I have to go to my in-laws' in a little over an hour and I don't want to go.  But I have to.  I keep telling myself, I have no plans tomorrow and it looks like it's going to be a rainy day, so I'm going to do so much resting and relaxing tomorrow to make up for overdoing it yesterday & today.  So that's what I'm looking forward to, for this day to be over!    Tomorrow will be hopefully a very restful rest day.  I just need to make it through the rest of today first.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Hope you feel better soon cat x


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## Dexky

I hope the in-law visit went well!  Does his family give you as much angst as your own?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, yes and no.  When I first got sick, my father-in-law got drunk one night and basically told me I can't be as sick as I say I am, I'm faking, my marriage will fail and I'll have to get divorced from his son, etc.  He didn't stop saying awful things even when I started crying, and I ended up walking out, it was just horrible.  It was such a stressful situation that it put me into a flare.  But more recently, my father-in-law has completely changed - he hasn't said anything mean about my illness since that incident, he accommodates what I can eat, and he even defended me when my hubby jokingly made a comment about me being sick (it wasn't even a mean comment).  When hubby said whatever joking comment it was, my father-in-law jumped right in and said something along the lines of, "Hey, be nice, it can't be easy to live with an illness like that every day of your life!"  I was floored, it was a complete change.  So, now things are pretty good with me and my in-laws, but it definitely was not always that way.  And I'm not really sure where the change came from so I don't 100% trust it.  My mother-in-law has always been supportive of me & my illness so I presume she told her husband to not be mean to me, but I'm not sure.

So yeah, things did go pretty well yesterday.  I got my nausea under control with a couple zofrans and I was able to eat (it was a fish boil, so I had some salmon and potatoes, yum).  I got to see a few people in hubby's family who I really like, his cousin and his sister plus my nieces & nephews.  My youngest nephew is just adorable, he's 3 and he is described as being "metro."    My older nephew is a total guy's guy, he likes trucks and wrestling and mud and manly stuff like that.  But my younger nephew, he likes My Little Pony and pink and jewelry.  I had given him a MLP storybook, and he carried it everywhere (he even yelled at someone for touching it!).  He's so adorable, he opened up the book and gasped, "Look at all the ponies!"  Then he had to look at every page multiple times.  His favorite seemed to be a page with a picture of the ponies dancing with butterflies - he said "It's so beautiful!"  Ahh, so cute.    So I had a fun time.  I was kind of exhausted and didn't eat much, but at least I wasn't nauseous.

Today's a rest day.  It's rainy and I don't plan to move off of my couch except when necessary.  It is my dog's birthday (Lily is 5!) so there will be ridiculous dog-in-a-birthday-hat photos on facebook shortly.    But other than that, my only plans are to veg out.


----------



## Dexky

Poor Lily!!  She's just taken the place of that damn gorilla doll!  Hasn't she?  Do you sew ridiculous outfits for her??

Glad you had a good visit!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hah, no.  Lily does *not* like to dress up and will only do so if she gets lots of treats.  She wore the birthday hat for about 30 seconds (the amount of time it took her to eat the pupcake) and that was it.  The only thing she likes to wear is her collar (she freaks out a bit if I take it off to brush her, she picks it up and brings it to me, as if to say "put this back on me!").

I'm feeling yucky again today.  I developed a nasty headache last night.  Didn't sleep well at all and woke up with the same headache.  I'm exhausted and also nauseous and having gut cramps.  It's one of those days where I'm moving slowly, everything is a challenge, and I can only focus on one task at a time.  It's not a good day!  But it's a weights day, and I'm determined to do whatever I can in the gym today.  I have to go to the dentist late this afternoon, so I'm going to do my workout first.  I have to have a couple cavities drilled & filled at the dentist, so I didn't think it'd be a good look if I went to the gym with a numb face and drooled all over everything.    So gym first, then dentist, then resting for the remainder of the evening.  I'm not quite sure how I'm going to get through everything, as it sounds like a lot to do and I'm pretty much already running on empty, but I just have to get through it all somehow.  No rest for the wicked, right?


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I have to have a couple cavities drilled & filled at the dentist, so I didn't think it'd be a good look if I went to the gym with a numb face and drooled all over everything.


Last time I had fillings, they used 3 needles - the face was numb until suppertime


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## mccindy

Cat you really have been up and down this week.   I hope things clear up for you.  I am looking forwared to getting on my elliptical today - had to take a couple of days of as the hubs adn I bumped heads Saturday night  (right on the worst possible spot) and I had a nasty headache the last couple of days.  Time to get bac kon it today.  I'm hoping you feel better and can get to the gym.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, I was the same - I had 2 cavities, one in the lower right and one in the lower left, so the entire lower part of my mouth was numb for the entire evening.  I could barely drink water even with a straw.  My tongue wasn't numb so the upside was that I could at least taste my dinner, even though I had a hard time chewing it.  

Cindy, sounds like you've been up and down too!  Ouch on the bumping heads thing, that hurts even if you haven't had skull surgery!    Glad to hear you're back on the elliptical today.  How are you doing with work, are the half-days still making you so exhausted?

My update for today is a good one.    I'm having a really good day!  I had such an awful day yesterday, I felt terrible.  I knew I should go to the gym, but I really wasn't sure it was a wise idea because I felt so bad.  I was nauseous and I just didn't want to end up puking in the gym.  But I made myself go anyway, and I'm glad I did.  I had a good workout, I even managed to do the abdominals machine, and I felt a lot better after my workout.  Had a good healthy dinner and slept great.  Woke up feeling rested rather than exhausted, my guts are quiet today so far and my nasty headache is mostly gone.  This is the best I've felt in awhile!  I don't expect it to last, but I'm enjoying it while it does last.

I started Pentasa today too.  Too early to tell if it's doing anything but I'm hopeful.  Since the colonoscopy didn't show anything, I'm thinking maybe my issues are higher up in the small intestine?  I had been on Delzicol, which works on the colon primarily.  Pentasa works primarily on the small intestine.  So we'll see what happens - if Pentasa works then I can pretty safely assume that I have some small intestine involvement.  If it doesn't work then I can go back to Delzicol or I can try Apriso.  So that's the plan!

As far as exercise, my tenatative plan tonight is to either walk the dog or do yoga.  I haven't done yoga in awhile, but I want to take advantage of the nice weather and get outside while it's still pretty nice out.  So I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do this evening.  Tomorrow I'll do weights, Thursday I'm not sure.  Maybe a rest day Thursday.  Friday weights again, and Saturday if it's nice out I might take a bike ride.


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## hawkeye

Had to walk down 10 flights of stairs this afternoon - we had a fire on the roof of our office building.  A bit of an interlude to the workday.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/18/13:  I'm doing okay today but not quite as good as I was yesterday.  It looked like rain last night, so walking the dog was out.  I did yoga last night and that went pretty well.  Then I had dinner, which was too rich for me (chicken livers and mashed potatoes - I know I need the iron and stuff from the livers, but I think I ate too much).  As a result, I had to get up a few times in the night to use the bathroom and didn't get a good night's sleep.  So, feeling tired today, but guts seem to have normalized and I'm doing okay overall.  Going to hit the gym tonight for weights.

It did end up raining last night, and it's looking like it might rain again today and tomorrow too, so the hip joints are not super happy.  The pain isn't bad though, I've definitely been through a lot worse.  Really not looking forward to winter though, as the joints sometimes ache really badly before a snowstorm (snow is worse than rain in terms of my joint pain).

So far so good with the Pentasa too, although it's only the second day I'm on it.  When I was on tablet formulations of mesalamine (Asacol, Asacol HD, and Delzicol), I'd often pass the tablets undigested in my stool.  Pentasa is a capsule and I think it's breaking down better than a tablet would.  I haven't seen any sign of Pentasa in my stool yet.  I know it's still early days and I should give it more time, but so far the signs are encouraging.


----------



## mccindy

Hi cat!  The half days have been pretty tiring, they've extended them until October 7th.  Today is a bad day because i seem to have caught something and being sick is taking the last of any reserve I had.  so no working out today, no work, and a lot of lying on the couch.  I did fall asleep for about 20 minutes but some jerk called me and woke me up and I haven't been able to get back to sleep.  so now I'm just miserable and awake.  very sore throat, hard to breathe and generally feeling like crap.  so I'm taking zinc and airborne and hoping to feel better by tomorrow.


gad to hear the pentasa is treating you right for now.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Aw Cindy, sorry to hear you're feeling so miserable.    It sucks that you are dealing with so much already and then get a virus or whatever on top of it!  I'm glad you're resting, but I hope it gets more restful.  I can understand the being woken up by a phone thing - last night I was just falling asleep when my hubby's cell rang.  It was all the way in the living room which is at the other end of the house from the bedroom, but he's got the ringtone volume turned up loud for some reason, so I heard it clearly and it jolted me awake.  I had already been up to the bathroom a couple times and was finally falling to sleep when that happened - no fun!  Anyway, feel better soon!  I know you hate not being able to work out probably just as much as I do, so I hope you can get back to your usual routine soon.

It looks like I get to go to the gym by myself tonight, as hubby got invited to go clay pigeon shooting (or whatever that's called - trap shooting?) with his friends.  So it'll just be me at the gym, which is kind of nice.  I prefer to work out alone.  Hubby doesn't cramp my style or anything, but it's just like one less thing to worry about, you know?  I can just take care of me and not have to look for him and see where he's at in his workout, not have to let him know I'm done and going to go stretch & cool down, etc.  I can do things completely on my time and my terms without having to worry about anybody else.  Plus that's one less person in the gym to clog up the machine I want to use.    Ha ha.

Oh, and this is a bit random, but I don't think I talked about it when it happened.  This was a little while ago, but it was kind of cool I think.  At my gym, there are a few physical trainers, but I hardly ever see them (I go to a cheap, bare-bones kind of gym, so I think they only have trainers working at certain times or on specific days).  One day, though, I saw a trainer and he was running around working with a few different people.  He seemed really busy, but as he went past me, I saw him do a double-take of me and he said under his breath, "Oh wow, she's doing good."  (I was wearing headphones, and he said it quietly, so I presume he didn't think I would hear him say that.)  I thought that was really cool, that a trainer apparently saw my muscles and was impressed!  I mean, there are a lot of icky dudes that go to my gym who are apparently just there to pick up ladies, and those dudes stare at me but I don't take that as a compliment because I'm pretty sure they stare at every woman there.  And this trainer didn't make it sound like he was thinking I'm hot or whatever, that wasn't the impression I got anyway, but more like I'm doing great fitness-wise and it shows.  So yeah, I just thought that was cool - someone in the fitness biz was impressed by me.


----------



## kel

Just want to throw this out since you've had undigested meds in your BM's: 5ASA can sometimes cause a ton of little white dots to appear in your stool...so if you notice that don't be alarmed.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Kel, I'll keep that in mind.  This is actually the 4th mesalamine drug I'm trying, so yes, I do have experience with seeing it in my stool.  I was on Asacol for a couple years and it kept me in remission during that time.  Then they discontinued making regular Asacol in the US due to the patent having expired (but there's no generic available here yet).  My GI tried me on Asacol HD (they do still make that one here), but that didn't work for me.  When I was on regular Asacol, I was on 6 tablets a day and I'd usually pass 1 or 2 undigested tablets in my stool every day.  I was still absorbing more medicine than I was passing, so I managed to stay in remission.  But on Asacol HD, I was only taking 2 tablets per day, and I was still passing 1 to 2 tablets daily, so I was getting little to no medication, and I entered a mild flare pretty quickly.  So then my GI put me on Delzicol, which is the "new" mesalamine drug meant to replace regular Asacol.  It's technically a capsule, but really it's a capsule with an Asacol tablet inside.    Seriously!  So I was on that for about 6 months, still passing 1 to 2 per day, and doing so-so but didn't really get out of the flare.  So now I've just started on Pentasa, which is a true capsule and not a tablet, and I'm hoping that'll break down better than a tablet would.  I won't be too concerned if I see some of it in my stool, because I'm used to that with the Asacol and Delzicol.  I'm on day 3 of Pentasa and haven't seen it in my stool at all, and I'm feeling pretty good so far, so I think it might be working (probably still too early to tell for sure though).

Kel, how are you doing lately?  How's the collarbone and the drain?  Are you able to lift at all yet or are you still unable to go to the gym?

Update 9/19/13:  I went to the gym by myself yesterday and felt pretty great.  Arms were oddly a little tired, but legs were fine and I felt strong and energetic overall.  After I finished my workout, I went to the stretching area, and it was pretty much only me back there.  Then this weird guy came back to the stretching area, and he seemed antsy.  All of a sudden, he started breakdancing!    It was hilarious and so random, I had to stop myself from bursting out laughing.  I've seen weirdos do weird things in the stretching area, but mostly stuff like they'll bring dumbbells to the stretching area, etc.  I don't think people understand the concept of "the stretching area is for stretching, not other stuff."  But breakdancing, that was a new one!  Ha ha 

I'm feeling good today too.  A little tired - there were thunderstorms going on all throughout the night, and the thunder kept waking me up.  But other than the tiredness, I'm feeling pretty well.    Looking forward to a restful weekend coming up, as hubby works all weekend.  I see that some of the trees here are changing color and it's starting to get pretty, so a bike ride through the arboretum should be in my near future if the weather cooperates.


----------



## mccindy

Hi cat and everyone,
I am feeling a bit better today.  I can breathe better, but still SUPER tired.  Coughing more but throat is less sore.  I've been taking zinc every three ours and airborne every six so I'm hoping that will help me kick it  faster.  Ugh.  I have a work meeting this afternoon so I'm just going to go in for that and then come back home.  I hate being sick and especially right now when I have no extra energy!  

On the plus side, doc's office called.  I will be trying lactulose for two weeks, which will fail, and then we can contact the insurance to appeal the denial of Linzess.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/20/13:  TGIF!  I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend.  I'm not feeling very well today, so a couple days of rest are much-needed.  I'm having some upper abdominal pain today, and also a bit of nausea, low appetite, and my guts are very gurgly and rumbly.  I don't often have upper abdo pains, usually only when I have a gastritis flare, but this doesn't feel like gastritis (plus I usually only have a gastritis flare in conjunction with my GERD going haywire, and the GERD has been fairly quiet lately).  I just started Pentasa and I know that in rare cases it can cause pancreatitis, but my pain isn't nearly that bad, so hopefully it's not that.  (My pain is tolerable and kind of comes & goes, and I've heard pancreatitis is horribly painful.)  I'm just going to keep an eye on things, and will of course go to urgent care or the ER to get checked out if it gets worse.

In spite of that, I'm a stubborn idiot so I'm going to attempt to hit the gym today anyway.  I'm hoping it'll help me feel better.  Tomorrow, I'm going to lie on my couch and play Animal Crossing all day.    Oh, and I'll probably walk the dog too.  Or if the weather is lovely and I feel ambitious, then I might go on a bike ride.  But with the way I'm feeling now, a rest day sounds like the best option to me.


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## kel

I'm doing well, thank you. I needed to have surgery to repair my shoulder about 4 weeks ago and I've recovered nicely. It will be about 10 more days before I can get back to the gym (hopefully).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/22/13:  I went to the gym today but it was tough.  I woke up, decided I didn't want to miss watching the Packers game at noon, so I thought I might try going to the gym first thing in the morning so that I'd have the afternoon to watch football on TV.  I am apparently not a morning-gym person though!  I didn't have anything in my stomach, only water (and Tums and Zantac), but wow, I refluxed way more than usual.  I was vurping stomach acid and I did not feel well, it wasn't pretty.  My guts are never particularly happy first thing in the morning and apparently my stomach/GERD is the same way.  I got through my workout, but now I know not to try to hit the gym right away in the morning.  I clearly need to eat something and then let my system settle down and go to the gym later in the day like I usually do.

Yesterday I walked the dog and my joints didn't feel great.  Anybody else ever get that feeling like a certain joint just isn't fitting together right?  I had a day like that yesterday with my right ankle.  Every step on it was a bit painful and no matter how I manipulated it or stretched it, I couldn't get it to feel okay.  It seems somewhat better today so just one of those days I guess.

The trees have started changing color here - I drove past the arboretum and the trees are starting to look really lovely.  Goal this week is to ride my bike through there at some point!


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## Dexky

I'm no IBD'er Cat, but for me an empty stomach is always more likely to cause trouble.

I'm not a pro football fan either but....are the Bengals actually good this year? or do the Packers just suck?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Mark, my stomach *has* to be completely empty before I hit the gym - I have severe GERD which will not allow me to exercise if there is anything in my stomach.  I've tried drinking gatorade just before a workout, but even that did not go well and I quickly became too nauseous & vurpy to continue my workout.  So I can only have water & antacids in my stomach before hitting the gym, nothing else, and I have to stop eating at least 2 hours before working out.  So I figured first thing in the morning would go okay because of that, but it did not.  I had a sore throat all day yesterday and I'm sure it was because so much acid came up my throat during my morning workout!  Throat's mostly better today and I don't have a cold or anything.  So yeah, I won't be going to the gym in the morning anymore.  I need to eat something and then wait awhile, I guess that's an important step I can't skip over.

Bleh, the Packers.  I think it's more that they're sucking rather than that the other team was good.  That game was stressful to my health!  A few of the better Packers players got injured in that game too so it's probably safe to expect more suckiness for the rest of the season.  And the Packers made a few really stupid mistakes (dropping that punt in the first quarter and allowing the other team to recover it at the 5 yd line - argh!).  Ha ha, my hubby had to work all day so he didn't know how the game went.  We always have our dog bark when the Packers score or have a really good play, so we like to say that we can tell how well they're doing based on how barky Lily is.    Hubby came home from work last night and asked if she was very barky today?  I just sadly shook my head no.    Meanwhile, we have a few friends who are Bears fans, and they looooove to rub it in that the Bears are now 3-0.  Boo!

Update 9/23/13:  It's a rest day today but I'm getting necessary stuff done, not doing much resting.  Paid a bunch of bills this morning, running errands on my lunch break, and need to do some food preparation tonight.  I'm making a big effort to pack my lunch as often as possible to save money and to eat healthier, and I find it saves me a lot of time if I do stuff the night before.  So I'll do things like, take a can of safe fruit (peaches or pears - no pineapple) and divvy it up into little individual servings so I can just grab one in the morning.  Or if we make a chicken dinner, I'll sort out the meat from the bones so that I can quickly make myself a chicken sandwich/wrap in the morning.  Stuff like that.  It's so much easier on me in the mornings if stuff is already at least somewhat ready to go.  Mornings are my worst time, my guts tend to be least happy in the mornings, so this is an effort to make my mornings less stressful too.  Some mornings I'm pretty nauseous and I have a hard time looking at or smelling food, so on those days, packing a lunch is out unless I can literally just grab some containers and throw them in my lunch bag.  

I suppose I should give a Pentasa update too - I've been on Pentasa for just about a week now.  I think it's working?  I have had one bad day in the last week, which isn't too bad.  I'm feeling pretty well as long as I am able to get enough sleep.  I'm not having much of any change in bowel habits - I did have a teensy bit of red blood on the TP the other day, but no pain or anything, and my GI had said that I have internal hemmies, so I'm presuming the blood was from a hemmie.  Stools are fairly normal as long as I remember to take my psyllium.  I've had a couple episodes of d but nothing awful and certainly nothing out of the ordinary for me.  I had soup last night which had a little bit of corn in it, and I was worried about that as I know corn is indigestible even to healthy people, but it didn't seem to give me any trouble.  If anything, I think my guts are happier - the weather has turned a bit cooler (temps in the 60s) which is so much easier on me than the hot & humid summer weather.  So, I think Pentasa is working - if so, it's subtle.  But at any rate, I'm not getting worse, so that's good!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/25/13:  Did weights yesterday, felt good.  I'm having a fairly bad day today though.  Having some d, including one episode of urgent & explosive d.  Also had a couple dizzy spells earlier today and just generally feeling not so great.  Starting to wonder if the Pentasa isn't working, but hopefully this is just a bad day.  I was hoping to go on a bike ride tonight, but I don't know if that's wise with the dizziness.  I don't want to fall off my bike and get hurt. So I might do yoga or walk the dog, those seem like safer options.  I'm really hoping to still do a bike ride soon, maybe Friday if the weather and my health allow it.  I had a dizzy spell on the treadmill yesterday too (I was walking on the treadmill to cool down after doing weights), and that's not good.  I get dizzy spells in flares, and I am pretty sure I've been in a mild flare since May, but it hasn't been bad enough for me to get dizzy very often.  So either it's a bad day and just a fluke, or the flare is getting a bit worse, or possibly a side effect of Pentasa, or who knows.  But I hate that it puts fear into me, fear of what if I fall and get hurt, what if I pass out and nobody finds me right away, etc.  I don't like that at all, I don't want to let fear restrict what I do.

So I don't know.  I'm just taking it day by day and sometimes minute by minute right now.  That's all I can really do.  Kind of frustrated about it but that's life I guess.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/26/13:  I walked the dog last night and I felt better than I expected.  It helped that we met up with our neighbor, whose corgis get along really well with our corgi, so it was a corgi party which would cheer up just about anybody!    I think my weight is starting to become an issue again though.  I just haven't had much appetite lately.  I had a brownie for dinner and that was it.  After doing colonoscopy prep about a month ago, I had lost 2 lbs.  I just finally gained those 2 lbs back, and I'm afraid with my low appetite lately that it's getting more difficult to maintain my weight.  It's not bad yet, but during my first year of illness the weight fell right off me, so I'm trying to be quite vigilant about my weight, which is becoming more difficult.  I don't want to lose muscle mass especially, since I've worked so hard to build it up.

Going to the gym tonight for weights.  Hopefully a bike ride Friday evening.  I've had one or two very mild, almost imperceptible dizzy spells today, so I think I'll be okay on the bike tomorrow (I hope!).  I'll just bring my phone with me and will call for hubby to come pick me up if I fall off or if I can't continue riding for whatever reason.  Can't let this flare hold me back too much!  Gotta try to get a good bike ride in - every ride I've done through the arboretum, I've thought how pretty it will be when the leaves start to change color in the fall.  That time is here now so I just gotta do a ride!


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## mccindy

Keep on truckin' Cat.  you can do it!  yesterday and today I was able tp dp 25 minutes on my elliptical.  yay!  Starting to feel better but hoping it keeps going.  Stay with me, strength!


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## Dexky

It's the best time of year for biking.  I hope you can get your fill Cat!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks guys!  So a bit of an interesting update, I didn't go to the gym tonight.  I remembered that I had a rheumatologist appointment this afternoon.  I honestly didn't expect to get anything out of the appointment whatsoever, so I didn't even mention it.  Rheumy had already said there's no inflammatory arthritis, so I thought therefore he wouldn't be open to trying a steroid injection into my bad hip.  But it turned out, he was the one who suggested trying a steroid injection!  And he gave me 2 injections (he said there are 2 muscles in the area where my pain is, so he did 1 injection into each muscle).  I won't lie, it hurt, and it still kind of hurts.  Rheumy said don't do any activity tonight, not even walking around, so the gym was out.  But I should be okay to work out tomorrow, presuming I don't have pain, so now that's the plan.

So, gym tomorrow and I was thinking of doing a bike ride on Saturday - but there's an 80% chance of thunderstorms on Saturday, so I'm guessing that's out.  So, if I can't do the gym tomorrow due to my hip still recovering from the injections, then I'll rest tomorrow too and do the gym on Saturday and I guess bike ride Sunday.  Whenever I'm well enough to go to the gym, I'll do that and a bike ride the day after!

I'm really interested to see what, if anything, the steroid injections do for my hip.  I haven't been able to jog for years because of the hip pain.  I'm trying not to be overly optimistic, but if I was able to jog?  That would be incredible!  LMV has been talking in her thread about how she's training for a triathlon, and I'm jealous.  I could probably do the swimming and definitely the bike part, but I know I couldn't do the jog, as right now even 1/2 mile of slow jogging will put my hip in pain for days.  Heck, I'd be happy just to walk my dog on a cold winter day without having pain - jogging would be an awesome bonus though.    We'll see what happens!  Right now it still feels all painful from the injections so I really have no idea what's going to happen.  Worst case scenario, it does nothing and I'm the same (rheumy said the injections could help but wouldn't hurt, so at worst it won't do anything).  Best case scenario, jogging pain-free.  Realistic scenario, walking the dog comfortably.  I can deal with any and all of that, although I will be a bit disappointed if I have to stick with the status quo.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

I really hope you get something from the steroid injections! And I hope it lasts you a while as well!

How interesting he gave you the injections anyway? What is it with you, Cat? You don't test positive for anything but get treatment for it anyway!  x x


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LMV, I'm kind of wondering if my GI wrote something in my file along the lines of, "She's a huge pest and won't leave you alone unless you give her some sort of medication or treatment, so just give her whatever so that she goes away."    I hate being shuffled away by my doctors so I sometimes get pretty insistent that they actually help me - guess I must have trained them well at this point!  Ha ha.

The hip is still fairly painful today from the injections .  Think I'm going to skip the gym, although we'll see how I'm feeling by this evening.  If the pain is mostly gone by that time, then I might go do a workout (a mostly arms workout).  Otherwise, today will be a rest day and I'll see about hitting the gym tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It's now 1 PM and the hip is still feeling rather sore.  Actually, both hips are a bit painful.  I spent the evening on the couch yesterday, but I had to get up a few times to use the bathroom etc.  I was limping pretty heavily on those few times I did walk yesterday, so I think the left hip is a little upset now because I favored the right so much.  The right is still feeling worse of the two though.  It's better than it was, and it doesn't feel like arthritis soreness, it feels like injection soreness.  You know when you get a flu shot and then your arm hurts for a couple days?  This feels like that kind of soreness.  Now, I seem to recall that last year, I went to the gym the day after I got my flu shot and that went fine, I just worked through the soreness and didn't have any issue.  But since this is a different kind of injection, and I know corticosteroids can interfere with healing (presumably including muscle healing), I'm thinking I should be a bit more cautious.  

So, I'm going to skip the gym tonight and will plan on going tomorrow instead.  This means my bike ride is now pushed back to Sunday, but fortunately the weather looks good that day.  I don't like riding through the arboretum on Sundays because there's so much more car traffic (it's usually closed to through-traffic, except on Sundays).  So I'll have that to contend with.  But I've ridden through there on Sundays in the past and it's not awful.  There are so many bicyclists, joggers, walkers, etc that go through the arboretum that the cars all know to go really slow and be very cautious.  Still, I wish there was a separate bike path/lane - it's just a narrow road that cars, bikes, joggers etc all have to share.  Anyway, so that's the plan.  Rest today, gym tomorrow, bike Sunday.


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Update 9/26/13:  I think my weight is starting to become an issue again though.  I just haven't had much appetite lately.  I had a brownie for dinner and that was it.  After doing colonoscopy prep about a month ago, I had lost 2 lbs.  I just finally gained those 2 lbs back, and I'm afraid with my low appetite lately that it's getting more difficult to maintain my weight.  It's not bad yet, but during my first year of illness the weight fell right off me, so I'm trying to be quite vigilant about my weight, which is becoming more difficult.  I don't want to lose muscle mass especially, since I've worked so hard to build it up.


Ugh....feel your pain, I've lost 30 lbs. (from 176 lb to 146) since January (I really only could have afforded to lose about 10 at the max.) I've levelled off but still dealing with low appetite.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/30/13:  Well, I had an interesting weekend.  Saturday I hit the gym and walked the dog - that was a lot of activity right there, and I was pretty tired the rest of the day.  Saturday evening, hubby and I decided to go buy a new door.  We're sloooowly remodeling our house, and we need to install a new front door before winter hits.  We had a bit of money earmarked for a door, so we went and bought one.  It was heavy (steel door) and involved a lot of lifting - lifting it onto the cart, lifting it into the car, lifting it out of the car and into the house.  I was totally wiped out after that!  And when we got it home?  We realized we bought the wrong one!  We bought a 32 inch door, when we really needed a 36 inch.  Ugh, so stupid of us!  

So Sunday, I took the dog on a long walk, and then when hubby got home from work we lifted the stupid door back into the car, took it back to Home Depot, exchanged it for a 36 inch door... which did not fit into hubby's Subaru.  By like 1/2 inch it did not fit, no matter which angle we turned it or how we tried to finagle it, it just would not go in the car.  Frustrating!  So then we found out we could rent a truck from Home Depot for like $20, so we did that to get the door home.  More lifting, more carrying that stupid heavy thing.    So, two days and several hours and more money than I waned to spend later, we finally got our new door home!  Just getting the dumb thing took 3 times longer than it should have, I can't wait to see how spectacularly things get messed up when it comes time for the actual install, ha ha!  

So yeah, I did a lot of unanticipated heavy lifting over the weekend.  Because of that, I didn't have the energy or time to take a bike ride.  Weights tonight, also Wednesday & Friday, possibly a bike ride on Thursday.  I so need a rest day tomorrow!  Guts are feeling better lately, the steroid shots I got in my hip seems to be positively affecting my guts.  So there's some good news.  Hip feels a bit better but not stellar, which is interesting.


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## hawkeye

Keep us posted on the install. Windows and doors are a good investment for energy efficiency.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, for sure they are.  The windows on our house seem to be original to the house (the house was built in the mid 1950s, so all the windows need replacing!).  We've replaced a few, we're going room by room and doing what we can.  We've replaced 2 of the 3 exterior doors, so this will be the last door to get replaced.  Previously, the front door had no insulation around it - the previous owners actually stuck a blanket in the wall instead of insulation!  So we put in a bunch of new insulation and now a new door, so we'll be nice and buttoned up for winter and will hopefully save a bit of money on our heating bills.  We still need to replace about 7 more windows, we've done 3 so far.  Slow but steady.  We've owned the house about 5 years now and have been slowly remodeling it as time and money have allowed.  My hubby and his father are doing most of the work themselves which saves us a lot of money too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/1/13:  Wow, October already!  I really have to get going on making our Halloween costumes.    Hit the gym last night and felt pretty good.  My guts were rumbling and I was refluxing quite a lot, but had tons of energy.  If not for the reflux, I could have worked out a lot longer than I did.  As it was, I couldn't do the abdominals machine for fear of puking, the reflux was just too much and I might have refluxed right out my mouth.  The gym is often quite busy on Mondays, and I didn't want to barf in front of all those people (don't want to barf at all for that matter!) so I played it safe and didn't push it.  But yeah, I had great energy - I think that steroid injection is to thank for the energy.  It doesn't feel like crazy pred energy or anything, just more energy than I'm used to.  I went from being slightly fatigued all the time to being slightly energetic, it's a nice change and I hope it lasts awhile.

I'm thinking today is a rest day.  I have to go buy a few groceries and do some things around the house, so once again a rest day isn't going to be all that restful.  At least I finally have some energy to tackle the things I have to do!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/2/13:  I'm SO NAUSEOUS today.    Last night as I laid down in bed to sleep, my reflux started going kind of nuts, and then nausea kicked in too.  Oh, and then I got chills, which I only usually get in bad flares.  I had to get up and take a prilosec and a Zofran, which worked okay and I was able to fall asleep eventually.  This morning I was feeling so-so and I tried eating a little breakfast.  That did not go well at all.  The nausea came pounding back.  Zofran is taking the edge off but I still do not feel well.  I don't know what's going on - it's been about a week since I had the steroid shot, so is this a side effect?  Did the steroids wear off already?  My hip has been hurting last night and this morning too so I don't feel like the steroid injections helped.  The first time I was on pred, my symptoms came back with a vengeance once I finished the course of pred, so is this something similar?  Perhaps the injections wore off already and my symptoms are returning, angrier than they were before?  I just don't know.  I feel crappy, that's all I really know. 

So I was hoping to go to the gym tonight for weights, but that is looking like it's not going to happen.  I can work out when I'm in pain or when I'm tired, but not when I'm nauseous like this.  So I guess a rest day again today which frustrates me!  Ugh.  Sometimes I get so sick of living in a broken body.  I try to fix my body with exercise, but when I can't exercise then I get really upset.  So yeah, I'm having one of those days.  My body is hindering me from doing what I want, and I can't do anything about it except deal with it.  I swear, the mental & emotional impacts of this illness are often worse than the symptoms themselves!  Nausea is bad, but when nausea makes me sad and angry and frustrated then it's terrible.  Blah.  Sorry for the pity party.


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## mccindy

Hi Cat!  You have really had some rough days recently.  I think it's a bummer that the injections didn't work for you, that really sucks after going through the pain of getting them in the first place!  
I definitely feel your pain with having a body that won't cooperate when you're trying to be healthy.  between my back, my belly and my head I've felt pretty fed up this year.  Last night I had bad cramps in my guts, rumbling and pain and then - whamo! - explosve D.  So odd for me, I am always constipated.  It happened twice within an hour.  I've had night sweats most of the week as well and I kept getting hot and then cold yesterday.  My husband was wondering if I ate something that was bad but I can't imagine what as I didn't eat much of anything yesterday.  I did manage to do 15 minutes on the elliptical this morning but I was drenched in sweat when I was done and felt like I'd just run a marathon.  My appetite seems to be on vacation as well.  I'm going to make a nice rich beef stew tonight, which is one of my faves, so I'm hoping that will inspire me to feel like eating - and hopefully not have D again later on. 

HI LMV!  Haven't seen you for awhile, missed you!

Hawkeye - you are so right about doors and windows.  We were working on replacing them in our old house, did about 1/2 of them.  It made a significant difference in our heating bills.  The house we are renting now, we have discovered, needs new windows in a few rooms, because the locks dont' work and they won't seal tight.  sucky!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Hey Mccindy, I've been around, just not been posting as much!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/4/13:  I have been feeling pretty terrible for the past few days and haven't been to the gym since Monday.  Took a day and a half off sick from work, but resting up didn't help much.  I went back to work today and my boss commented on how pale I look.  I still have the nausea, the reflux, my bad hip hurts worse than before - I think these are all side effects from the steroid injections I got in my hip last week.  My rheumy unfortunately is clueless and said he has no idea why I'm feeling like this, and he told me to follow up with my GP.  Ugh!  So I'm just hoping that the steroids work their way out of my system soon.  I have no appetite so I'm forcing myself to eat every so often.  This is so odd because I've been on both pred and Entocort, which both made me feel great and have a good appetite.  The injected steroids apparently have the completely opposite effect on me, so I feel like crap with more symptoms and no appetite.  Not good at all and very confusing.

As soon as I'm feeling somewhat better, I'm going to go to the gym.  I'm just not sure when that'll be!    Not tonight, I'm too light-headed and nauseous, just can't do it safely.  I'm hoping things will be better tomorrow.  Wish me luck!


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## mccindy

Hi Cat,
Injected steroids are unfortunately completely different from the systemic steroids that you take orally.  It sucks you are having such a strong reaction.  I'd imagine part of that is coming from the fact that your body is reacting to the injections, which affects your immune system, which has a huge base in your GI tract.  So the reaction must be triggering the nausea and other symptoms.  I hope it clears quickly for you, my dear!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Cindy, that's helpful!  That's far more information than my stupid rheumatologist was able to give.    Someone in the Undiagnosed Club told me about "post-steroid flare" in which the injected steroids apparently crystallize after awhile, which can cause pain in the affected joint.  But google seems to indicate that post-steroid flare usually happens 24 to 48 hours after the injection - it was nearly a full week for my symptoms to start after the injection - and google didn't say anything about nausea, reflux, changes to menstrual cycle, etc.  (When I googled those things individually then I did find a few results for each in regards to steroid injections - so I apparently just got every single side effect possible??)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/5/13:  Didn't make it to the gym today, still not feeling well enough.  I think I'm slowly getting better day by day though.  Still have no appetite and some nausea, but the nausea isn't as bad as it has been.  Hip feels somewhat better, reflux doesn't feel as bad although my throat is still sore so I think it's still acting up quite a bit.  (My throat gets sore when acid refluxes up to the top of my esophagus.)  We did quite a bit of errands today and I'm exhausted now.  Resting up for the rest of the day.  Will see how I'm feeling tomorrow, and hoping to get to the gym on Monday if not tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/7/13:  I'm finally feeling better!!    I feel like the steroids have properly kicked in, I feel similar to how I felt when I was on pred.  Loads of energy and big appetite, feel good but slightly manic.    Not a lot of focus and not sleeping well, but eating great and feeling quite good.  I'm not sure what happened or why - Saturday I still felt so awful, no energy and no appetite, light-headed and nauseous and some hip pain still.  We ran errands on Saturday which exhausted me and I spent the rest of the day on the couch, feeling icky and tired.  Sunday, I woke up and didn't feel as nauseous, and the residual nausea ebbed pretty quickly.  By noon on Sunday I was starving and I ate an entire pizza by myself - and my body didn't punish me for it!  Had a huge dinner too and went grocery shopping and did a lot of stuff around the house.  I feel good today too - didn't sleep well last night, but still have a good amount of energy today and still feel quite good.

So, I'm going to the gym today!  It's been a week since I've done any type of working out, I haven't so much as walked the dog.  I wasn't sure if yesterday was a fluke, and I didn't want to push myself too much and then pay for it today.  Although I think I still overdid it yesterday with the amount of stuff I did around the house, but I am not paying for it today, so I think that definitely gives me the green light to go lift some weights.  I'm excited that I finally get to go back to the gym!  I'm feeling quite zazzy today, ha ha, thanks to the steroids for finally kicking in already!    I'm so, so excited to rock out in the gym with some loud music and work off some of this wacky steroid energy.


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## mccindy

Cat, is it crazy that I'm excited that you get to work out again finally?  I'm still getting about 15 -20 minutes per day on the elliptical, which feels good but part of me can't believe I could do an hour and a half only six months ago!  Enjoy!

also cool about the pizza.  I had a craving for pizza yesterday and the hubs went to the trouble to make me one with gluten-free crust and "fake" cheese.  So nice to indulge sometimes.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, thank you for being excited for me.    As for food cravings, I think the steroids are making me crave weird foods too.  This morning I was so craving a hamburger!  I haven't eaten beef in years, and I know it'd make me super sick - but my body isn't listening to reason right now.    I'm definitely not going to give in to that temptation, I already played with fire with the pizza and I've never been able to get away with eating a hamburger, not once, so I know not to even try it.  I packed myself a safe lunch (tuna sandwich) and I'm going to have a safe dinner too (pasta).  Steroids sometimes make me feel like I'm superwoman, and I need to remind myself that I'm totally not!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Glad things are starting to look better for you cat!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks LMV!  I did make it to the gym today.  I had lots of energy, presumably due to the steroids, but my acid reflux was playing up more than usual too.  I had a few moments where I had to stop and take a drink of water and try to get my stomach contents back down into my stomach, including one particularly worrying reflux episode where I felt acid and stomach contents (water) come shooting up my throat fast - it made me very worried that I might puke and not even make it to the garbage can, it was that fast - but I held it together and didn't puke, fortunately.  The reflux was worst after I did the abdominals machine.  But, I got through it, did everything I wanted to in my workout, and I felt pretty good aside from the reflux.  I did have heart palpitations, I think that's due to the steroids too.  That wasn't too bothersome though and went away after a few seconds.

I recall that last time I went to the gym, which was a week ago, my reflux was worse than usual then too.  So I'm thinking this must be related to the steroids also, and I'm thinking of taking extra pre-meds before working out for the next little while.  I usually take a 300 mg Zantac (Ranitidine) and about 10 Tums just before hitting the gym.  I might add a Prilosec to that as I still have about half a bottle of that (I used to take it before I was on Nexium).  I think I'm going to try that next time I hit the gym and see how it goes, and kind of play it by ear.

So some of you may recall that walking team thing I was doing at work?  That was over at the end of September.  A lot of people were using the gym at work during Sept, and now that the contest is over, the gym in my workplace is basically deserted again.  There is one co-worker who I'm pretty proud of, though.  She seems to be really sticking with exercise!  At first I would sometimes see her walking on the treadmill in the little gym in our workplace.  Then a couple weeks ago I saw her jogging a little bit!  And today, I ran into her on my way out of the gym as she was on her way in - she was talking about getting a proper gym bag and lock and gym clothes so that she could do a better workout with out messing up her work clothes - I thought that was really cool and I hope she does it!  Bringing a gym bag to work was one of the first things I did when I decided to start working out in earnest.

(Yes, I keep a fully stocked gym bag in my locker at work, I just bring home my dirty clothes to wash and bring in clean clothes but everything else like my shoes, lock, etc just stay at work - and yes, I have a separate gym bag for bringing to the other, larger gym that I pay to belong to!    I know, I'm a little OCD, I feel the need to have a designated gym bag for each gym I go to.)


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## Dexky

At least they're designated and not designer!

Glad you're feeling better Cat


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hah, Mark, I don't do designer anything (not on purpose anyway!).  I'm a VERY thrifty person and I don't care about brands/labels.  The gym bag that I keep at work, I got that bag free from my mom as she wasn't using it anymore.  My other gym bag that I take to the big gym, I bought that at the thrift store for about $3.  Both pairs of gym shoes also came free as hand-me-downs from my mom (we wear the same size shoes fortunately).  Most of my workout clothes come from the thrift stores or garage sales - I do have a few articles of clothing that I got new for cheap on the clearance rack at cheaper stores like Old Navy & Target.  And a few workout tops also came from my mom.  If I can get something for free or cheap, why would I pay full price?  I just got a really great, like-new, high-quality pair of workout capri pants at the consignment shop last week for $5.  The cheapest non-clearance workout pants at Target cost like $28.  There's just no way I can justify paying $28 (or more!) for something that, when with a little patience and perserverance, I can find the same or better for much cheaper.  Plus, as you already know, I can sew - so if I find something and it's not quite perfect (needs to be shortened or taken in or whatever), then I usually buy it anyway and tailor it myself.  Last weekend I hit a few garage sales, and I found a new workout top in my size for 25 cents.  It needed a minor repair to the bottom hem - took me all of 2 minutes to sew that up, and now I have a new workout top for almost no money.  Yeah, I'm rambling again, but I definitely don't do designer stuff!  I don't need overpriced crap that someone else dictates as being fashionable when I can get really cute stuff on a shoestring budget and rework it if need be.  

Update 10/8/13:  My body didn't like what I had for dinner last night (stuffed shells - there was mostly goat cheese in it which is safe for me, but there was a bit of regular ricotta and there were also mushrooms which can be iffy).  I had quite a bit of cramping and d last night, and then I couldn't sleep hardly at all for most of the night.  I think the steroids are preventing me from falling/staying asleep.  I might take a sleeping pill tonight as I really need sleep!

So I'm thinking today is a rest day and that I'm going to try to go to bed early tonight.  I hope to hit the gym again tomorrow.  Not sure about Thurs, would like to do weights Fri, maybe a bike ride Sat if the weather and my body are cooperative.


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## mccindy

One thing I miss is going to the gym.  I enjoyed being a member, and going there and working out on the 3 diffferent machines I used.  Probably wouldn't be much good to me now, as I can't work out nearly as long as I used to, but it was fun.  My elliptical at home is great and it is nice to be able to just do it at home and be done, but there is something about the experience of going to the gym that is just missing now.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I know what you mean, there's something about the gym atmosphere.  I know when I put on my workout clothes, I feel like I'm putting on a work uniform.  And when I go to the gym, I'm all business - something about the atmosphere and the clothes, it just puts me in the mindset that I have to work hard now and make myself sweat!  I don't get in that mindset as much when I work out at home.  I'm still wearing the clothes, but I'm at my house with all the distractions of home.  So sometimes when I'm going to do a workout at home, my pets get in the way (my cat and dog both feel the need to plop down on my yoga mat at inopportune times) or I feel like I want to throw some laundry in the washer first or stuff like that - a million little distractions to take my mind off the job I have to do.  And when I go to the gym, there aren't any distractions like that.  It's just me and my music and my workout!  I purposely keep the distracting stuff away - I tend to work out by myself (sometimes hubby comes with but he's not a distraction, he does his own thing and I do mine and we basically do not talk at all during workouts), I leave my phone in my locker, etc.  The only thing I have in hand are my ipod, my water bottle, and my towel to wipe the machines down when I'm done using them.  I hate going to the gym and seeing people who are chatting with their friends or playing with their phones rather than doing any actual exercise!  The gym only contains distractions if you bring distractions with you, and I try to leave all that stuff at home.  

Sorry, that was a ramble!  What machines did you use when you were going to the gym?  I think in the past you've mentioned the Arc trainer?  I love that one, I use it to warm up before doing weights.  I try to do at least 10 minutes, and I set it on a pretty high setting.  It's tough and it gets me nice and sweaty and out of breath, so I'm all warmed up for weights!

One thought for you - I belong to a gym called Planet Fitness, it's a chain of low-cost gyms.  The reason I joined that gym is because it's only $10 a month, and it's open & staffed 24/7.  If you're tempted to join a gym again, and if there's a PF near you, it might be worth looking into.  It's not a fancy gym, no pool or anything like that, mainly just cardio & weight machines and that's about it (that's all I really need in a gym though!).  Anyway, just a thought for you.


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## mccindy

Cat, you and I would be great workout buddies, because we feel exactly the same way about our working out!  YOu are right, the workout clothes feel like a uniform at the gym.  I would have just my water bottle, towel and my Kindle and just get into the groove of working out.  Those chatty clusters used to drive me bananas.    When I'm at home and I put on the clothes it's not quite the same, and I do have the habit of finding some little task I need to do before I jump on the elliptical.  And the dogs... yep they can be a big distraction.
I used the Arc trainer for 20-30 minutes, then the elliptical for 20-30 minutes, then the stair climber for 20 -30 minutes.  Man I miss that routine.  The Arc trainer was definitely my favorite because it was so tough and a great warmup.  The other two machines seemed easy after starting out on that one!
One thing I found that sucked about moving from a city to a smaller, more isolated town is access.  There are a couple of gyms in town but they aren't as nice as what I had access to back in Wisconsin.  I'm thinking though, that when I am able to get back to the point where I can workout for a good long amount of time again, I might check into them.  Your Planet Fitnes sounds awesome and right up my alley.  Wish we had one here.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

We would totally be good workout buddies, Cindy!    Do you try to keep your dogs out of the room when you're on the elliptical?  I just have a stationary bike at home, and I have to keep my pets out of the room when I'm on the bike - if I let them in the room, they try to sit right next to the bike - my dog especially - and then they get bonked with the pedals.  So my cat knows to stay out, she doesn't care too much, but my dog gets so sad about it.  She sits in the doorway and gives me the saddest look ever and just sighs and sighs.  She gets upset when I take my real bike out, too - she apparently really wants to come with me, but she's too big to ride in my basket and she's just not a runner (she's a corgi, so very short legs plus she's kind of fat) so she can't run alongside my bike either.  I'm actually thinking of getting one of those pull-behind kid carrier things for my bike so I can stick my dog in it and take her along on bike rides!    I realize that's very silly, and those things are crazy expensive (like $300 for a used one!) so that probably won't actually be happening.

Yeah, I hate when there are chatty groups at the gym.  There's this one guy I see at the gym regularly - when he's with his friends, all they do is talk, talk, talk.  In fact I had to shoot the guy a death glare once when he was chatting with his friends but then claimed to be "using" a machine I had just hopped on - funny how you can use a machine while standing 6 feet away from it and having a half hour conversation while doing zero exercise!    But recently, I saw this same guy by himself - and he actually did a proper workout!  He'd be in great shape if he just ditched his friends while at the gym.  I'm all for having friends, but there's a time and a place to have a conversation.  At the gym (and at the movie theater too) is not that place!

Speaking of the gym, I'm going tonight.  I feel quite good today - I finally slept well, I'm feeling okay overall, not having hip pain and the guts feel pretty good too.  The reflux will be the one big question mark, is it going to behave during today's workout or will it continue to be worse than usual?  I'm going to take extra reflux meds ahead of time just to be safe.  And if it is bad during my workout, then I'll adjust accordingly (meaning I'll probably skip the abdominals machine).


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## mccindy

My dogs did finally learn (after getting bonked a few times by the elliptical foot pedals) to stay away.  They usually play with each other, or lay on their dog pillow I put in the corner.  The only annoying thing is that as soon as I stop the machine they both jump up and run over and try to lick the sweat off of my legs!  weirdos.    Not something that you usually have to worry about at the gym!
I have sent a few death glares about during workouts at the gym.  I used to have to crank my iPod because a couple of ladies would invariably jump on machines next to me and then move slowly on the machines while loudly chatting.  So distracting!  I guess that is one thing I don't miss. I really like to get into the zone with my Kindle and lose myself in the workout.  
I hope the reflux stays down for you tonight and you are able to get in a really good workout!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I crank my ipod too when I'm at PF.  There's a lot of noise there, from the radio playing in the overhead speakers, from people talking, from the machines, etc.  When a lot of the treadmills are running, that's a lot of noise by itself!  And weeknights can be really busy there so it can get noisy.  I like going there on the weekends because it's usually pretty empty and quiet!  I guess a lot of people like to go to the gym after work but not so much on a Saturday afternoon.  Friday nights are usually pretty quiet too.  So I try to go when it's quiet, but that doesn't always happen.  I'm expecting it to be pretty busy there tonight but I'll deal with it.  I hate having to wait for a machine I want to use, so that's my big qualm - if somebody parks themself on a machine and just sits there texting or whatever, that's a massive pet peeve!  I can't use the machine because some idiot thinks it's a chair.  

That kind of stuff is why I like working out in the little gym in the basement of my workplace - there's hardly ever anyone else there and I can do exactly what I want without other people cramping my style, and I can crank my music up loud (I usually pop in music DVDs, so I use the TV's speakers to rock out during my workout).  The downside of the little gym is, it's only open during work hours (so I can't head in to work on a Saturday for a workout) and it's really small, only 8 weight machines, 2 treadmills, and 1 stationary bike.  No arc trainer, no elliptical, and not many weight machines.  PF is a huge gym and I can go anytime I want, lots and lots of machines, but the downside is I have to play nice and share with others.  Hmm, oh well.


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## mccindy

Hey guys, just thought I'd drop in and share that this morning I finally made it to 30 minutes on my elliptical!  Yeah! :dance:  Felt so good to make it that far!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yay Cindy!    You rock!  I saw on your caringbridge page that you're back to working 8 hour days again too?  Sounds like you're doing great and getting your energy back!

Update 10/10/13:  I hit the gym last night - it was super busy, so many people.  I had to wait ages to use the assisted chin-up bar.  I had a good amount of energy but the reflux was worse than it ususally is - this seems to be a new pattern with me since the steroid injections into my hip 2 weeks ago.  I even took extra reflux meds beforehand - I popped a 20 mg Prilosec in addition to my usual 300 mg Zantac and 10 Tums.  All those meds and I was still refluxing off the charts!  It was so bad, by the time I was done with weights and went to stretch, I had to keep drinking water to try to get the stuff coming up my throat to go back down.  I'd do one stretch, take a gulp of water, do another stretch, stop halfway through and drink more water, etc.  It was bad!  I got through my whole workout, but it was not pretty.

I slept well last night, but woke up with a little headache that's gradually gotten worse throughout the course of the day.  I was thinking about going down to the gym on my lunch and riding the stationary bike for a half hour, but now I don't know if that's wise.  Will it make my headache worse or better?  And will my reflux go absolutely nutso?  I'm still thinking of trying - I know I need more cardio, and I felt great while warming up on the arc trainer last night.  So I don't know, I'm not even sure where this headache came from - the weather is stable  and not rainy (so not a barometric pressure headache), I haven't had any caffeine, I didn't eat anything weird, I slept fine, I'm not dehydrated.  It's not a migraine and it doesn't quite feel like a sinus headache so I don't think it's related to my allergies - I hate when I can't figure things out!  At any rate, when I get a headache, nothing usually stops it - tylenol does nothing and I can't take NSAIDs, so I just have to deal with it.  I suppose exercise probably won't make it worse, right?  Could help?  I'm very tempted to give it a try.


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## mccindy

Hey, Cat.  It's quite possible that working out will make the headache go away.  It might get a little worse right at first as your blood pressure rises, but the endorphins released by the workout will probably give you some relief. You might just have slept in a funny position that brought it on, and working out might relieve some muscle tension and make it better too.

I am glad to have more energy these days!  Every week it's a little bit better.  By the end of the month I'm anticipating being back full time with no more limitations!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Cindy - this headache is still a mystery.  I got hit with a massive wave of nausea about 30 mins before I hit the gym.  Took some Zofran and stool softeners (since Zofran tends to constipate me), plus my usual Zantac and Tums.  I felt like I was popping so many pills!  Got it under control enough to get down to the gym.  As soon as I put my gym clothes on, I felt better.  Must be psychological, but I swear the headache eased somewhat and the last of the nausea left as I was changing into my gym clothes.  So I rode the stationary bike for 30 mins, got nice & sweaty, then did a little stretching and walking to cool down.  As soon as my body was cooling down, I could feel my guts cramp up and the headache come pounding back stronger.  I guess I just need to always be exercising and in my gym clothes and then I'll be fine!    The guts are a little wonky still, mostly I just have no appetite right now, and the headache is back to about where it was before I hit the gym.  Well, I tried!  And at least I got a good quickie workout in!

Speaking of no appetite, I am having a hard time with my weight lately.  I had lost a couple lbs when I did colonoscopy prep back in August, and it took quite awhile for me to be able to gain it back.  Well, with the nausea and low appetite etc that I've been having lately thanks to the steroid injections, I weighed myself in the gym today and it looks like I'm down about 3 lbs.  Great, now I get to try to gain that back and not lose any more.  On a somewhat humorous note, this is the first time I've ever lost weight while on steroid treatment!    I gained about 25 lbs when I was on Entocort, so this is ridiculous.

My potassium levels are a bit lower than usual too.  I don't even need to have bloodwork done to tell me that, I can tell by my toes & feet cramping.  My potassium is usually borderline, and if it drops too low then my toes & feet cramp up which is both annoying and somewhat painful.  I had been doing pretty well up until the steroid injections - I hadn't had toe/foot cramps in quite awhile.  But recently I've had them often, particularly when I'm working out (sweating seems to make my potassium drop a little bit, so if it's borderline, then sweating can make it drop too low and trigger the cramps).  I had a massive foot cramp last night after lifting weights - it was my left foot though, so at least I could drive home safely as it wasn't my driving foot.  Today just a little bit of toe cramping after riding the bike, I got it under control with a bit of stretching.  Oh, and yes I am eating high-potassium foods - I blend a banana into my breakfast smoothie every morning, and I try to eat sweet potatoes as often as I can too.  So my potassium is low in spite of me trying to get it in dietary form - maybe I need to look into getting a supplement.


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## Jison0612

I love this guys!! I want my energy back and I know exercise and healthy eating is the only way to go!! I'm starting tonight with a good walk/jog tonight for about 30minutes then some stretching I'm gonna get in a good routine of this for about a week then start factoring in some weights what kinda supplements would u guys suggest for a chronie needing energy daily without drinking a ton of coffee!! I'm willing to try any of them.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hi Jison, as for supplements, have you had any bloodwork done lately?  I would say just check on your vitamin levels.  If you're low on things like vitamin D, B12, iron, then supplementing those might help your energy levels.  Otherwise, just make sure to try to eat something with protein (lean meat, poultry, eggs, etc) right after a workout as that will help your muscles recover faster.  Good luck!

Update 10/11/13:  I'm doing slightly better than yesterday - headache is still lingering but is a little better than it was.  I took some tylenol PM last night which helped me sleep and I think it took a bit of the edge off the headache.  I'm not nauseous so far today - guts were really rumbly last night but have quieted down, but I don't trust that my guts will stay quiet.  In spite of me sleeping well, I feel pretty exhausted this morning.  So I'm feeling so-so, better than I was but not great.

If things stay relatively calm with my tummy and my headache then I'm going to hit the gym tonight.  I don't know how much I'll be able to do, but I'll give it my all.  I was kind of hoping to do a bike ride tomorrow, but it'll all depend on how I'm feeling and on the weather (there's a 40% chance of thunderstorms).  So I may end up taking a rest day on Saturday instead.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/12/13:  I was so exhausted yesterday evening that I just could not envision myself going to the gym.  I slept about 10 hours last night and woke up with the same headache, now in day 3, and still felt kind of exhausted.  I decided to try to go to the gym anyway.  It was rough - I didn't have much energy and felt constantly out of breath, but at least my reflux was finally quiet!  So I made it through, it was tough but I did it.  My dog is antsy so I think I might take her on a quick walk soon.  I'm sure doing a lot today for someone with not much energy!    But hubby is working so he can't walk her, and I feel bad if my dog is cooped up in the house all day with no stimulation and no exercise - that's totally unfair to her.  So, we're going walkies.  The weather is nice for now - it was raining this morning but it's sunny out right now, so good walking weather.


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## mccindy

Cat-  maybe if the headache continues, it's time for the doc?  Never hurts to get it checked out.   I know peeps like us hate going to the doctor since we have to go so often, but don't wait if the headache doesn't go away.  Sorry that it came back after the workout.  I tend to have low potassium too, with foot cramping after workouts.

Hope the walk went good for you, it's not too bad of a day in our part of the world.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I think the workout and the walk blitzed the headache.  I noticed while on the walk with my dog that I felt pretty good and my head wasn't throbbing anymore.  Not sure if it was the fresh air or the exercise or what, but hopefully it won't be back!  This sometimes happens, the Amitriptyline that I'm on prevents most of my headaches & migraines, but the ones that manage to slip through anyway usually turn out to be doozies and can last for days.  So I don't get headaches very often, but the ones I do get are pretty awful.  

(I never ever got migraines up until this presumed IBD came along, so I have to assume the two are related in some way, and so I think this headache came about because my stomach has been messed up lately thanks to the steroid injections.  Just my guess though.)

Yeah, the weather is pretty nice today!  Rainy in the morning but it became nice & sunny this afternoon, and I think it was in the upper 60s when I walked the dog.  I didn't need a jacket, I was just wearing a fairly thin sweater, and I rolled up my sleeves during the walk as I was getting a little bit warm.  My dog seemed to have fun too, she likes the cooler weather so it was probably a bit too warm for her, but she had a good time nonetheless.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/14/13:  Had a rest day yesterday - didn't do anything but lie on the couch and veg out!  I meant to be more productive, really.  It didn't happen though.  At least the headache has stayed away!

I'm feeling pretty okay today.  A bit tired and my reflux is bothering me somewhat (woke up with a sore throat, which happens when I've been refluxing in my sleep).  Going to head to the gym tonight, hopefully the reflux will be quiet and my energy level will be okay.  I never quite know what to expect of my body when I head into the gym, so we'll see what happens tonight!


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## hawkeye

Ever try Tylenol Headache (Tylenol with caffeine)?  I've tried it a few times for bad headaches.

Is today (Monday - Columbus Day) a holiday there for everyone? It's Thanksgiving here so a long weekend for us.


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## mccindy

sadly, it is a holiday here as it is "Columbus Day".  I'm one of many here who is ready to abolish a holiday celebrating the man who practically single handedly established the Atlantic Slave Trade.  Nobody really gets the day off except for mailmen.

Cat, sometimes a rest day is a good thing!  I overdid it yesterday and torqued my back a bit.  I'm also having some trouble finding my appetite lately.  I don't know if it's a physical thing, or if it's because I'm tired of the about seven things I can actually eat these days.  
Still managed to hit the elliptical this morning so that was a good thing!  After a super busy day at work, I'm exhausted though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, I can't handle caffeine at all anymore unfortunately - it triggers migraines for me, so it would make a bad situation even worse!  I have sinus issues and most of my headaches end up affecting my sinuses even if it doesn't start out as a sinus headache - so as a result, sometimes Tylenol Sinus helps.

I believe today is a federal holiday here, meaning places like the Post Office is closed - but most businesses stay open and most people still have to work.  Happy Thanksgiving to you!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I have similar thoughts on Columbus Day - and on (American) Thanksgiving too.  As a descendant of a couple of Mayflower Pilgrims, I think it's cool that my ancestors survived the journey and that I can trace my lineage back to famous historical people.  But on the other hand, I totally hate just about everything they did (the "real" Thanksiving did NOT involve inviting friendly Indians to a feast, it was more along the lines of, the Pilgrims likely found a cache of food that the Indians had stored, and they stole the cache of food which got them through that first rough winter).  So yeah, I know what you mean about celebrating very iffy history like that - it's not really anything to be proud of or to celebrate.

Update 10/15/13:  I finally had a really good workout last night!  Went to the gym, and did really well both with my energy levels and my reflux.  I had enough energy to do the things I wanted to without feeling like I might die, and the reflux stayed relatively quiet (or at least it was on par with how it typically has been before I got the steroid injections).  As I was changing back into my regular clothes and leaving the gym, I kept thinking how great I felt!    I haven't had a workout like that in awhile, and I really neeed that!

We haven't turned the furnace on in our house yet, but it's starting to get really chilly at night (lows in the 40s and soon to be in the 30s, brr!).  So I decided last night to put my brand new electric blanket on the bed.  It works great - I have a hard time sleeping if I'm cold, and it felt so chilly in my house last night that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep.  The electric blanket fortunately let me get a great night's sleep.  So I'm feeling pretty well today - it's raining right now so my bad hip is aching, but otherwise I feel quite good.  I had a good workout and a good night's sleep, can't ask for much more than that!

I'm thinking I'm going to hit the exercise bike this afternoon.  I want to do as much exercise as I can while I'm having a good day, and some cardio sounds appealing.  So that's the plan.  Will hit the gym for weights again tomorrow, and I'm hoping to have another good day.


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> We haven't turned the furnace on in our house yet, but it's starting to get really chilly at night (lows in the 40s and soon to be in the 30s, brr!).  So I decided last night to put my brand new electric blanket on the bed.  It works great - I have a hard time sleeping if I'm cold, and it felt so chilly in my house last night that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to sleep.  The electric blanket fortunately let me get a great night's sleep.  So I'm feeling pretty well today - it's raining right now so my bad hip is aching, but otherwise I feel quite good.  I had a good workout and a good night's sleep, can't ask for much more than that!


No heat turned on here yet either.  It would be nice if I could get another couple of weeks to say we made it to November.


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## mccindy

Hey all,
I'm a big baby and always cold, so I've had the heat on for a couple of days!  My hubs didn't know so yesterday he was like, "if it stays ok for the next couple weeks we'll hold out but if it gets colder maybe we'll turn the heat on".  I was just looking at him, not saying anything and he looks over at the thermostat, and says, "oh, I see you've already turned it on!"  We had a good laugh about that.  
Cat,  when it comes to Thanksgiving and Christmas, I pretty much just view them as family days.  I'm not Christian so Christmas is just a great time to get the whole family together, have some fun and exchange gifts to let each other know how much we care. Plus I really enjoy finding just the right gift for each person.  Honestly if I were to celebrate it as more than that I would celebrate it as the Pagan holiday it was originally.    I'm not trying to offend anyone, I respect the religious beliefs of everyone!  I tend to definitely feel on the side of the Native Americans when it comes to Columbus Day and Thanksgiving, because the European settlers did kill over 98% of the existing Native population after settling here and it really is awful to celebrate things like the genocide of several nations, as well as the slave trade.  

So glad, Cat, that you're feeling so good.  Workouts and good sleep, what an awesome combination!  I made it to 30 minutes on my elliptical this morning, and yesterday and today I noticed just how much stronger I'm feeling than I was even a month ago.  so yay me!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha ha, Cindy!  I'm usually like that too, but this year I've decided to try to tough it out a bit longer before turning on the furnace.  I'm utilizing blankets, electric blankets, fuzzy slippers, big sweaters, etc.  And exercise of course gets my blood moving and warms me up too, so if I'm really cold, I'll do a few push-ups or squats which helps a bit.

No worries about offending, I'm an atheist and my hubby is too.  We celebrate most holidays, but like you said it's more about family & tradition than it is about anything to do with religion.  I like seeing my nieces & nephews on xmas (I have a brand new niece in fact, she'll be 1 week old tomorrow!).  And I like seeing my grandparents on Thanksgiving (my grandpa "died" the day before Thanksgiving 7 years ago - he went into cardiac arrest and was technically dead for a few minutes, no pulse and no breathing - he got defibrillated and was resuscitated and is still alive, so I really am thankful for him each Thanksgiving).

Update 10/16/13:  I did the stationary bike for 30 mins yesterday, and I felt mostly good - my left knee was pretty painful during & after my ride though.  My left knee usually gives me trouble on bike rides, but it usually waits until I've been riding for 45 mins or so to start hurting.  It started aching around 20 mins in this time, not good.  Maybe it's just because I haven't been doing the bike so often, I'm not used to it.  I'm definitely NOT going to get a steroid shot in that knee, so I guess I just have to either work around the knee pain or deal with it or whatever!

Headed to the gym tonight for weights.  Rest day tomorrow I think, or maybe yoga.  Weights Friday, Saturday not sure, and Sunday I'm heading out of town to visit my parents and grandparents.  I might need a good gym session after that stressfulness, as my grandma has been having some mental decline and anger issues lately (we're suspecting she's in the early stages of Alzheimer's).  So possibly gym Sunday evening.  That's my plan for the week so far!  I kind of want to do a bike ride outside on Saturday, but it's supposed to be quite cold (high temp is something like 48 degrees, brr!) so I don't know if that'll happen.  Bike riding outside may just be done for now until springtime rolls around!


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## mccindy

congrats on the new niece!  that's exciting.  And thanskgiving certainly does have a special meaning for you with your grandpa, doesn't it?  Personally I think the world would be a better place if holidays were made to be about family and friends and not about heritage or history or religion.

Hang in there on the knee, maybe it was just from a funny position or sleeping wrong!  I'll keep my fingers crossed that it improves.  have fun with your weights, I know that's your favorite thing to do!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, for the longest time I hated Thanksgiving because one of my best friends died just before Thanksgiving in 1998, and then because of my grandpa too (I literally was in the shower that morning trying to tell myself that I shouldn't hate Thanksgiving, and then the phone rang and it was my grandpa saying he was in the hospital - yes, he called me himself right after his cardiac arrest!).  So I spent that Thanksgiving in the hospital and helping my grandma out (the cardiac arrest had happened in the airport, so I had to go get my grandparents' car and luggage).  I've just never had a really happy Thanksgiving because of stuff like that - I hate stuffing myself with food, and after those bad experiences with my friend and my grandpa, I feel like I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop.  And add in my "white guilt" about being a Mayflower descendant and it just adds up to Thanksgiving being my least favorite holiday.  So yeah, I celebrate most holidays, but oddly enough one of the least-religious holidays is also my least-favorite.  

I just remembered that I definitely need to take a rest day tomorrow - because I'm getting my flu shot tomorrow morning!  My arm is always so sore after getting my flu shot, so I'll be resting up and not doing anything physical for the rest of the day so that my arm can heal up.  Hopefully the arm is feeling up to lifting some weights on Friday!


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## Dexky

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> And add in my "white guilt" about being a Mayflower descendant and it just adds up to Thanksgiving being my least favorite holiday.


%$#^%&^!!!!  Oh just shut up Mark!!utahere:


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## mccindy

Cat-  ugh, those flu shots.  When I got mine my arm hurt enough to wake me up every time I rolled on that side!  I guess it's a much better alternative than getting the flu.

I've started doing some stretches/calf raises/squats every couple of hours at work.  I realized, now that I'm working full-time again, that I sit on my butt a lot every day without getting out of my chair!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha ha, Mark.    Cindy, I do that kind of stuff at work too - it's hard to sit all day!  A little bit of stretching or squats in my cube, or walking up and down the stairs for a few minutes and I'm refreshed and good to go.  

Got my flu shot, and yep, my arm is feeling pretty sore!  I get a flu shot every year and some years it's worse than others (I'm never sure, is it the vaccine itself or is it the way the nurse administers the shot, or is it a combination of both that causes that achiness?).  This year, not too bad so far.  Some acheyness but nothing awful.  If I feel like this tomorrow, I'll be okay to go lift weights.

The hip is not great today.  It's been rainy all morning (it's been rainy all week!) so the hip is acting up a bit.  Apparently the steroid shot did absolutely nothing for my hip pain because it's behaving just like it has for the past 3 years - aching more when it rains or snows.  Oh well, at least I know what to expect with it.  Hmph.


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## mccindy

It's the injection that causes the pain.  The needle really just makes a hole, but the injection of the medication actually makes a tear in the muscle itself.  This is what causes the pain.  Fortunately muscle tends to mend quickly so the discomfort only lasts a day or two.  

I'm not looking forward to the incoming weather we have here tonight and next wee (which will probably come right over to you, Cat).  Supposed to be rainy and (NOOO!) snowy.  When weather systems move through, the changes in barometric pressure cause havoc with my poor, still-healing skull and head.  I'm sure that's not helping your hip either Cat!  I've never been that much of a fan of steroid shots- they seem kind of hit or miss as to who they help.  I've probably had thirty of them in my back and they really haven't ever helped me at all.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, thanks for the info about the injection - that makes sense, I know that muscles heal quickly, as I've read that weight lifting essentially makes tiny tears in the muscles that then heal, and that tearing and healing process is what causes soreness after a workout.  So I'll just think of this as being like a little workout!    The arm is already feeling a bit better, so I think I'm on the mend.  Oh, and I feel for you - I get barometric pressure headaches too, and I can imagine it'd be a lot worse for someone who has had skull surgery!    That has to be awful.

Eek, no, not the "S" word!  I had checked the forecast this morning and it said sunny tomorrow, rain Saturday and sunny Sunday.  Nothing was said about snow!  So hopefully it will miss us or maybe it'll convert into rain?  But for the sake of your head, I hope the weather is nice and stable, no rain and no snow!

Speaking of the weather, the rain stopped and it got sunny out this afternoon!  My hip improved and so did my mood.  Went out shopping for a bit on my lunch break, and got some really cute new yoga pants.  They're robin's egg blue in color!  Maybe I'm boring for being excited by that, but pretty much all my other workout pants are either black or grey (I do own one red pair of workout pants, but they don't fit the best so they're like my "backup" pair in case all my other pants are in the laundry).  So yeah, bright blue is a new one for me, I'm going to have to figure out which of my workout tops look cute with blue.  The pants fit really well though, they seem to be very high quality, and they were a thrift store find so they were only $4.75.    Can't beat that!

I think I forgot to say earlier how my workout went yesterday.  It went quite well!  For the 2nd time in a row, my reflux stayed within its normal limits (not great, but not absolutely crazy either) and my energy level was good.  The gym was a bit busy, so I had to wait for a couple of machines I wanted to use.  (I just do other machines while I'm waiting for the desired one to open up, so I'm not just standing around waiting.)  The assisted-chin up bar was being hogged by this one guy, I've seen him before and he was hogging the same machine last time too!  He hogs that machine for literally 20 mins at a time, it's ridiculous.  And the guy is ridiculous too - he wears these icky shower sandals into the gym, and then he takes them off and walks around barefoot and does his workout while barefoot!  Eww!  Next time I see him barefoot, particularly if he's hogging the stupid chin-up machine again, I'm going to report him to the staff.  I think even sandals aren't allowed, I'm pretty sure athletic shoes are required.  But I'm sure bare feet cannot be allowed in the gym!  Hah, I'm tempted to walk past him and "accidentally" drop a weight on his bare feet.    I wouldn't actually do it of course, but I will report the jerk next time I see him with his icky bare feet.  The gym is gross enough with all the sweat and stuff, but bare feet are just a whole new level of gross.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/18/13:  Eek, October is flying by so fast!  And it's getting cold out, I've worn my wool coat the past couple days.  I wore a scarf this morning too!  Brrr.  The furnace still hasn't been turned on in my house, but I don't think I'm going to make it until November.  I will probably turn on the heat within the next few days.

Had a rest day yesterday because I had gotten the flu shot and I didn't want to put too much stress or strain on my sore arm.  The arm is doing a lot better today, it's barely sore at all.  So I'm going to go hit the gym for weights this afternoon, and I'm looking forward to it.  Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow - I was hoping to take a bike ride, but there's a 50% chance of rain, so the bike ride won't happen if the weather is bad.  I'll probably end up staying in and working on my Halloween costume tomorrow.  I might do yoga, or if there's a short break in the weather then I might get outside and do a bit of yard work (I need to trim down my lilac bush a bit more before winter hits, and this time of year there's always raking to be done!).


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## mccindy

Is it weird if I'm excited for you to get to the gym and do your weights?   
Weather wise - it was in the upper 30s last night here and rainy, they're saying by Monday the high will be 41 and it will rain that night and we could get a dusting of snow.    boo!  I'm thinking you're far enough south of us that you won't get the snow stuff, but stay warm enough for rain?  
Cool on your new workout pants.  Sometimes I have a hard time being brave and grabbing a bright color (other than light pink -I have a thing for light pink )  so kudos to you!  And it's so great to find pants that fit and feel great, like a little reward for yourself.  
I am going to use my last Halloween costume again this year, because we are going someplace different and no one there has seen it before!  So I will be a pirate again.  Hope it's not too cold, because it's kind of a short dress!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That's funny you always go for light pink - with clothing, my eye is always drawn to blue.  In fact one of my friends used to joke that I'm like Picasso because I'm going through my "blue period".    At one point about half my closet was blue!  I'm better now, I have many other colors in my closet besides blue, but my eye is still drawn to it.  Still, I didn't even know they made yoga pants in bright blue and I was a bit leary of buying such a bright color of pants!  But they are super cute and fit great, so I just need to build up a bit of confidence in order to be brave enough to wear them to the gym!  I've already figured out what to wear with them, too - I have a black workout tank with a built in bra, it's pretty plain but it has a flattering cut to it and fits well.  I think a plain black fitted tank with blue yoga pants could be so zazzy and cute!

Ha ha, maybe I get too excited about workout fashions, I'm such a girl.    My hubby owns 2 pairs of workout shorts, which I bought for him.  I got him a pair of grey shorts and a pair of black shorts.  Apparently grey is just too "out there" for him, because he only ever wears the black shorts to the gym.  He's worn the grey shorts around the house and that's it.  Good thing I didn't get him the navy shorts I was looking at, way too crazy for my fashion-backward hubby!    Ha ha.  Here I am thinking robin's egg blue is maybe a bit much for me, and grey is even too much for the hubby.


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## mccindy

Laughing here - sounds like your hubs is a lot like mine!  he usually goes for gray, black or white.  Every once in a while he'll get really crazy and wear brown.  I can get him into blue but it takes bribery and coercion!  
I tend to like gray and black myself, but throw in a dash of color (usually pink imagine that)  .   I do like blue sometimes because I have blue eyes and it does make them stand out a bit more!  I will not wear yellow at all, it makes me look funny with my skin tone.  Yep, kind of a girl myself too apparently!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I have brown eyes & brown hair, so there's not really a color that makes my eyes stand out (my hubby does have blue eyes, and the rare times he wears blue his eyes totally pop and look gorgeous, so I know what you mean!).  I am slowly going grey, so I tend to dye my hair darker reddish-brown (my natural hair color is light brown but I like darker browns better, they feel richer and warmer to me).  So with the hint of red that's usually in my hair, I feel like that contrasts in a very flattering way with blue.  I agree with you about yellow, I look terrible in yellow!  I don't look good in white either, it just doesn't work with my skin (I'm kind of tan and kind of peach and kind of pale - my skin doesn't really know what its doing, ha ha).  I don't really go for pink, but if I do I tend to go for fuchsia or coral pink, as I think those work best on me.  Blue, brown, grey, black, and purple are the main staples of my wardrobe color palette.  (I'm wearing a black & grey striped sweater right now!)  I know that those colors are fairly basic and neutral and boring, so lately I've been trying to zazz up my (non-workout) wardrobe with accessories.  Big blingy costume jewelry rings or statement necklaces are my thing lately.  I get lots of compliments, especially on my rings, so I think "operation zazzy accessories" is going well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Okay, so it's a good thing I've been buying more workout clothes!  I just got back from the gym.  As I was getting ready to go to the gym, I reached into my gym bag to grab a sports bra.  I tried to put it on, but the elastic totally gave out!  It gave that sad ripping dying elastic sound and did not spring back.  Good thing I had other sports bras in my bag!  

Other than that, I had a good workout.  I felt fine - my sore arm that had the flu shot didn't bother me one bit.  I tried jogging just a little.  I walked for a minute, jogged for 90 seconds, walked for a minute, jogged another 90 seconds.  That was my warm-up.  The hip doesn't feel too angry about that, yet anyway.  I tried to do some leg-lifts near the end of my workout, and my right leg was noticeably weaker than the left (my right hip is the bad one that had the injections).  So I'm not sure what's up with that.  I know corticosteroids can weaken muscles, so maybe this is still fallout from the injections?  It didn't hurt, it was just weak and shaky - the left leg felt strong and steady by comparison.  Hmmm.


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## mccindy

That ripping sound is a sad one, isn't it?  I realized I need to buy more sports bras when I was hunting for them and only found one that has hooks in it that are falling out!  Time for some good new stretchy ones.  
Your weakness could be from the steroids.  Also remember that with the pain you've been favoring some for a while and that can cause weakness too.    Keep working on it and rebuilding, it should come back in a week or so.  
I had lots of houseguests over the weekend so I took two days off of working out - probably shouldn't have as my back was unhappy, but the good side of it is that  I didn't lose any weight, since my appetite is still off.  This morning was a feeling-good half hour of elliptical work and I didn't feel exhausted when I got off of the machine.  I've been so tired by nine at night I've been falling asleep in a room full of people.  It's all part of gaining my stamina back, I'm sure.  The last two weeks have had a marked improvement so hopefully in a couple of weeks I'll be feeling stronger and almost back to normal.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a busy weekend too so I also ended up not making it to the gym.  The hubby worked Saturday, so I spent the day doing stuff around the house & running errands.  Went across town to buy hubby some hot melt glue sticks at the place that carries them cheap, only to find out that they're all out!  Went and bought pumpkins too, because it's that time of year and I freaking love Halloween.    Worked on my costume a bunch too and made some good progress.  Made dinner and walked the dog also - busy busy!

Then yesterday I went to visit with my grandparents.  My grandma is starting to suffer from dementia or maybe Alzheimer's and her memory is bad and sometimes her moods go a little crazy.  My grandpa is really sick and is in a wheelchair.  They're both falling apart and it's hard to see them like that.  Seeing them and the rest of my family, plus the 90 min drive each way, made me pretty tired so I ended up just sitting on the couch and watching movies for the rest of the evening once I got home.

Going to the gym tonight for sure.  Going Wednesday and Friday too.  Saturday, we're heading downtown in costume for the huge Halloween street party that takes place in my city every year.  The hubby and I are costuming afficionados, we try to make cool costumes every year.  Going downtown is always exhausting to me - walking around outside for hours in 30ish degree temps makes my joints hurt.  We usually duck in a coffee shop to warm up at least once during the evening, so drinking hot chocolate and then going back outside into the cold can sometimes screw up my guts with all the wacky temperature changes.  Still, it's fun to "wow" people with our costumes and it's also fun to see other people who have put a lot of thought and effort into their costumes, and I wouldn't miss it for the world.  So I'll suffer a bit on Saturday night and will likely spend Sunday recovering!


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## mccindy

I've heard crazy things about Madtown and the Halloween craziness that happens there!  Sounds like you'll have a lot of fun.  We are also planning on coming back to WI for Halloween, to our old stomping grounds.  It'll be a late night so Sunday will totally be a rest day for me as well.  But it will be fun to dress up and see our old friends again so it will be worth it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, fortunately the Halloween madness has been somewhat better here since about 2007.  Prior to then, people would run wild in the streets all night, the drunks would go crazy, there were riots, people breaking windows and lighting things on fire, police in riot gear spraying people with pepper spray, it was just insane!  (For the record, hubby and I do not touch alcohol when we go downtown in costume, and we leave before midnight as the crowd gets too drunk and rowdy the later it gets.)  In about 2007, they started fencing off downtown, only letting people in if they had bought a ticket, they put people through metal detectors and didn't allow in anything remotely weapon-like (even pink plastic swords get confiscated), arresting anyone causing trouble and throwing lots of people in the drunk tank, and they shut things down at about 1 AM and start making people leave the area.  That has put a stop to the rioting and mayhem, although the crowd still gets a bit too drunk and rowdy for my liking.  I'm rambling but I've got a much longer Halloween thread with links to photos here:
http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=22552

I'm heading to the gym in about an hour.  Can't wait!  Not brave enough to wear the blue workout pants just yet - I'm thinking, I have the day off work on Friday (so that I can do last-minute costume work if needed), and I'm going to go hit the gym around lunchtime on Friday.  I think it'll be nice and quiet in the gym at lunchtime on a weekday.  So I think I'll wear the blue pants then, as there shouldn't be many people there to see me and I'll feel less self-conscious.


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## mccindy

Hope the gym went well!  I know you will look good in those pants  - at least if it's a quiet time at the gym you won't feel so self-conscious, and then after that it'll feel easier to wear them?  I know at my last gym there were a couple girls that wore neon green and pink stuff and halfway through their run would strip off overshirts and just run in their sports bra.  Seriously!  Looking for some attention, apparently?  silly girls  -I just usually became a sweaty mess so I didn't worry too much about how I looked or who in the heck would be looking!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ack, I was writing a longer post and then lost it!  Here's the short version:

I did have a good workout last night, felt great, had lots of energy and the reflux was fairly quiet.  Guts aren't great though and I think I'm coming down with a cold.  I've felt sniffly and had messed up sinuses for a couple days now, and my guts became unhappy last night.  My guts usually act up more whenever I catch a cold/virus.  I was thinking my allergies were just going nuts, until the guts started acting up too.  So it's looking like I have a cold, bleh.  Hopefully it goes away by Saturday!  The good news is, I can work out just fine with a cold as I did great last night.  So I should be okay to go to the Halloween fun on Saturday too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Bleh.  Earlier today I was thinking of going and riding the stationary bike for a bit, but some fatigue & nausea has settled in now so I'm thinking I should take a rest day instead.  I definitely have a cold or something along those lines - the sad part is, I only feel sniffly and a tiny bit headachey, the cold itself isn't so bad.  The gut symptoms however are starting to really annoy me!  Guts are still bad, stools are totally unformed and full of mucus, and some gut cramps too.  A bit of nausea, my face has gone a bit pale, appetite is all messed up, and I'm feeling pretty exhausted.  And I'm a bit chilled too which also sometimes happens when I get gut symptoms.    Just lovely.  I want to go to the gym tomorrow but I will have to see how I'm feeling.  I hate skipping a gym session, but I know at times like this I need to let my body rest and recover, rather than push it too much.  That's frustrating though!  Well, hopefully I'll be feeling at least somewhat better tomorrow and will be able to make it to the gym anyway.  Gotta stay positive!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Sorry you are feeling bad cat


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks LMV.  Unfortunately I'm still feeling pretty icky today too, so I'm going to have to skip the gym.  I was so nauseous earlier this morning that I had to take 2 Zofrans just to be able to get my breakfast smoothie down.  I'm feeling exhausted and still having mucusy d too.  (The cold part is fine, I'm a bit sniffly and coughing a tiny bit but it's barely even bothersome - the gastro symptoms are really crappy though!)  I just need to rest and get better, so sadly the gym is not happening today.  I may attempt some light yoga tomorrow if I'm feeling at all better to ease myself back into exercise, and I'm still hoping to go do weights on Friday.  If need be, I'll take another rest day tomorrow, but still holding out hope for Friday.  

And no matter how I'm feeling, I *will* go downtown in costume for the Halloween shindig on Saturday!  I may need to take a bunch of dayquil and zofran and whatever else to do it, but I absolutely refuse to miss my favorite holiday of the year.  2 years ago I went down to the Halloween street party while I had bronchitis, and my costume that year was not warm (I was princess Belle in her yellow ball gown, so I had bare shoulders and only thin satin princess gloves on my arms).  That was not easy to do while I was sick and it was so cold out, but I still had lots of fun and looked awesome.  It's going to be really cold again this year - right now the weather report is saying 27 degrees for the overnight low temp (for those who do celsius, I know that 32 F is 0 C, so it'll be a bit below 0 C - brr!).  So, it'll suck, but I'm looking forward to resting up on Sunday.  And then next week, I only have to work Mon-Wed, and then I'm taking like 10 days off as I have to burn up some vacation days before the end of the year.  I'm totally looking forward to having a bunch of relaxing days off!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

So, I hate taking medicine for a cold.  I know I have to take meds for the IBD, that's never-ending, but a cold usually ends fairly quickly and I feel like I hate to take more meds and risk more side effects.  I hate taking acetaminophen because I already have liver issues, and of course I can't take NSAIDs.  But today I just couldn't stand the symptoms any longer, so I took some Dayquil (which contains acetaminophen plus some other stuff, but is not an NSAID).  And wow, I feel great now!  Still sniffly and a bit of a cough, but my nausea and fatigue pretty much went away.    It seems ridiculous to me that that worked so well.  I caught a cold, which made my guts angry, I took cold medicine, which didn't treat the cold symptoms, but did make my guts happier?  That's just silly.    But I'm glad it worked!

I still think it's probably wise to skip the gym tonight, as I know the medicine is probably just masking the symptoms and that resting is still the best course of action to actually get rid of this cold.

Oh, and this is random - but it just snowed here!    Nooo!  It was snowing quite heavily for a few minutes, and then the snow got lighter and fluffier and it was really pretty.  It's stopped now and it didn't stick or anything - and hey, my bad hip didn't hurt like it usually does before/during snow.  Maybe there wasn't enough snow to affect my hip, as it only snowed for like 5 mins, but maybe this is a good sign that the stupid steroid injections actually did me some good.  That's probably just wishful thinking, but it'd be nice to get some benefit out of all those annoying side effects!


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Oh, and this is random - but it just snowed here!    Nooo!


Nooooo exactly, they mentioned snow on one of the weather forecasts here last night and on the radio this morning.  Almost time to get the snow tires on.

The cold is going through our house too, but I have managed to avoid it so far.....knock on wood.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, the snow here took everyone completely by surprise, no mention of it in the weather reports!  The weather report only said 30% chance of rain, it said nothing about snow.  I looked out the window this afternoon and saw it was suddenly snowing rather heavily!  That was a shock.  Fortunately it didn't last long, and it didn't stick either.  It seemed way too early in the season for it to snow like that though.  It's not even Halloween yet, usually there's not snow at least until after my birthday (which is in early November).


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## AlliRuns

Snow?! What! I'm not ready for winter yet.

For colds, if there is a David's Tea near you, try the organic cold 911 tea. It's amazing. You can also buy it online.


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

No snow! lol, Its still 16C here!

I don't fancy it getting cold!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Alli, I'll look into that tea - haven't heard of it before but it sounds intriguing. Offhand, do you know if it's caffeine-free or not?  I can't do caffeine at all (even "decaf" tea contains some caffeine, and it's enough to trigger my migraines - there's apparently a big difference between "decaf" and true "caffeine-free"!).

I'm feeling somewhat better today.  Stiff a bit sniffly, and guts are still a bit wonky, but feeling better than I have been the past few days.  Not nauseous and got some pep back in my step and feeling just generally more human.  Seems like the cold is on its way out!    So I'm planning to hit the gym tomorrow, and am looking forward to it.

So far no snow today, but the sky is overcast and it looks like it could snow if it wanted to!  I hope it doesn't!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/28/13:  Phew, I survived the Halloween madness!  We hit the gym Friday as planned, that went okay but my energy level wasn't great and it was a bit of a struggle.  Saturday, we went downtown in costume and walked all around.  It was quite cold and windy, but my costume kept me pretty warm so I felt okay.  Legs & hips got pretty tired, and we called it a night around 10:30.  I didn't sleep well and was pretty exhausted all day yesterday.  I mostly rested yesterday.  

I feel okay today, still a bit tired but not bad.  I think I'm going to do a quick cardio workout today.  I'm thinking mostly bike, but I'm tempted to try jogging a bit again too.  It went okay when I tried to jog a week or two ago, although I didn't jog much at all that day and I think I'm going to try to do a little more jogging today.  I did 3 mins last time, so I'm thinking 4 or 5 mins today.  I definitely want to ease into it, and if my hip hurts then I'll back right off.  But I have to try!  So I'll jog for my warm-up and then hit the bike for a bit.  Weights tomorrow, not sure about Wednesday.


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## mccindy

Hey, Cat.  I thought about you over the weekend, hoped all went well for you Saturday at the Madtown event!  Sounds like you had fun.
I did manage to get on my elliptical Saturday morning before we headed back to Wisconsin.  Glad I did because I think it helped my back, with the long car ride and then our adventures throughout the day.  We had fun at the various bars we went to, I had quite an interesting experience at one - but I'll document that further in the Undiagnosed feed.  Yesterday I was exhausted after our late night and driving back so I vegged.  
Back at it this morning, I do have to say I am really enjoying working out again finally!  Starting to feel strong and I'm not fighting to finish my half-hour.  I am thinking I'll have to stick with just that 1/2 hour because I'm struggling to keep weight on, what with my loss of appetite from the Keppra.  Over the weekend I dropped two pounds - back down to 134.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My weight's been iffy lately too.  My appetite seems to go away whenever anything happens - when I was having steroid side effects from the injections, no appetite.  And then I had a cold last week, and no appetite then either.  I've got my appetite back, for now.  I usually tend to scarf as much food as I can when I have an appetite and no nausea, because I don't know how long that's going to last!  So my weight normalizes when I am in scarf-mode, but it starts to drop when I have no appetite/am nauseous.  My "healthy" weight is about 136 (I'm 5'8") and I know a bit of weight gain is okay if I'm putting on muscle as opposed to fat or water retention or whatever - and likewise, weight loss worries me because I'm afraid I might be losing muscle mass.  I think right now I'm hovering just below my healthy weight (haven't weighed myself in a few days, but will do so when I go to the gym).  But yeah, I can relate to having no appetite.  Some days it's an uphill battle just to maintain my weight!

Blargh.  I'm feeling crampy!  (Any guys reading this may want to skip this paragraph!)  Remember last month, the steroid injections had messed with my menstrual cycle, and the result of that was that I had a very light period that barely lasted a couple days?  Well, it's making up for that this month!  It's much heavier and crampier than normal.  I usually start out with a light flow day and then have a couple heavy flow days, and then another light day and then it's done - that's almost always the pattern for me.  But it started today, and it started heavy right away!  Eek, not fun!  I'm still going to go do some cardio, hopefully that'll help me feel somewhat better.  I think I have a date with my heating pad tonight, too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ahhh.  I did 10 mins run/walk and 20 mins bike (and 5 mins stretch/cool down) and I feel much better!    That was exactly what I needed.  I think the jogging is going okay so far, too.  I did 1 min walk/2 min run, I did that 3x.  Felt pretty good - hip wasn't really hurting during and isn't really hurting now either (maybe the slightest twinge but nothing major at all).  In the past, my hip would start hurting while jogging and would continue to hurt for hours or even days afterwards.  So maybe the steroid injections did do some good for me after all!  I think it's still too soon to tell - but I'm encouraged to continue trying to jog.


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## AlliRuns

I don't think the cold 911 tea has caffeine.. But it's not avail right now. Winter teas are out next week, so should be available then. I love David's Tea!


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## mccindy

yay Cat!  I'm glad you're feeling better.  We must be pretty close to the same size.  I'm also 5'8" and 136 (most days).  
Your crampy post reminded me to be grateful again that I had a hysterectomy eight years ago!  I do NOT miss my period!  
Alli, I've never liked tea but I've found I love chai tea with soy.  Tasty


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/29/13:  I felt great during that cardio session yesterday, but today my stupid left knee hurts.  That's the same knee that always hurts when I ride the bike.  Hmph!  Well, I'm going to go do weights today anyway, I can do that regardless of how my knee feels.  I think tomorrow will be a rest day.  I'm taking some vacation days from work starting on Thursday, so I'm thinking I'll go do weights Thursday around lunchtime, so that I can get home in time to hand candy out to the cute little trick-or-treaters.   

Hopefully we get lots of trick-or-treaters this year - they're currently saying 70% chance of rain/thunderstorms, so if it's raining or storming then I may be stuck with a lot of candy!  I never know what to expect, one year we only had like 2 trick-or-treaters and another year we had like 50+ kids come to our door, so I always err on the side of buying a lot of candy as I don't want to run out.  The downside is, that's a lot of candy for hubby and I to eat or get rid of if we end up with most of it left at the end of the night!  And I can't eat a lot of candy, it doesn't do great things to my stomach.

I might not be on the forum much during my days off from work (I'll be off through Nov 10th).  I'm planning on doing a lot of stuff around the house which will keep me very active.  I need to clean and organize my craft room and catch up on a bunch of sewing projects that got pushed to the backburner while I was making my Halloween costume.  I need to organize my closet, take stuff to goodwill, and just do a lot of general cleaning and organizing and purging.  I come from a family of hoarders, and I try very hard not to be one myself, although admittedly I am a pack-rat (the difference is, I save useful things and try to be organized, rather than saving everything and piling it up everywhere!).  So, some of my time off will be spent doing that.  I'm also going to get out of the house and do fun stuff too, and will of course keep up on my workouts and also relax.  But, I may not be around the forum as much for the next little while, as I want to get away from the computer for awhile during my days off.  I'll still check in, but probably won't post as much.


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## mccindy

we will miss you Cat.  Have fun purging and cleaning and reorganizing!  (and working out)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Quick little update:  It's day 2 of my nice long stretch of vacation days.  I'm doing fine on exercise - hit the gym yesterday and pushed myself pretty hard, then took the dog on a nice long walk today.  But I'm having trouble with food & appetite.  I still don't have much appetite, and without a structured day like a workday, I find I just plain forget to eat!  On days I work, I've got everything on a set schedule.  I drink my smoothie when I get in to the office first thing in the morning, I drink my psyllium at 10 AM and have my snack at 11, etc.  Today I woke up, had my smoothie... and then forgot to eat anything for quite awhile.  It's 3 PM and I'm just eating lunch now!

I think part of the problem is that my hubby is working all day every day for the next little while (his boss is at a convention so he has to run the shop).  If he were home, I'd see him eating or we'd make lunch together or whatever.  Being by myself without structure to my day, I just plain forget about food!  There's so much else to do, and my appetite isn't great, so it doesn't occur to me that I haven't eaten all day or for quite awhile.  Not good - I see my GI on Monday and if my weight has dropped too much then he's going to get concerned, so I have to try to pig out over the weekend!    Yikes, I don't think that's going to go well.


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## mccindy

Hey, Cat.  That's a tough one.  I have the same issue since I lost my appetite a couple of months ago.  If we're busy I forget about eating.  My hubs isn't a great reminder either, he sometimes doesn't eat lunch at home if he had a lot for breakfast, and so  if he doesn't eat, I don't either.  Except in my case it leads to weight loss.  This is my hormonal week, so I'm bloated and breaking out, and I'm kind of waiting to see what happens after  I do that day of peeing constantly and getting back to my weight without the bloat.  I'm only at 137 with the water weight, usually I'm at or just over 140 with it, so I guess I usually gain 4-5 lbs with the water weight.  I haven't been able to eat much this week either  so I'm hoping that when I do dump the water weight I'm not sitting at 132 or something like that.  Probably will be because even with the bloat and water weight my belly is still flat.  That is not normal for me.  

Anyway, try to eat some goodies that agree with you this weekend and  beef up a bit!    Have a good time, been thinking about you and hoping you're having fun with your time off.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, unfortunately I think my weight issues are going to continue.    I ate a big dinner last night... then felt so sick I couldn't sleep, had a few episodes of d, including one with blood.  Finally got to bed around midnight and managed to sleep some, but still feel rather icky this morning.  I was hoping to get to the gym today - I put some new songs on my ipod and everything and was really excited to listen to them during my workout!  But it's looking like the gym may not happen.  I have zero appetite and am still kind of nauseous and I'm sure I'd be weak and rather worthless in the gym.  So my goal has shifted, I'm hoping to be able to walk the dog today at some point, and hoping to hit the gym tomorrow.  Bleh!  Not sure if it was from overeating or if I ate too much fat content or what, but my body totally hated me stuffing myself with dinner.  I haven't weighed myself but it's probably not going to be good when I see my GI on Monday.

This is one of the new songs I put on my Ipod, and it pretty much sums up my mood.  "Black" by G-dragon (featuring the adorable little Jennie Kim).  I may have listened to this song about 20 times last night - hey, if I can't sleep, I'm going to listen to the song I'm currently obsessed with!  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI7seBPTh5Q

This is the other song I put on my playlist.  Pretty much the polar opposite of the other song!  Same singer (& songwriter) though, G-dragon.  He's a versatile guy!  The very peppy and bouncy "Who You" by GD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pB95JrrT8w


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## AlliRuns

mccindy said:


> yay Cat!  I'm glad you're feeling better.  We must be pretty close to the same size.  I'm also 5'8" and 136 (most days).
> Your crampy post reminded me to be grateful again that I had a hysterectomy eight years ago!  I do NOT miss my period!
> Alli, I've never liked tea but I've found I love chai tea with soy.  Tasty


I love tea. I bought the entire winter collection at David's Tea today,.. Amazing!!!


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## hawkeye

Cat, did you turn the heat on in the house yet?  We had to break down last weekend and turn it on.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, we turned the heat on a little while ago.  It was just getting too cold in the house, even when I was wrapped up in blankets I was still chilly.  We have it set pretty low though to try to save a bit of money.

I'm feeling somewhat better today.  Had a rest day yesterday, didn't do much of anything.  Sat on the couch and crocheted and that was about it.  Today I've been much more ambitious, walked the dog and did a bit of raking in the yard, and did some sewing too.  Feeling okay, so I think I'm going to try to hit the gym tonight.  I know my legs won't be super strong since I already went out on a walk today, so I'm going to concentrate more on my arms.  I'm excited, whenever I feel crappy and can't go to the gym, I feel so lazy.  And then when I'm feeling better and can go work out again, I feel so excited, like I'm going to go see an old friend!


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## mccindy

Hi Alli, sounds like you had a great time  buying tea!  Since you bought the whole collection you'l have lots of days getting to choose which one to savor.  Enjoy!

Cat, hope the workout went well.  I skipped mine yesterday, due to dizziness and nausea, and ended up getting sick last night after dinner.  So much for those calories.... I didn't lose it all and didn't any pill pieces in there so hopefully I didn't lose my meds either.  I slept terribly last night also, I usually fall asleep and hardly move but last night I tossed and turned quite a bit.  Had some bad dreams too.  HOping today is a better day, I started it out with a workout on the elliptical, so that should help.  

We've had the heat on here for a couple of weeks, and now they're saying we have a WINTER STORM WATCH out for tomorrow night..... Yech!    Seriously, it's too early... although maybe it's our fault because we were hanging out Christmas lights on the front of the house yesterday.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, I didn't make it to the gym after all on Sunday evening.  I tried, but I just felt so exhausted and it seemed like I probably wouldn't be able to do much of anything at the gym.  So I went yesterday around lunchtime instead - and I was very low-energy and couldn't do a whole lot.    Had a GI appointment yesterday afternoon after my gym session, and he switched my meds up a little bit, but I asked if I could go back on Entocort to get this stupid flare over with already, but he said no to that for now.  I think I'd have more energy if I could get my guts fully under control, it's frustrating that my GI said no to Entocort when he knows it's a mild med and I've done well with it in the past.  He's having me stop amitriptyline and take nortriptyline instead for now, to see if that does anything.  I don't think it will, but I have to humor him I guess and maybe ask again at my next GI appt for Entocort, if things aren't better by then (I see him again in February).

Today I've been a bit better - walked my dog and then did some yard work.  Raked a bunch of leaves by myself, as hubby is at work.  That was a lot of work and I could tell my GERD wasn't super happy about it, but it's settled down now.  My GERD really, really dislikes when I rake or shovel - I guess it's the bending and the use of my core muscles?  But raking is such a good workout, I got really sweaty and tired!  Feel pretty good.  Hubby's at work all day and my birthday is tomorrow, so I'm thinking of pampering myself a bit today.  I have an episode of a Korean drama that I really want to watch, I have a box of hair dye, I have some mud mask for my face, and I've been wanting to paint my nails.  That plus a bubble bath and some hot chocolate sounds really nice!  I think I'll turn on my fireplace, light some candles, and settle in and pamper myself and relax.


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## mccindy

Cat, I hope you are enjoying your pampering day!  Picturing you with gunky hair and a muddy face and wet fingernails!    Sounds like fun, though,  I hope it's been very enjoyable for you!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Sounds like a lush day cat


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## mccindy

Hey there LMV, hope all's well with you.  I always smile when I see a post from you!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Aw thats sweet of you mccindy! I'm not too bad thank you. How are you?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/8/13:  I haven't updated in a few days so here's the quick recap.  Wednesday was my birthday and I did go to the gym that day (it IS my favorite place, after all!).  Had a nice workout and felt good, had a good amount of energy finally.  I had seen my GI on Monday and he switched me from amitriptyline to nortriptyline, but I'm not sure if that's the reason I finally had more energy during my workout.  At any rate, I had a good birthday.  

Thursday, hubby and I went down to Illinois for a bit of shopping and eating.  Went to see my favorite band (the Rock-afire Explosion) sing a few songs, ate some sushi, bought some cool stuff that we didn't really need.  Walked around quite a bit but mostly sat in the car driving there and back.  My body gets stiff and sore when I sit around too much, so I felt quite stiff after riding in the car for about 6 hours (3 hours each way).

Today, walked the dog and raked the yard, again.  (Our neighbor's tree keeps dumping its leaves in our yard!)  So I got a good bit of exercise there.  We had to run a lot of errands too and clean the house so I was mostly active.  But again, I also sat around a bit.  The hubby dragged me to go see the new Thor movie so I sat in a theater for a couple hours, and felt quite stiff and sore when I got up to leave after the movie was over.  With all this stiffness, I had my hubby put in a call to our massage therapist - and he said he can come over next week, but then today the massage therapist called and said he hit a deer and his car is totaled!    So once again, I can't get a massage when I need one, as he has no car to get here.

Tomorrow my parents are coming over and they often like to do stuff like hike, so I presume we'll probably be walking around quite a bit tomorrow too. I'm hoping to hit the gym on Sunday.  Then Monday I have to go back to work.    I've had a nice 10ish days off, don't want to go back to work!  It's supposed to get quite cold next week too, the high temp for Tuesday is 28 degrees (I think that's a few degrees below zero in celsius).  Brrr!  So I'll be hitting the gym on Tues as well, just to warm up!


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## mccindy

Hey, LMV.  I'm doing all right, except for some strange emotional stuff I think is coming from my Keppra.  I had to call my doc on Friday because I did some research about my Linzess and found that 145 is the dose for chronic constipation and 290 is the dose for IBS-C.  I checked my bottle and saw it was the 145 dose, so that probably explains why it kind of stopped working!  So he's upping my dose now.  Otherwise doing okay, how bout you?

Cat -welcome back to the working world!    I hope you have a good first day back after your (strenuous, apparently) vacation!  I take it you aren't a fan of the Thor movies?  What a bummer about your massage therapist after you endured the movie.  HOpefully you can get your massage sometime soon.  
It's colder than heck here too, about 20 this morning and the wind chill has to be single digits, it's SO cold!  yuk!  We still have to hang the rest of our Christmas lights out, and I think we will regret that we didn't do it over the weekend.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I'm not a huge fan of superhero movies (I really liked Batman Begins & The Dark Knight, didn't like the 3rd movie in that series, and am not really a fan of other superhero type movies).  So sitting through Thor was okay, I like the character Loki, but overall the movie was kind of slow at parts.  I like Christopher Eccleston, he played the bad guy, but the bad guy was a pretty bland and not well fleshed-out character so Eccleston didn't get to shine as a villain.  If you like superhero movies, I'd say wait for that one to come to Netflix/DVD.

I will get a bit of revenge on hubby for making me sit through that movie, though.    One of the guys from that k-pop group I like (Big Bang), this guy called TOP, he's an actor too and he's starring in a new movie that just came out in Korea.  And supposedly the movie is coming out in the US at the end of this month!  It won't be playing in many theaters obviously, so I may need to go down to Chicago to see it - but wherever it's playing, I'm totally dragging hubby along to see TOP's new movie with me!  

So, I hit the gym yesterday.  Felt great when I started out - felt like I had a really good amount of energy.  But about halfway through, my arms felt so tired!  I had more arm machines to do, but my arms felt dead like I had overdone things, but I had only done my usual routine.  I pushed myself to do the rest of my workout, but the second half or so was really tough and my energy felt drained.  Very odd that I felt so great and energetic the first half, and so tired the second half of my workout!

Tonight I think I'm going to do some yoga.  I want to relieve some of the stress from going back to work and having to catch up on so much, but I don't want to push myself too hard either and use up all my energy again.  So yoga sounds like a good solution.  Tomorrow, I'm going to hit the gym for weights again, and I will be more cautious about what I'm doing the first half of my workout.  For me it seems like every workout is a little different, so hopefully yesterday was just a fluke and I'll hopefully be fine tomorrow.


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## mccindy

I love how well you know yourself and what exactly will work for you.  Not everyone has such a good level of self-awareness.  I hope that energy drop was just a fluke and you are able to get back to your usual routine tomororw.  

I had to laugh at your devious plot to get back at your husband .  I'm usually a big fan of sci/fi superhero movies (the 3rd batman movie is actually my fave of the three) and I want to see the new Thor.  You're not the first person to tell me that it's a bit slow and characters aren't fully fleshed out.  So I may just talk the hubs into waiting for the ON Demand version.  We are planning on going to see Ender's Game next weekend, and then Catching Fire when that comes out!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Cindy.  I feel like, with any chronic illness, you kind of have to be more self-aware.  I need to listen to my body, does it need rest?  Exercise?  Food, and if so, what kind?  This doesn't always work - sometimes my body is like, "I want pizza!  And tacos!"  And I'm like, "no, that's a terrible idea, body."    And you have to know when to go against what your body wants, too.  Like right now, it's dark out at just past 5 PM, and my body wants me to go take a nap.  But I know I should do yoga, and I know I'll feel better after yoga than I would after a nap.  So some of it's listening to your body and part of it is just common sense (like no pizza or tacos).


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## mccindy

Yeah, bodies aren't always good at knowing what's best, are they?  Mine keeps getting urges  for pizza and doughnuts.  It's tough to say no, but I know what the consequences will be!  It helps that my husband makes a good pizza with gluten-free crust and fake cheese.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hmmph.  Even when I listen to my body, sometimes it freaks out on me.  I did yoga last night and felt good during & after.  Right after yoga, I ate a small bowl of miso soup (always safe for me) for dinner.  Maybe 20 mins after eating the soup, my guts cramped and I had to run for the bathroom.  Had a bad episode of d, but fortunately only one episode.  Took a hot bath and felt okay after that.  I'm not sure why I had the cramping & d though as I didn't eat anything unsafe.  Just one of those things, I guess!  Maybe I should have taken a nap after all!  

Onwards and upwards.  Just because I feel like I've taken a step back, doesn't mean I can't take a step forwards too (as long as I don't end up doing the splits!).  So I'm going to the gym today as planned.  My energy level yesterday during yoga was good, so I'm going to do the weights as usual and hope that my energy level can keep up this time.  Going to try jogging as my warm-up again too.  It's bitterly cold out today, it was something like 8 degrees F with the wind chill this morning - but still no hip pain in spite of the bitter cold, so I'm taking that as a sign that I've got the green light to jog a bit.

I think tomorrow's going to be a rest day.  Weights again Thursday, not sure about Friday.  It's supposed to warm up this weekend - they're saying it's going to be in the 50s both Sat and Sun!    That sounds so nice, I am going to have to do stuff outside this weekend.  If it's sunny and not windy, I may try for a bike ride.  Otherwise, I'll likely walk the dog and/or rake the yard yet again.


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## mccindy

Isn't this cold ridiculous, Cat? It feels like January out there, not November.  Weather last night said our normal highs this year are 43 degrees, but I left for work this morning it was 11 degrees out.  That's the air temp, not even with wind chill factored in.  Boo!  We need to hang the rest of our Christmas lights out front, but I think we're going to wait until Saturday because it's supposed to be in the upper 40s again and we'll be at least a little more comfortable being out there.  

Glad to hear you're feeling up to getting back to the gym and weights.  I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get on the elliptical this morning after my back completely spazzed out on me last night (I couldn't even walk - hubs had to help me to bed).  But sleeping must have helped because it was better this morning and I was able to get through my half-hour and felt better afterward.  Hubs though maybe I should try an afternoon workout, but I'm leery both because I'm always so tired in the evenings, and also because I can barely eat enough calories now, I can't make another 350 a day.  Erg.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm the opposite, I find that I cannot do morning workouts and can only do afternoons/evenings!  I tried a morning workout recently, and my reflux was SO much worse than usual during that workout.  I find that I need to wake up, let my stomach settle for an hour or two, then eat a little something, then wait another two hours, take a bunch of antacids, and then I'm able to hit the gym.  So like a minimum of 4 hours after I wake up, that's the earliest I can work out.  My guts are worst in the mornings and apparently my reflux isn't a happy camper unless I give it some food to work on for awhile first, so yeah.  It's always such a balancing act, keeping the guts happy and the reflux happy and the joints happy!


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## mccindy

That is a challenge!  I don't have reflux, but I often have nausea and no appetite in the morning.  Oddly, I found what works best is to eat a small breakfast, wait about fifteen minutes and then work out.  That seems to work the best.  If I work out on an empty stomach, I run out of energy. 

Today is going to be a rough one.  My dog was up at midnight throwing up and kept me up for a couple of hours straight, drooling and miserable and stil throwing up.  After she finally calmed down, my belly was really bothering me and I couldn't sleep much anymore.  I ended getting up at four to rush to the bathroom (d) which hardly ever happens to me.  Suffice it to say I am miserably tired today and it's going to be a long one.  I did still do some work on my elliptical because my back was miserably achy and sore from being up so much during the night and then sitting on the toilet (that always hurts my back quite a bit). :yfaint:


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Once again I'm the opposite - I can't work out with anything in my stomach (except for water and antacids).  Maybe that's part of the reason for some of my energy issues while working out, but I just cannot do any type of exercise with anything in my stomach.  I get so nauseous and reflux to the point of vomiting, and obviously I can't exercise in those conditions!  I once tried drinking a bit of gatorade just before a workout, and even that made me too nauseous to continue.  I didn't even get through my warm-up before I had to stop due to the sudden massive nausea & reflux, it was miserable.  And that was only a bit of gatorade!  So now I make sure, absolutely only water and zantac/tums for at least 2 hours before working out.

I'm sorry to hear your dog was sick, hope she's feeling better now?  Just out of curiosity, you didn't give her any jerky treats lately, did you?  I was reading in the news that dog jerky treats have been sickening and even killing hundreds if not thousands of dogs lately, and they're not even sure which jerky treat or which company/brand is responsible.  But they think it's something that was made in China - so it's best to avoid all jerky treats and check the label on all dog treats and avoid anything made in China.  Hope your dog is okay and that you can both rest up and feel better!

Today's a rest day, which is a good thing.  My guts have been somewhat iffy ever since that episode of D the other day, and this morning I woke up and my left elbow was in awful pain!  I think (I hope) I slept on it funny - I do usually sleep on my left side, so I'm thinking maybe my elbow just got tucked up under me in a weird position.  It feels okay to have it bent, but straightening my arm out really hurts!  It felt fine during & after my weights workout yesterday so I don't think I injured it.  I'm hoping it's back to normal or at least significantly better tomorrow, as I would like to do weights tomorrow.  If it's not much better then I guess I'll rest it, as I don't want to injure it and don't want to exacerbate it if it's already injured.  So, I'll see how the elbow feels tomorrow and go from there.  If I can't do weights tomorrow, I am thinking I can still ride the stationary bike without causing any strain on my elbow, so that's the back-up plan.


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## mccindy

Hey, Cat.
No, we don't usually buy treats for them except specific brands and high-quality stuff that we research.  I think what got her sick was eating birdseed from under my feeder outside.  She ate a lot of it (most of what she was throwing up last night was birdseed).  This morning she was still throwing up after I fed her.  I did call the vet, and he says it sounds like she really irritated her stomach and I should restrict her from eating or drinking anything for 24 hours, then start her back on water 1/2 cup at a time.  In 48 hours I can start feeding her white rice 1/2 cup at a time for 24 hours. This should be a fun couple of days because she really loves to eat and comes to get me when it's time to eat every day.    and I won't be able to tell her why I'm not feeding her.  Poor baby!

I hope you enjoy your rest day and that elbow loosens up for you!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Aw, poor pooch.  My dog hasn't eaten bird seed (that I know of anyway) but once a couple years ago she slipped out of the house (my hubby's fault, and I wasn't home at the time so I didn't know she had escaped).  Fortunately a few hours later one of our neighbors found her and returned her - but apparently during her little adventure, she ate a large amount of leaves.  It was fall and there were lots of dead leaves on the ground, and for some reason she scarfed a bunch of them.  She doesn't eat leaves in our yard or at the dog park, so I'm guessing it was a panic/survival thing?  At any rate, she vomited and vomited when we got her back, so much puking and it was all just leaves!  I felt so bad for her, she must have been scared and then she was so sick.  But she was fine after about a day of vomiting, so hopefully your dog will be fine soon too.

Oh, and I wanted to mention - when my dog was barfing leaves, I did some googling and I read that it's okay to give dogs a small amount of plain yogurt in situations like that.  It'll help rehydrate them and will give them some beneficial bacteria to replace whatever's being lost from vomiting/diarrhea.  You could probably mix some yogurt into water too to dilute it if you think yogurt by itself will be too much for your dog's poor tummy.  And obviously wait to give her yogurt until the vomiting seems to have stopped, as you don't want to clean up a gooky yogurt barf!  It's also okay to give dogs a teaspoon of liquid Pepto, although my dog totally hates Pepto so I have to give it to her in an eyedropper.  (I tried to give her a spoonful of Pepto during the leaves incident, she sniffed the spoon and I swear she made a "yuck!" sound!  It was actually kind of hilarious!  I was like, really, you eat like 200 leaves but you say yuck to Pepto?)


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## mccindy

ha, that's pretty funny!  Not the vomiting part, but the Pepto part!  And also I've never heard of a dog eating leaves before!  
The yogurt is a good idea, maybe I'll try that too when she is fgeeling a little better and isn't throwing up. Because yeah, a gooky yogurt barf would be pretty nasty to clean up.....    Not to mention I don't want to smell it!  
I'm just dreading having to keep her from eating until Friday morning, she's going to go insane.  maybe I'll try the yogurt tomorrow if she's not throwing up anymore.  Poor baby girl.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

How's your dog doing today, Cindy?

Update 11/14/13:  Yesterday was a much-needed rest day.  I also got a massage which I wasn't expecting!  My massage therapist got a ride into my city and he didn't have to work until like 3 AM (he's a CNA as his main job), so he was able to come over in the evening before he had to go to work.  He's also a friend - he's my hubby's best friend - so we all hung out and chatted a bit and then I had a lovely massage.  Sometimes after a massage I feel awful, like I've been beat up.  I feel like he was pretty rough on my during my massage last night, but I feel absolutely fine today, no soreness whatsoever.  I did feel quite relaxed during my massage - I don't always feel relaxed, sometimes I can tell I'm tensing up in spite of trying to relax.  So maybe when I'm truly relaxed, I tend not to feel so sore after a massage?  Maybe it's not the massage itself causing the soreness, but it's me being too tense and not relaxing properly?

Massage therapist has had some bad car luck lately, he got divorced recently and then his car got reposessed, so he bought a different (cheap junky) car, but he hit a deer within just a few weeks of having that car, so now he's got to go look for yet another car to buy.  Hubby's been driving massage therapist around and is taking massage therapist to go look for a car today, and massage therapist has agreed to return the favors by giving us a bunch of free massages.  So yesterday's massage was free and my next few massages will be free too.  Can't beat that!  

I'm going to go hit the gym for weights today.  I'm hoping that I'll feel pretty good.  My elbow feels almost back to normal - massage therapist did some work on that elbow for me which I think helped.  I'm also still on my kick of packing healthy homemade lunches.  Yesterday I had leftover duck meat and a skinless baked potato for lunch.  Low-residue and it sounds bland, but it was pretty tasty.  Today for lunch I made myself a pasta salad which contains cherry tomatoes (not the safest, doesn't digest very well, but doesn't cause me pain either), leftover duck meat (we had duck soup last night for dinner too - duck is expensive so we're getting our money's worth!), goat muenster cheese, hardboiled eggs, and chopped up turkey bacon.  Oddly, I had massive problems with turkey bacon when I first got sick - it made me feel super ill every time I tried to eat it - but now I can do it fine without any problems (which is good because it's such a treat!).  Oh, and my hubby fried the turkey bacon in duck fat.  It's probably very high in fat but I need the calories, and it might be super delicious.  Hopefully my guts can handle the fat content, that's my only concern.  I guess I'll find out!


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## mccindy

Hey, Cat.
I'm feeling like the worst dog mommy in the world.   We are trying to stick to what the vet told us to do, so I couldn't feed her last night or even give  her any water.  I had to put her in the bedroom so I could feed our other dog without her seeing it.  Even without eating she still got sick around 8 pm, throwing up a few times, but it was just spit.  She just kept looking at me with those puppy eyes and I felt horrible!  
This morning I gave her some water, about a cup at a time, per the vet's instructions.  I'm supposed to still not feed her tonight, but let her have water, but it's very hard to do as she is a voracious eater and will be starving by then.  She's not a beefy dog by any means anyway, doesn't gain weight and always has a few rib bumbs showing.  I'm going to see how she does with water tonight and if she doesn't get sick I may sneak her some rice or yogurt to see how she does with it.  Then she'll get rice tomorrow and if she tolerates that fine, she can go back to regular food on Saturday.  I feel for her, like she's doing a prep and then can have some white rice, just like us belly people!  My poor baby.  I gave her lots of snuggles last night and will again tonight too.

Were your previous massages with the same therapist?  I've found some therapists are not as kind as others or as good at not bruising sensitive muscles. Being relaxed would definitely make a big difference in your soreness after. I had a massage years ago with a therapist who made me so uncomfortable, that he actually got angry with me for being so tense.  I didn't enjoy the massage at all and was very sore the next day.
Sounds like your husband is really being a great friend to help your therapist out, and you get to reap the benefits!
I'm glad to hear your elbow is so much better too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, my massages are always with the same massage therapist, he's been a friend of my hubby's for many years and he gives us a discount and often makes house calls.  Sometimes in the past I'd go to his place for a massage but usually he comes to my house (particularly now that he's divorced), so I am sure the location has something to do with my comfort level.  When he was still married and I'd go to his house for massages, his wife would be hanging out (she's a psycho by the way so that probably didn't help my tension any!), and his kids would be running around and stuff, plus he smokes and his ex does too, so his place smells like cigarettes.  At my house, I'm obviously much more comfortable and there are no crazy people, no children, and no cigarettes.    So I'm sure that probably has a lot to do with it!  As a person, I'm mostly comfortable with him, but sometimes I think it is a bit weird that my husband's best friend is oiling me up and rubbing me down, so if I think about the weirdness of it then I am sure I tense up more too.  As long as hubby's there with me, there's usually no weirdness.

Aw, your poor pup.    Hopefully she does okay with the rice & yogurt.  My dog is a voracious eater too, and she spazzes out with joy on the rare occasions that she gets to eat people food, so even though she was miserable too during her leaf-barfing episode, when the puking had stopped and she got a bit of yogurt, she was just wiggling with joy (she has no tail so sometimes she wiggles her booty when she's super happy!).    I bet your dog will be overjoyed to get some rice & yogurt too.  Dogs don't seem to hold grudges the way cats do, so I'm sure your dog won't be upset with you for not feeding her today.  She'll just be super happy when she is able to eat a little something.


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## mccindy

the yogurt was a success last night!  I gave her a cup of it when I got home, and another one a couple of hours later.  She really enjoyed it and got it all over her face, the floor and the cupboard (I'm thinking her enthusiasm about eating got her a little carried away!).  She never threw it up, and made it through the night just fine too.
This morning she had a cup of rice, seemed fine after an hour, and got another one.  She seemed so darn happy just to get some food!  I had to give some to our other dog too, because she was jealous.   
No more throwing up, and if things are still good when I get home ,she'll finally get some regular dog food.  It's been a long couple of days but I think she's on the mend.  She's looking super perky, and you are right, dogs definitely are not grudge holders.  I love their super great attitudes about everything!

I had a heck of a time getting out of bed this morning because of my back, but it was something of an emergency because I had to hurry to the bathroom.  That was a lot of fun.... Definitely felt better, both back and tummy after my 30 minutes on the elliptical.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yay Cindy, I'm so glad your dog is on the mend!  And that's kind of adorable about how your other dog was jealous of the rice and had to have some too.    Yeah, dogs aren't grudge holders but cats totally are.  If I go away on a trip, when I get home my cat is at first super happy to see me, she clearly missed me.  But then she realizes she's mad at me for going away, and she gives me the cold shoulder for a week or so.  My dog, on the other hand, is just super happy to see me every time.  

Oh, and my massage therapist found a car to buy yesterday, so hopefully things wil be better for him now.  Also hopefully I can start getting more frequent massages, that would be lovely.  

Oh!  And I finally get my exercise bike back today!  It didn't go anywhere, but there was a big door blocking it for awhile.  Hubby and I are slooooowly remodeling our little house, and we've needed a new front door for awhile.  We had a bit of extra money a few months ago, so we went to Home Depot and bought a nice new front door.  But we had to wait for my father-in-law to be able to come over and help hubby install the door, as we wanted to make sure we do it right and f-i-l knows a lot more than we do about stuff like this.  F-i-l is finally coming over today to install the door!  For the past couple months, the door has been sitting in our guest bedroom, so I couldn't get to my stationary bike because the stupid door was in the way (I did ride the stationary bike in the gym a few times so it wasn't like I missed out on cardio altogether).  So, I'm going to celebrate by doing a nice long ride on my stationary bike tonight.    Hubby hooked up better speakers to the guest bedroom TV, too, and there's an episode of a show I really want to watch (a K-drama of course), so that's my plan.  I'm going to ride my bike while watching my show, that sounds lovely.  It's an hourlong show - and K-dramas are really an hour, unlike US shows.  When you watch an "hourlong" US show, it's really more like 45ish minutes of show because of all the commercials.  Well, Korean dramas are longer, they're a little over a full hour long - each episode is approximately 66 mins!  So I'll have a nice long ride while watching my show.    Sounds like a perfect way to start the weekend!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Quick update:  I hate my body.    My left knee has started hurting this afternoon.  It usually hurts when I ride the bike, so I don't know if this is just like ghost pain in anticipation of riding the bike or what.  I'm still going to do as much as I can on the bike tonight, but sheesh.  If it's not my guts then it's my hip or my knee or something else causing me trouble.  As the late great Gilda Radner said, it's always something!

Maybe it's all these weather changes that's causing this odd bit of pain.  Earlier this week it was frigidly cold and it even snowed, and today it's like 55 degrees and sunny, it feels like springtime.  And then during the weekend we're supposed to have thunderstorms and lots of rain.  It's all rather ridiculous.  I guess with the weather it's always something too.


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## mccindy

What a great plan you have!  It's like a double reward that you'll be getting back your bike and also have a nice pretty new front door.    And then the bonus of getting to watch your show while you get your cardio in.

The whole cat/dog thing is pretty amusing, isn't it? Dogs are always just overjoyed when we come home but cats like to hold grudges.  We used to have a cat that would be made at us when we came back from vacation and would give us the cold shoulder.  But rather than just disappear, he would follow us from room to room, and make sure he was sitting with his back to us.  Occasionally he would look to make sure we saw him sitting like that, and if we were looking at him, he would quickly look away.  Huffy little guy.  Dogs are always just like, "yay, you're home, I missed you so much!" and then just shower you with love and affection until you can't take anymore.  
Our girls are both super-affectionate and have to be in the same room with us at all times, usually very close by and occasionally touching us.  Sometimes we have to push them away or we trip over them!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha ha, that's adorable about the cat you had following you but still giving you the cold shoulder!    My cat follows me from room to room when she's in a good mood - she especially likes to follow me into the bathroom (I think because I'm a captive audience and can pet her, but she knows I won't do anything like pick her up).  She'll even come when I call when she's in a good mood - and if she's somewhere far away like the basement when I call her, she'll meow to me as if to say, "I'm coming!"    But even her grudges are kind of adorable too.  Her most hilarious grudges are when I give her a bath.  Every so often she gets into something icky or just has too much dander and needs a bath.  She hates it of course, and as soon as she gets out of the tub, she runs off to a hiding place to sulk.  But then, maybe an hour or two after getting out of the bath, her fur is drying and it must feel weird or something, and petting must feel nice or alleviate the weirdness I'm guessing - because she suddenly gets super affectionate and won't leave me alone and wants tons of petting.    It's adorable that she totally hates me for the bath but then wants so much petting as she's drying off and suddenly we're best friends again.

Yes, I'm very excited about the front door!  Our old front door, it wasn't sitting in its frame right or something like that, so you had to sort of lift up on the handle with a lot of force in order to lock or unlock it.  As a result, we rarely used the front door (we have a side door and also a walk-out basement door, both of which we already had replaced a couple years ago, so those doors both work fine).  Now that we'll have all new doors, I think the windows will be next.  We have about 12 windows in our house and we've replaced 5 of them so far.  Our house was built in 1956 and the windows seem original to the house, and they do not keep the heat in well at all, so once we get the windows done too then we'll be buttoned up pretty well.  For now though we just have to put that plastic wrap stuff over the old windows that still need replacing.  Ah, the joys of having an older house in a state that gets harsh winters.


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## mccindy

My dogs will also follow me from room to room.  Even if they are sleeping, if I get up and leave the room, they will wake up and follow me around!  If they can't get into the room where I am at the time, they will lay by the door and wait til I come out. 
Our old house in Wisconsin was one of those -we had replaced three or four doors, and half of the windows.  Now we're just working on getting rid of it.  The house we are renting now does have one room that definitely needs new windows, if we were to buy it we'd replace them.  Isn't it fun owning a house?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, I think I remember you saying you were going to keep the Wisconsin house and retire there?  Did the events of this year change that?  Yeah, owning an older house is definitely interesting.  The people that used to live in my house were crazy/lazy about home repairs - things like, they thought stuffing a blanket into a wall was adequate for insulation, or that a door without a deadbolt should be nailed shut.  Ugh!  So we've had to fix a lot of the stupid things they did in addition to regular stuff like new windows.

Update 11/18/13:  I did an hour on the bike Friday night as planned.  I had a bit of technical difficulties, but managed to watch my show after a few minutes of fiddling with remote controls.    I had some issues with riding an hour though - my knee wasn't too painful fortunately, but I sweated too much.  I have chronically borderline low potassium, and when I sweat, I apparently lose enough potassium in my sweat that it drops me into the "low" category.  When I drop too low, I get foot & toe cramps.  So, I rode my bike for a little over 60 mins, sweated lots, felt fine as long as I was on the bike, but as soon as I hopped off the bike to stretch, both of my feet just cramped like crazy.  It was so painful!  It took about 15 mins before my feet relaxed enough that I could even stand up.  I try to get enough potassium in my diet, but clearly after that episode I think I need to start taking a potassium supplement, too.

Saturday and Sunday, it was rainy and windy and just plain yucky out all day both days.  So my poor dog didn't get walked.  We stayed in and didn't do much of anything on Saturday - after Friday night's feet cramping incident, I felt like I should take a rest day.  Sunday we hit the gym and that went fine fortunately.  No cramping, decent energy level, and my reflux stayed fairly quiet.  So that was definitely a successful workout and I was very happy with it.    The rest of the day on Sunday, we stayed in too.  So it was a mostly restful weekend with one gym session.

This is going to be a stressful week at work (big meetings over the next couple days which I have to help out at), so I am hoping to do as much exercise as I can to offset the stress I'm under!  I'm thinking yoga tonight - my muscles are a bit sore from the gym yesterday, so I don't want to do anything too strenuous, but I want to do something.  So yoga tonight, weights tomorrow, not sure about Wednesday (maybe bike but only for 30 mins rather than an hour), weights Thursday, possibly a rest day Friday.  That's the plan so far.  I should be able to de-stress by Thursday as the meetings will be over by then.  And I'm excited that next week is a short week, even if it is my least-favorite holiday.  A day off is a good thing no matter what.  

Oh, and I got to go back on Amitriptyline as of last night!  I emailed my GI requesting to stop Nortriptyline and go back on Amitriptyline, and he emailed me yesterday and said that's fine with him.  I took my Amitriptyline last night before bed, and I slept so much better!  I feel semi-human again, yay!  Now if I could just get the guts and my potassium levels under control, I'll be sitting pretty.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, forget what I said about doing yoga tonight.    I've been running all around, lifting things, going out shopping for supplies, etc to prepare for the big meetings at work.  I'm exhausted now!  I'm used to sitting at a desk all day, and my time in the gym is a reprieve from my otherwise sedentary day.  But my day today wasn't sedentary (tomorrow won't be either) so I'm wiped out.  Even though I have to do this again tomorrow, I'm still planning on going to the gym and doing weights.  I figure if I rest tonight, and get a good night's sleep thanks to Amitriptyline, then hopefully I'll be able to get through tomorrow okay.  I may be totally depleted by the end of the day, and if so then Wednesday will be a rest day.  I gotta at least do my weights though, if I skip yoga/cardio then so be it, but I really hate to miss a weights day.  So weights it is tomorrow, and a good amount of activity otherwise.  Phew, I think I might go to bed early tonight to prepare for such an active day!


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## mccindy

I'm just happy to hear you got back on the Amitriptyline!  Yay, now you can sleep again!  
Yeah, it's too hard to pay a mortgage and rent so the WI house has to go.  Especially since my hubs' insurance just up the deductible to $5000/year.  So with my frequent MRIs and monthly prescriptions,and the looming possibility of upcoming treatments, I can't afford to have both houses.  We need to start banking money to cover that deductible.  We really like the house we're in right now so I'm not too broken up about it.
Make sure you take it kind of easy, Cat!  Don't underestimate the extra work you are doing at work.  Lots of stretching for those sore muscles.  
I'm still busting out the elliptical every morning, enjoying it.  It sure is a nice feeling in the morning when I'm done.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/19/13:  Well, I had a rough night and morning.  Last night I ate a safe, healthy low-residue dinner of baked salmon and skinless potatoes.  Then for no apparent reason my body flipped out and my abdomen felt so full of pressure that it hurt to move - shortly after that, I had a ton of painful d with a little bit of blood in it.  Felt awful!  Slept well, the Amitriptyline knocked me out fortunately.  Woke up this morning and felt yucky.  Had more d, abdomen is kind of painful, and I was kind of pale.  Couldn't call in to work though as I had so much to do for the big meetings, so I took some Zofran and just toughed it out.  Actually started feeling better as I was running around setting things up - the physical activity made me feel a lot better.  So, even though I'm still feeling fairly crappy, I'm feeling human enough that I'm going to attempt to do weights in a little while.  I'm hoping it'll help me continue to feel better.  I have no appetite and my abdomen is still a mess, so I'll probably avoid the abdominals machine.  Other than that, I'm just going to do what I can and will stop if I get too weak or painful or nauseous or whatever.

On a side note, I seriously hate when I do everything right and my body does this to me anyway.  At the risk of sounding like a whiner, it's not fair.  But, not much I can do about it except try to keep moving forward, so I'll eat what I can when I can and I'll exercise as much as I'm able to.  There's an Utada song called "Keep Trying" where she repeatedly tells everyone, "Keep trying, trying!"  That's my mantra on days like this.  I gotta keep trying, trying!


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## mccindy

It's a good thing you're so tough, Cat.  I'm glad you are feeling better and making it through your day.  Enjoy your weight lifting, I know that's one of your favorite routines!

Your story about last evening makes me think of my own... I was feeling okay for a while, and when I stood up to get ready for bed, my belly hurt so much I couldn't stand up straight.  Not sure why. It felt like I really had to go, but a trip to the bathroom proved unproductive.  2nd day in a row after 2 days with D, who knows what the heck is going on in there?  I'm starting to think the reason the Linzess isn't working properly is beause it's for IBS and I may not really ahve that?  who knows.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sorry to hear you're feeling similarly yucky, Cindy.    For what it's worth, IBS meds have never done good things for my guts and at least one even made me worse.  Specifically, hyoscyamine gave me horrendous nausea even after I stopped taking it.  And other IBS meds like Bentyl do basically nothing.  (Bentyl actually works okay for my menstrual cramps but doesn't seem to do much for my guts!   )  So it wouldn't shock me if the Linzess wasn't helping you properly.  It's just such a shame that you went through all that trouble and hassle with the insurance company to get Linzess, I was hoping it'd be a miracle drug for you.

So I just got back from the gym.  Felt rather icky going in and wasn't sure how on earth I was going to do a workout.  Stomach started doing that pressure/pain thing again and I was still rather pale.  But I tried anyway - and did great!  I warmed up on the bike, and while I was still warming up I still felt rather painful in the tummy.  But as soon as I was properly warm enough to start breaking a sweat, my stomach quieted right down.  I did all the weight machines except for the abdominals machine, no problem.  Felt fine the whole time!  Very unexpected, but also very good.  

I am developing a theory about this.  When I first got sick, I'd notice that my face would go totally pale right before the onset of horrid symptoms.  Like all the blood in my body was heading down to my intestines, to the inflammation.  I'm not sure if that was actually happening, this is just my theory.  So in this current mild flare, my face hasn't gone totally pale like that, but it does go a little pale sometimes and that always coincides with symptoms too.  So again, I'm thinking mild inflammation in the guts and some of my blood is leaving my face/other organs to go down to my guts.  And when I start working out, my blood needs to go to my heart, lungs, and muscles - so it goes away from the guts a bit, and perhaps that's why I feel better when I'm working out.  When I get symptoms without paleness, I probably should stay away from the gym, as that might indicate I ate something bad or whatever but am not necessarily actively inflamed and therefore exercise might just cause more symptoms rather than help.  With paleness, though, I'm thinking a workout could be in my best interest.  Worth a try anyway!


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## mccindy

That's a very interesting theory, and makes sense!  Just another sign of the benefits of exercise.  

YOu are right, CAt, I really was hoping that this would be a miracle drug for me as well, especially after fighting with my insurance company for two months!  It seems, at this point, as if it will not be.  My belly doesn't seem to know what to do with this medication, and now that it seems to be causing problems with my Keppra as well, I'm thinking it's not going to work out.   

I think I've got the hubs talked into buying an exercise bike (He hates my elliptical and isn't a big fan of the treadmills either, but did like the bikes at the gym we used to go to). I told him if he will use it when he gets home after work, I'll go down with him and get on my elliptical at the same time to keep him company.  I think this may work!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, that's good news about hopefully getting your hubby an exercise bike!  I love mine especially in the winter - I don't have to leave home to do cardio so it's great during bad winter weather.  You can find exercise bikes for pretty cheap on Craigslist, if you're not looking to get a new one - if you're not sure that your hubby will use it very much, then used might be the way to go.  I got my exercise bike on Craigslist for something like $25.  It's in pretty good condition (the heart rate monitor on it doesn't work, but everything else works fine).  Considering how much I've used it over the past couple years, I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of it!  I try to ride it often during the cold months, so that I keep myself in good cardio shape and keep my legs in good pedaling shape, so that I can get right on my real bike in the spring and go out for nice long rides.

Oh, and keep in mind that there are a couple different styles of exercise bike.  There are the standard upright ones that mimic an actual bicycle - this style forces you to use your core more (not great for IBD'ers but probably fine for healthy folks).






And then there are recumbent exercise bikes, which is what I have.  You get to sit back more and I find it puts much less stress on my abdominals as I don't have to hold my body upright like I would on a standard exercise bike.





(That's not my bike, that's just a stock photo image of a recumbent bike that I found as an example.  That's pretty similar to my bike but mine has a larger screen and a little built in fan next to the screen, and mine has a really cushy seat which was the main reason I bought it - I wanted a bike that would be nice to my booty!)

Anyway, that was a ramble.  I hope your hubby finds an exercise bike he likes and that he uses it regularly.  Happy bike shopping!  

As for me, I am feeling okay today.  Guts are still iffy but not as bad as they've been.  I'm thinking about doing yoga tonight, but will see how I'm feeling by that time.  If I'm not feeling up to it then I'll take a rest day.  We'll see.  Tomorrow, weights for sure.


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## mccindy

Thanks, Cat!   I'm thinking to get him an upright, although he'll have his own ideas as to what will work, because I think he likes that position better and will want to work his core more as he gets into shape.  I will check into Craigslist and see what's out there - we're only about an hour away from the Twin Cities so there should be a variety out there I'd think.  

I'm glad to hear you are feeling a little better.   I was wondering if there had been improvement.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/21/13:  Well, I didn't do yoga last night.  I had to help with cleanup after the big meetings ended and I was hauling around cases of leftover soda and stuff like that, so I was doing a fair bit and that just tired me out to the point that I didn't want to move off the couch once I got home.  I don't feel too bad about taking a rest day when I've been active during the day.  The meetings are over with now, so my stress level is much better now.  I'm feeling better all around.  Definiely going to the gym tonight for weights!  I'm excited, I put a couple new songs on my ipod and that's always a good motivator (not that I need motivation, I'd be going to the gym regardless, this is just like a bit of extra motivation).

Speaking of the gym, one of my co-workers approached me yesterday and asked if I was at Planet Fitness last weekend?  I said yeah, I was there on Sunday.  She said, I thought that looked like you, but you looked like you didn't want to be bothered!  I just laughed, that's true that I don't want to stop or socialize during a workout!


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## mccindy

Hey, at least she recognized it and didn't stop by!    Good on you to take it easy after a strenuous day.  Idon't know if it's the weather or what but everyone up here was so tired yesterday.  I didn't do muc heither last night and ended up falling asleep during my shows so I had to go to bed.  Thank goodness for the DVR.   
Another good workout on the elliptcal for me this morning, and I've started doing triceps dips with a chair in my office everyday.  I sit too much!  And figured working on my arms can't hurt, I don't do that muc hfor them otherwise and I've gotten weak since my head stuff started.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, that's awesome about doing tricep dips in your office!  I'm glad you can do those and they don't hurt your back.  I sit too much too, and sometimes I'll do squats or the warrior yoga pose in my cubicle to get my blood moving and wake myself up a bit.  Or if I'm at home and being too lazy, I'll take my dog out in the yard and we'll just run and chase each other around until we both get tired.  (I say, "Hey Lily, I'm gonna get you!" and then she either runs from me or runs at me and we chase around - it's so cute!)

I just heard we're supposed to get snow today!  Noooo!  But speaking of my dog, she loves the stuff, so if it does snow then we may have to play "I'm gonna get you" in the snow.  It's adorable, my dog lived with different owners in California for the first 2 years of her life, so she never even saw snow until they moved here and could no longer keep her and she became mine.  She's just like a kid, especially with the first major snowfall of the year - she runs all around in it as fast as she can.    My neighbors will still have pristine untouched snow in their yards, and meanwhile my yard is completely covered in dog tracks.  It's hilarious!  So I don't really like snow, but I do like that my dog enjoys it so much.


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## mccindy

ha!  Your dog sounds just like one of mine!  Saying, "Molly, I'm going to get you" leads to mad running around and barking.  She also loves the snow and wants to go play in it all the time.  We never have untracked snow in our yard.  Sometimes she just buries her face in it.  I think that might be part of the chase game....."where's Molly?"  She's like a little kid.  We're supposed to get about a half an inch so she'll be all pumped up tonight.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/22/13:  I went to the gym last night and had a great workout.    I didn't run out of energy, my reflux didn't act up too much (I got a mild case of the burps but that's pretty typical for me).  My foot did try to cramp up fairly early on in my workout, but then it stopped and I didn't have any other cramping issues - phew!  So it was all good, I felt great throughout and no big issues.  It's always so nice to have a good workout after a few days of feeling crappy!

Today I'm going to go do some cardio.  I want to ride the exercise bike for a bit, but I really want to try to jog again, too.  So I'm thinking maybe 10 mins jogging, 20 mins bike - or if jogging goes really well, then maybe I'll try 15 mins jogging and 15 mins bike.  We'll see how it goes!

So, it snowed last night.  We got just a little bit, maybe 1/2 inch.  Just enough to cover the grass.  As predicted, my dog spazzed out with happiness.  There's this phrase in the corgi community, "Frap" - it's an acronym which stands for frantic running and playing.  Lily frapped all over the yard in the snow, she was so happy!  

My bad hip usually aches before it snows - and I got one tiny twinge from my hip as I was getting ready for bed last night.  Usually the ache is much worse and lasts longer, so it seems the steroid injections must have helped.  That's good news!  Today of course my left knee is aching, it seems to do that on cardio days - maybe it's mental, like I'm anticipating knee pain because it usually acts up when I do the bike.  Or maybe it's aching because it snowed?  I don't know.  I guess I could always ask for a steroid injection into that knee, but I really don't want to deal with weeks of hideous side effects again.  Not sure if it's worth it.  Something to mull over though.  What's worse, sporadic knee pain or a few weeks of hideousness?  Hmmmm.


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## mccindy

Good news, to hear you're not having as much pain.  Kind of stinks that you had to suffer through so many side effects to get to the relief part!  I guess it's a judgement call as to whether you want to go through it again, depending on the extent of the relief and how long it lasts.  
We were in Wisconsin all weekend for the deer opener (hubs had no luck, only saw one doe early Saturday morning).  It was bitterly cold.  I wasn't able to exercise at all (other than some shopping) and felt pretty miserable, back-wise.  This morning I was pretty eager to get back on the elliptical, but barely made it through my 1/2 hour.  I felt weak and tired.  Seems like missing those two days was too much!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I hear you, Cindy, missing a workout or two puts me behind the 8-ball too.  If I have to miss one or multiple workouts due to feeling crappy or just scheduling issues or whatever, I feel very loagy (how do you spell that?) very quickly.  And if I'm having symptoms and losing weight and can't work out, then that really upsets me.  I rely on exercise to keep my muscle mass up, so if I can't exercise AND I'm losing weight then I feel like I'm taking multiple steps backwards as far as my muscle mass goes.  It took me so long to build my muscles up to where they are, and I know having muscles is a hard-earned thing but even more so for someone in my position, as I could lose my muscle mass quite easily and quickly if I were to find myself in a bad flare.  I built myself up from having basically no muscle mass, and yes I could do it again, but I'd hate to have to start from nothing and work my way up all over again!  I worked so hard for my muscle mass and I appreciate so much that I could lose it all over again - really don't want to!

Sorry, that was a ramble.  Here's my update:  I hit the gym on Saturday but didn't feel great.  I'm not sure if I was a bit dehydrated or what.  I didn't have a lot of energy, and even after warming up, my body felt warm but my face felt cold.  It was weird and it's happened before, but I'm not sure why it happens.  Dehydration is my new theory - I'm sure I don't remember to drink enough fluids on the weekends.  So I'm going to focus on my fluid intake more.  I drink enough during the week just because I've got it all scheduled out - I drink my smoothie when I get to work, then a big mug of hot tea to warm me up (the smoothies make me feel chilled!) and then I have my psyllium, another mug of tea, and so on.  On the weekends I don't follow any schedule like that and I think that's to my detriment.

It was super cold and windy on Saturday, so we ran a couple errands but then stayed home the rest of the day.  Sunday was also super cold, but my dog needed a walk so I braved the elements and took her to the park.  I think the freezing weather put her in a good mood - sometimes she gets a little aggressive with certain dogs (she doesn't like German shepherds for whatever reason), but on Sunday she was so happy to be running around out in the cold that she was friendly with every dog she encountered - including a German shepherd!  So that put me in a good mood too to see my dog so happy and friendly.  Once we got home from the walk, though, I didn't leave the house the rest of the day.  I parked myself on the couch and crocheted a scarf and watched the Packer game (what a weird game it was, too - I didn't even know NFL games could end in a tie, I thought overtime just went on until somebody scored!).

Today, bleh, it snowed again!  And this time it stuck to the roads, yuck.  Still, I'm going to go to the gym tonight.  I am betting the gym will be super busy, Mondays are typically the busiest days and I bet there will be a lot of people getting in last workouts before the holiday.  So I'm prepared for some aggravation and to have to wait for machines.  And I'll be pleasantly surprised if the gym is quiet & empty, but I'm not counting on it.

Tomorrow, I'm thinking yoga.  Wednesday, gym probably after work (I wanted to go on my lunch on Wednesday, but I have to go to an hours-long lunch meeting which annoys me - I like having my lunch hour to do what I want, which is work out, not sit in a meeting).  Thursday, rest day obviously!    Friday, a bit of shopping and then gym.  I am not totally crazy, I'm going to sleep in on Friday (don't have to work, yay) and then will hit a few stores at my leisure.  If it's still crazy at like 10 AM when I plan on going, then I'll just come home.  And will do gym after shopping because I'm sure I'll need to relieve a bit of stress after attempting to shop on Black Friday!    Saturday, I'll walk the dog, and Sunday I'll hit the gym again.  That's the plan so far!


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## mccindy

Logy.  
I know what you mean about the weekends, that's usually when I don't drink enough either . It's easy during week to keep it as a part of the routine, but on the weekends, it just doesn't work as well.  I think that might have been why I was feeling slow and sluggish this morning.  
I'd imagine your stop at the gym will be a no-hassle deal on Friday!  I wouldn't think there will too many people there .  Sounds like you've got your week all planned out.  Mne will be busy, shopping for T-day foods today after work, plus some cleaning, making pies tomorrow.  Then Wednesday the family will start arriving!  Cooking T-day morning and hopefully eating and relaxing the rest of that day.  I work Friday but we plan to take it nice and easy this weekend.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/26/13:  The gym was pretty quiet last night for a Monday!  Usually Mondays, especially during the cold months, are quite busy.  As in, every treadmill is occupied.  Last night maybe 2/3rds of the treadmills were occupied, so not bad at all!  I had good energy and felt very well, it was a really good workout.

This morning I woke up and initially felt okay, but then started cramping and felt bloated and I passed just pure mucus.  I'm due to get my period like tomorrow, so I'm hoping the cramps & bloating are due to that, although I'm not sure what's up with the mucus.  I'm going to do a bit of yoga tonight anyway - who knows, maybe it'll help with the cramps & bloat.  I'm feeling a little stressed - I have a meeting at work tomorrow where I'm going to have to talk (just to my little department though, so only to like 3 or 4 people).  I don't go to many meetings, and when I do, it does stress me out a bit.  So hopefully yoga tonight and weights tomorrow at some point after the meeting will iron out the stress and help ease me into the holiday.

Oh, this is random, but can we talk about workout fashion for a second?  I usually wear fairly standard workout gear to the gym.  Capri style pants, usually black.  Sports bra with a t-shirt over it - usually a dark color shirt like blue, black, purple, etc.  Hand-me-down running shoes from my mom.    My workout clothes are pretty cute, but also pretty standard.  So, I saw a couple of fashionable ladies in the gym last night and they were kind of polar opposites.  This one lady, she's older (maybe in her late 50s/early 60s).  She's always chatting with her husband/boyfriend and never doing much actual exercise.  She has bleach blonde hair and you can tell she spent a lot of $$$ on her workout clothes, everything is neon colors (neon orange last night) and looks expensive and screams "look at me."  She always has on full makeup and I noticed last night that she was wearing huge gold hoop earrings too.  I nearly laughed!  I don't wear makeup even when I'm not working out, and earrings like that would drive me crazy.  This lady clearly just wants attention.

So then, I saw this girl.  She had an afro and she was dressed all in fuschia pink.  Pink shorts, pink tee, pink shoes, even big pink headphones and a pink water bottle too.  She was stylin', and what's more, she was kicking butt on the weights!  No makeup nor big earrings, she was stylish and cool without screaming "look at me."  And she was putting in the work rather than just being seen.  I liked her style a lot and I always respect people who are obviously working hard in the gym.  She was wearing a bright color like the bleach-blonde lady was, but other than that they were like total opposites.  Both definitely making a fashion statement though!

Maybe I should try to be like the girl who was all in pink.  Blue is my go-to color - I already have a blue ipod (I might need blue headphones though!), blue water bottle, I own the infamous pair of blue pants, and I have at least one blue workout top too.  Maybe I need blue shoes and socks?  Or would I look weird like a muppet or something if I dressed all in blue?


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## mccindy

Or a smurf?    Just kidding!  I do remember seeing girls that looked pretty good in some stylin' gear but still sweating it out without makeup and accessories. You gotta respect those ladies.  If I ever had any makeup on at the gym, it was just my eyeliner (pretty much all I usually wear).  I don't get the ones wearing full makeup.  It's not a fashion show, and if you work out like you should, you'll just sweat it off and end up looking streaky and silly!  
I usually rocked the all-black look .  Still do, black athletic gear tank and shorts.  OH, but I supose...  My shoes and socks are white.  So i guess not.  Well, I'm just at home nowadays and it's just me and the dogs.... they don't judge.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha ha, a smurf!  Or maybe blue man group?    Yeah, I don't think I have enough confidence to rock a very bold fashion statement like that.  And honestly, when I'm in the gym, I couldn't care less about how I look.  All my concentration is on what I'm doing and what I need to do, how many reps can I do, is my form okay, etc.  (I only noticed bleach blonde lady and pink girl because they both really stood out, pink girl was lifting right in front of me for awhile when I was warming up, and bleach blonde lady in particular annoys me because she'll sit on a machine and then just chat with her male friend for ages.)  I don't particularly want to stand out I guess, I definitely just want to do my thing and be left alone - but when I'm not in the gym, that's when I'm thinking about workout fashion!    I love shopping for workout clothes and I especially love it when I find a bargain on something really cute (I'm mainly a thrift store/clearance rack kind of shopper.)  So I don't want it to sound like, I need cute unique fashion to work out, because I can work out in any old clothes, but when I'm not in the gym I do like to think about cute gym clothes.  

True story - when I first started working out, I wasn't sure how my body was going to react or if I would be able to continue working out or what would happen.  So I wore really old ratty t-shirts, like super ugly clothes with holes and stains and stuff, because I didn't want to invest any money in workout clothes if the whole working out thing wasn't going to, well, work out.    It wasn't until a few months later that I was able to convince myself that I could keep exercising, that my body was okay with it and that IBD wasn't going to stop me, and I finally bought a few articles of nicer workout wear.  So I guess, me wanting to have nice & unique workout clothes shows how far I've come since then!  I know now that even in a (mild) flare, I can keep working out and it's definitely not a wasted investment to buy some nice workout clothes now and then.


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## mccindy

I did that too.  When I started at the gym I just wore what I had from home - tshirts and shorts.  Once I felt committed and knew I was going to keep going I went and bought some good stuff that was decent looking.  I tend to think about buying new stuff sometimes when the topic comes up, but it's so expensive  Ijust can't justify it when what I have works well.  I do like to haunt the clearance racks and thrift places in general, sometimes you can find some really cute stuff for super cheap!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm here.  Had a rough few days!  So here's the quick recap:  On Wednesday the 27th, I had a very busy day at work but managed to sneak down to the gym for a bit and do a quick set of weights.  I kind of cut short things like my warm up and cool down, I mostly did weights quickly and then a bit of stretching as I just didn't have time for a full workout.  Still, I felt good after even a short workout.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and that day did not go well at all.  I woke up with a throbbing, awful headache.  Not sure why - it lasted for like 3 days, so I'm guessing it was a migraine.  It was worst on Thursday.  I also ate something bad - I think it was the gluten-free gravy (I wonder if there was some coconut flour in there) - during the Thanksgiving meal, which just set my guts off.  I got very nauseous, crampy, palms sweaty and felt a bit dizzy and chilled.  Not fun at all!  So my guts and my head were bad for a few days, and as a result I spent most of the long weekend at home, resting and recovering.  I didn't go to the gym at all.    I managed to do a little bit of shopping, and with hubby's help I got the xmas tree up, but that was about as productive as I got.  I finally started feeling human again yesterday, but took yesterday as another rest day as I didn't want to push things too much too soon and angry up my guts all over again.

So, I'm feeling pretty okay today and am going to hit the gym.  Hopefully it'll go well.  It can only go up from here, right?


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## mccindy

Hi Cat,
I hope you're able to get to the gym today!  I know how much you hate to miss a few days, it just doesn't feel right.
I managed to get through 25 minutes each day this weekend on the elliptical, but sunday was tough . I don't know if it's the weight I've lost or what but I felt weak.  This morning I made it through the whole half hour.  My belly has been doing some strange things all weekend.  Although I am usually constipated, that has NOT been the case. I had quite a bit of belly pain on the elliptical, which is not normal for me either.  I'm hoping that the GI has some thoughts tomorrow.  
That being said, I'm just  grateful to still be able to work out and I hope you are able to get back on track today.  Now that the migraine and bad belly days have passed, I hope you are able to stay feeling better for quite a while!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, weight loss plus having loose stools can definitely make you feel depleted and weak.  Oddly enough, I'm actually constipated as of yesterday which is not the norm for me, so it sounds like we traded places!    I had nausea, cramping, and no appetite from Thanksgiving until yesterday.  Then my appetite came back, I scarfed a bunch of food yesterday, but I haven't had a proper poo since Thanksgiving and I haven't had d either which is a bit odd for me.  When the nausea first hit, I did take a couple Zofrans, which do tend to constipate me, but I also took stool softeners and drank a bunch of water which usually help prevent me from getting constipated.  So I guess this constipation is from the Zofran, but it's weird too.  Maybe my body was just holding onto everything because I wasn't eating much?  I don't know.

At any rate, I'll be interested to see what my weight is doing lately.  I had gotten myself back up to 138 last week just before Thanksgiving - I'm sure 3 days of feeling ill and barely eating didn't do anything good for my weight though so I'm guessing I've lost a few lbs since then.  I'm going to weigh myself when I go to the gym in a bit so we'll see.


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## mccindy

wow, we really have traded places!  We'll have to compare at the end of the week and see if we switch back.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I weighed myself in the gym, and I was at about 136 (it's not the most accurate scale) so not too bad.  I think the scale on my Wii Fit is more accurate, and I'm thinking of doing yoga on the Wii Fit tomorrow night, so I'll weigh myself on that too and see where I'm at.

Workout went great today.    I did every machine in the little gym, including the abdominals machine, and I felt fine.  Reflux was quiet, guts were calm for the most part.  I did get one sharp twinge of gut pain just before I started warming up, but then nothing after that, so I'm assuming that was just a fluke or maybe it was due to the constipation.  I did have a bit of an issue with jogging, though.  I did 3.5 minutes and then my bad hip started aching!  Noo, that's the hip that has always prevented me from jogging in the past.  I hope the steroid injections aren't wearing off already!    But, in the past, if I jogged and felt hip pain, usually the pain would stick around for hours or even days.  This time, the pain went away as soon as I stopped jogging.  So not great, but not terrible either.  I'm going to continue trying to jog, hopefully next time I won't get pain.

Cindy, yeah, let me know how you're doing at the end of the week!  And I'll let you know what my guts are doing.  So far I have just had one little poo today - you know when you strain and push and fight to get a poo out, and then it's just like a tiny rabbit poo?  That was my morning, and I haven't gone since.  I hate constipation!


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## mccindy

Cat, I'm laughing at your rabbit-poo description.  I usually have those a couple of times a week!  I'm still doing the diarrhea thing but only once a day... five days now, which is odd for me.  I hardly peed at all yesterday, and weight is the same.   I see the GI today so  we'll see what he says.  

I'm glad to hear your workout went so well!  Maybe your hip was a little tweaked because you didn't work out for so many days?  Sometimes my back does that too.  The  workouts keep it going well but if I miss too many days it really hurts when I start back up.  

still not having much appetite.  I know it's my medication but it's hard to eat to try to gain weight when you're not hungry!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, that's a bit worrying that you hardly peed yesterday - I presume you're drinking enough and staying hydrated?  Obviously you lose fluids when you're having d, but one episode a day shouldn't be enough to dehydrate you too badly.  What did your GI say today?

I'm still a bit constipated.  My usual poo schedule (for lack of a better term) is, I'll go at least once and sometimes multiple times first thing in the morning, I may or may not go during the day, and then at night I will usually have a poo just before bedtime.  Yesterday I did go before bed and it was a fairly normal poo (yay, no rabbit poo) but this morning I didn't go at all for the first few hours.  I finally did go, but it's very unusual for me to not go first thing in the morning.  And that's all I've gone so far today, just the once.  So things still aren't moving normally for me but getting a bit better (no more rabbit poo).

I think I'm going to do some yoga tonight.  Hubby always works later than I do on Tuesdays so I get about an hour to myself when I get home from work, and I often like to use that hour to exercise.  So yoga it is.  Weights tomorrow.  Thursday, either bike or rest day, I haven't decided yet.  Weights Friday, not sure about Saturday.  That's my plan for the week so far.

As for the hip... I'd like to believe it's just because I spent a few days not working out, but I don't think that's it.  It's been foggy and rainy all day, and the hip has been aching a little bit.  Before getting the steroid injections, it'd ache if it rained or especially if it snowed.  So because it's aching a little on this rainy day, I'm thinking the injections may be wearing off.  That's frustrating, but realistic unfortunately.  My days of trying to jog may already be over.  I'll still try to jog, but I'm not going to expect to be able to do much from here on out.  I'll be happily surprised if I can jog without hip pain on a non-rainy day, but I'm a realist, and I knew the injection would wear off over time.  I just didn't expect to get so many side effects and such a relatively short window of relief from my hip pain, but it was an experiment and I'll chalk it up as being largely unsuccessful.  Live and learn, right?  I've been exercising regularly for 2.5 years now and have dealt with/ worked around hip pain for that entire time, so it's not like this is anything I haven't faced before.  It sucks, but it's also expected.  That's the IBD/arthritis life, it's just another challenge to work with or work around.


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## mccindy

Starting to get back to "normal"  whatever that is! 
I peed like a bandit yesterday evening!    So must have been retaining water for some reason.  And actually had a normal bathroom trip this morning!  
The GI thinks I should still stay off the Linzess.  He did say the D and the pain would have gone away eventually, but it can take a couple of months and I can't afford the risk with my seizure meds.  He agreed with my taking a large fiber supplement every day ( was taking 2 but now upped it to 4 - still looking for psyllium).  I also have to take 8 Docusate (4 in the am and 4 in the pm).  He thought that will work for now and I should stick to my safe foods and stay away from trying to reintroduce any trigger foods (which I haven't been doing anyway).  Not really much for news.  HE did say pain levels probably will stay steady because things have been so unsettle for so long, it will take a long time for the nerves to calm down (they are still going on the assumption that I have IBS grrr).  
Yesterday we stopped at Red Robin for lunch, I got a turkey burger with gluten-free bun and sweet potato fries.  It was all really good but last night I could  hardly eat supper because I had no appetite and my belly hurt pretty badly. The only thing I could think of was that I forgot to check and see if the ketchup had corn syrup in it... everything else should have been safe? Unless it was the oil the fries were cooked in.  
Feeling pretty good this morning, got a good elliptical workout it.  MOstly I'm noticing how tired I am lately, but I think that has a lot to do with stress and the weight loss.  

and I have a new pain in my right jaw that I can't figure out.  It feels like it has to crack, but it doesn't, I can't open my mouth very far and it hurts to chew.  SEriously?  Maybe next my foot will fall off..... sheesh!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I had very similar jaw issues years ago before I even had IBD symptoms.  My jaw was like that for a couple years off and on and for a short while it got quite bad - sometimes if I could actually get my jaw to "crack", it'd sort of stick open and I couldn't shut my mouth for awhile!  It was just getting to the point where I thought I should see a doctor for it, when it suddenly & spontaneously got better on its own and I haven't really had jaw issues since.  I don't know what it was, at the time I suspected TMJ.  And I've read on the forum that TMJ isn't uncommon in IBD'ers - very odd that it went away on its own though and hasn't bothered me in years!  Hopefully your jaw issues will spontaneously go away too - but if not, go get it checked out.  And if it does turn out to be TMJ, perhaps there's a link to your gut symptoms - I haven't heard of a correlation between TMJ and IBS, but it seems to me that there may be a link between TMJ and IBD.

Well, I thought my guts were getting back to normal but I stupidly screwed them up again.  I bought some gum yesterday afternoon, because I remembered hearing that chewing gum (particularly sugar-free gum) can cause d, and I was still feeling a bit backed up and bloated, so I thought maybe chewing some gum would help move things along.  Well, I'm apparently stupid - I didn't buy sugar-free gum, I bought regular full-sugar gum!  I kept chewing it and didn't feel things moving along, so I just kept chewing and ended up chewing a lot of gum.  Then I finally realized my error but it was too late, I had already had way too much sugar.  That made me upset and gurgly and gassy, lovely.  I ended up skipping yoga because I felt too icky.  I had fairly bad pain last night in both the LRQ and the LLQ (it felt like my entire colon was just full of gas and angriness), and I had a hard time falling asleep.  I did at least have some d last night and a more normal-looking poo this morning, but I still feel bloated and full and kind of icky.  The pain is mostly gone, but I'm still rather bleh.  And the worst part is, I stupidly did this to myself because I didn't bother to read the label on my gum, I feel so dumb.  (I'm guessing sugar-free gum wouldn't have made me feel great either though, so I really don't know what I was thinking.)

So.  I'll be making sure to eat safe low-res foods today and absolutely no more gum!  I'm still hoping to hit the gym tonight - obviously I don't want to skip doing weights, especially after I skipped yoga.  It may not be pretty, but I'll give it my best shot.


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## mccindy

Oh, no, sugar!  That's exactly what I did to myself on Thanskgiving, forgetting about how much sugar was in each thing  I ate and getting too much.  So sorry that happened!  I don't really chew gum anymore because I can't have the sugar, and most of the sugar-free kinds have a sweetener ending in -ol (like xylitol) which I can't have either.  
I'm hoping this jaw thing will clear up soon on it's own.  I've had it happen a couple of time before, but usually only for a day or so.  Sometimes it would crack and then get better.  If it is TMJ, then I could definitely see it being a correlation with IBD (which they still seem to think I don't have, despite the night sweats, rashes and everything else!).  If it doesn't ease up in a few days, I supposed I'll have to go see someone.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sheesh, Cindy, I can't believe they're still trying to say it's IBS.  My weight loss and night sweats were two of the main things that made my GI say, okay, it's really got to be some type of IBD (the #1 thing that made him say that was, I had a good response to pred - that response combined with my "red flag" symptoms made him presume IBD as he knew it really had to be more than "just IBS").  I know you've had weight loss - I didn't know about the rashes, good lord!  Might be time for a second opinion?  How far is Mayo Clinic from where you live?  And what type of rashes - if they're on your face, it could possibly indicate Lupus (Lupus can cause IBD-like symptoms too) or if it's on your legs then it could be something like erythema nodosum (or however you spell that!).  If it were me, I'd take a photo of the rashes when they're at their worst, and email the photo to my GI.


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## mccindy

That's not a bad idea - the photos. I get the rash usually on the outside of both of my thighs, and sometimes across my right buttock as well.  THey were much worse last summer when I was flaring.  I don't get it on my face.
The funny thing is that when I got my orginal diagnosis of Crohn's back in 1995 and was put on Prednisone, I went into remission and didn't have problems after that for a long time.  
When I asked about the night sweats, the GI said, "Well, maybe it's peri-menopause."  Seriously?  I'm only 41 and my mother didn't start menopause until she was in her 50s!  Plus I've had several ultrasounds that show I'm still ovulating!  Grr.  
I've thought about a 2nd opinion, I could probably try to see a GI at Mayo when I go down there in April to see my neuro-oncologist.  It's a three-hour drive to get there from here so really inconvenient if I had to go frequently.  Although it might be nice to get a diagnosis..... the GI I see now is about an hour and a half away.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Peri-menopause, really?  Boy, I bet some of these doctors stay up at night thinking of creative ways to dismiss peoples' symptoms.    I had to go to urgent care once for dehydration, and the doctor there was one of those very dismissive types.  He said he didn't even think I was dehydrated (!), he said he thought it was all in my head but he'd give me IV fluids anyway to placate me.  His attitude really got me angry!  Then he looked at my chart and said I've got IBS - I started telling him all the reasons why I don't have IBS (weight loss, good response to pred, etc) and he yelled, "I don't know that stuff, I'm not a gastro doc!" and he literally stormed out of the room and slammed the door.  I guess that doc couldn't come up with a new way to dismiss me so he literally threw a tantrum - wow!  In hindsight it's almost funny.  Also sad and ridiculous - so many doctors are so quick to either blame the patient, say it's all in your head, or say it's due to something vague like "women's troubles."  Ugh!

So I went to the gym last night, and did better than I thought I would.  I felt good and had good energy throughout.  My body did throw some obstacles at me but I dealt with them and worked through it.  I warmed up on the arc trainer and felt great.  Then I started doing the weights, and immediately I started feeling heartburn happening!  I so very rarely get heartburn - I reflux a lot obviously, but it's rarely heartburn (I think because I take enough reflux meds that I keep my acid levels low enough that the reflux usually doesn't burn in a heartburn-y way).  I drank a bunch of water and that helped somewhat.  I got through all the weights with just a bit of gut cramps but otherwise felt okay, did my stretches & my cool-down, changed and got in my car to go home... and then both of my feet cramped up.  I guess my potassium level dipped just low enough to cause foot cramps - and sometimes the cramps don't happen until after my workout is over (I'm not sure why that is).  So I had to drive home with crampy feet, which is always interesting and sometimes quite painful.  The cramps weren't terribly bad and I only live a few miles from the gym so it wasn't awful.  So yeah, heartburn, a few gut cramps, and foot cramps - but I still feel like it was a good workout!  I felt good other than that stuff, as odd as that sounds.

Oh, and this is kind of funny - I guess all this exercise is paying off in the form of making me more physically attractive.    Hubby's been saying lately that my butt is looking better than ever thanks to all the time I've been spending in the gym.  And I guess he's not the only one who noticed!  As we were driving home from the gym, hubby said, "There were a lot of cute girls in the gym today.  And one of them was checking you out!"  I was like, what?  Apparently, he said when I was warming up on the arc trainer, a supposedly cute girl (I didn't see her) was looking at my butt.  Hubby saw her in the mirror, he said it was pretty obvious that she was checking me out.  I said, a lot of girls will check other girls out just to compare herself to others - I know I do that.  Hubby said, "Sure, maybe she was just comparing herself to you - but she looked at your butt for quite a bit longer than would be necessary to just make a comparison.  I really think she was checking you out."  Well gosh, I'm flattered.    I'm straight and spoken for obviously but it's nice to know that I am attractive!  It's a little odd because I've never thought of myself as pretty or attractive.  In the right light I feel like I can pass for cute, maybe even adorably quirky, but not really pretty nor sexy or anything like that.  So this has been a little bit of a confidence boost!  And I think it's more of a compliment for a woman to check me out - I feel like women tend to be more picky than guys when it comes to appearance.  Anyway, so that was my workout!  A few bumps in the road but overall a good workout and a stranger liked what she saw.


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## mccindy

That's pretty cool!  When you work out hard, you get results, girl!  I'll bet it was a great feeling to hear that from your hubby too.  The butt is a hard place to keep in good shape, especially for women as we age.  I had a good friend once who was super thin, had good muscle tone pretty much everywhere, but she had a saggy little butt!  IF you don't make it work, it won't be tight.    Sounds like you are working yours!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks!  I have been trying to whip the booty into shape.    It's always been just a tad too big for my frame, and like with your friend, it's been a bit saggy too.  So especially within the past year or so, I've been doing more squats, and the leg press machine.  There's this other butt machine at the gym too, but you have to like lean your abdomen into this padded thing, and it's just not comfortable to me.  It's too much pressure on the lower abdomen so that's quite uncomfortable, and if I move it so that it's more on my chest then I feel like I can't breathe properly, so that machine is just not happening.  But with the squats and the leg press, plus I think my booty hopefully gets an okay workout when I ride the bike or do the arc trainer, so it's coming along.  I feel like I still have a long way to go, of course my main fitness goal is just to make my body as fit and healthy as possible so I'll probably never actually reach that goal, it's just something to shoot for.  The booty still has a way to go too, but the aesthetic side of fitness has never been too high on the priority list anyway, so I'll just keep plugging along.    It was nice to get affirmation from someone other than my hubby that things are looking okay back there, though!  Ha ha.

I can't decide whether to do the bike or yoga tonight.  The weather turned rather bitterly cold today and as a result my left knee has been aching.  That's the same knee that always aches when I ride the bike.  I really want to do the bike, as I feel like that's a better workout than yoga is, but with my knee feeling like this I might just make the pain worse.  Yoga might help my knee feel better, but I'm in a bike mood.  Hmmm!  I'm leaning towards doing the bike anyway and then putting a heating pad on my knee afterwards (if cold weather is making it ache then maybe heat will help it feel better?).  Cindy, are you guys getting this cold weather too?  It was like 50 degrees and rainy yesterday, today it's like 20 degrees and feels like 5 with the windchill, and it's supposed to get even colder in the next few days too.  I also heard we're getting 2-5 inches of snow on Sunday, lovely.  I'll have to walk the dog in the bitter cold on Saturday, but perhaps we'll stay in on Sunday!  I hate walking my dog in a snowstorm, yuck!


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## mccindy

Oh, are we getting the cold weather.  We got 6 inches of snow over the last couple days, and now the temps are dropping.  It was about 4 degrees this morning and the wind was whipping pretty hard.  They're saying it's going to dip to about -5 tonight with wind chills of more than -20.  I'm really glad I have a garage, put it that way.... and I already told my hubs I am not going anywhere this weekend that involves me going outside!  
It sounds like this cold is going to last through at least the early part of next week as well.  My dogs are pretty tough cold-weather girls, but they are out to pee and back in pretty quick when it's this cold.  
Ugh I hate the cold!  Too bad when I moved for my new job it was only from Western Wisconsin to Central Minnesota.  The weather is the same except the wind blows harder!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I don't have a garage, just an uncovered driveway.    My poor little car has to sit out in the elements and I have to go and scrape and brush her off every time it snows.  Yuck!  I really do want to go to the gym on Sunday, but hopefully that will be the only time I have to leave the house that day.  The rest of Sunday will be spent on the couch with my crocheting - I'm about halfway through making a blanket, and I can use it as a lap blanket while I work on it.    So cozy!  So yeah, I'll brave the snow and cold to do my workout - hopefully the gym will be dead quiet during Sunday's snowstorm!

My dog is very cold-weather oriented too, which is hilarious to me because she was born & raised in California.    I got her when she was 2 (her previous owners moved here to WI and then realized they couldn't keep her) so her first winter with me was the first time she had even seen snow - and she loved it!  It's especially ridiculous because she's got such short stumpy little legs but she loves deep snow - she has to kind of bunny hop through it because there's no way she can run full speed in snow that's deeper than a couple inches.  So silly!  She'll drag me to the dog park when it's 0 degrees out, but on a warm summer day I practically have to drag her to the dog park and she will walk verrrry sloooooowly.  Oh, and she hates swimming, even on a hot summer day.  She won't go into water where her feet can't touch the bottom, so not more than a few inches deep.  But when we had a blizzard with 18 inches of snow shortly after we got her, she spent over an hour playing in it.    What a goofball.  So yeah, I'll probably have to walk her at least once this weekend in the bitter cold, and she'll love the cold and the snow but me not so much!


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## mccindy

Oh, it is cold this morning.  My car said the outside temp was -7 on my drive in to work, and the wind chill is -20.  Yikes!  I had to leave the dogs inside, I didn't want them in the indoor/outdoor kennel in case they were outside too long and got frostbite.  They probably wouldn't, when I let them out this morning they were out and back to the door in about 30 seconds!  Just enough time to pee and for a quick dash through the snow.

Your dog sounds so funny.  My last dog, the half wolf we had to put down in March (he's in my avatar picture), loved the cold weather. He'd go out and just curl up and go to sleep when it was well below zero.  He was pretty miserable in the summer when it was hot and would rather stay in the house in the AC.  he loved the snow so much!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, my dog would rather stay in the AC in the summer too.  And one of her favorite treats is ice cubes!  In the mornings when I make my smoothies, I always fill a big cup of ice to add to the smoothie, and Lily is always very excited to get a few pieces of ice (yes, even in the winter - and I love giving her ice as a treat because obviously it's 0 calories and she still needs to lose a few more lbs).  She'll also do this silly thing, when she's running in snow (if it's not very deep snow), she'll start running at top speed and open her mouth and put her head down and will scoop up big mouthfuls of snow as she runs!  It's so funny-looking, like she's trying to bulldozer a huge amount of snow into her mouth.  

I did the stationary bike for about an hour last night and that went great, my legs felt strong and I had a good amount of energy.  I was jazzed because I was able to watch an episode of my favorite K-drama while I pedaled.  But my internet connection kept dropping so it took forever to watch the whole episode!  I did my bike ride, did a good amount of stretching, and then putzed around the house for a bit while watching my show as it kept freezing because my Kindle kept losing the wifi signal.  It took like 90 mins to watch a 60 min show!  

But other than the technical difficulties, things went pretty well.  I did have some foot cramps afterwards, which almost always happens after a long ride.  I get too sweaty and lose too much potassium, it just happens.  I've been supplementing potassium, but I don't think it's doing anything.  I think part of the problem is, all the potassium supplements I've seen indicate that they're only like 3% of your daily recommended potassium intake.  I'm trying it anyway but it's clearly not doing much of anything.  The pills are big and chalky too so I don't want to try taking more than one potassium pill per day.  I think I just have to suck it up and deal with the foot cramps!  Oh well.

Today I'm going to the gym for weights.  Tomorrow, walking the dog will probably be my main form of exercise, and Sunday back to the gym for weights.  Other than that, I'm holing up inside with hot tea, my crocheting, more K-drama fun, my fireplace on and my warmest pajamas.  Brr, stay warm!


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## mccindy

What a great workout!  I'm glad it worked out for you, I know you wanted to get on the bike if you could.  I used to get really bad foot cramping when I worked out for 2 hours a day, but now that I only work out 1/2 hour a day, it doesn't happen nearly as much.  

the dog-mouthing-up snow thing - funny, my wolf dog did that all the time!  It does look silly.  He didn't like ice though.  My two girls now sure do.  If they hear someone getting ice out of the freezer they come running and stand looking up all hopefully.  No one can resist their cute faces so they usually get their ice cubes.  They really seem to enjoy crunching them up.  Puppies are silly just like people!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

So, I just got back from the gym.  Very oddly, I had yet another great workout!  Felt very strong and had great energy, even managed to jog 5 minutes straight with no hip pain.  I'm starting to distrust this, ha ha.  I think, if I have too many really good workouts in a row, then I'm really going to be thrown for a loop when I finally have a bad one.    And the way things usually go for me, I feel like I'm probably overdue for a bad/tough workout.  Isn't it odd the way IBD changes the way you think?  If I have too many good tummy days then I start wondering why my guts are being so quiet and what they're up to and when they're going to hit me with massive symptoms that I'm surely due for.  Same with good workouts, if I have too many good workouts where I have good energy and feel great, I start wondering what's wrong and when my body will even the score.  

My one complaint about my workout today is, there were too many people in the gym - 3 whole people besides myself!  Ha ha, I went down to the little gym in the basement of my workplace, and there's usually nobody else there.  Because of that, I usually put on music DVDs and jam out, seeing and hearing my favorite singers on the TV really keeps me moving.  But when I got to the gym, there was another lady already there, and I was horrified to see that she had the TV turned on to the country music station!  Eeeek, no!  I can pretty safely say that country is my very least favorite genre - I'd rather listen to rap than country (I hate rap too but at least it's usually got a beat you can work out to, rather than twangy awfulness).  Fortunately though that lady was just finishing her workout so she left a few minutes after I got there.  Phew!  She handed me the TV remote as she left the gym and I immediately popped in a J-pop DVD - I needed some Utada therapy after being subjected to country!    Then as I was finishing up on the weights, my boss came in the gym and apparently she isn't a fan of J-pop as she put on her headphones and was reading on her kindle as she did the bike.  And just as I was leaving, yet another person came into the gym to walk on the treadmill.  3 people, that's the most I've ever seen in the little gym during one workout!  I realize it's silly to complain about that, but I adore having the little gym all to myself.  Plus, that gym is very tiny - 2 treadmills, one stationary bike, 7 weight machines, and a small (like one person sized) mat for stretching.  So really that gym can only hold a few people at the max.

The relative crowding in the little gym today made me think, it's getting close to January 1st, which I dread - all the New Year's resolution people are going to start flooding the gym as of Jan 1st!  Double eek!  Last year I noticed a ton more people at Planet Fitness starting on Jan 1st.  They seemed to drop off somewhat after about a week, and by the end of January, gym attendance seemed to me to be back down to about normal.  But I am so not looking forward to that first little bit in January when everybody decides for a minute to start working out.


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## mccindy

I remember that about my gym - January was always the worst month because of all the "resolutioners".  Usually by the end of the month numbers had dwindled down some.  Summer was always the best time because most of the runners would just run outside.

I'm with you on the country thing - I absolutely cannot stand country music.  Rap isn't great but it does at least have a beat.  I'm not a fan of jazz either.  

It's great that you're having such a good workout streak, that's awesome!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/9/13:  I walked the dog on Saturday, as planned.  It was SO COLD out!  My legs felt achey and tired after that walk, they definitely didn't like the cold and I've had a bit of hip & knee pain off & on ever since.  We also did some xmas shopping, quite a lot actually, on Saturday because we had some money and wanted to get as much done as possible before the snow hit on Sunday.  So we went to, I think 7 stores plus we did grocery shopping.  That in itself was exhausting, and that plus walking the dog was all the activity I did for the whole day.  I sat on the couch & crocheted, and I also took a nice hot bath, and that was my Saturday.

Sunday, it started snowing first thing in the morning and snowed all day.  I got up and decided to try to get to the gym as early as I could while the roads were still okay-ish.  I made it to the gym by noon - the roads were getting kind of bad but I took the back way to the gym and I was fine.  The gym was very quiet and nearly empty, I loved that!  I didn't have a great workout like I've been having - I would say it was a good or maybe an average workout.  I had okay energy, my reflux was tolerable, etc.  It wasn't great but it wasn't bad either, I'd say it was good overall.  So I did my workout and drove back home, made it fine even though a few other people on the road were driving like crazy (one guy blatantly ran a red light and nearly hit about 5 other cars, many other people driving too fast for conditions).  Once I got home, I stayed there, didn't want to go out and drive any more in the snow with the crazy people!  So I once again sat on the couch and crocheted.  Nearly finished the blanket I'm working on and am thinking about trying to make another blanket in time for xmas!  Speaking of crazy people, I may just be one myself, ha ha.  

Today's a rest day.  I think my achey legs will appreciate a rest day.  Tomorrow weights, Wednesday either bike or yoga.  Thursday weights, not sure about Friday, probably weights again Saturday.  I need to fit in more xmas shopping and more crocheting in too, not sure when I'll have time for all this, but I know I need to make time to exercise and that's definitely my priority over shopping.  Exercise is helping relieve some of the stress of this season and it's always at the top of the priority list no matter what season!


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## mccindy

wow, you make me feel almost lazy by comparison! I did some laundry and cleaned the bathroom, but otherwise took it pretty easy.  It was so cold, I only left the house once, when we went to meet some friends for dinner and then made a quick stop at the store.  Otherwise I stayed in both days.  I did get some presents wrapped and under the tree, and did quite a bit of Xmas shopping, but it was all online, so I didn't have to leave the couch!  
I skipped my workout on Saturday and regretted it all weekend.  My back is SUPER unhappy about it.  It's been waking me up at night, and part of me wonders if it's related to what my physical therapist told me a couple of times- that if I lost too much weight I'd notice it because it would be hard on my back. Plus like my husband says, when my back was at its best was when I was working out 1-2 hours per day.  I couldn't possibly do that now or I'd starve to death!  Grrr.   I did get back on the elliptical yesterday and that helped some but it was pretty tough on me most of the weekend.  Today I'm back at work and did do my workout this morning. 
Enjoy your rest day, Cat.  I've pretty much decided I want to learn how to crochet, gonna check in with my local experts (my mom and MIL) for some hands-on instruction.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha ha, I'm glad you've got expert crocheting instructors to help you learn.    I decided that I am definitely going to crochet my grandpa a blanket (in addition to the blanket I'm making for my massage therapist, the scarf I'm making for my sis-in-law, the mug cozies I'm making for multiple people, oh yeah and the new xmas stockings I'm making for hubby and I, plus the shawl/wrap I want to make for myself...).  I just went out and bought 6 more skiens of yarn in order to help me accomplish all this!  I'm going to be crocheting in my sleep at this rate to get all this done, although the stuff for myself & hubby doesn't have to be done by xmas, but everything else does.  Phew!

Oh, I'm sorry to hear about your back pain getting worse, that's awful that skipping 1 workout and/or losing a few lbs has made such a difference!    Time to somehow pig out?  When I need calories, I start adding olive oil to everything.  I have almond butter as a snack or add it to my smoothies, and I try to eat avocadoes as they're so high in "healthy" fat - I sometimes make myself tummy-friendly burritos with ground turkey, very mild seasoning, goat cheese, and avocado.  I've heard coconut oil is a good "healthy fat" too, but coconut is pretty much trigger food #1 for me, so I obviously avoid that one!  I hope you can add some calories and gain some weight back and still keep your workout schedule going too.  I know it's going to be hard to keep up a regular workout schedule with the holidays coming up (does your son in AZ have access to an elliptical that you can use on vacation?) but I know I'm going to try my hardest to keep working out through the holiday madness.  I seem to recall that last year, I hit the gym on xmas eve and then went to the in-laws' afterwards - priorities!    Gym first, then in-laws.    Ha ha.


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## mccindy

I so would like to pig out.  I start eating and feel full right away, and then nauseous.    I did start to add coconut oil to stuff again.  My GI told me to start adding Ensure (the gluten-free, lactose-free stuff) between meals, he said since it's liquid it'll go through fast and shouldn't stop me from eating meals.  I'm hoping it's something I can stand drinking since I'm pretty sensitive to tastes of liquids especially.  I'm going to buy a couple of cans tonight to try tomorrow and see how it goes.  
No, no elliptical access at my son's, we're hoping that staying active and walking around a lot doing touristy stuff will help my back stay bearable.  Darn thing.  At least after Xmas I'll be able to stay on it. maybe gain a few pounds with those few days of not working out!

I'm looking forward to crocheting, it would be cool to make stockings.  Once I'm good at it I want to start on a baby blanket so I've got one to give to my first grandchild, which will probalby be in the next year and a half or two years.  That should give me enough time to get experience enough to make a decent one I hope!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

If I may offer some advice, don't jump the gun on the potential future grandkids as it may not happen.  I was always on the fence about having kids with a bit of a lean towards not having any, and my mom pressuring me to make her a grandma definitely did not help matters in her favor (when I got sick, that pretty much put the last nail the coffin for me on the subject of having kids - don't want to make myself sicker and don't want to pass on these crappy genetics).  My mom apparently thought I'd have kids right away like she did without even giving it much thought, but I gave it a lot of thought and I think it's not for me, and she did not deal with that very well.  I'm sure you're a better mom than my mother was/is to me, and I'm guessing you haven't put any pressure on your kids to procreate like my mom did to me.  Seriously, my family once had a yelling fight where my mom asked when (not if) I was going to have kids, I said I wasn't sure if I wanted kids, and suddenly my mom and my brother were both yelling at me that kids are great and of course I want kids and I should shut up and just have some kids so they can be a grandma and an uncle already!  Nothing makes you not want to have kids quite as much as people telling you what to do with your womb.  

Sorry, that turned into a bit of a rant!  Hopefully your family is normal and nothing like mine!  My point is, don't even breathe a word of wanting grandkids, this is their decision and theirs alone.    If you do become a grandma, I'm sure you'll be an awesome one!

Ugh, this has been such a stressful day, work has been very stressful.  I kind of want to work out tonight - it's so hard to listen to my body on days like this, because my brain is telling me to work out and relieve some stress, but my body is saying it's tired and needs a rest day.  I will rest but I can't be totally content about it when there's conflict between what the body and mind are telling me.  Someone online posted a thing recently that said that crocheting is supposedly great for stress relief - I don't know of any stress relief method that even comes close to exercise, but I'll be crocheting tonight, so I hope it helps me relax a bit at least.  Good luck with your crocheting, Cindy!


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## mccindy

Oh, Cat, how terrible.  I'm sorry your mom put you through something like that. How awful.  As a mother, I find it very upsetting that your family would treat you like that.  Having kids is such a personal decision, and health issues make it even harder. 
 We've been careful not to put pressure on our son and his wife about having kids.  They are actually pretty eager to have them, they're just waiting until he finishes his master's and has a good job with insurance.  Then they plan to start trying right away.  His name is Denny, and hers is Sabrina.  Yesterday she said on Facebook that she can't wait to start making little Denbrinas!  I had to laugh.  


I hope you had a nice, restful evening of crocheting.  I had a nice visit with a friend of mine who also has a brain tumor, same place as me and everything!  She always makes me feel pretty good.  Then my darn old football team had to look like a bunch of idiots, so I went to bed early.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Cindy.    Yeah, my mom is a little crazy, and not exactly supportive.  Do you want to adopt me?    Just kidding of course!  There's that old saying about how you can't choose your family, and oh that is painfully true.  My dad is clueless and rather frighteningly similar to Homer Simpson, my brother is on drugs and is kind of crazy, and my mom is crazy in a different way and not supportive.  Given all that, it's a bit amazing that I turned out relatively okay!  

So anyway.  I had a rest day yesterday and I nearly finished crocheting the blanket that I've been working on.  Going to finish the border on it tonight and then will start on sis-in-law's infinity scarf (it's like a loop, there are no ends - apparently she asked for a scarf like that so I'll make her a nice one).  Going to hit the gym on my lunch break so that I'll have the whole evening to crochet.  Hubby works late tonight so I'll have to stop crocheting for a bit to make dinner, but that shouldn't take too long.  Tomorrow, I'm not sure - I'll play it by ear, and will either do yoga or the bike.

I want to do some ice skating this winter, too!  I mentioned to hubby this morning that I want to go ice skating now that it's getting really cold out - our city maintains some nice free outdoor rinks during the winter.  I was saying I need to get my skates sharpened.  Then I asked hubby if he'd go skating with me sometime - and he actually said yes!  This is big, because he hates ice skating and he's not very good at it (I've reminded him that he'll only get better by getting out on the ice and learning to skate and practicing, but he rebuffs my logic by repeating that he hates it and sucks at it).  I love ice skating and I'm not too bad at it, I can skate backwards and I can even do back crossovers.  So I'm really excited about ice skating this winter!  I was all prepared to go by myself, and realistically I know hubby will probably come with me once, hate it, and not want to go with me for the rest of the winter.  But still, it's nice that he agreed to come skating with me at least once.    Winter isn't my favorite season, but for me ice skating is one of the really good parts about winter!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, and as for your football team - I didn't watch the game, but I was hoping the Cowboys would beat the Bears, so I was rooting for your team in spirit!  The Packers still have a sliver of hope of making the playoffs, I'm sure they probably won't, it just doesn't seem like the Packers' year.  But I sure don't want the Bears in the playoffs!


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## mccindy

You must be pretty tough person, Cat, to have turned out the way you have after all of that.    Good on you!  

Ice skating - I used to really like doing that as a kid.  It's off my list of activity options now, of course, as I can't do things which could lead to me hitting my head.  I never got good at it but it was a lot of fun!  

Ugh, I can't believe we lost to the Bears.  Our defense seems to be crumbling.... it all goes back to the owner, I believe.  The Packers' hopes seem to be slipping away also with every Lions and Bears win.  Bummer for both of us!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, the Packers have only won 1 game since Aaron Rodgers got injured.  Even if we somehow made it into the playoffs, we'd never make it as far as the Superbowl.  And I think even making it to the playoffs is pretty much not happening either at this point.

Well, I just got back from the gym, and my workout was not so good.  It was one of those workouts where I just felt sapped of energy and all the weights felt much heavier than usual, I really had to struggle to get to the usual number of reps on each machine.  I think I'm coming down with a cold and I think that's why my workout wasn't very good, bleh.  I feel sniffly, my throat is a bit sore and my voice a bit hoarse, I just feel slightly "off".  And my stomach isn't quite okay either which usually happens when I get a cold.  So, unfortunately, I'm thinking tomorrow may be a rest day rather than bike or yoga.  I figure, if I rest tomorrow and can feel somewhat better, then maybe I'll be able to have a better weights workout on Thursday.  I hate to skip a workout, but I hate skipping weights more than I hate skipping yoga or cardio.  So I'll do what I have to do to give myself a chance at doing weights on Thursday.

On the bright side, I have plenty of crocheting to do while sitting on the couch and resting!  So at least I'll still be productive.


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## mccindy

crocheting = finger workouts.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha ha.    I'm not musically inclined at all, but playing piano always seemed to me like it must be a good finger workout.  With crochet, I pretty much just do the same repetitive motion over and over, so probably not the best finger workout.  Maybe I should learn to play piano?  

Urgh, I don't feel well today.  My guts, for whatever reason, always get unhappy when I have a cold or virus.  My appetite goes away, I get a bit nauseous, I get d and I just feel very unsettled in the guts.  I've had about 4 episodes of d between last night & this morning.  That plus cold symptoms means I'm just out of it and uncomfortable and exhausted.  I took some dayquil this morning which helped with the stuffy sinuses and the sore throat, but it had no effect on the guts.  Today's definitely a rest day.  Tomorrow I'll assess how I feel and will play it by ear - if I still feel like this, I'll be forced to take another rest day.  I'm not happy about that, but I know I need to listen to my body and give it what it needs, and right now my body is saying, "Ugh, I need rest!"


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ugh this week keeps getting worse!  I remembered a little while ago that I have a dentist appointment today.  Bleh!  It's just a cleaning, but it's one of the last things I want to be doing when I feel crappy like this.  Oh well, at least I get to lie down in the chair for awhile.  I doubt I'll be comfortable though.  This week seriously just needs to end so I can have a restful weekend (not that it will be super restful as I have to do more xmas shopping and get my tires rotated and probably other annoying errands too).  Pity party, table of 1!    Sorry for the vent, I am just not having a good day at all.


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## mccindy

Argh, a dentist appointment!  It sucks to remember something like that when all you want to do is rest!  
My belly is having an unsettled day as well - lots of cramping today and I ended up with four rounds of D this afternoon already ( so much fun when I'm at work).  Not sure why - I haven't eaten anything on my "No" list, except I did put mushrooms in the spaghetti sauce last night.  I picked them out of mine though, so I wouldn't think that would do it.  I've been taking the psyllium for a few days now, don't know if it's something to do with that either?  Or my belly is just unhappy for some unknown reason, picky thing.

I'm sorry about your cold, Cat.  I hope you get over it fairly quickly.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Spaghetti sauce can be tricky for me - if there's garlic in it, that always does me in.  Mushrooms don't digest very well, and the sauce itself is so acidic that it really gets my GERD going sometimes.  But I would say garlic is the worst out of all that, and it's one of those things you don't even really think about.  It took me a little while to even figure out that garlic was a trigger for me.  I ate spaghetti, was fine, ate spaghetti, was fine, ate spaghetti, felt awful!  What about it was different?  Oh, there was garlic in that last one!  So maybe it was something like that that caused you to not feel well?  One of the picky little seasonings?

I'm feeling somewhat better today.  I actually almost enjoyed being at the dentist yesterday - it was nice to be able to lie down for awhile.    I was sure it was going to be awful, but it wasn't so bad.  I did some crocheting and took a nice hot bath last night, went to bed a bit early, woke up not feeling as hideous as I did yesterday.  I still definitely have a cold, I'm coughing and sniffly still, but my guts are somewhat better.  My appetite is returning and I'm not nauseous, so that's good.  

Since things are on the upswing, I'm going to attempt to do a weights workout today!  I'm not overly optimistic, I still may not have a lot of energy or strength, but I'll do my best.  I'd rather try and have a mediocre workout, than skip it.  So I'll go and I'll try, and I'll be pleased with whatever I'm able to do.

Oh, and tonight is the final episode of the K-drama I've been watching!    I will need to find a new show to watch now when I ride the bike!  K-dramas don't do second seasons, they typically run for 20 episodes and then they're done, that's it.  It's not at all like American TV shows where something will run for like 8 or 10 seasons.  So it's nice in a way, if you want to watch a K-drama it doesn't involve watching countless seasons, it's just 20 episodes and it's done, not a huge time investment.  It's sad though if you really like a show and get invested in the characters and stuff!  I want more than 20 episodes of my show!    I need to find a new K-drama that will keep me wanting to ride the bike for an hour at a time while I watch.  My big problem with the stationary bike all last winter was that I got SO BORED of pedaling without going anywhere - I really need good entertainment to keep me going.


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## mccindy

I'm glad to hear you're feeling well enough to give a workout a try.  Hopefully you get some energy and it goes well!  I hate being sniffly, it's my least favorite part of a cold, the nasally part.  

I'm not sure what the trigger was, it could have been a seasoning.  Now that I think about it, I did put onion powder in it and onions really kick my butt.  Garlic powder is usually safe for me.  

I just watched the season finale of _Sons of Anarchy_ last night and OH MY GOD!  NOt sure how I'm supposed to wait for next September to see the last season and how everything plays out.  It was SUPER graphic and left me in tears.... It's been on for six years and we're completely invested.  So I see what you mean about the short season thing.  It sucks when a show is on for so many years that you feel you can't stop watching but it's been for too long and then you can't stop even though half the original characters are gone!  I also watched my season finale of _The Walking Dead_ last week and that one was hard to watch too.... I really need to stop getting into these darned shows!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Being sniffly isn't bad, it's tolerable to me.  I think I'm used to it because I have had messed up sinuses ever since I broke my nose at age 11 (I broke it on the bottom of a swimming pool, I dove in wrong and hit the bottom with my face, my parents said the ER wouldn't do anything for my nose and they refused to take me to the ER, so as a result it was never set properly and healed crooked and I am sure I have a deviated septum plus who knows what else going on in there).  Ever since that injury, I've had lots of sinus issues - whenever I get a headache, it tends to be a sinus headache.  My nose drips a lot, particularly when I exercise or if I drink a hot beverage like tea.  I have a hard time breathing through my nose, and I can only do neti pots on one side and I can only do NG tubes on the other side (I'm not sure why that is!).  I blow my nose a lot and as a result my nose is frequently raw & irritated and I get nosebleeds often, especially in the dry winter months.  So yeah, a bit of extra snifflyness on top of the usual isn't so bad, I'm used to it and can deal with it.  The nausea and fatigue and sore throat were probably the symptoms that were bugging me the most about this cold, and they've all improved somewhat, so I'm not feeling too bad. 

I haven't watched Sons of Anarchy, but I have watched the Walking Dead (I've only seen what episodes are on Netflix, so no spoilers please!   ).  Yeah, shows like Walking Dead aren't afraid to kill off their characters, so as a result it's a slightly different cast each season (or even each episode!).  I kind of like that about K-dramas, since there are only 20 episodes, you're in it with the same characters for the full run of the show.  There are exceptions - I watched this show called "Iris", it was made in 2009.  It was like a spy drama, kind of like "24".  By the end of the show, a LOT of the characters got killed off.  But the show was really popular, so finally this year they decided to make "Iris 2."  But it was more like a spin-off - the main character of Iris 2 is supposedly the sister of the female lead from the first Iris, and there's only one actor from the original Iris who returned to make Iris 2.  I couldn't watch Iris 2, it just wasn't good without the actors from the first one.  For one thing you can't make a second season of a show when the first show ended 4 years ago, and all the good characters got killed off!  So yeah, anyway, most K-dramas don't get sequels/second seasons anyway and it seems to me that it's a good thing they don't.  But still, some shows really need more than 20 episodes!


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## mccindy

Oh, that is always a bad idea.  Kind of like when they make a sequel to a movie and it doesn't have the same actors or new characters in it.  I am a huge fan of the _Mummy_ movies, but I just couldn't stand that Rachel Weiss didn't play Evie in the third one.  It really ruined the movie for me, it was too hard to buy into it with the wrong actress!  

20 episodes would be rough - that's enough of them for you to really get invested into the plot and characters, and be left wanting more! 
No spoilers for you on the _Walking Dead_, but let's just say they still haven't changed their trend of killing off characters!  Good thing they introduce new ones all the time or they would run out.  I kind of wonder if they'll just end the show with everyone being a zombie!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, I loved the first Mummy movie!  I watched the 2nd one and I recall it being so-so, I don't think I watched the 3rd one so I wasn't aware that Rachel Weiss wasn't in it.  But I hate that too, when they replace an actress/actor and try to pass it off as being the same character.  Did you ever watch "Dead Like Me"?  They made 2 seasons and then the show rather abruptly got cancelled, so a few years later they made a DLM movie to try to tie up all the loose ends and to make the fans happy.  But it was awful!  They couldn't get 2 of the main actors to come back for the movie, so they wrote one of them out of the script and replaced the other one with a different actress (and like you said with the girl who replaced Rachel Weiss, this actress was just all wrong and I could not buy her as being the same character!).  The script was bad too, the whole thing was just awful - it would have been better if they never made that movie!

Walking Dead - eek, I just hope my favorite characters last awhile longer.  I love Glen & Maggie's relationship, and he's such an underdog (he should have died like 10 times already!).  I don't want to know what's happening in the current season, but I really hope those two make it.

Ahhh.  I just got back from the gym, and I feel great!    Had a MUCH better workout than last time.  Had decent energy and was able to do everything I wanted, except for jogging as my warm-up.  When I got into the gym, I felt some gurgling and pain in my LRQ, and I didn't want to jostle my guts around by jogging, so I warmed up on the bike instead.  Once I was warmed up, though, my LRQ quieted right down and I felt pretty good.  Did all the weight machines including the abdominals machine, and LRQ stayed quiet throughout.  I did have a few coughing fits and I had to wipe my nose even more than usual, so this cold hasn't quiet left my system yet, but overall I felt good and had a good workout.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ughhh.  Well, I felt great after finishing my workout yesterday.  Then I ate lunch... and my guts revolted.  I'm not sure why - I ate something safe (it was leftovers from the previous day's dinner and it went down fine then).  My guts got very rumbly and then became crampy and I had to run to the bathroom.  Had a few painful episodes of d (you know when it feels like hot lava?), including some blood.  Guts remained very upset all evening so I skipped dinner altogether.

Today I feel very fatigued and exhausted.  I'm in that weird state where I feel simultaneously hungry & nauseous, so I'm still not sure what's going on with my guts or if it's safe to eat yet.  This morning I told hubby, "I don't know how I'm going to get through this day" and then I started crying.  I just hate this, I did everything right and I feel like this cold is on its way out, I didn't eat any unsafe foods and I hit the gym like a good girl - why is my body doing this to me anyway?  And with having to skip dinner and all that d, I've probably already lost a little more weight, I feel like every time I get on even footing then something else bad happens and I get right back behind the 8-ball again.

Sorry for yet another pity party.  This has been a terrible week and I'm so glad it's almost over!


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## mccindy

Hooray for a great workout!  You made it all the way through!  Such good news.  
I'm holding steady on weight I think... 132 as of yesterday morning, and hoping to stay there for a while.  My husband has been talking about how to start working out and I know he does better with a partner, but I'm leery of it being me, because I have to do my morning workout for my back, and if I work out with him in the afternoon, that's that many more calories to make up for.  We'll figure it out somehow.  I want to be supportive, that's for sure.  

Maggie and Glen.... I do love their relationship!  I won't give any spoilers for the current season.  it was definitely a shocker multiple times.   I will say I just HATE The Governor!  And Carl drives me nuts.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hey Cindy, I see our football teams are playing each other this week - Cowboys vs. Packers!  Might be interesting!...  Okay, maybe not, the Packers will probably lose.    Ha ha.

I'm so exhausted.  I just want to curl up and sleep for the rest of the day.  I don't know why my guts went crazy like that after my workout yesterday.  I had more d this morning but at least it wasn't bloody.  I just don't think I'll ever get over how odd it is to go from feeling good to feeling horrible in such a short amount of time.  Bleh!


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## mccindy

It will be an interesting game, especially since Rodgers isn't playing.... You know I'll be rooting for my 'boys!  

The exhaustion thing really sux.  I'm feeling really tired today too, almost fatigued.  Kinda sucks because we have dinner plans with friends tonight and have to drive an hour to meet them and then an hour back home.  Looks like you need another rest day!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I'm sorry my team beat yours!    I was definitely not expecting that outcome, especially after the Packers' very lousy first half.

So I took Friday & Saturday as rest days.  I felt so crappy after my bleeding/hot lava episode on Thursday, that I needed a couple days to recover.  Sunday, I was feeling okay and I thought I would go to the gym and see what I could do.  I did okay, didn't have tons of energy but had enough to get through a decent workout.  I was happy and satisfied with what I was able to do, so it was a good workout.

Today, I was thinking of doing the stationary bike, but my muscles are feeling sore.  I have been keeping an eye on the weather - they said 1 to 3 inches of snow falling quickly this afternoon.  I have a couple errands to run, so I was going to let the weather make the final decision.  If it's snowing at my lunchtime, then I'd stay off the roads and go ride the bike.  If it hasn't started snowing yet, I'll go out and run my errands quick.  Well, I am going to go in about 15 mins, and it hasn't started snowing yet, so that coupled with the soreness means I'm taking a rest day today and will go run my errands.  That's fine, I know soreness means I need to let my muscles heal, so I'll let myself heal and will hit the gym tomorrow.  If I'm feeling okay Wednesday then I'll either do the bike or yoga.  Weights Thursday, not sure about Friday.

Friday will be my last day of work until the new year - I have some vacation days to burn, so I'm taking off from the 23rd thru the 1st.  As a result, I may not be on the forum much during that time, but I'll still be working out as much as I can and will update this thread when I have a chance.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Scratch that last post!  I just looked out the window and it's snowing!  I'm pounding down some Tums and am going to head down to ride the bike momentarily.    I'll do my errands another time!  It's really cold here (like 10 degrees with a -5 windchill right now) so the weather reports said the roads will get bad quickly once the snow starts, as the salt won't work very well due to the cold temps.  So bike it is after all!


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## mccindy

boo!  that stinks.  Hey, more time off, that's pretty cool!

I will also be absent from the forum from the 19th-25th, as we are going to AZ to visit our oldest and his wife and then coming back in time for xmas eve with the family.  we're pretty excited.  

Yesterday and today I've struggled on the elliptical, made it 25-28 minutes and had to stop.  I think I'm getting a little weaker with my weight down to 132 lbs.  Kind of bums me out.  I need to remember the Ensure I keep forgetting!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I hope you can eat some fun touristy meals while on vacation and regain some of your weight!  I weighed myself when I was down in the gym to ride the bike, and I'm down a few lbs myself.  The scale in the little gym in the basement isn't the most accurate, but I think I'm at about 135.  (I was up to about 138 last week before the "hot lava" & bleeding episode.)  I do tend to lose weight around the holidays - I'm not sure if it's a stress thing or what.  I try to keep up my workout schedule as close to normal as possible, and I try to eat my usual diet.  But I can recall losing about 5 lbs unintentionally at least once during the holidays.  I swear, everyone else gains weight during the holidays, why I can't at least maintain my weight?

I did the stationary bike (in the little gym in the basement at work) to avoid going out in the snow, and I felt pretty good.  Legs felt rather tired but I pushed through and did a half hour.  It's supposed to snow tomorrow too so I'll be right back down in the basement gym for weights tomorrow.  I may take a rest day Wednesday since I did the bike today, or maybe I'll do yoga.  It'll depend on how I feel, how much energy I have, etc.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I swear, this week has been designed to aggravate me.    Yesterday it snowed quite a bit, we got 3 or 4 inches of snow.  My city for some reason decided not to plow at all, and I have a small car with small tires.  So getting home from work last night was almsot a workout in itself!  I got stuck going up a hill and spent about 5 minutes cranking my steering wheel and spinning my tires before I finally got some traction.  And driving in the snow makes me tense in general, so I think my muscles were kind of tight the whole drive home.

Today I'm going to the gym, and I plan to push myself!  I need to pre-de-stress as I feel like I'm going to have a stressful evening.  I got my tires rotated on Sunday, and they screwed something up and my alignment is now a little wonky, so I have to take my car back there tonight so they can fix whatever they messed up.  I just know I'm going to have to argue my case though and the thought of that stresses me out - I'm not good in social situations and I hate confrontation, so to have to tell the service desk people that they messed up and they have to fix their error, and what if they balk or say it's not their fault or that I have to pay for the aligmnent?  Just the thought of it is stressful!  So, I'll work off some of my worry in the gym and hopefully things will go smoothly at the tire place tonight.  I'm trying to visualize things going well tonight - I show up and they promptly get my alignment fixed up properly without any need for me to argue or ask to speak to the manager and they do it for free because it was their error in the first place.  That's what I need to happen!  I'm a worst-case-scenario kind of worrier though so what I'm really thinking about is, they make me pay for it and it takes hours and they screw it up worse and I cry but the manager yells at me anyway.  

Anyway, so gym today for weights and I'm going to make my body tired so that hopefully my mind follows suit and stops worrying so much about stupid stuff.  Tomorrow, maybe yoga.  Or maybe rest day, depending on how tired I am.  Thursday, weights again, Friday, not sure.  I'm thinking weights Saturday & Monday - then it's xmas, so maybe weights again Thursday?  Speaking of stressful situations - xmas eve will be stressful.  We usually spend the night at hubby's parents' house.  My sis-in-law and her 5 kids will also be spending the night there, and those kids are loud, and I just cannot sleep when children are talking/yelling/running around/etc.  (Side note, I'm SO glad I don't have kids!)  Usually the littler kids go to bed early and the older kids stay up late, so the girls will be up talking for awhile - by the time they finally go to bed, the boys are starting to wake up, so then they start making noise.  So there's noise all night and I never, ever get any sleep on xmas eve.  I hate it!  I've tried ear plugs, a white noise machine, sleeping pills, you name it - somehow I still never get any sleep on xmas eve.  Drives me nuts and then I'm in a foul mood on xmas day.  I think I said this earlier, but I'll be so happy when the holidays are over!


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## mccindy

Aw, Cat, that sucks!  Xmas Eve should be fun... but I know what you mean.  I'm worried about some stress that day myself, as my least favorite SIL will be there  and I am not speaking to her.  She is one of the rudest, most selfish people I know, and if there wasn't a family component, I'd never have to see her again.  Her children are all completely spoiled and ungrateful so I hate buying them stuff that they aren't thankful for.  This year we decided to just get (all 4 of them!) gift cards, and so did my other SIL, so that should be fun, she'll be judgemental about that as well.  
I hope you are able to get some sleep...

We'lll be in AZ for the few days before Xmas Eve so hopefully we're all relaxed and rested and can just ignore her!

Keep visualizing that tire appointment going smoothly and it will.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My husband's family has someone who sounds a lot like your sis-in-law.  Hubby's aunt, she's this awful woman.  She's one of those women who always wears leopard print and she always has on a ton of makeup even though it looks awful - now you have a visual.    She lives in a trailer and loves Elvis.  She's also a terrible person.  When hubby and I first got married, this aunt's idiot daughter (that's another story!) gave us a couple hamsters that she couldn't keep any longer.  The aunt then told me this "funny" story about how when she was a little girl, she had a hamster and she wanted to keep it forever, and she knew that if you wanted to keep a flower forever that you pressed it in a book, so... you can imagine how that story ended.  I was horrified and the aunt was laughing like it was cute that she killed a hamster!  

Fortunately we don't have to see this aunt any longer, she alienated herself from the family rather neatly.  One year at xmas, she was visiting and my mother-in-law asked the aunt if she'd help her with the dishes.  Well, the aunt acted very put out, she washed all the dishes while sighing and sniffing the whole time like she was above it all, and then she stormed out and we haven't seen her since!    So no more crazy aunt at xmas, all because someone dared to ask her to help with the dishes.  Hah, good riddance to crazy aunt!  I heard on facebook that she moved to Branson to be where the "action" is in terms of Elvis impersonators (seriously), so now there's not even an outside chance she'll show up at xmas.  My family may be crazy, but hubby's aunt is someone that I'm VERY relieved that I don't have to see anymore.

Maybe your crazy sis-in-law can move to Branson too?  We can designate Branson as the place where all crazy relatives get shuffled off to.  Does your sis-in-law like Elvis?  

Ahhh, I just got back from the gym and I feel good.  I tried jogging as my warm-up, but my legs were kind of tired from doing the bike yesterday.  I managed to do some jump-rope, though.  I find that's a really effective way to warm up pretty quickly!  I did all the weights - the abdominals machine seemed really tough today, but I did it.  Legs feel quite tired now and my left knee is aching a bit.  It sometimes aches when I ride the bike, so maybe it's just because I did the bike yesterday.  My joints are generally a bit more achey in the winter, so maybe it's just a winter thing too.  Although it's actually really nice out today, 30 degrees and sunny so the snow is melting!    It won't melt completely, we got too much snow for that, but at least the roads are clearing nicely.  Too bad I have to go to the tire place tonight or I'd spend the evening with my heating pad on my knee - that usually makes it feel a lot better.  Anyway, I had a good workout and am just a little achey now.


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## mccindy

Oh, wow, what a story!  That's pretty crazy.... it's funny that dishes were the key to getting rid of her.  Also funny because at Thanksgiving all the ladies help me out in the kitchen, cleaning up the food and washing the dishes EXCEPT that one SIL, who just sits on her lazy butt.  Last year my mom actually asked her just to bring the glasses over from the table and she looked my mom right in the face and said, "no."  I didn't hear it or I would have chewed her lazy butt out!  
SIL isn't an Elvis fan (that's my MIL), but she is a Wayne Newton fan!  Maybe she should go to Branson, that would be nice.  

Yay for the good workout!  I only made it 25 minutes again this morning and pooped out.  Need to get my energy level up, hopefully like you said I'll eat some good food in AZ and get a couple of pounds back on so I can get back to 30 minutes at least!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, I visualized my car appointment going smoothly, and it did... for about 2 minutes.    They said my car probably needed an alignment and that it would be no charge (they apprently screwed up my alignment when they did a tire rotation a few days earlier).  So that all sounded good but it went downhill from there.  I waited an hour and a half, and then they came out and told me that they rotated my tires twice (??) and balanced them but my car still pulls to the left, so it'll need an alignment (why didn't they just do the alignment??), and that I'll have to come back later to have that done AND I'll have to pay for it!  They were a bit rude to me too.  Wow, what a load of BS!  The manager wasn't there so I just went home and sent the manager an email, telling him everything that happened.  I was so upset!  They wasted my time, didn't fix my car, and now want to waste more of my time AND my money - yeah, that's so not happening!

I went home super upset and hubby doted on me a bit to try to get me to feel better, but the whole thing made me so mad and upset and it affected my guts, I can feel it.  I had loose stools this morning, not really d but approaching d, that happened like 4 times.  Then, just now I went to the bathroom, I only had to pee.  I don't know what happened, I swear I just peed, but blood started coming out of my backside.  Bright red blood just dripping out - that's never happened to me before!  I've had blood in with my stool before, and I've had like a tiny bit of blood on the TP when I have fissures, but it's never dripped out like that before.  Freaked me out - why is it happening and what on earth do I do?  I mean, you can't really comfortably put a tampon up there!  And I'm at work without a lot of supplies.  Fortunately, I remembered that I had stuck some incontinence pads in my gym bag - I got them as a free sample or something, and I put them in there "just in case."  Thank goodness I did - I think they're for urinary incontinence, but hopefully they'll work for today's situation!  I just had to wear light grey pants today!  Eek!

Soooo.  That's where I'm at, stressed and upset and bleeding.  Today's a much-needed rest day, although I won't be resting.  I remembered that I promised my best friend from childhood that I'd sew her baby son a stocking for xmas, and her older son dictated to me that he wants his brother's stocking to have a storm trooper from Star Wars on it (I had made the older boy a stocking last year with Darth Vader on it, so now he wants a semi-matching stocking for his new brother).  He was very specific, he said "a storm trooper with a black gun and a red santa hat!"  So that'll be my evening, I have to figure out how on earth to make a storm trooper out of fleece & felt.  I've got most of my crocheting done, I only have to finish my grandpa's blanket, and I won't see my grandpa until the weekend after xmas, so I have a bit of time and am not too worried about getting it done in time (I've got about 1/3rd of it done already).  I have said it before, but once the holidays are over with, I'll be so happy and (relatively) stress-free!  (And hopefully my butt will stop bleeding!)  I cannot wait for New Year's!  I also cannot wait until I'm done dealing with the stupid idiots at the tire place, and once this is all over with I will NEVER take my car there again!  And I'll make sure to pack some incontinence pads in my purse from now on because holy cow, sometimes you really need one!


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## mccindy

Aw, Cat.  well the upside is that you happened to have the pads with you, so crisis averted there!  Hopefully you can get destressed and figure out what's going on. Are you close to your menstrual cycle?  Is it possible you have a small fistula?  One of the possibilities I can think of.  
That stocking sounds pretty challenging, but if you successfully made a Vader one, I'd imagine you can pull off the storm tropper version.  Sounds pretty cool to me!

I hope you get some vindication from the manager of the tire place, because it sounds like they are trying to rip you off.  If your car didn't need an alignment when you got the tires rotated the first time, and re-rotating them didn't help, they did something wrong.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It was definitely not menstrual blood - I'm over a week away from getting my period (I'm on the nuvaring which makes my menstrual cycle like clockwork, so I won't get my period until I take the current ring out in about a week's time).  I made darn sure it was coming from my booty - when it happened, I had only urinated, and I saw all this blood - my first inclination was that I must have peed blood?  My hubby urinated blood all the time when he had kidney stones.  But I wiped my backside and the blood was definitely coming from there - that was kind of a relief actually, as I really don't want kidney stones, so I was glad I wasn't peeing blood!  I haven't had any blood come out of me since, and there's no blood on the sanitary pad either.  I'm just going to keep an eye on things for now - if it happens again, I'll definitely call/email my GI right away.

In spite of all this, it has been an okay day.  At work, people have been exchanging xmas gifts.  I received some of my favorite things today in the form of xmas gifts from co-workers - chocolate, lip gloss, and lotion!  That definitely cheered me up, chocolate is one of my favorite things ever.    It's not always the best on my tummy, but I don't even care.  It's really nice chocolate too, it looks fancy and the person who gave it to me said it's really, really good.  Yum!  So that cheered me up.  I also bought myself a new nail polish while I was at the pharmacy today.  When I first got sick, I was at the doctor & the pharmacy all the time, and it depressed me.  I found that buying myself a little bottle of nail polish each time I had to go to the doctor/pharmacy really cheered me up.  It's not expensive, it's pretty and fun and it makes me feel happy.  So, as a result, I now have about a zillion bottles of nail polish in every color you can think of!    But today, I was feeling down, and at the pharmacy I saw a color I actually don't own - silver with blue sparkles!  Very pretty and wintery, so I bought it even though I don't actually need any more nail polish.  Still, it made me happy.  Nail polish + chocolates, I'm so easy to please.  

I think I have a photo of the Darth Vader stocking on my facebook somewhere.  Cindy, are you on facebook?  Want to be facebook friends?  I can PM you the link to my page if you want!  I am taking like 12 days off of work very soon, and may not be around on the forum much, but facebook is pretty easy to access on my Kindle and I'm probably going to be checking my fb at least once a day, so it might be a bit easier to stay in touch that way during my time off.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, things are starting to come together.  I got a bunch of work done on the stocking and am pleased with how it's turning out.  It's really difficult to make a storm trooper out of felt, but I think I managed to do okay.  Also, the manager of the tire place was super nice and apologetic to me and he says he'll do a free alignment on my car, so I'm hopefully finally getting somewhere with that!

As for my bleeding, I think it's definitely a fissure.  It feels like fissures I've had in the past, and it's now acting more like my fissures have (blood on the TP when I wipe, no more blood dripping out fortunately).  So that's good, I can deal with a fissure at least.

I'm going to the gym today for weights.  Going to hunker down tonight as soon as I get home - we're supposed to get freezing rain tonight, yuck!  (Cindy, I'm super jealous that you're in sunny AZ right now!)  And they're saying 5-9 inches of snow on Sunday, ick.  I'm glad I bought an exercise bike - yes, I can use the bike in either of the gyms I go to, but on bad weather days I'm glad I have exercise options at home so that I don't have to brave the elements!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/22/13:  I haven't been to the gym much, but that's okay - winter weather is giving me a workout and a half!  On Friday, we had freezing rain and the roads seemed very icy and unsafe to me, so I called in to work and stayed home.  Took that day as a rest day.

Yesterday, I had to run some errands, so I had to chisel the ice off my car (the roads were better but my car was still iced over).  That was a bit of an arm workout, there was a lot of ice very stubbornly covering my car, it took quite a bit of scraping to get my windows cleared off.  I walked all around the grocery store - had to buy some groceries so that we'd have plenty to eat during & after Saturday night's big snowstorm.  I also took the dog on a very long walk that day - we met up with a corgi friend of hers and the two of them played quite a lot.  I knew she wouldn't be getting a walk on Sunday, with all the snow we were supposed to get, so I let her really tire herself out on Saturday.

Sunday (today), we woke up to quite a lot of snow - I think we got about 8 inches?  We shoveled the driveway & sidewalk, plus we shoveled our neighbors' sidewalks (we have really nice neighbors who always help us with our shoveling, so we wanted to repay the favor).  That was a LOT of work and I can feel it in my abs, back, shoulders, arms, even my legs - all my muscles got a good workout from shoveling so much.  Phew!  I feel good though.  And now that we got the shoveling over with early in the day, we can spend the rest of the day resting and doing nice stuff.  Hubby is baking xmas cookies, we're going to clean the house a bit and I'm going to wrap presents later today.  It should be a very nice day.  

Tomorrow, probably a rest day!  Xmas eve, I'm hoping the gym will be open at least in the early part of the day, I'm hoping to squeeze in a quick workout before heading to the in-laws'.  Xmas will likely be a rest day, I'm sure the gym isn't open on xmas.  Hopefully I can get to the gym again on the 26th.


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## hawkeye

Wow 8 inches of snow, I'd gladly take that over the freezing rain and ice pellets we had last night and today


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## mccindy

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I think I have a photo of the Darth Vader stocking on my facebook somewhere.  Cindy, are you on facebook?  Want to be facebook friends?  I can PM you the link to my page if you want!  I am taking like 12 days off of work very soon, and may not be around on the forum much, but facebook is pretty easy to access on my Kindle and I'm probably going to be checking my fb at least once a day, so it might be a bit easier to stay in touch that way during my time off.


I am!  Under Cindy McDonald (Cynthia Mercer).  Let's buddy up!


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## mccindy

What a shock it was to come back from Arizona! It was 67 down there the day we left, and when our plane landed in Minnesota it was -10!  OUch!  hard to get used to again.  We had a great trip and really enjoyed ourselves.  My daughter-in-law told me she and my son decided it's time to start trying for a baby, so it's possible I could be a grandmother within the year!  
I hope everyone else had a great holiday season as well!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm here, I survived xmas!    It wasn't too bad, I managed to avoid trigger foods for the most part, and my guts are okay.  They're pretty happy that the stress is over with, and the stress wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, either.  For one thing, I thought my sis-in-law and her 5 kids were going to sleep over at my in-laws' house, in which case I wouldn't get any sleep with the kids making noise.  But I was pleasantly surprised - sis-in-law's husband is sick, so she wanted to get home to him that night, so she & the kids went home that evening rather than spend the night.  I got a quiet, relatively peaceful night and I managed to get some sleep!  I still have a hard time sleeping in a bed that isn't my own, and my dog and father-in-law both made a bit of noise, but on the whole it was much more relaxing than if 5 kids were in the next room.  

I haven't made it to the gym in a little bit.  I've been shoveling which is like a full-body workout in itself, so I haven't been totally idle.  I think it's snowed here every day for about a week straight!  It's snowing now too, bleh.  I want to go to the gym for a proper workout today though as it's been awhile since I've done the weights and I miss it.  I also need to walk my dog.  So I'm staying active for sure.

One detriment to my staying active?  We got a Playstation 3 for xmas.    That will keep my butt on the couch for hours at a time, which isn't great, but it's so fun.  And for the days I'm not feeling well and need to just relax, this will be a great distraction.

So I'm thinking, gym today and probably shoveling too.  Walk the dog tomorrow and perhaps shovel then again too?  Weights Saturday.  Sunday, I have to go see my grandparents, so that'll likely be a rest day.  Hubby works Monday so I might go to the gym by myself.  I kind of want to get some lobsters for New Year's Eve on Tuesday - I can do lobster, seafood/shellfish is okay on my tummy.  I think we're just staying in on New Year's as hubby has to work part of the day - that's fine with me, I've never really been a party girl, I'm way too much of an introvert & homebody.  So staying in with a nice dinner sounds lovely, I'll likely have a small glass of wine or two and watch movies or play games.


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## mccindy

We are also planning on staying in on New Year's Eve.  Just making a nice dinner, watching a movie or two, some snuggling with each other and the puppies!  No wine for me though   .

We have an Xbox360, and it's a geat way to pass the time when there's not a lot to do, or not feeling too well.  We have a Gold subscription so if our son is home in AZ we will go online and play with him too.  It's pretty fun!

I love seafood, and I tolerate it well, thank goodness, so we'll probably do surf and turf for NYE.


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I kind of want to get some lobsters for New Year's Eve on Tuesday -


Are they hard to find in WI?


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## mccindy

they're pretty easy to find in Wisconsin and Minnesota, they're just more expensive.  Most grocery stores carry them.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, lobsters aren't hard to find at all here.  Multiple grocery stores here carry live lobsters, and there's this great seafood market in my city that gets fresh fish flown in daily.  We went to the seafood market and reserved 2 live lobsters which we'll go pick up tomorrow afternoon.  They even let us reserve what size - they said the average size lobster is 1.5 lbs, but that we could get 2, 3, or even 4 lb lobsters if we wanted!  Holy cow, that's kind of crazy.  They're about $15 per lb, so we stuck with the 1.5 lb size.  I'm looking forward to it, I've had lobster in restaurants a couple of times in the past, but I've never cooked live lobsters at home.  Hopefully it'll be really yummy!

Ahhh.  I get to go to the gym in about an hour.  I had posted about this on facebook and Cindy already knows all about this saga, but my car wouldn't start and that was so stressful and worrying.  I don't have a lot of money with it being right after xmas, and I really was nervous about racking up a repair bill.  Fortunately, it seemed that the issue was just that I needed a new battery, and my car seems fine now that we put a new battery in.  I hadn't realized that the battery can be too low to start the car even if the lights & radio come on, so thanks so much Cindy (and Cindy's hubs) for telling me that!    The new battery wasn't cheap ($90, eek) but still cheaper than a repair bill and paying a mechanic to fiddle around and put in a new battery.

So, now that my car works again, I can go to the gym!    I had kind of a rough workout 2 days ago, felt a bit... not nauseous, but my stomach felt really full.  I don't know if I drank too much water or what, but I felt like I might puke just because I felt too full.  It was disconcerting!  And then hubby, who hadn't been to the gym in a few weeks (he's been working a lot so he hasn't made it to the gym with me in awhile), apparently he way overdid things at the gym and he nearly puked too.  So both of us just went home afterwards and sat around resting & recovering!  Not great.  Hubby's working again today so I'm off to the gym by myself in a bit, and I'm just hoping to have a better workout with no thoughts of puke.    I'm also hoping the gym is quiet today.

On that note, I'm hoping to go lift weights again in 2 days, on New Year's day.  I realize that may suck, as all the New Year's resolution people may flood the gym!  So I'm not particularly looking forward to that workout, but I'll get through it.


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## mccindy

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Hawkeye, lobsters aren't hard to find at all here.  Multiple grocery stores here carry live lobsters, and there's this great seafood market in my city that gets fresh fish flown in daily.  We went to the seafood market and reserved 2 live lobsters which we'll go pick up tomorrow afternoon.  They even let us reserve what size - they said the average size lobster is 1.5 lbs, but that we could get 2, 3, or even 4 lb lobsters if we wanted!  Holy cow, that's kind of crazy.  They're about $15 per lb, so we stuck with the 1.5 lb size.  I'm looking forward to it, I've had lobster in restaurants a couple of times in the past, but I've never cooked live lobsters at home.  Hopefully it'll be really yummy!
> 
> Ahhh.  I get to go to the gym in about an hour.  I had posted about this on facebook and Cindy already knows all about this saga, but my car wouldn't start and that was so stressful and worrying.  I don't have a lot of money with it being right after xmas, and I really was nervous about racking up a repair bill.  Fortunately, it seemed that the issue was just that I needed a new battery, and my car seems fine now that we put a new battery in.  I hadn't realized that the battery can be too low to start the car even if the lights & radio come on, so thanks so much Cindy (and Cindy's hubs) for telling me that!    The new battery wasn't cheap ($90, eek) but still cheaper than a repair bill and paying a mechanic to fiddle around and put in a new battery.
> 
> So, now that my car works again, I can go to the gym!    I had kind of a rough workout 2 days ago, felt a bit... not nauseous, but my stomach felt really full.  I don't know if I drank too much water or what, but I felt like I might puke just because I felt too full.  It was disconcerting!  And then hubby, who hadn't been to the gym in a few weeks (he's been working a lot so he hasn't made it to the gym with me in awhile), apparently he way overdid things at the gym and he nearly puked too.  So both of us just went home afterwards and sat around resting & recovering!  Not great.  Hubby's working again today so I'm off to the gym by myself in a bit, and I'm just hoping to have a better workout with no thoughts of puke.    I'm also hoping the gym is quiet today.
> 
> On that note, I'm hoping to go lift weights again in 2 days, on New Year's day.  I realize that may suck, as all the New Year's resolution people may flood the gym!  So I'm not particularly looking forward to that workout, but I'll get through it.




I'm so glad it was just the battery!  With the cold weather, it's hard to be sure with these cars. They don't like our northern deep cold!
Speaking of that, this morning sure sucked!  I hate it when it's so cold outside that it hurts my face just to be out there.  
New Year's Day will probably be safe at the gym, as people will be recovering from New Year's Eve, but beware the weekend!


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## hawkeye

I find that in a cold climate, batteries last about 5 or 6 years - apparently it is the hot weather that is hard on the battery and they fail in cold weather when the power is needed to start the car.

My little guy and I were looking at the lobsters tonight at the supermarket - looks like they had a few cooked and on ice for New Years' Eve.  We actually bought him a cooked lobster a couple of weeks ago at the supermarket and he ate the tail and claws for supper. They are about $5.99/lb live here and $6.99/lb cooked.

Lobster and melted butter....


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh wow Hawkeye, $5.99 per lb is really cheap!  We're nowhere near an ocean here - we're in the Great Lakes area of the Midwest, so I get a fair amount of trout & salmon that my father-in-law catches in Lake Michigan, but for ocean stuff like lobster, it has to be shipped in and so it's a bit pricey.  Hence why I have never bought live lobsters before!  But it sounds fun, it sounds like a thing to do at least once in life, and it sounds delicious.  

I made it to the gym today.  I brought the battery jumping thingy (it's hard to describe, but it's like a portable battery with jumper cables - you plug it in at home to charge it, and then if you need a jump, you don't have to get another vehicle involved - you just hook up this thing to the car battery and can jump it that way).  I didn't need to use it, my car started right up every time, yay!  It's quite cold here, well below zero (fahrenheit) even without factoring in the wind chill, so I didn't want to take any chances and I'm glad we have that battery charging/jumping thingy.  I managed to run a few errands after hitting the gym and my car gave me zero trouble, so I think all is good now.    It's a very reliable little car (it's a Toyota and it's 13 years old and has always been great to me) so I'm glad it was just a battery thing and that my little car is still overall awesome.

Anyway, I had a good workout.  Felt pretty good, had so-so energy, didn't feel pukey - so pretty good overall.  The gym was busier than I expected - I wonder if some of the New Year's resolution people are getting a jump on things?  A fair amount of people in the gym seemed a bit clueless, too.  I had to wait for the assisted chin-up bar to open up, as a guy was using it and he didn't really seem to know what he was doing.  Hmph.  The gym staff was giving lots of tours to potential new gym members too, so it's looking like it's going to be quite busy in January.  Yuck!  I seem to recall from last year, the first week of January was super busy, and then it gradually tapered down, and by mid-February or so it was about back down to normal again.  So hopefully that'll be the case!  I do have to disagree with you, Cindy, I think the 1st is going to be packed.  Weekends are usually much slower than weekdays at the gym, so I'm thinking the weekend will be less busy than the 1st will be.  I'll let you know what happens!  I'm going to the gym on the 1st.  On Friday, I'll be back at work and I'll probably just use the gym at work that day.  Probably weights again on Sunday, so I can compare Sunday to the 1st.

I'm looking forward to a pretty relaxing New Year's eve.  We're getting the lobsters, but other than that, we're staying in and keeping it low-key.  We'll probably be in sweatpants, playing Playstation 3 (used PS3 games are so cheap, I picked up a couple more today while I was out running errands after the gym).  I'll have a glass of wine, maybe two if I'm feeling crazy, but that's about my limit.  Drinking more than that, it affects my bladder and I run the risk of UTI (I'm prone to UTIs, and alcohol, caffeine, sugar, etc all really irritate my bladder) - plus of course alcohol makes my guts unhappy, and dehydrating myself is a big no-no too.  So probably 1 or maybe 2 small glasses of wine and that'll be it.  Lobster and sweatpants, movies or video games.  Watching the ball drop on TV and then going to bed!    That sounds way more fun to me than going to a party or bar or whatever.  I'm such an introvert and a homebody, I have a much better time staying at home than going out.

I hope everybody else has a good New Year's too!  Everybody stay safe and be (mostly) nice to your tummies!


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## mccindy

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I had to wait for the assisted chin-up bar to open up, as a guy was using it and he didn't really seem to know what he was doing.  Hmph.


:ylol: Gave me some chucks!  I remember feeling like that when waiting for one of my machines and some doofus who didn't know what he was doing was taking forever on it!  

My hubs made me homemade pizza last night (yummy with gluten-free crust and sauce, and dairy-free mozzarella cheese), and bought me snow crab legs for tonight!  :queen:  feeling a bit spoiled!  
We're doing the same as you, Cat.  Changing into sweatpants and playing some Xbox, maybe a movie or two.  We'll be staying nice and toasty warm, as it's not going to get out of the below digits at all today and then be a solid -10 tonight.

Us and our three doggies, snuggling into the New Year!


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## hawkeye

How was the lobster???


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## Cat-a-Tonic

The lobster was delicious!  I wayyy overdid things though on New Year's eve and really paid for it yesterday.  I not only stuffed myself with lobster (with lots of melted butter), but I also had 2 mimosas.  The orange juice in them is probably just as risky if not riskier for me than the champagne was!  OJ tends to really get my GERD going, it's so acidic.  And I didn't stop there, either, I also had a bunch of candy and also a hot chocolate with Bailey's!  Eek, I know, so much badness there.  Between the sugar, the fat, the alcohol, the acidity, and the just plain over-eating, I went to bed feeling rather yucky and woke up on New Year's day feeling wretched.

So I didn't make it to the gym yesterday, spent the whole day on the couch with my heating pad on my poor angry tummy - both my guts and my GERD were not happy at all.  I'm feeling somewhat better today and I'm contemplating hitting the gym but avoiding abdominal exercises.  I feel like I'd probably be okay using my arms & legs as long as I go easy on the tummy area, so that's the tentative plan.  In a way this works out okay, as this means I can go to the gym again for weights on Saturday rather than on Sunday - I remembered I have a family thing to go to on Sunday but I'm free on Saturday, so I'll make that my next gym day after today.  Tomorrow, depending on how I feel, I'll either do yoga or I'll rest.  I'll aim for yoga as it's looking like Sunday will be a rest day.

So yeah.  A setback, and I'm frustrated with myself for being stupid and going so overboard, but I'm trying not to kick myself too much.  Everybody needs a day like that every so often, right?  Where you just let loose a little and don't let your body/illness dictate everything for a change.  And I know, a setback like that doesn't mean anything in the long run, I'll just pick myself back up again and get back to my usual gym routine as best I can.  Gotta stay positive!

And so Saturday will be the day that I'll see how busy the gym is with the New Year's resolution people.  It'll be interesting!


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## mccindy

Why not?  You deserve those few moments of "Oh, this is so good" and not "gee, should I eat that...".  I enoyed my crab legs on NYE but felt crappy the whole evening, with several episodes of D and a bad headache, and ended up dozing on the couch at 930 and going to bed and crashing by 1030, so I missed the turn of the year.   
I felt just as bad yesterday, spent the day resting (no elliptical for me).  I feel like so many things are contributing to my overall feeling of malaise.  The headaches I'm getting are causing nausea, on top of the nausea I already had, and I'm having more belly pain, along with conflicting episodes of diarrhea and constipation.  I'm also having more night sweats and my rash is back.  <sigh> .
Made it on the elliptical this morning, despite the headache at the start of it that I had to work through. 

Sorry to whine everyone, but I'm just feeling so off lately and not sure why.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It was really delicious up until my tummy decided it had had enough!  Getting live lobsters was interesting, too.  I felt bad about having to kill my own dinner, but hubby and I had seen this thing online showing how you can hypnotize a lobster.  We both tried it, and we successfully got both of our lobsters hypnotized before putting them into the pot - hopefully that way it was a slightly less horrible death for the poor things.  And they were seriously delicious, it's been years since I had lobster and it was fun.  Hubby said he had a lot of fun just watching me try to crack mine open!    So maybe next time I'll *just* have lobster and avoid candy, alcohol, etc.

Sorry to hear you are having a rough time lately too!    Are the headaches getting worse again?  Is there anything they can give you for the headaches?  I'm sure I've mentioned this already, but I take amitriptyline which prevents most of my headaches & migraines.  I'm not sure if it's work for your unique situation though.  And it does tend to cause a bit of constipation so it may not be a possibility for you.  I wonder though if there's anything else they can give you?  What about Zofran/ondansetron for the nausea?  I take that for my episodes of nausea and it's great stuff - I wouldn't have been able to sleep last night without it.  But then again, it can cause a bit of constipation too.  Anyway.  When's your next MRI?  Have you talked to your doc about the weight loss & symptoms you're having lately?  I don't suppose something like prednisone would be a possibility, to get the guts feeling better and to get some weight back on you?


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## mccindy

I saw my GP on Monday.  He started me on Lexapro for the mood swings I get from the Keppra, which I'm thinking might be what gave the shakes yesterday for a while.  The nausea is weird,  I don't always have it, but almost always with my headaches, which are morning and evening often.  SOmetimes I'm hungry (not often) and then when I've eaten a few bites, I start feeling full and nauseous.  If I really eat slow and a few bites at a time I can get most of my food down.  The GP also gave me Naratriptan for the headaches.  I did take one the other night and it seemed to help, but I'm not sure because sometimes the headaches go away on their own.  So I'm waiting for another bad one to take it again and see if it helps.  The GP did order some blood work, which came back normal, and and EEG which  I won't find out the results of for a couple of days.  
the GP did say it's pretty difficult in my case to know what comes from where with the combination of brain cancer/GI issues/back problems that I have.  He's waiting for the EEG results to see if there's any changes, and if there are he thinks I might need another MRI.  My last one was in October, and was clear for any regrowth, so my neuro-oncologist says she doesn't think the headaches are related to any regrowth because it would be unlilkely so soon after a clear MRI.  My next MRI is scheduled for April.  

The last time I talked to the GI he told me to start drinking Ensure between meals to add extra calories and help maintain weight.  I tried one on Tuesday but it really nauseated me and I couldn't eat lunch afterwards, so that didn't help much.  I didn't ask about meds for the nausea, but maybe I should.... it couldn't hurt except one more pill a day on top of the 22 -24 I already take.  :O


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Nausea with headaches could be migraines.  I am not familiar with naratriptan, but I've taken sumatriptan for my migraines - unfortunately it was too strong or something, and it caused a rebound migraine.  I only ever get migraines in the right side of my head, and auras in the right side of my vision.  The sumatriptan stopped the right-sided migraine but then caused a left-sided one!  Very odd.  But fortunately the amitriptyline I'm on prevents most of my migraines anyway.  You may want to ask about something like amitriptyline or nortriptyline, just to see if it'd help.

Also, what flavor of Ensure did you drink?  The chocolate ones sit okay in my tummy but the vanilla ones go right through me and cause wicked d, I'm not sure why - something in the artificial flavors I guess?  But both of those contain carrageenan, which can cause upset, so I avoid those now.  The Ensure "Clear" doesn't taste great but sits okay in my tummy and contains no carrageenan - so you may want to try one of those next time.  The peach flavor is so-so.  I believe there's also a mixed berry flavor which is pretty bad, and a pomegranate flavor which I haven't tried yet.

Definitely do ask about meds for the nausea - Zofran (or the generic, ondansetron) has been a lifesaver for me.  When I first got sick, they gave me a different anti-nausea med, Compazine.  It didn't work, it made me super dizzy, and then I developed an allergic reaction to it and felt like I couldn't breathe!  So they switched me to Zofran, which has a very low risk of side effects, and it works great.  So, don't let them put you on Compazine, I've heard others say it does nothing for them either but most people on the forum seem to have good experiences with Zofran.


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## mccindy

I tried the vanilla.  Previously I tried Boost -the chocolate one, and that seemed fine, but it has like 28 grams of sugar in it, which is a lot and sugar does bad things to me too.  I'l check out the clear kinds too and see what they are like.

I should be talking to the doc again after the EEG results come back and I'll ask about Zofran, see what he thinks.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Wow, that is a lot of sugar!  I wonder if making your own supplement drinks/smoothies would be better - that's what I do.  I like Ensure, but the clear ones are the only kind that don't contain carrageenan.  I'm really trying to avoid carrageenan, it's a "natural" additive that can make IBD worse in some cases.  So I make my own smoothies now just as a means of avoiding carrageenan.  I use almond milk (some almond milks contain carrageenan - Silk brand and Whole foods' store brand do not contain it so I use those), a banana, some carrageenan-free soy-based chocolate supplement powder, a big cup of ice, and a little cocoa powder for flavoring.  Blend it all up and that's my breakfast most mornings!    I usually don't have an appetite when I first wake up, so I put my smoothie in a to-go container and bring it to work with me and drink it at my desk once I do have an appetite.  That's been working really well.  So give some consideration to doing something like that.  You can add other stuff to smoothies as well - I sometimes experiment with adding some soft tofu in place of the banana, and that's pretty good too.  Or I'll add some almond butter if I need extra calories.  

I just got back from the gym - I feel quite good and had a good workout!  I'm always so iffy about going to the gym when I'm not feeling great, but it usually ends up with me feeling better.  I wasn't going to jog as my warm-up, because I didn't want to jostle around my already riled-up guts, but I felt like jogging so I just did a few minutes on the treadmill, and that felt good.  I did all the weight machines except the abdominals machine, and by the end of my routine, I could tell that my stomach was wanting me to stop.  Stretched, cooled down, managed to eat a bit of lunch, and I feel okay.  Definitely a successful workout, yay!

The one bad thing was, I weighed myself in the gym.  I hadn't weighed myself since before xmas.  I have lost a few more lbs.  The scale in that gym isn't the most accurate, but I think I'm now at about 134.  My "healthy" weight is 136 and I had been at around 138 before the holidays.  So I lost about 4 lbs.  I was expecting that, though.  I always seem to lose weight around the holidays - I'm not sure if it's from stress or trigger foods or if it's just because it's such a change to my normal routine, probably a combination of those things.  So, I've got some ground to make up now.  Not too bad though, I'm still in the 130s - I start to worry when I drop into the 120s.


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## mccindy

Interesting.  I might have to look into trying that, at least on the days when I'm home, maybe start trying on a weekend.
I'm glad your workout went well after your rough couple of days.  This weight thing... sucks!  I haven't dropped into the 120s yet either, working on not doing that.


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## hawkeye

Glad you enjoyed the lobster.  I feel your pain with over eating - I tread lightly on the eating front with the strictures.  Saw the surgeon today and am being booked for a CT colonography to see how things look.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Good luck with the CT, Hawkeye!  I hope it goes well and gives you a good result.

Cindy, yeah, I'm working on trying to stay above the 120s too.  I had some rice for dinner last night, I'm thinking I need more calories than that.    My guts are still pretty unsettled though so I'm trying to eat bland, safe foods.

I'm going to do yoga tonight, I don't care how unsettled my tummy is.  I was sitting on the couch yesterday evening and my knees, hips, lower back all were just aching!  A hot bath didn't help much.  I'm presuming everything's achey because of the super frigid weather.  But yoga might help, so I'm going to do yoga.  This weather isn't going to change anytime soon (they're saying Monday may be the coldest day in 18 years for my city!), so I may just have to deal with achiness for awhile.  Not good, so I'll do what I can.  Hopefully yoga will help!


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## mccindy

I had just rice for lunch yesterday too.  Don't think I ate enough in total yesterday, and had D this morning.  2nd time this week,  I think it might be from the Norotriptan... not sure.  It really is a struggle to eat enough when every time I eat my belly feels yuk.  I know the EEG results have come back and the doc has them, so I'm wiating til theycall me with the results so I can ask about the Zofran.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I hope you get those EEG results back soon - hope they don't make you wait all weekend!  I hate that, when I'm running out the clock on a Friday afternoon and they never call me back, that's so frustrating.  Good luck with the results, and I hope your doc gives you the green light to try Zofran.

I swear, this is dangerous for my bank account, but retail therapy makes me feel so much more chipper.  I just bought a really cute new workout top!    I guess this means I'm doing laundry soon so that I can wear it to the gym.  I didn't need a new workout top, I have plenty.  But I don't own any workout tanks in grey and it looked so cute, it's like a fitted sports bra and then it kind of billows out a bit below the bust.  I tend to bloat out during the course of the day, so my tummy isn't always looking very flat, and tops that hide a less-than-attractive midsection are a good thing.  Some workout tops are fitted over the entirety of the torso and that's just not a good look when I'm bloated out and look like I have a fat tummy.  I have a few tops like that and I always wear a t-shirt over them because I'm self-conscious of my belly!  So a top like the one I got today, that helps disguise my bloated tummy, it's really cute and helps me have more confidence that I can wear a tank top style workout top and still look okay.


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## mccindy

Ugh - no word on the EEG, and now the doc is out all week.  So no info on the results, and I can't ask about the Zofran.  I might call my NO soon because I've been having brutal headaches for the last three days and none of the medications I've been given are helping.  Frustrated.....

And I lost another pound.  Boo!  Last night I couldn't even eat  I was so nauseated from the headache and my normal  belly pain.  So I drank an Ensure... managed to keep it down.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh no, Cindy, none of that is good news.    I hope you're feeling at least a little bit better today and are able to eat something.  I hope you can get ahold of the NO, too.  Hang in there!  Hopefully they can do something for the headaches & the nausea.

Is the weather causing some of your symptoms, do you think?  My joints have been off and on bad.  Today's supposed to be the worst of this cold weather.  I just checked the weather, and it's -17 without the wind chill, -43 with the wind chill.  Brrr!  My hips, knees, lower back, and even my elbows have been aching - it seems like every day a different joint is playing up.  So I put ice/heat on the achy joint, take tylenol, put on sports cream, etc - get that joint feeling better, but then another one starts acting up.  So I'm just basically doing damage control right now!  I can't wait for the weekend, they said Saturday's temp will be in the 30s (yes, above zero!).  That sounds so lovely and warm compared to this arctic BS we've got right now!  Hopefully my joints and your head will react well to the warm-up that's coming.

I was expecting to put in a full day at work today, so I was going to go to the gym on my lunch.  But it turns out that we're closing at lunchtime, they decided we shouldn't drive in this icky freezing weather after dark, so I get to go home early.  And I sure don't want to venture out to go to the big gym, once I get home I'm staying put.  So I will probably ride my exercise bike at home at some point today, that is if my joints will allow me to do so.  I'll try to do a proper gym/weights workout tomorrow.

I haven't been eating very well/much lately either.  I had to go to a family gathering yesterday.  My aunt made beef & pork, neither of which I eat, but she kindly made some chicken for me.  But as I was cutting it up, I noticed that it looked very pink!  So I avoided the chicken and just had some bread and a pickle and a small portion of potatoes, and that was it.  I can't afford to get salmonella or whatever other icky bacteria are in undercooked chicken, and my aunt was clearly frazzled by serving food to the whole family, so I didn't ask her to cook it longer.  I just tossed it when she wasn't looking.  I hate having to do stuff like that, but I can't handle beef or pork and I refuse to make myself sick, so my option was to eat lightly and avoid all the meat.  Not great, but not much choice either.

So, now that things have been shifted around a bit due to change in the weather, I'll tentatively do bike tonight, weights tomorrow.  Not sure about Wednesday - yoga or rest, probably.  Thursday weights, Friday not sure.  Saturday weights and maybe walk the dog too.  That uses up most of my energy, and I have to lift weights first and then walk the dog, I have to do it in that order - otherwise my legs are dead tired from walking the dog and I can't properly do the weights.  I can still walk the dog, a bit slowly, but I can do it even after lifting.  I'm excited about Saturday's "warm" weather so I feel like I need to get outside and walk the dog, even if it's a weights day too!  As long as I feel relatively okay, I know I can do it.  So that's the tentative plan for the week for now.  Tonight, aside from doing the bike, I'm going to try to rest a bit, maybe play a bit of video games, maybe bake something or cook a nice dinner.  I want to be productive a little bit, but I can also totally see myself curling up on the couch with a nice blanket and just vegging out!  So I'm not really sure how productive I'll be.    Anyway, I'm rambling on again.  Stay warm, everybody!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ugh.  More setbacks for me.  I went home from work early yesterday due to the weather, and when I got home I ate some lunch.  It was safe, it was mac & cheese - as long as it's the boxed kind with the fake powdered cheese, it's tummy-safe for me (real cheese is an issue but fake is okay).  After eating, I felt so bloated & overfull, even though I didn't overeat.  It was like my abdomen was as full and distended as possible, it felt very uncomfortable!  My guts started cramping, and going to the bathroom relieved the issue somewhat but not completely.  Then, my reflux really started going nuts.  That was the worst part, I think.  I didn't get heartburn, but I could taste acid in the back of my throat.  I have a sore throat this morning because of the acid coming up to the top of my throat, and I had to sleep propped upright.  I also had to take a ton of reflux meds and some Zofran, but even so I only got a minimal amount of relief from that.  Yuck!

So I'm feeling pretty blah today.  Sore throat, stomach still kind of a mess (still having some cramping), didn't sleep great because I have such a hard time sleeping when I'm upright.  I feel exhausted in both the sense that I didn't sleep well and in the sense that I skipped dinner last night (felt too full & nauseous to eat anything).  So I'm just kinda down today.  I didn't get to ride the bike yesterday due to these symptoms, and I probably won't be able to get to the gym today either, particularly not if I continue to feel this icky.  So I'm having a bit of a pity party for myself.  I just want to feel well and work out!

I seem to recall that this feeling too full thing happened once before - at the gym in fact, I remember being in the stretching area a few weeks ago and feeling oddly full even though the only things in my stomach were water & Tums, and I hadn't been chugging huge amounts of water or anything like that.  I don't know what this random feeling too full thing is, it seems to be related to my reflux maybe?  I see my GI next month and I'm going to ask him about it then.  If it happens again, I'll pay close attention to what I eat, what seems to trigger it, etc.  I'm wondering if Nexium is failing me and maybe I need to switch reflux meds yet again.  I don't know.  I just feel yucky right now and frustrated too!


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## mccindy

That reflux seems to get you about once a month or so..... related to monthlies at all?  It sucks you are missing your workouts and not feeling well.

I missed my workout this morning after being up half the night and hanging out in the bathroom. Just didn't seem like a good idea due to the lack of sleep and feeling so punk. 

Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day for both of us.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Nope, not related to my menstrual cycle as far as I can tell.  I'm sure the reflux came on as a result of the bloating - I felt so full, I'm sure my stomach got squished a bit from the bloat and then the acid likely started getting pushed out of my stomach and up my throat.  I have a hiatal hernia, so once stuff starts coming up my throat, there's really nothing to stop it.  The hernia is at least part of the reason why I reflux so much.  My guess is, the bloat and the hernia together are what did me in.  So I just need to figure out what caused the bloat/fullness.  I wonder if maybe I have stomach motility issues or a stricture?  I don't know, and I'm not looking forward to the possibility of more tests.  I may just opt to try a different reflux med in place of the Nexium, rather than do something semi-invasive or expensive like more tests.

I'm a little depressed.    A girl at work who's been using the gym lately, she asked me if I've been to the gym yet today.  I just said, "Not yet."  She said she has to go to the gym soon and she was like, "See you down there!"  I just smiled and nodded.  I'm still not feeling very well so she can have the gym to herself today, and hopefully I'll be back into workout mode tomorrow.  I feel like I need to heal and rest today, and as frustrating as it is to feel idle, I'll rest so that I can get back to it properly (hopefully) tomorrow.


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## mccindy

Hang in there, Cat.  It's just one day, and while I know that bums you out, you need to take care of yourself when you're not feeling well.  I've been feeling some of the same guilt today for missing my elliptical this morning, especially since my back hurts more when I miss it.  
We'll get through this miserable day!

I hope you can avoid more tests, I just wonder since you seem to be having more problems of late and it does seem to be affecting your QOL.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm feeling somewhat better today.  Not perfect, but well enough to work out I think.  Going to go hit the gym tonight after work.  Hopefully it won't be overflowing with New Year's resolution people!  Wish me luck!

I skipped dinner again last night because I just had no appetite.  I'm hoping a good workout tonight will leave me with an appetite (I know I need to eat, in particular I need protein after a workout, so I'll force myself to have a little leftover chicken if nothing else).

It's going to be in the 30s all weekend and I really want to get outside at some point!  I still need to get my ice skates sharpened, so that's my goal - get my skates sharpened, and get out to one of the great free outdoor ice rinks in my city.  I think I'll be skating by myself, though.  Hubby hates to skate (he isn't good at it so he doesn't want to do it - I've reminded him the only way he'll get better at it is to practice, but he still isn't interested).  He told me he has ice skates, but I don't think he does.  I seem to recall buying my ice skates like-new for about $1.50 at a thrift store years ago, so maybe I can find him some gently used skates in his size too.  Or maybe I'll just say, forget him, and go have fun on the ice by myself!  The sad part is, hubby grew up in a house that was next to his grandparents' farm, and on the farm they have a pond which is absolutely perfect for skating on in the winter.  I had to go pay money to go to ice arenas to learn how to skate when I was growing up.  Yet in spite of him having direct access to a free rink but me not so much, I learned how to skate and he didn't.    Oh well!  I really enjoy ice skating, I'm not terrible at it, and I really want to get out on the ice at least once or twice this winter.  So I'm going to go skating, whether hubby goes with or not.


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## mccindy

Glad to hear you're feeling better today, good news!  Sucks about the dinner skipping,though.  I had just a piece of cod and some canned veggies myself, no appetite again.  

Ice skating- I always thought it looked so fun, but I didn't get to go much, so I never got very good at it.  I remember falling and hitting my head a few times.  Can't do it anymore.

Have fun, Cat, with or without your hubby!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hitting your head, yikes!  That's never good, especially on ice - and particularly now I guess skating is out of the question because you surely really don't want to hit your head post-brain surgery!  

I kind of forced myself to get good at roller skating and ice skating when I was a kid.  I was always so awkward and weird and never fit in, so my parents signed me up for Girl Scounts in about 2nd grade in an effort to get me socializing more.  That didn't really work, I still didn't make any friends and everyone still thought I was weird.    But anyway, one day my Scout troop took a "fun" trip to the roller skating rink.  I had never been skating before and had no idea how.  It was clear that everyone else at least had some proficiency skating - I was the only one going .000001 miles an hour and clinging to the wall for dear life.  I felt humiliated, like I felt even more of an outcast than usual.  So that summer, I got some roller skates of my own and I practiced every single day going up and down the sidewalk in front of my house.  I forced myself to get good, it was something I really wanted and I recall working very hard to go faster and to fall less and just be better in general.  By 5th grade, I was skating faster than anybody else at the roller rink and other girls were actually impressed by my skills.  Then the roller rink closed down and I quit Girl Scouts, but I can still skate pretty well.  On the ice, I can go backwards & do back crossovers, and I rarely fall as long as I don't showboat.   

I haven't been on the ice in a couple years though - I think I either consciously or unconsciously put a lot of fun things in my life on hold when I got sick.  I didn't kayak for the first couple years I got sick, that was a conscious decision as I was petrified of all the "what if"s.  What if I need to use the bathroom in the middle of the creek, what if I get too nauseous or painful to keep paddling, what if my body just can't handle the strenuousness, what if I push myself too hard and end up in a flare, etc.  I finally got the courage to kayak again in the summer of 2012, and it went fine, I had zero issues.  I've been kayaking a handful of times since, and have had zero issues each time (I did have to pee once and had to duck into a bush, but haven't had any bowel-related issues while in the kayak).  So that's given me a bit more confidence I think, and it's also made me realize that I haven't done a lot of the fun things I used to do, particularly physical things.  I'm pretty sure I haven't been skating at all since before I got sick, and that needs to be remedied.  So I'll go skating, and I'll be nervous and looking to where the bathroom is and hoping my joints hold out and all that stuff, but if it goes okay then I'll feel a little more confident the next time out.


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## mccindy

Oh, you're one of "those" people!    I always envied those super-talented and coordinated people who could skate backwards and do all the fun stuff!  I didn't skate enough to get good like that.  When I did skate, I used borrowed skates.  Cool for you that you were so good at it.  Time to get back out there!  Show off to the other skaters a bit.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/9/14:  I hit the gym last night and felt great.    Our friend/massage therapist came over as he's having car troubles yet again (we live right near where he works, so on car trouble days, we let him sleep in our guest bedroom and he just walks to work), so hubby stayed home and entertained massage therapist while I went to the gym by myself.  It was crowded, and clearly a lot of New year's resolution people were there, but overall it wasn't too bad and I got to do all the machines I wanted to, and I felt good the whole time.  Had great energy and strength, I added a bit of weight or extra reps to a few machines even because I felt so good that things weren't quite as challenging as they usually are.  Reflux stayed mostly quiet, joints were a bit achy by the very end but were okay during most of my workout, guts were quiet too.  Felt very good, as far as workouts go it was just about perfect!

But the evening went downhill from there - I ended up only eating about 3 bites of dinner.  And it was all hubby's fault!  We were just going to have leftover chicken, but he decided he wanted to make something a bit nicer for dinner than leftovers since massage therapist was at our house, so hubby made spaghetti with turkey meatballs, and goat cheese for me.  Yum!  We all started to eat, I ate a few bites, then hubby told us to stop.  He apparently had a very sudden wave of nausea hit him shortly after he started eating, so he said, "Stop.  I think there's something wrong with the food, stop eating it."  He ran to the bathroom... and belched, and was fine.    His wave of nausea lasted like 30 seconds tops and then it was over once he belched.  So the food was apparently fine, as I felt fine and so did massage therapist - all 3 of us are fine this morning, too.  I'm not sure why hubby suddenly got nauseous, but it went as quickly as it came.  But, having someone yell at me not to eat the food because it isn't safe, and then seeing that person run to the bathroom urgently as if to vomit, that just made my appetite disappear completely.  So I couldn't eat any more than the few bites I had already eaten.  Oh, and the sad part is, spaghetti sauce is a reflux trigger for me, so even though I had only eaten a little bit, I spent the rest of the evening refluxing!  Ughhhh!  This is getting ridiculous now, it's almost funny.    Someday I *will* eat a proper dinner, ha ha.

Oh well, setbacks aren't going to get me down.  I want to go ride the bike today, I think I'm going to do 30 mins of that on my lunch break.  And I think we might go out to dinner tonight - someone gave me an Applebee's gift card for xmas, and I told hubby we should go there tonight.  Partly just because I want to eat a nice dinner already!    I will have to look at their menu to see what I can eat there, but hopefully they'll have some options for me.  Hopefully there will be no more weird setbacks preventing me from eating an evening meal!  Because this is just getting stupid now, ha ha.  So wish me luck for a nice, uneventful dinner where I can eat, feel well, and nobody around me gets sick.


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## mccindy

Oh, sheesh!  poor Cat.  That really stinks.  I actually was able to eat a whole dinner last night!  chicken, rice, green beans.  This morning I was back on the elliptical again (made it yesterday too) but the headaches are making it hard for me to get all the way through.  I did make it most of my 1/2 hour but it bugs me not to be able to finish, and I don't feel as though I am working as hard as I usually do.  It's a bummer!

Yes, please get to Applebee's and have a great dinner... I think last time I went there I had a shrimp and rice dish that was pretty good.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I managed to do 30 mins on the bike, and I feel pretty good.  And yes, I ate afterwards - it was lunch, though, I am still on a mission to eat dinner tonight!    It was a bit annoying though, there was another lady in the gym with me pretty much the whole time, and I don't really like her.  I think I mentioned her before, she blasted the country music channel once when she got to the gym before me and it was awful - I hate country!  So she was changing into her gym clothes at the same time I was today, and I realized I had better hurry and get to the gym before her, otherwise I'd be stuck with country music again (there's sort of an unspoken rule, whoever gets to the gym first can do what they want with the TV/DVD player).  Eek!  So I rushed and zipped in there ahead of her and popped in an Utada DVD a couple minutes before she got in there.  Phew!  I got to listen to my music and not hers.    Particularly when I do something like the bike, I need good music with a good beat to get me through and keep my legs pumping, so I don't know if I could have even made it through a bike session if country music was playing.  I seriously do not like country.  

This lady is annoying in other ways too, or maybe I'm just too easily annoyed.  But she was texting on her phone for literally like 1/3rd of her workout which just annoyed me, I hate when people do that.  And, this is maybe the worst part, I didn't see her wipe down any of the equipment she used!  Ew!  There are both towels and antibacterial wipes in the gym at work so that machines can be properly wiped down and sanitized, and I make a point of wiping down everything I use.  I did leave the gym a couple minutes before she did, so hopefully she wiped everything down just before she left.  Because if not, ew!

I'm still feeling pretty good, and my weight is somehow actually stable even though I've skipped multiple meals this week.  I'm looking forward to a nice dinner tonight, and I'll do weights tomorrow.  I'm a bit worried about tomorrow's weather - they're saying 36 degrees but freezing rain in the afternoon.  Boo!  Supposedly snow on Saturday, but nice on Sunday.  I'm still hoping to ice skate this weekend, and I can skate in the snow as long as it's not heavy enough to cover the ice surface.  I still haven't gotten my skates sharpened, but I took a look at them today and they're still fairly sharp.  So I think I'll be okay skating on them as they are now.  In high school, I let my skate blades get really super dull just out of sheer teenage apathy and laziness, and I was still able to skate on them like that, so the current state of my skates should be fine.  Hubby still needs a pair of skates though, I might have to drag him to Goodwill after our dinner tonight to see if they've got a cheap pair of skates in his size.  

Speaking of winter sports, anybody try snowshoeing?  I saw some snowshoes on clearance the other day and it intrigued me.  I could possibly snowshoe around the dog park with my dog since it's basically just a big field covered with snow.  Is snowshoeing good exercise and enjoyable?  I've seen people cross-country ski through the dog park, but I hate cross-country skiing.  I'm bad at it and it's highly exhausting and I've never found it fun - a friend forced me to go with her once on a ridiculously long cross-country ski route and I fell in the middle of nowhere and nearly broke my ankle, so that's mainly why I hate it so much.  Anyway, is snowshoeing significantly more fun than cross-country skiing?


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## mccindy

congrats on the music save!  I hate country music too and would hate to have to try to work out with it playing!  and ew, not wiping down equipment, that's just rude and gross.  People that text while "working" out tick me off... I used to get really mad if anyone texted or called me while I was at the gym and I refused to answer my phone.  

My BIL and SIL both snowshoe and they really like it a lot.  It's better than cross-country skiing, you don't have to be on a trail and can just kind of go where you want to.  It's a great workout and my SIL said her ankles and calves were very sore after the first few times she went because it's hard work.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I agree.  I don't bring my phone into the big gym with me, I leave it in my locker.  When I use the little gym at my workplace, I admittedly do bring my phone into the gym with me, but it's for emergencies only.  I'm often the only person in that gym, so if I passed out or got injured or something, I like to know that my phone is there so I could call for help if need be.  I've never had to use it (knock wood) but it's there "just in case".  I definitely wouldn't answer it if it rings, and I don't even have texting on it & it's not a smartphone.  So it is in the gym with me sometimes, but I never let it distract me, I never even take it out of its case.

Thanks for the snowshoeing info!  The snowshoes I saw were a bit pricey even on clearance (they were $60), so I'm hoping the price drops a bit more and then I might pick up a pair - the store had a lot of them left, so they may drop the price some more to get rid of them.  I'm sure it would take some getting used to, but with winters being so long and snowy (especially this winter it seems like!), it could be something that I'd get a lot of use out of.  We're fortunate that there's a huge dog park right near our house, so I could feasibly use snowshoes quite regularly each winter when walking the dog.


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## hawkeye

had the snowshoes out Sunday to take the Christmas lights down so I wouldn't sink up to my knees in snow


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, our xmas lights are buried under the snow!  We are going to have to wait until everything melts in the spring to take them down.  The sad part is, our lights didn't even work - hubby put the net lights on some bushes, but he didn't test them first.  They ended up not working, then it snowed right away and they all got buried.  So once we can take them off, we'll just end up throwing them away anyway.  Oh well!

I ate dinner last night, yay.    We used our Applebee's gift card, and I had a shrimp & rice dish like Cindy mentioned.  I don't go to Applebees very often, and I recall getting a shrimp & rice dish last time I was there which was very mild and easy on the tummy.  They must have changed it, though.  This shrimp & rice dish had a weird lemon-cream sauce and was kind of spicy!  Not so tummy-friendly.  I ate most of it but didn't end up finishing because the spicyness was starting to get to me.  I feel okay today though so I guess I wasn't too affected by the spice & the cream.

I'm going to go hit the gym at work today on my lunch break.  I was going to go to the big gym after work, but they're saying freezing rain this evening, so I'm playing it safe and just going straight home after work.  So, that means I must do my workout on my break, which is fine.  I just hope I can avoid the lady who likes country music - and I think I'll pre-emptively wipe down all the machines right when I get to the gym, in case she really didn't wipe them down yesterday!  And I hope she's not in the gym so that I can listen to my music and not hers.  As long as she's not in the gym with me, I should have a good workout.    I don't know if it's an introvert thing or if I'm just selfish or what, but I really like having that gym all to myself.  Other people cramp my style and annoy me!    And it wouldn't be so bad if she had better taste in music and didn't spend half the time on her phone.  I admire people who put in the work without getting chatty or distracted, I wouldn't be bothered if she were 100% committed to her workout and left the phone in her locker, and if she did country music on her headphones rather than on the communal TV I would also be appreciative!  Anyway, hopefully I won't even see her today and it'll be a moot point.


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## mccindy

No workout for me this morning, my stomach was a right mess when I got up - multiple trips to the bathroom before I left for work.    The upside was no headache until about 1/2 an hour ago, so it was a pleasant morning, once my belly settled down.  

Hawkeye and Cat, our lights are buried in snow also, except for the eave lights, which we're leaving up because there's so much ice on the driveway and sidewalk that it would be safe for the hubs to climb up there and get them.  He really shouldn't do it anyway, because his shoulder's wrecked and he's having surgery on it the 29th.  What with my headaches and trip to Mayo next week for that, and his shoulder issues, we're having quite the start to our new year!  I'm hoping my inflatable Santa makes it through til spring, after he last deflated he got buried in snow.  So we'll have to wait til then to get him and the bush lights back into storage.  

I'm glad the Applebee's didn't get you today, Cat.  I haven't been there in a while either, I don't remember any creamy lemon sauce on it last time I got the shrimp and rice.  I hate the way restaurants like that keep changing their menus so you never know what's safe anymore!  At least you finally ate some dinner!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Aw Cindy, sorry you had to miss your elliptical session again.    How's your weight been, and how's the back doing?

I did my workout and everything went great, the country music lady didn't appear so I got to listen to Kpop (I did Jpop yesterday, so I had to mix it up today, ha ha).  I did see that the country music lady definitely did not wipe down the machines after her session yesterday - there were gross handprints/fingerprints on the handles of all the machines.  Yuck!  I went around with an antibac wipe and cleaned everything before using it (and then of course wiped it all down again after I was done working out).  Perhaps I'm a bit passive-aggressive, but I then made a sign saying "PLEASE wipe down the equipment after each use!" in about 60 point font, and hung it right by the cleaning supplies.  Hopefully she gets the hint!    This is a little gym in the basement at work, hardly anyone else ever uses it, but it's my happy place and it bugs me when other people abuse it.

It's raining right now!  Like, a steady rain that's making the roads & sidewalks a little slippery.  I hope it doesn't affect the outdoor skating rinks - it's very annoying trying to skate on a wet, sloppy rink.  Hmmph, I am still going to try to skate!


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## hawkeye

I still have some lights to take down. We had an ice storm before Christmas and the ice just melted off the juniper tree that had lights on it on Monday. The ones on the back deck still had some ice on them last weekend too so they are still outside.  I had extension cords freeze to the deck and in a snowbank that just thawed out on Monday.


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## mccindy

Hey there, Cat. 
I did get on the elliptical yesterday for 15 minutes and this morning I made it to 30.  I had to do it for my back, which was beginning to act up from missing a couple of days in a row.  It's a delicate balancing act when I know it will aggravate my head to do it, and my back not to do it.  But as my hubs said yesterday, "You know your head will hurt anyway, so might as well do what you can to keep your back quiet".  He's pretty wise that way. 

My weight -  ugh.  Right at 130 yesterday morning.  I lost that last .2 that I was holding onto.  Boo.  I have a bad feeling that if I'm not able to eat enough to maintain this week, I'm going to slip down into the 120s.  Not so great.  Definitely trying to keep things up, I've found if I eat my meal and then wait an hour, sometimes I can sneak in a snack without upsetting my belly too much.  This weekend I kept having painful cramps off and on, and not sure why.  D on Saturday, and actually a regular go yesterday for the first time in a week!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I'm glad you were able to do the elliptical, and I hope you can maintain if not gain some weight!  Have you tried making smoothies yet?

As for me, we had bad weather here Friday night/Saturday.  It rained Friday night and the temps were just below 32 degrees, so the roads froze and got quite slippery.  I had a bit of a scary drive getting home from work, and I decided I didn't want to drive anywhere until the roads were better.  I heard on Saturday that the roads still weren't good, so I stayed home all day and had a lazy rest day.  All we did was play video games & watch TV.  I didn't do one productive thing.  I felt kind of bad about that, but on the other hand, sometimes it's okay and even necessary to have a totally lazy day.

Sunday, I was more productive.  I hit the gym, ran a couple errands, did quite a bit of cleaning and other various stuff around the house.  My workout was okay, I'd call it average.  I had an okay amount of energy but not great, my reflux was mostly quiet but I did get a case of the burps, etc.  I did manage to do everything I wanted, including the abdominals machine, and the gym wasn't too crowded - I think (I hope) a lot of the New Year's resolution people are already done.  Most people at the gym seemed serious, there were only a few slackers.

My workout schedule is going to change up a bit starting next week.  Hubby's boss is going on vacation for something like a month or 6 weeks, so hubby will be working 6 days a week (the shop is closed Mondays so that'll be his only day off until the boss gets back).  It's great that he'll be getting decent hours for awhile, but this means I'll be going to the gym by myself while he's working so much.  So I'll probably be using the little gym at my workplace more often, and going to the big paid membership gym a bit less.  I'll probably be walking my dog more, so possibly I'll have some days where I do weights on my lunch break and then walk the dog after work - I'm hoping I'll have enough energy to do so!  I'll be cooking dinner more, too (usually hubby cooks dinner, but when he's working, I get home before he does).  This is good, though, this means I'll hopefully improve my cooking skills and I'll be able to plan my meals better and think more about food and eating healthily.  I know my diet can improve, so I'm taking baby steps to work on that.  One of my goals is to pack a lunch every day that I work, rather than eat a microwaveable meal or pick up a sub on my lunch break.  So, if I can make some healthy dinners that allow for leftovers, that'll help me with my lunches too.

So far so good on the lunch thing - today's lunch is a wrap, with leftover chicken, avocado, tomato, baba ghanouj (or however you spell that!  Maybe I should just say eggplant spread/dip), and turkey bacon.  I have some miso soup and a couple hard boiled eggs for snacks.  I have some chocolate Pocky too, but I'm hoping to resist eating it today and saving it for when I really need a treat.  I had my usual breakfast smoothie (almond milk, ice, chocolate supplement powder, banana, cocoa powder) too.  Dinner will be a "tummy-safe" burrito - ground turkey, goat cheese, avocado, mild salsa.  Yum!

The gym plan this week is - today, rest day (my legs feel sore & tired from yesterday's gym session).  Tomorrow, weights in the little gym.  Wednesday, either bike or yoga.  Thursday, weights at the big gym.  Friday, not sure yet.  Saturday or Sunday, I'm hoping to go ice skating!  I didn't get to go as the freezing rain made the roads bad this past Saturday, and I did a weights workout Sunday and then was too tired to do anything more.  This coming Saturday should be a weights day, but hubby's going out of town that day and I am tempted to go hit the ice rather than the gym.  I know I won't have many opportunities to ice skate outdoors, so if the weather is reasonable on Saturday, I think I'll put weight-lifting off until Sunday and will hit the ice on Saturday.


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## mccindy

I forgot about the smoothies.  My short term memory is terrible!  Hey, can you PM or FB me a recipe?  
I did pick up some Ensure protein shakes, and hoping those will help.  We'll see, hopefully things improve once my headaches are under control.

Sounds like you had quite the weekend.  My aunt was flying out of Milwaukee airport, and the freezing rain delayed her flight enough that she missed her connection in Denver and ended up sleeping in the airport overnight.  
You sound pretty enthusiastic about the whole hubby working/making meals for yourself thing.  I hope that continues and you do great with it!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I don't really have a recipe per se for my smoothies, but I can tell you what goes into them, and you can modify things as needed.  The ingredients I use are:

1 big cup of ice (I don't really measure how much, I just take a glass and fill it with crushed ice from the fridge, then dump that into the blender).
Almond milk - enough to cover the ice in the blender (you want to have slightly more liquid than ice, so that it mixes well and isn't lumpy).
1 large or 2 small bananas
Chocolate flavored vitamin powder - the kind I use is soy-based, there are many different types of supplement powder so this part is rather open to interpretation.
Cocoa powder (about 1 tablespoon) to make it more chocolatey.

You can also add things like vanilla extract for flavor, or more fruit if you want.  If you don't have bananas on hand or don't like bananas/can't do bananas, you can add 1/2 container of soft tofu for bulk & protein.  If you need more calories & can handle coconut products, you could add coconut oil (I cannot do coconut so that's out for me).  It's really open as far as what you can add!

I blend it all together and put it into a to-go container and drink it at work every morning.  I usually then have to have a mug of hot tea afterwards, as the smoothie is cold and makes me a bit chilled!  That starts my morning out with vitamins, calories, and hydration, so I think it's a good thing.  It's been going well for me so far.


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## mccindy

thanks, Cat!  I've made my list and will give it a shot tonight, see how it goes.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Have fun making smoothies, Cindy!    Let me know how it goes.  It took me awhile to figure out exactly what I wanted to put in my smoothies.  I used to try putting almond butter in them, but that was too gritty.  I just have a cheapo $30 blender, nothing fancy, and it wasn't able to pulverize the gritty little bits in almond butter, so I ended up with gritty smoothies.  And at first I didn't put bananas in, because I have trouble eating a banana as-is.  They trigger my GERD and can cause abdominal pain too!  But a banana in the blender, I guess that breaks down the fiber enough or whatever, and I can handle a banana or two in a smoothie with zero problems, no reflux and no pain.  Anyway, have fun and enjoy your smoothie!  

I'm going to the gym today on my lunch break.  Going to do weights, and hoping that the country music lady won't show up and annoy me.    Today's lunch is leftover spaghetti with turkey meatballs & goat cheese.  Yes, spaghetti sauce is one of my GERD trigger foods, but it's pretty safe for me to eat it right after a workout.  I load up on Zantac & Tums just before hitting the gym, so that stuff is still at least partially in my system when I eat right after my workout - so I'm usually okay with having spaghetti after a gym session.  Tonight's dinner will be a whole duck (well, obviously I won't eat anywhere near the whole thing!) which is currently cooking up in the crock pot.  Hubby always works on Tuesdays, so we usually do a crock pot meal on Tuesdays and that way neither of us has to cook - we get home and dinner's ready to go, plus the house smells lovely.  Usually it's something like chicken.  We splurged a little while ago and bought a duck, so that'll be dinner.  Yum!

I might have to shovel tonight, so it may be a very tiring day.  It snowed heavily for awhile this morning, and they're saying we're in for more heavy snow this afternoon/evening.  I'd rather shovel tonight than get up early and dig my car out in the morning, so I'll probably just shovel right when I get home tonight.  The good news is, hopefully that'll tire me out so that I sleep well.  I didn't sleep well Sunday night nor last night so I'm feeling pretty exhausted.  Last night, my stomach was very unsettled and I kept having disconcerting, vivid dreams.  I had a dream where I kept smelling that something was burning, and I kept waking up worried that my house was on fire - of course it wasn't and the burning smell was all in my head & only in the dream, but I kept waking up and couldn't stay asleep.  I couldn't really get very comfortable either because things were unsettled in the tummy.  Not restful at all thanks to my stupid guts and my brain!  So if I really tire myself out physically today, hopefully I can get to bed a little early and just zonk out.  So that's the plan for now.  I gotta work my muscles and then I gotta sleep!


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## mccindy

Duck - I've never had it but I've heard it's pretty tasty!  I think I'm doing turkey tacos tonight.  
Shoveling stinks, but at least it's a good workout, especially after you hit the gym today as well (country lady STAY AWAY!).  We've only gotten about an inch here and I think it's pretty much done, so we got lucky there.  IT's supposed to get really cold again tonight (-5) but then warm up again so I can't complain too much.  

 I will let you know how the smoothie experiment goes!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Bleh.  I don't feel well today.  All day yesterday, my sinuses were going nuts and I was sneezing and blowing my nose a ton.  I figured it was just a bad allergy day.  But today, even though I had slept like a rock last night, I woke up feeling exhausted and fatigued.  Sinuses are still bad, I'm coughing, and my throat's a bit sore.  Oh, and my guts are kind of upset too.  I am pretty sure I have yet another cold.  I think this is my 3rd cold so far this winter?  I've lost count.  But anyway, I'm feeling very run-down and not well.  Yuck!

So, today has become a rest day.  I'm glad I did weights yesterday, and I'm hoping I'll be feeling well enough to do weights tomorrow too.  I'll just have to play it by ear and see how I'm feeling, will have to listen closely to what my body is telling me it needs.  Right now my body is saying, REST!  So I will stay out of the gym today and take it easy.

I'm pretty sure this is a head cold.  I feel a little loopy and I keep losing my train of thought.  Bleh!  I hope this gets out of my system soon.


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## mccindy

Well that sucks!  I hope you feel better quickly.  Can you take Cold-eeze and Airborne? My last cold was gone in four days, and  I started taking both the first day I didn't feel well.

I did make a smoothie last night.  It was good (I did peanut butter instead of the soy powder bc  Icouldn't find any) but I had a terrible belly ache afterward.  Ugh!  Not sure why... could have been headache related.  My headache is back with a vengeance today, so no ellipitcal for me this morning, and I won't be able to do it tomorrow bc we'll be out of the house by 5 am to drive to Mayo.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

You know, I've tried that Airborne stuff in the past, and I felt like it didn't really do anything for me.  I've never tried Cold-eze but maybe I'll give that a shot.  For now I'm just trying to do basic stuff like make sure I'm really well hydrated and getting enough calories (hot tea and potato chips it is, ha ha).  I have some Dayquil, but I try not to take that stuff unless absolutely necessary, as it contains acetaminophen and too much of that stuff can damage the liver.  I already have liver issues so I try to avoid acetaminophen as much as I can, and obviously NSAIDs aren't an option, so I'm just toughing it out for now.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear the smoothie didn't go over so well!    Do you think it was a specific ingredient that did you in, or maybe a combination of everything?  Maybe the cold temperature of it?  Sometimes drinking something really cold or really hot will upset my guts, particularly if I'm walking around for some odd reason.  I can drink hot tea just fine when I'm sitting on the couch, but if I'm walking my dog and I try to drink hot tea, my guts get very upset and I wind up in cramps and desperately needing a bathroom.  I had the same thing happen with a cold Ensure, I was walking around at the Farmer's market a couple years ago and sipped an Ensure, and suddenly needed a bathroom right that instant.  (Fortunately there was a fancy hotel with a really nice bathroom right nearby!)  Anyway, I hope you don't have a repeat bad experience if you do try smoothie-making again.  Good luck at Mayo!


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## mccindy

I'm thinking it might have been the cold, especially as my head was making me a bit nauseated.  Next time I'm going to leave out the ice and see how that goes.  

I'll update you by Friday after my appointments tomorrow!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, my cold kicked me down pretty hard yesterday!  Wednesday night, I tried to go to bed early and I took some Nyquil to try to help me sleep.  It didn't work, though, and I ended up not being able to fall asleep until about 2 AM, and even then I was waking up every hour or so.  When I finally got up at 6 AM, I was totally exhausted and had a massive sinus headache.  The exhaustion & headache plus the cold itself and my guts being unhappy, it was just too much for me to handle and I had to call in sick to work.  I spent the day on the couch, napping and watching TV.  I did find a new Kdrama to watch, yay.    I also sorted through some craft supplies while on the couch, to feel like I was doing something semi-worthwhile.  I hate just sitting there and doing nothing and feeling worthless, so I went through some of my grandma's old buttons and sorted them into bags.  It was either that or crochet another scarf, and I so don't need any more scarves!  

I slept okayish last night, and fortunately the headache is mostly gone now and the cold is easing up somewhat.  Guts feel less angry, too.  Overall I'm still not well, but I'm a lot better than I was.  I'm reeeeeeally tempted to try to go to the gym today.  We're supposed to get snow tomorrow, I heard 1-3 inches but a co-worker said something about 6 inches, so I don't really want to leave the house tomorrow and deal with whatever amount of snow it'll end up being.  So a weights workout today would be ideal, and I can do yoga/bike at home tomorrow if I'm up to it.  My arms feel like they could do weights today, and my legs too - I'm still coughing and sniffly though, so I don't know if I'm up for breathing heavily.  Still, I'm tempted to try, so I'll probably make an effort to get into the gym and do what I'm able to.  I won't push myself too hard, and I'll probably avoid the abdominals machine so as not to re-upset my guts.  I think I can do it!  Wish me luck!  

Cindy, how was Mayo?  I was thinking of you yesterday - particularly with that bad headache I had, I was thinking it must be awful that you get headaches every day, and I was really hoping Mayo could figure things out and do something to get you some relief.  I hope it was a worthwhile visit and that they were able to give you good news or at least useful information!


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## mccindy

Hey Cat.  I saw by your post that you saw my Mayo news on the Undiagnosed thread, so I won't get detailed about that here.    I got laughed at by an old guy - Denny and I were watching a movie (Galaxy Quest!) on my Kindle Fire, sharing my ear buds and I kept dozing off.  He thought that was pretty funny I guess.  I'm feeling pretty good.

Doing weights is a good idea, but make sure to avoid any cardio, as that's not a good idea when you have an upper respiratory illness.  Take care!

So far the majority of the snow has completely missed us here in Central MN, and I can't say as I mind that.  It's a bummer that you keep getting it though!  We just keep getting cold and wind.  I'd rather have snow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a good workout.    I did do a teeny bit of cardio during my warm-up, but fortunately that went fine.  I just did a couple mins of jogging and about 1 min of jump rope.  I had okay energy during my workout but maybe not quite my usual amount of lung capacity?  I had to stop at several points during my workout and just breathe and catch my breath for a few seconds - I usually don't have to stop like that.  Other than that, I felt quite good.  I even was able to do the abdominals machine.  And, last time I had been in the gym, I had increased the weight on one of the machines (triceps machine).  I thought about dialing it back down to where it was to go easy on myself, but I figured I'd try it at the new, heavier weight first.  And that went fine too!  So quite a good workout considering that I've got a cold.  I think the cold is definitely on its way out, though.  My appetite is returning and I feel significantly better than I did yesterday, and I'm not blowing my nose nearly as much.  Yesterday I could barely get off the couch, and today I got right back into the gym - that's a good feeling to get right back at it so quickly.  

As for the snow, I don't mind it so much except that I dislike driving in it, and I have to shovel every time it snows.  We don't have a garage and we don't have a snowblower either, so it's a repetitive process of scraping & brushing off the cars, shoveling the driveway, moving the cars so that we can shovel that last little bit of driveway, shoveling the sidewalk, etc.  It seems like it has been snowing so much this winter that I'm getting sick of the shoveling process!  On one hand it's a decent workout, but on the other hand, my GERD doesn't like it at all (so much bending over forward to shovel, and it requires a lot of use of the abdominal muscles).  So even though it is quite physical, it's not tummy-friendly, and on bad days I have to send hubby out to shovel without me, and then I feel bad and useless.  Tomorrow, hubby's going out of town for most of the day, and we're supposed to get anywhere from 1-6 inches of snow tomorrow depending on which weather report you believe!  If we get 6 inches, I'll have to shovel by myself just so that he can get his car back in our driveway when he gets home.  I'm not particularly looking forward to shoveling by myself, but I'll suck it up and do it.  I'm hoping for less than 6 inches so that I can stay in the house and bake things and do crafts and not shovel!

So yeah, I guess I'd rather take bitter cold over snow, because I can drive in bitter snow and no shoveling required!    Ice is the worst of course, I at least can drive in snow even if I don't like it.  If the roads are icy, it's so treacherous and I refuse to drive when it's icy if I can avoid it.  So I'd rather have snow over ice, but I'd rather have cold over snow I think.


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## mccindy

Oof.  I hope you didn't get as much as they thought you might, and had some time to relax.  We are going back into the deep freeze this week, with temps and wind chills below zero again.  I can't wait for January to end and start the slow climb back to reasonable temperatures!  We did get a few inches of snow over the weekend, but hubs has a snowblower so got it cleared up fairly quickly.  Good thing too, as he has a bad shoulder injury and will need surgery soon.  Hoping we don't get ANY snow the first couple of weeks after his surgery!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, yes, we fortunately only got about an inch or two of snow, so that was fine.  It did pretty much snow all day on Saturday, though, so I ended up spending the whole day indoors and just doing stuff around the house.  Didn't do much in the way of exercise but did get some cleaning, laundry, dishes, etc done, so it was still a productive day.  Sunday, my parents came for a visit and that's always mentally exhausting to me, so I ended up not working out that day either except to shovel the small amount of snow that we got the day before.  We went eagle-watching and to a winery, I was bad and did a wine tasting and had a bit too much and felt my stomach burning a bit.  Oddly, though, I didn't really pay for it - all weekend, my guts were really good and I had nice, firm, normal stools.

Yesterday, I was off work due to MLK Jr. Day, but my gym was open so I went and had a nice long workout.  Felt pretty good, didn't have tons of energy and I think I was a tad bit dehydrated, but overall it was pretty good.

This morning, I woke up in pain!  Not sure if it was a partial obstruction or what.  My right side, sort of middle-right part of my abdomen, it felt painful.  It almost felt like food or gas was trapped and would not budge.  I tried going to the bathroom, that didn't alleviate the pain.  I tried walking around to get stuff moving but that didn't work.  I tried my heating pad, that helped a little bit, but once I took it off, the pain was right back.  I then massaged the area of my tummy rather forcefully to try to get things un-stuck and moving again.  That hurt but I think it worked!  I felt stuff gurgling afterwards and the pain eased up.  I'm feeling better now than I did this morning.  There's still a teensy bit of pain if I move the wrong way, I think that's just because my guts are still a little upset about whatever was going on earlier, maybe it's food moving through the irrtated area, etc.  On the whole, though, I'm doing a lot better, so I think I'm in the clear.

So, seeing as how I'm doing better, I'm thinking of riding the bike on my lunch break today.  It's so cold outside that I don't want to go anywhere, and a bike ride would help warm me up.  I feel well enough to ride the bike.  So that's my plan.  I am a bit excited, I saw that country music lady is off today, so I should get the gym all to myself!    I have a new music playlist that I set up and I'm excited to listen to it while I ride.  I'm just going to do a short ride, about 30 mins.

Tomorrow, weights again, probably in the small gym at work.  Oh, and starting today, hubby's working pretty much full-time hours for awhile, so I'll likely be doing more workouts at the little gym at work.  (If hubby's available then we like to go to the big gym together - if it's just me then I can do whatever, but it's usually more convenient for me to just do a workout in the gym at work.)  Hubby will be working all weekend, so I'm hoping to finally go ice skating at some point!  The weather was bad Sat and my parents came down on Sun, and then I did weights Mon, so there just wasn't a good opportunity to skate this past weekend.  I feel like I keep making excuses to not ice skate, and I hate that, so I'm really going to try to go this coming weekend!  My week is shaping up to be weights Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun, so I'm earmarking Saturday as an ice skating day.  I'll have to walk the dog, too, so hopefully I will have enough energy to do both.  I've learned that I can usually do weights and then walk the dog afterwards, but if I walk her first I find that my legs are tired and it's very hard to do weights.  So I'll maybe get up a bit early and skate first, then walk the dog afterwards.  That's the tentative plan for now.


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## mccindy

I saw your eagle pictures, they were pretty cool!  
I did get on the elliptical despite my belly pain this morning, worked through it although at one point I thought I'd fall right over.  I just didn't want to miss it and have belly pain and then add back pain to the equation.  

I'm thinking of starting some light weights on the floor, since I can't lift while vertical.  I'm always so tired when I get home I just haven't started yet!  Good excuses.... not!  

You inspire me though, you're so well-rounded in your routine.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Awww, thanks Cindy!  I do try very hard to be well-rounded fitness-wise, if not I'd just do weights and only weights.    I'm not a huge fan of cardio.  I don't mind doing the exercise bike here and there, but last winter I was doing it all the time for an hour each time, and that got soooo tedious and boring.  I love to ride my real bike to somewhere or through some nice scenery, that never gets boring.  But sitting on the stationary bike going nowhere and just watching TV or whatever, that made me so bored I almost couldn't stand it!  I've been doing the bike less this winter, and so far I haven't hit that wall of massive boredom yet.  But yeah, it's sometimes difficult to be well-rounded when I get bored with cardio.  

I have a similar complaint with yoga, and I know I just need to vary my routine more.  I usually do yoga on the Wii Fit, and I've programmed in a routine I like, but then I end up doing that same routine every single time.  I know what the Wii virtual trainer is going to say before she says it.  So again, it gets tedious.  Weights, I don't know what it is - I like doing the same weights in the same order each time, but even so, it's fun and not boring and never gets tedious the way that yoga & stationary bike do.  I need to figure out what's magical about weights and try to translate that into cardio and yoga, somehow.  And honestly, like I said, cardio is great fun if I can just go somewhere on my bike rather than staying in the same room for an hour!    Yoga, I think I just need to do different moves or in a different order.  But yeah, weights, I can do the same weights every time and it's like visiting an old friend, rather than it being tedious and dull.  Maybe I just need to reframe how I think of my exercise bike and my Wii fit trainer?  They're kind of like old frenemies, I like them but also hate them, ha ha.  

Speaking of the bike, I'm headed to do 30 mins on it right now!  Got my new music playlist so I won't be bored this time around (hopefully).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I forgot to mention this earlier - you talked about possibly doing weights on the floor.  I'm sure there are some yoga moves that can be done from the floor too, although I'm not sure if they'll all be safe for your back.  The reason I thought of this was my aunt.  She broke her neck in a really bad car accident a couple years ago, she survived and wasn't paralyzed fortunately.  But they had to put a metal rod in her neck to fuse it, and while she was healing from that, she really really wanted to do yoga (she's a yoga fanatic and does yoga pretty much every day).  She wasn't even really allowed to walk around, she was only allowed to lie there.  So she'd lie on the floor and do some floor yoga that didn't put any pressure on her neck.  I'm not sure what poses she did, but I think it was the only thing that kept her sane for awhile!  Anyway, if you're interested in yoga, what my aunt went through makes me think there must be some gentle floor yoga that you could possibly do too.  I'm sure your back and my aunt's neck both pose their own unique challenges, so maybe there isn't a lot of overlap between what you can do vs what she could do, but I was reminded of her doing floor yoga when you mentioned doing floor weights.

(If you're wondering, there is a happy ending to my aunt's story - she healed as much as someone with a broken neck can heal.  She still has the metal rod, it's permanent.  But she's allowed to do most yoga poses again including headstands, no more floor-only restriction.  This is my aunt who has IBD, so she's been through a lot in life and is so tough!  She's kind of my hero, she's awesome.   )

So I rode the bike, did my 30 mins.  It was tough and I was really sweaty and tired by the end, but it was a "good" tired.  My legs feel pretty tired now and I'm looking forward to having a nice dinner and a hot bath.  I had a good lunch (I made myself a high-protein pasta salad - it had lots of turkey bacon, tofu, and hardboiled eggs in it).  Dinner tonight will be tummy-safe lasagna, with goat cheese and ground turkey.  Yum!  I eat a lot of pasta because it's a safe food for me, and I don't mind having pasta twice in one day like this.  Pasta salad is pretty different from lasagna, too, so it doesn't feel like I'm eating the same thing.  But I know with working out that I need protein, particularly right after a workout, so this is one of my ongoing goals, to get more protein into my diet so that my muscles are happy.  I eat tons of carbs but I think I should have more protein, I'm wondering if I get enough.  I have chicken at least once a week, but I have bread or pasta pretty much every day.  So the goal is to incorporate more protein with my carbs since I'm going to eat carbs anyway!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/22/14:  I am having a bleh day.  You ever hear the saying, "same sh**, different day"?  That's my day today.    Yesterday I passed a little blood after dinner - seems to be happening with more regularity now.  I had been having such nice, formed, non-bloody stools lately, too.  Ugh.  It's also snowing, again.  It seems to snow just about every day and I'm so sick of it.  My stupid ear won't stop ringing and it's massively annoying.  It's just a lot of little stuff like that today.  I feel okay guts-wise in spite of the blood, I don't feel bad, I just feel... like burned out, I guess.  Physically okay but mentally exhausted.  I'm just having a day!

So I really, really need to go lift some weights.  I need to lift a lot of them and they need to be heavy.  I need to just dump some stress!  I'm going to the gym in a little while and I cannot wait!  It's the one bright spot in my day.  I really need ideal gym conditions today, though - I'm keeping an eye on country music lady, I really want to get to the gym when she's not in there.  I want the gym all to myself and I want to crank my music and push myself and try to force a better mood to happen.  And if the music is loud enough then I shouldn't even be able to hear the ear ringing anymore, right?    At least for a little while.  I just feel like I need a reprieve from my life.

This reminds me, I was thinking about bears the other day (sounds weird, I know).  My hubby did a freelance animation project awhile back for a company that makes educational science videos for school children, and he did an animation about bear hibernation once.  It was really interesting, apparently before bears hibernate they eat tons of food and get really fat.  When they hibernate, there's some sort of body process that uses the fat not only to keep the bear alive during hibernation, but it also converts the fat into muscle!  So when bears awake in the spring, they're lean and muscular.  Oh man, I wish I could sleep for a few months and wake up more muscular!  That sounds like possibly the best thing ever.  That's what I want right now, I just want to hibernate (and waking up with more muscles would be a lovely added bonus).  I could wake up in the spring feeling refreshed rather than burned-out, and having more muscles - that would just be the best!  Bears really have it made!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy?  I get worried about you when you disappear from the forum for awhile!  Check in and let me know things are okay, if you can?

Update 1/23/14:  I'm having a bad joints day today.  I jogged for just a few mins yesterday on the treadmill to warm up before doing weights, and my bad hip has been unhappy ever since.  My knees are aching too, and my left wrist was painful earlier this morning, although the wrist is somewhat better now.  It's very cold out and it's been snowing just about every day, so I'm sure that's a contributing factor.  My joints hate bitter cold and snow, and the hip has never liked jogging.  Today was going to be a rest day anyway, so it's just as well that I'm having a bad joints day.  I'm going to take it as easy as I can.  Hubby's working late tonight, so dinner's already in the crock pot (chicken).  I won't have to cook anything and can just relax on the couch tonight.  I have a new crocheting project that I just started (hubby wants me to make him a "Doctor Who" scarf like what Tom Baker's character wore on the show) so that'll keep me occupied, as long as my wrist doesn't start acting up again.

Oh, I think I forgot to say how my workout yesterday went.  I was in a foul mood and just wanted to be totally alone in the gym.  I kind of stalked country music lady, I peeked in the lunch room and she was there, and I peeked in the gym and it was empty, so I thought I was in the clear.  Went to change clothes, and while I was changing somebody sneaked ahead of me into the gym!  Oh no!  It was a lady who's relatively new at work (not country music lady), and fortunately she wasn't an annoyance.  She apparently only walks on the treadmill, so I still had the weight machines all to myself (there are 2 treadmills in that gym, so I still had use of one treadmill too).  Also, she didn't know how to work the TV, and she asked me if I could put something on.  I said I usually only do DVDs, and she said that's fine!  So I got to listen to my Kpop DVD even though someone else was in the gym - score!  And this lady only stayed in the gym for maybe 15 mins tops, so I had a good chunk of gym time to myself and got to listen to my music the whole time.  So, it was as good as a workout can be when there's another person there.    I pushed myself pretty hard and I can feel it in my shoulders & back today, there's a bit of soreness (but that's a much nicer soreness than the painful joints I've also got going on, I'll take post-workout soreness over cold-weather joint aches any day!).  

So today I'll rest, and tomorrow I'll hit the weights again.  Hubby's working all weekend so I'm going to do some crafty type stuff, more crocheting and some sewing and I'll also clean a bit, etc.  I'm still hoping to ice skate, I hope my joints get on board with that idea.


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## mccindy

I want to be a bear.  They get to have babies while they hibernate too.  

Interesting about the floor yoga.  I've tried a couple of things before, but couldn't do a lot because I can't bend backwards at all - I've got a stainless steel appliance that fuses my entire lower back and it doesn't bend.  

I feel like I really need to do something about my butt!  Since my back surgery I kind of fell off the squats and lunges wagon and it's noticeable..... think I need to do some work there.  not that it's a big deal when I'm dressed,  it looks fine, but I'd like to have a nice bootie for the hubs to look at!  Silly, yeah?  but I gotta start lifting that thing up again, I am in my 40s.... otherwise it will just keep going down......


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## mccindy

Sorry I disappeared!  I had a leadership forum yesterday so no time to get online, and today's been nonstop meetings!  But here I am!  Everything's going well!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yay, I'm glad everything's good with you.  When I was away from the forum for a little bit a few months back, you said you missed me - now I can totally say I missed you too!    Sounds like you've been busy - how's your health doing?  Are the new medications helping your headaches?  How's the tummy lately?

And oh goodness, the booty!  Yes, especially at our ages, it takes a little bit more effort to keep it perky.  I've been working mine with squats and the leg press machine and hubby says it looks better than it ever has before (and we started dating when I was 19, so apparently I look better now than I did 15 years ago as a teenager!).  You have to keep up with it, though, for sure.  I'm 34 and I can already feel gravity pulling things downward (I work my triceps twice as hard as my biceps because I feel like I may have a bit of "bat wing" arms going on otherwise!).  Anyway, get back at those squats if you're able to - I have been trying to do more squats in between weight machines, particularly in the little gym at work.  Sometimes to beat the afternoon slump, I'll do some squats in my cubicle too.

Geez, the steel appliance in your back does sound a lot like what my aunt has in her neck - I can't recall which vertebrae she has fused, I think it's the 1st thru the 3rd?  I know she broke one and cracked the other and they fused the whole area together, so she can barely turn her head a slight bit to the side and that's it.  She basically has to turn her whole body in order to turn her head.  There are a few yoga moves she can't do anymore, but for the most part she can still do a lot.  It sounds like your back situation is a lot more limiting than her neck is.  I can ask her what floor yoga moves she did, though, if you want.  I know she had a broken foot at the time too (she had to wait for her neck to heal a lot before they could take care of her foot) so she could only do moves where her neck and foot weren't really involved at all.

So this is getting a little silly, but I bought more workout clothes today.    (I'm going to go through my pile of workout clothes at home and get rid of some older stuff over the weekend because I now officially have too many workout clothes.)  I went to the consignment shop today, and they had a whole bunch of really nice workout clothes that just came in.  Some of the stuff was brand-new still with tags, and it was all nice name brands.  I got a very cute hot pink workout top (long tank w/ built in sports bra), brand-new with tags, and it has a cute little pocket for my ipod and fits perfectly and it was really cheap!  I also got a new pair of black workout capris that fit really well too.  I'm kind of obsessed with cute workout clothes at this point, and today's haul cost me something like $12 total for the top and the capris.  I didn't need new workout clothes, but it's a little added motivation, I guess.  I want to wash them tonight so that I can wear them to the gym tomorrow!  Anything that makes me excited for the gym like that is a good thing, whether it's a new outfit or new songs in my playlist or whatever - I never really need motivation, I'm going to go to the gym regardless, but it's nice to get new stuff and to have a reason to be excited to go to the gym, you know?  And it's nice to feel cute and stylish, even if it's all going to get sweaty within the first 5 minutes.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/24/14 (it's still weird writing "14" at the end of dates, I'm not used to it yet!):  I'm going to go to the little gym on my lunch break for weights today.  I was hoping to go to the big gym after work, but the weather is supposed to be pretty hideous today.  They're saying 1-2 inches of snow, which isn't so bad, but also 30+ mph winds so blowing snow plus very cold wind chills.  I don't want to be out and about more than I need to in those conditions, so I'll do my workout on my break and just head straight home after work.

Speaking of this hideous cold, my joints are still pretty unhappy.  My hip feels okay when I'm sitting, but when I walk I can feel that it's painful.  My knees are a bit better but still a bit achey, same with both wrists.  The bitter cold weather is supposed to continue for awhile (at least into early next week), lovely.  I had really wanted to ice skate tomorrow, but with the bitter cold & wind and my joint pain, I'm doubting it'll happen now.  Disappointed, but my body's saying don't go ice skating when it's like this, so I will probably stay inside.  So tomorrow may be a rest day, or if it's semi-okay weather then I'll walk the dog.  She's been wanting to stay indoors herself during this bitter cold!  She normally loves cold & snow, but it's too cold lately even for her.  Hubby walked her the other day in like -30 wind chills, and he said the dog was so sad and looked like she was being punished, she hated going on a walk in that kind of cold.  So we're not walking her when it's so crazy cold.  She gets a bit stir crazy being stuck in the house, so I'll play with her indoors to try to keep her entertained for awhile.


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## mccindy

Aw, it's nice to be missed!  I just finally got the new medication tonight after a week of dealing with the pharmacy.  I don't think my body like these med changes because I do not feel good at all today... achy, belly hurts, burning in my right ab, and super tired.  Grrr.  trying to be patient and give it time to adjust and then hopefully things will improve.  

Wow, your aunt sure got lucky.  A lot of people with cervical fractures that high die instantly!  It sucks that she can't turn her head though.  There's a likelihood my disks will continue to degenerate and I'll need more fusions in the future, but the doc and I are putting that off as long as possible bc the more fused I get, the harder it will be to move and the more painful it will be.  Heck with that!

I feel for your pup!  Our three girls like to go out the back door, tear around the yard for a couple of minutes and then dash back into the house.  They whine and bark and jump around like crazy if I leave them out too long, and then stand around with one foot up in the air looking sad and pathetic.  THey love playing in the snow but not this cold!  

Here's hoping your joints cut you a break sometime soon.  It's been going on too long!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, my aunt is super lucky for sure!  The accident she was in was horrible.  She rarely wears a seatbelt, but she said that out of the blue decided to put it on about 45 seconds before the accident, and I don't think she'd be alive if she hadn't put her seatbelt on.  Her pickup truck was overloaded and two of her tires blew while she was on the highway - her truck flipped, rolled, spun, went into the oncoming lane, hit multiple vehicles including a semi.  When the truck rolled, she hit her head on the roof of the truck, and that's apparently how she broke her neck.  She was able to crawl out of the truck on her own, though, and somehow didn't have any paralysis.  I saw photos of the truck later on, and it was amazing that anyone survived that - it was just crumpled.  She's definitely a tough lady!

I'm sorry to hear the new meds are doing a number on you, that sucks!  I hope things calm down soon and that they get the headaches under control without messing with your guts any further.  I'm glad the pharmacy finally came through for you at least - if it's not one thing, it's another, as Gilda Radner always said!

My dog does the thing with one foot in the air outside too, I think her paw pads are sensitive to the extreme cold temps.  Sometimes she'll even limp when she's out in the yard, but as soon as she's back inside she'll start walking normally again, so I think the cold is really affecting her feet.  Booties are out of the question, though, she'll take them off (she had to have minor foot surgery a couple years ago, so I tried putting a bootie on over the bandage so she wouldn't chew on her stitches - that was ridiculous, she took the bootie off about 10 million times even though I tried watching her closely and tried putting the bootie on tight).  So it'll be us girls (me, the dog and the cat, ha ha) hanging out indoors tomorrow and staying warm.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/26/14:  Yesterday was a rest day although I did a bit of heavy lifting.  I needed to run a couple errands, but it seemed like the things I really needed were all heavy!  I went to the store and bought laundry detergent and hauled that heavy thing around.  Then I went to the grocery store and bought a 10 lb bag of potatoes and carried that bag with me while I picked up a few other (smaller) items.  So I feel like I got a bit of a workout just from carrying heavy items!

Today, I was going to go to the gym for weights - but the weather and circumstances had other plans.  It snowed quite a bit last night, about 5ish inches I think.  We had to shovel, which is always strenuous.  And my dog really needs a walk, and it's not terribly cold out today, so I'm going to walk her in a little bit.  Tomorrow & Tuesday, it's supposed to be super cold again - they're saying -50 wind chills.  So I'm probably going to have more joint pain, and will want to stay inside - this means lifting weights will happen during that time, and maybe yoga too.  So the plan now is, long walk with the dog today, weights tomorrow, possibly yoga Tuesday.

I wish I had gotten those snowshoes that I mentioned awhile back, they'd be great for walking the dog today in the fresh snow!  They had been on clearance for $60 which was still a bit out of my price range, so I  went back to the store yesterday to see if the price had dropped any.  It had... to $59.  Ugh!    But at the thrift store the other day, I saw a pair of gently used snowshoes for only $20.  I get paid in a few days, so I'm going to go back to the thrift store on payday and see if they still have those snowshoes.  If they have them, I'm going to get them.  Seems like a decent investment for $20 and likely something I'll get some good use out of!  Really wish I had them today though!  And I hope nobody buys them in the next few days.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/27/14:  It's so cold again today!  It was reasonable yesterday, windy but above zero even with the wind chill, so I was able to walk the dog yesterday.  Today it's something like -8 with a wind chill of about -35.  My joints are already feeling it, my left knee in particular is quite unhappy.  Tomorrow's supposed to be even colder, I'm dreading it!  Ugh, I just hate this weather so much!  I can deal with normal winter weather, but this is not normal.  This is way colder than my body can handle!

In spite of the weather, I'm going to hit the weights today anyway.  Going to go to the little gym on my lunch break.  I sometimes jog to warm up, but I don't know if my joints can handle jogging today, so I'll probably do the bike for my warm-up instead.  Tomorrow, I think I'm going to do yoga, hopefully that will help my joints a bit.  Wednesday, weights again.  Thursday, likely a rest day, and Friday weights again.  If I can buy those snowshoes, I'll hopefully take them out for a test run on the weekend at the dog park with my pooch.  I haven't been ice skating yet either, the weather has just not been conducive to skating!  It's been too cold/windy etc.  I'd really like to have a weekend day where the weather is nice enough (and my joints & guts are well enough) that I can do a bit of snowshoeing AND ice skating!  That would be ideal!  So we'll see if it happens, I'm not holding my breath.


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## mccindy

I skippped the elliptical all weekend, with our crazy traveling/moving more stuff/seeing people plans.  It was not a restful weekend!  I put new batteries in my scale and it turns out the darn thing was overweighing me.  I've lost more weight again.... slipped down to 129.  Less than I weighed even in high school.  My old peeps back in WI were commenting on how thin I look.  It really sucks!  More Ensure coming my way, I guess.  I did get back on the elliptical this morning bc my back was pretty unhappy about the skipping.  So hard to find a balance.  Still feeling a little funky today, I think I'm still adjusting to the meds, but a little better than Friday.  

Cat - dog booties, we tried them on our MOlly once and it really was the funniest thing we'd ever seen.  she absolutely hated them and we've never tried them again!  So they all just get to go out there quickly and then come back in.  I swear the newest pup is spring loaded, she comes to the door and pops up nearly to my face height when she wants to come in!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I hope you can get the weight loss under control - and I hope your stomach can handle more Ensure.  Sounds like a stressful weekend but I'm glad you got back on the elliptical today.

Yeah, dog booties don't seem to work for the vast majority of dogs - I don't know that I've ever heard of a dog that actually liked or even tolerated wearing them.  My dog doesn't like to wear anything, not even a sweater or dog coat in this cold weather (she has really thick fur so she doesn't really need a sweater or coat as long as she isn't outside for very long).  If I try to put something like a sweater on her, she goes, "Grrr.  Grrr.  Grrr.  Grrr!" until I take it off.  The funny part is, she loves wearing her collar!  It's the one thing she likes to wear.  If I take it off to brush her, she keeps going to where I set it down, and she'll pick it up and bring it to me as if to say, "Put this back on me please!"  She's so funny.  

I made it to the gym today!  I had to kind of rush my workout.  Because of the frigid weather, my workplace is closing early, so I didn't feel like it would be okay to take a full hour in the gym.  I did a short warm-up, did the weights in quick succession, a quick stretch & cool down and I was outta there.  Not bad, but doing everything in quick succession like that really riled up my GERD more than a standard workout would have.  I had a major case of the burps right after my workout!  Feeling okay now, though.  I didn't want to push my stomach too much - I usually eat a meal after a weights workout, but I just had 2 hard-boiled eggs for some protein today after my workout.  I'm heading home in a little bit so I'll eat more properly once I'm home, I think my GERD will have settled down more by then.

Tomorrow, since it's supposed to be even colder tomorrow morning than it is now, my work has decided not to open until noon.  So I can sleep in tomorrow, and do a yoga session mid-morning before I go to work.  I have a hard time lifting weights in the morning, but yoga is okay - it doesn't affect my GERD nearly as much as weights do.  So yay, I'm pretty excited about that!  I'll have a nice breakfast after yoga - I'm thinking turkey bacon and scrambled eggs, yum!  I'm excited to have a free morning on a workday.


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## mccindy

That sounds lovely, a couple of short days!  I'm glad you are enjoying them.  Same old, same old here.  You'd think I would have been smart enough to not waited to fill my car up until the coldest morning of the week, but no.... I did have to put gas in this frigid morning!  Brrrr.  Plus an off-site trip this morning at work too.  Tomorrow will be a short day for me as my hubs is having shoulder surgery in the morning.  It's in the same hospital where I work so I'll work until he's ready to go home and then leave.
I did get on the elliptical this morning, for about 25 minutes.  I really do need to figure out how to gain a couple of pounds because I'm noticing I'm getting tired easily especially at the end of the day.  I'm trying to space out eating every couple of hours so I can eat more during the whole day.  A friend at work suggested maybe I should hard boil some eggs and bring them to work and just eat one every so often.  The extra protein couldn't hurt, and I usually tolerate eggs fairly well.  

Speaking of dogs.... the puppy got hold of a roll of toilet paper this morning and tore it up in the hall outside the bathroom..... ugh!  I didn't have time to clean it up before I had to get to work so I'll get to take care of that when I get home.  She was really having a blast with it too, darn little Morgan.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It has been a couple of lovely short days.    Yesterday I went home early and just relaxed and tried to stay warm.  I had some hot chocolate and watched some movies and did a bit of crocheting, it was really nice.  Slept in this morning, then did 30 mins of yoga.  Had a great breakfast after yoga - in addition to the scrambled eggs and turkey bacon, hubby also made fresh orange juice in the juicer!  OJ is a reflux trigger, but since I had already worked out, it wasn't too risky (OJ prior to a workout is a recipe for horrible heartburn), and fortunately it was fine.  Even though it's a bit risky, fresh homemade OJ is so delicious!  So I had a good yoga session and a good breakfast and got enough sleep, it's definitely a great day!

My guts are a bit off, though.  My "time of the month" just started this morning with lots of fun cramping and some d, ick.  Fortunately I had some Bentyl on hand and that helped somewhat.  Other than that, though, I feel very good.  The sun is shining and my mood is great today!    Even though it's cold out, it's finally starting to warm up a bit, and the sunshine helps a lot.  Oh, and I know what you mean about having to gas up in this hideous weather - I had to put gas in my car yesterday, that was miserable!  The wind was so cold, even with my heated coat the wind still cut right through me.  Brrr!

The hard-boiled egg thing works for me - I'll boil up 6 or 8 at a time and keep them in the fridge, and grab one whenever I want a snack, and I put a couple in my lunchbag for snacking at work too.  I don't eat the yolks, only the whites, as my GP said my bad cholesterol is a little bit high.  (Plus I hate how the yolks taste!)  They're a good source of protein and I like having an egg or two after a workout.

With the tiredness thing you mentioned, have you had bloodwork done lately?  Specifically, vitamin levels?  I'm sure you already know this, but being low in things like vitamin D, B12, iron, etc can cause fatigue.  It could be a simple fix like taking a supplement.  I know, the last thing you want is more medical tests, but keep it in mind to ask about the next time you're at the doctor.

Good luck to your hubs with the surgery!  It sounds like it's not going to be too invasive if he can go home the same day?  My hubby had kidney stone surgery a couple years ago and his was like that, he got to come home the same day.  It was actually really weird being the caretaker and not the patient for once - I got to go to the hospital cafeteria which was actually really delicious, I didn't have to put on a gown, I just sat there and played my DS.  It was strange being on the opposite end of things - not that I'm complaining, I'd way rather be drooling over the build-your-own-sundae bar at the hospital cafeteria than undergo medical procedures!    It sounds like it'll be a mostly-typical workday for you though, I'm guessing that's a good thing - hopefully you'll be distracted enough that you won't be worrying too much about your hubs.  Good luck, I hope everything goes perfectly for him!

I'm rambling now, and I've probably already mentioned this before, but it's kind of funny.  When hubby was in the recovery area after his kidney stone surgery, it was the same recovery area as the colonoscopy people are sent to.  So my GI must have been doing colonoscopies that day as was in that area, and he saw me and came over to say hi and see why I was there when he didn't have an appointment with me.  Hubby did NOT feel very well after his surgery, he was in a lot of pain and he was peeing pure blood, and he looked terrible - he was pale, clearly in pain, practically crying.  My GI took one look at hubby and said, "Is he okay?  He looks very bad!"  I guess my GI only sees people post-colonoscopy and they usually look fine, so he's not used to seeing someone in that recovery area looking so awful.  So my GI was quite concerned about hubby!  Ever since then, my GI has made a point to ask how my hubby is doing.  And at my last GI appointment, I brought hubby with, and my GI again asked hubby how he is.  After we left, I said to hubby, "You know why he always asks about you, right?  Do you remember seeing him right after your kidney stone surgery?"  Hubby looked surprised and said no, he had zero recollection of it - I guess the anesthesia hadn't fully worn off when my GI came over to us in that recovery area.  So I told hubby the story of how my GI saw hubby looking terrible, and how concerned my GI was.  So funny, hubby had no clue until I told him!  And now I know, if I'm in a terrible flare, I just need to show up in my GI's office looking as bad as hubby did that day, and he'll be legitimately concerned for my well-being.


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## mccindy

Hey Cat.  I did have blood work done recently, and they did say everything looked good for levels.  I do take 4000 iu of vit D a day, plus B12, and B6, and 5 mg of Magnesium, 400 mg of B2, Calcium and a mulitvitamin.  alll the stuff I've had to add when I had low levels previously.  My NO thinks the fatigue is a combo of still healing from the brain surgery and all the meds I'm on and being underweight.  

It is odd, being the caretaker for once!   His surgery is on his shoulder, reattaching his biceps tendon (completely torn off) taking off some bone spurs, and checking to see if he has a rotator cuff tear, and cleaning up some bursitis.  It's fairly invasive, but they don't keep shoulder surgeries in overnight anymore unless there's some sort of complication.  Insurance companies don't like to pay for the hospital stay and the infection risk is higher if you stay in anyway.  He'll be in pain but they'll give him some good meds.  And I have lots of leftover Vicodin!

It's supposed to be 23 today!  woo hoo!  Going to try to enjoy that because it will be single digits with lows in the negatives again for the next week after this.  boo.

I made a whole 30 minutes on the elliptical this morning, despite my nausea, and was glad I pushed through it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh gosh, at least it sounds like your hubs is getting some bang for his buck, getting so many things taken care of with one surgery.  I hope everything goes well today!

I'm doing kind of bleh today.  Guts are a mess because it's that time of the month, joints aren't too happy (it's warming up a tad bit but it's still quite cold out), I have a sinus headache, and my legs feel very tired.  I didn't do much yesterday so I guess my legs are tired from yoga?  My quads in particular feel quite sore.  I'm still planning on hitting the gym tonight anyway, but I'm going to go easy on my legs and concentrate more on my arms.  Tomorrow's a rest day, and with the way I'm feeling today, I definitely need a rest day and am looking forward to it.

Oh, yeah, we're getting the warmer weather here too!  It's supposed to be in the low 20s here today, although it's still hovering in the single digits with below zero wind chills.  Still, it's noticeably warmer than it was, as a -10 wind chill is still much more tolerable than a -30 wind chill.    It's not nice out but maybe it'll get somewhere close to being nice.  I just want my joints to get a break!  I also heard we're supposed to get back to crazy frigid next week, ugh!  So not looking forward to that!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ugh.  Scratch what I said earlier about going to the gym.  I feel worse this afternoon than I did this morning - headache has gotten worse and then I started having some nausea (so I'm presuming it's a migraine?).  My body pretty much has been telling me since I woke up that it's not gung-ho on hitting the gym, and this worsening migraine and nausea just seals the deal - so I'm taking an unscheduled rest day today.  Bleh, I hate that, but there's no way I will be able to have a productive workout when I'm feeling like this.  I took some Zofran, so the nausea is mostly under control, but my head is throbbing and I just want to lie down.  I felt so good yesterday and I feel so yuck today.  Why do the good days only last such a short time?  Ugh.

So, I'll play it by ear and see how I'm feeling tomorrow.  I just gotta be flexible and roll with the punches.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, and I'm just rambling on now, but I forgot to mention this earlier - my weight is down a little bit, again.  There's a scale in the little gym but it's not very accurate - that scale says I'm at about 139.  I do wear shoes when I'm weighing myself on that scale, so maybe my shoes are really heavy or something, because when I weighed myself on the Wii Fit (without shoes on) yesterday, it said I'm 134.5 lbs.  I feel like the Wii Fit is a much more accurate scale, so I unfortunately have to believe that one.  So, I'm a little below my healthy weight.  Nothing to worry too much about just yet, but today's nausea episode sure isn't doing anything to help me maintain/gain.  Ugh!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/30/14:  I'm feeling somewhat better today.  I still have the headache, but it's eased up a bit.  You know those sinus headaches, where they get sharper/worse if you bend over forward or anything like that?  That's what I've got.  So I feel okay right now as long as I don't really move my head.  

I'm in a bit of a bind today.  I was going to go out and try to purchase those snowshoes I saw at the consignment shop.  But it's snowing heavily and very windy, not a nice day to go out in.  I'm not sure though if I'm ready for a workout yet either - guts are still iffy, legs still oddly feel sore & tired (not as bad as they were yesterday, but still noticeable) and of course my head is still not super great.  So, stay in and work out when I feel kind of icky, or go out in the icky weather to try to get snowshoes?  I really should take one more rest day, and the weather looks bad, so I honestly shouldn't do either - but then, what do I do for an hour?  (I hate sitting in the employee break room and eating for an hour, it's not restful or relaxing nor is it recharging.  I need to either get out of the building for awhile or go work out in the basement.)  Ugh, what to do?

I was going to try to do a little exercise when I get home tonight - LMV had mentioned recently that she tried pilates, and that it's good to try new things fitness-wise and be diverse in your workouts.  I agree, and that made me realize that I have a really nice hula hoop at home that I haven't used lately.  So I was going to just do 5 or 10 mins of hooping in my kitchen.  My hoop just barely fits in my kitchen, as long as I stand right in the middle of the room then I won't hit the fridge nor the counter.  It's an adult size hoop - the sparkly pink & purple hoops you see at the store, those are kid size hoops and are very light and small, so it takes almost no effort to keep it up.  My hoop is large and made for adults and it's kind of heavy, it's challenging to keep the hoop up and going!  So it's a good workout even if I just do it for a few minutes.  I haven't used it in probably 6 months or more, though.  So I want to use it tonight - this means I probably shouldn't hit the gym today.  I don't know, though.  The weather looks bad!  I'm still unsure as to what to do!  I really kind of want to go get snowshoes... I don't know if I should wait until the weather is nicer, though?  Hmmmm...


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Hoola hooping is great cat! I did some in the summer at my cousin's house and you really feel it in your abs. Must be good for core strength and balance too  x


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah LMV, you really do feel hula hooping in your abs!  I used my hula hoop for about 10 mins last night when I got home, that was all I was able to do.  My hoop has these little massage ball thingies built into it, it's supposed to sort of massage your tummy as you're hooping.  It kind of hurt after awhile though!  Between the massage balls kind of hurting, and my abs working pretty hard, I wasn't able to do more than 10 mins.  I'm hoping to use my hoop more though and build myself up so that I can hoop for longer than 10 mins.  It is pretty fun to just hang out and hula hoop for awhile!

So, speaking of diversifying my workouts, I bought snowshoes!  I had seen a pair at the consignment shop for pretty cheap and I went back to buy them, but someone had already bought them.  I decided that I still wanted snowshoes, though, so I did some looking around.  The used sporting goods store had a few pairs but they were all really expensive, like $100 was the cheapest!  Out of my price range.  Then I looked online and I found what looks to be a pretty decent pair of snowshoes for about $50, so I ordered them.  I can't wait to get them!  It's supposed to snow again tonight so I wish I had my snowshoes now.  It's been a really snowy winter so far, so I'm sure I'll get some good use out of them.  The dog park is basically a huge snow-covered field, so I will be walking all around there with my snowshoes when I get them.  Pretty sure my dog will be happy about long walks through the snow, too!

And some good news - my sinus migraine is finally almost gone!  I can still feel it if I go outside, the cold kind of makes my sinuses throb, but when I'm inside I feel almost normal again.  Yay, it only took 3 days for it to go away.    My legs are feeling better, too.  So I'm going to the big gym tonight - I like the convenience of the little gym at my workplace, but the big gym has so many more machines and I really want to use the assisted chin-up bar and the leg press machine there tonight.  The big gym is usually pretty empty on Friday evenings, and hopefully the New Year's resolution people are mostly done by this point.  I'm excited for my workout tonight!  Hopefully it's a good one!


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## xX_LittleMissValentine_Xx

Have fun!! I'm buzzing for you... seriously what has happened to me I have gone crazzyy??


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha ha, maybe not crazy, maybe just on an endorphin high?  

Still like an hour till I get to go to the gym.  I'm excited though, I have a new outfit in my gym bag all ready to go, I have some good music on my playlist, and I feel energetic and excited to go work out.  It's supposed to snow yet again tonight so I'm going to hit the gym hard and then go home and relax while the snow falls.  Then tomorrow I'll probably have to shovel the snow which is pretty much a workout in itself, and I might walk the dog too if I still have enough energy to do so after shoveling.


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## hawkeye

Are they the "new" style snow shoes with metal frames? those ones are nice.  I have a pair of the "old-school" wood ones.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, yes, metal frames.  Here's a stock image of the specific ones I ordered:






They're supposedly being delivered on Tuesday, I can't wait!  It's snowing again so I kind of wish I had them now, but they'll arrive soon.


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## hawkeye

Nice snow shoes - it went from enough snow for snowshoes here at the first of January to hardly any now


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## mccindy

wow, those are some nice-looking snowshoes, Cat!  I'll bet you can't wait to try them out!  

I've decided to try some planking.  I've heard it's really good for core/back, etc.  I only did like two 30 second planks this morning.  Everyone is so on about yoga and there are limits to what I can do but planking is pretty safe for my back, so I thought I'd give it a try.
I was pretty weak and tired this morning, only made it through 20 minutes of my elliptical and had to quit.  I just hate that.  Like, really, I can't do 10 more minutes?  But I'm suspecting I've lost more weight.  I tested my scale with 20 lbs this weekend and said 21.4, more than once. So I'm guessing it's off.  If that's true, then I weigh even less than I thought.  I want to be sure, so I've ordered a new scale.  Could be why I'm feeling tired and weak, I suppose.  I'm trying to eat a bit more when I can, but it's definitely a struggle.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I hear you, I hate inaccurate scales!  The cheapo analog scale in the little gym says one thing, the scale on my Wii Fit says another, and the scale at my doctor's office says yet a third thing.  I don't quite know which to believe!  I don't believe the scale at the little gym, I'm sure that one's off by a few lbs.  My Wii fit, it's got a digital scale built into the balance board thing that you stand on, and since it's a relatively new thing and supposedly fairly high-tech, I tend to believe that one the most.  My GI's office has a digital scale, but it gets a lot of use and they never ask me to take off my shoes and stuff like that, so I'm guessing it may be off by a bit too.  I see my GI on Wednesday though so I'll make sure to note what that scale says this time around.  My Wii Fit said I was 134.5 as of about a week ago, and the scale in the little gym insists I'm at about 138 (I don't believe that though).

Yeah, I'm excited about my snowshoes - I can't wait to get them and take them on a test run!  I'll probably just tromp around my backyard for a bit until I become skilled enough that I don't fall over while wearing them.  Then I'll take them for a longer walk through the dog park.  I'm not quite sure when that'll happen - they're supposed to be delivered tomorrow, but I had really wanted to go do weights tomorrow.  So, I'll do weights and I'll maybe do a trial run of the snowshoes on Wednesday.  If my massage therapist still has Wednesdays off, though, I may have him come over so I can have a massage.  And then I'll do weights again Thursday, so possibly Friday or Sunday I'll go snowshoeing!    Sheesh, busy busy!  But that's a good thing, I hate being idle.

I guess I should update, I went to the big gym Friday night and had a good workout.  It was a little bit busy, but I managed to use every machine I wanted without waiting, so not bad at all.  Saturday was a rest day, and I tried to be productive by running a lot of errands, but I kind of sucked at everything!  Took my dog to the groomer's to get her nails trimmed, but I forgot to bring her paperwork saying she's had her rabies booster shot, so they turned me away.  Went to the oil change place at 4:58 and they sent me away saying they close at 5 PM.  Went to the grocery store and they were out of turkey bacon!  Nothing was going my way and the day was kind of a loss.  Sunday, I went out and powered through my errands properly (got my turkey bacon, got my oil changed, got the dog's nails trimmed!) and I also did a good workout at the gym.  Again, slightly busy, I think the dregs of the New year's resolution people are still lingering about, but not bad and again I didn't have to wait for any machines.  Had a good workout, got my to-do list done, and then relaxed while watching the Seahawks make a joke out of the Broncos in the superbowl.    Seriously, how hilarious was that game!

So anyway.  Today I'm thinking of riding the bike for about 30 mins in the little gym.  I feel pretty good today, guts are quiet and so are the joints, and I feel like I have a decent amount of energy, so it'll be a cardio day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, and Hawkeye, we still have plenty of snow here so I'll be able to snowshoe no problem!  I think we're supposed to get more snow this week, too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I keep remembering things I wanted to say but forgot to in my last couple posts!    Cindy, I like doing the plank, too!  Most abs exercises like situps are not friendly to my GERD - the motion of squeezing my abs and relaxing and squeezing again, it seems to sometimes just send refluxate shooting up my throat.  But a constant, steady abdominal exercise like the plank is much easier on me.  I do the plank most days, even on days when I don't feel up to doing the abdominals machine.  Sometimes my GERD still complains about the plank, but not nearly as much as other abdominal/core type exercises.  I think it's easier on my guts too because my abdomen can stay straight and stretched-out.  Stuff like crunches or the abdominal machine, where my guts get kind of smooshed together during the crunch part, that's not easy on me - not guts-wise and not reflux-wise.  Nothing gets smooshed during the plank so it's all good.


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## mccindy

That is a good reason to plank, now that you mention it.  I will keep doing it just for that reason!  I did make it through my half hour this morning on the elliptical. 
I've been doing squats and triceps chair dips in my office now daily, that seems to be helping me keep the blood flowing a bit.  Sometimes I worry that having a sedentary job doesn't keep my blood flowing well enough, I know that probably can't be good for my GI tract, right?  
I hope that big snowstorm misses you, Cat!  The cold front herein MN in supposed to keep it pushed south so we won't get any but I heard Chicago and on east will get it.  Yikes!  We're supposed to dip back below zero yet again the next few nights.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It sounds like the big snowstorm will mostly miss us - we're supposed to get about 1 inch of snow overnight tonight and supposedly less than an inch during the day tomorrow, so hopefully less than 2 inches total.  Not bad at all, especially considering that some places like Kansas & Indiana are getting up to a foot of snow or something like that!  And honestly, I'm oddly a little happy about getting another couple inches of snow - fresh snow sounds ideal for trying out my snowshoes.    We haven't been able to get ahold of massage therapist, so at this point it seems unlikely that I'll be able to have a massage tomorrow.  But that means my evening is freed up, so I'm going to take the snowshoes for a test run around the yard.  Fresh snow, new snowshoes (they're being delivered today!) and a free evening sounds like a recipe for fun, or possibly just clumsiness and falling over.  

I did the bike yesterday and that went fine.  I think country music lady must have been a New Year's resolutioner who has already given up on the gym, because I haven't seen her in the little gym for awhile now.  That's fine by me, I love having that gym all to myself and being able to play my silly music on the TV.    Tonight hubby and I are going to the big gym for weights.  I hope it's not too busy.  Even with the New Year's people mostly out of the way, the big gym is usually fairly busy during weeknights in the winter.  During the summer it's fairly quiet, I think everyone must be working out outside or something?  But during the winter, everyone wants to work out inside.  I'm hoping it's a little quiet, though.  The big gym has this thing where they give away free pizza slices on the first Monday of every month, so pizza day was yesterday.  The gym is always jam packed on pizza Mondays!  So hopefully everyone who was at the gym yesterday for pizza will stay away today.  So yes, bike yesterday, weights today, either massage or snowshoeing tomorrow, weights Thursday (probably in the little gym), Friday not sure - maybe snowshoeing again?  Or maybe ice skating if the weather is nice.  I found a cute little outdoor skating rink not far from my workplace, so I'm thinking I could go over there on my lunch break and do a little bit of skating just to get back into the feel of it.  I haven't been ice skating in a few years, so for my first time back on the ice, I'm thinking it could be ideal to just do a half hour or so.  That's the tentative plan for now!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  So, it hasn't started snowing here yet, but I can feel that big snowstorm moving through down in Illinois & Indiana - my bad hip hurts!  It usually hurts when we're going to get a lot of snow, but I'm thinking it's hurting just because there's a bad snowstorm in the area - the storm isn't necessarily going to hit us hard (they're still saying 1-3 inches).  But still, a storm this big being nearby apparently still makes my arthritis very angry!

I treated myself today and bought new running shoes for the gym - I found some at Target on clearance, only $15.  My current gym shoes are hand-me-downs from my mom - she's a hardcore marathon runner, so she'll wear a pair of running shoes for a certain number of miles and will then retire them, so sometimes I snag a pair of her cast-off old running shoes that have had the requisite number of miles already put on them (we wear the same size shoe).  As a result, I never have new gym shoes, they're always old and with some character.  This is my first brand-new pair of running shoes in quite some time, so I'm kind of excited about that.  Nothing fancy, they're light-weight but not super high-end or anything.  They're dark navy blue with neon pink laces and a few neon pink and turquoise accents.  So they're a bit flashy in the color-scheme, which I like.    I just bought a neon pink workout tank a couple weeks ago, so I'm excited to wear the tank and the shoes together.

In spite of my hip being painful, I'm still planning to go to the gym tonight - I can lift weights just fine in spite of hip pain, as long as I don't jog then I won't make the pain any worse.  If anything, working out tends to help my hip pain when it's like this, so I'm looking forward to hitting the gym.  Excited to make my hip hopefully feel a bit better and also excited to break in my new running shoes!    Gotta stay positive in spite of pain, and I'm going to have a good workout.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another update:  Ugh, I didn't make it to the gym.    Driving home, my body was telling me to rest.  I'm a big proponent of listening to my body, even when I don't like the message.  My guts started grumbling and the hip was still bad.  So I didn't go.  I'm sitting on the couch, feeling lousy.  Pity party, table of one - that's me tonight.


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## mccindy

good call on listening to your body, and resting up!

By the way, I was chuckling at the irony of everybody rushing to the gym for free pizza......


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I don't really understand why the gym hands out free pizza!  It's gross.    I try to avoid the gym on pizza Mondays, as not only is it super crazy crowded on those nights, but also the smell of pizza overwhelms me and I tend to get nauseous from the smell, which is not good when I'm already working out and refluxing.  The gym does free bagels, I think on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, too.  That's only in the morning though and I don't work out in the mornings, so I have no trouble avoiding that one.  But yeah, everyone seems to love pizza Mondays except for me.  I hate it!  Having to smell a trigger food while working out just does not work for me at all.

My hip is somewhat better today.  Guts were rather unhappy all evening, and I didn't sleep well last night, so I'm a bit exhausted.  But overall I'm in less pain so I am feeling somewhat better.  I'm going to play it by ear and maybe go to the gym tonight.  Massage therapist isn't coming over and hubby's got stuff to do, so it'll just be me - so I'll just listen to my body again and do whatever needs to be done.  I'm hoping to do the gym tonight.  That'll mean I'll do weights again Friday, so I could go ice skating possibly tomorrow if I'm feeling okay and then snowshoeing on Saturday.

Oh, and I see my GI today (I just automatically see him every 3-4 months so it's that time again).  I'm not even quite sure what I want to ask him.  I guess I'll just get his thoughts on my situation - I'm not doing great but I'm not terrible either.  I'm having good days and bad, I don't think I'm in remission but my ongoing flare is very mild.  So I'm not sure if I should ask to go back on Entocort, or ask for more tests, or if I should just carry on like this.  I'm thinking I'll definitely ask for my vitamin levels to be checked via bloodwork, as it's been awhile and I'm sure my B12 is still probably too low.  Other than that, though, I'm not really sure what I want to say or ask for.  Usually I have a long list of questions and requests, and this time I don't.  I need to think on this more, I see him mid-afternoon so I have a few hours to ponder what I want to ask.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Bleurgh.  It's maybe just nerves about going to my GI and not really knowing what to ask him, but I've been nauseous all afternoon.  I tried having a snack of some ramen noodles - bad idea!  My face is pale and I don't look very well and I feel nauseous and bleh.  Maybe that's a good thing since I'm going to see my GI in like an hour.  He's seen me look way worse though so me looking like crap today probably won't influence him.  I need something from him, but I'm no longer sure if that's meds or tests or something else... I need ideas from him.  Here's hoping I have a good appointment and he can give me something to go on.  I feel like I'm having more bad days lately and I need something to improve my quality of life.  It's not bad but it's not great either.  I want it to improve.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update:  I had my GI appointment, and it was stressful and I really had to argue my case, but my GI and I finally reached a compromise.  He's putting me on 3 mg of Entocort (well, generic Budesonide, but same basic thing).  I'm hoping that'll blitz this mild flare and get me back into remission.  When I was on Entocort a few years ago, it got me into remission.  I was on the max dose then (9 mg) and I'll be on a low dose now, but I was a lot sicker then, so I'm still hopeful that it'll help even though it's a low dose because I'm really just in a mild flare, I think.  So yeah, this is a good thing!

There are a couple of intersting implications here.  One is that corticosteroids like Entocort give me more energy, so I'll hopefully be able to burn some of that off in the gym.  The other is that corticosteroids tend to rob muscle mass from the body - I don't think 3 mg will do very much in that regard, but it's still another reason to get my butt in the gym as often as possible and work on my health and my muscles.  So these are good things, more gym time!  Hopefully feeling better, having more energy, and having more reason to maintain my muscle mass will mean that I can get back to the gym schedule I was doing when I was in remission, which was pretty much 5-6 days a week.  I would do weights, cardio, weights, yoga, weights, then take a rest day, then start that schedule again.  And I'd walk my dog on top of doing all that!  remission was awesome and I really, really hope this gets me back there.  I'm hopeful and I'm ready!  Spring is coming and hopefully remission is coming.    I'm so excited for both!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/6/14:  I'm feeling so much better since I got my GI to put me back on Entocort.  I feel more energized physically (probably placebo effect since Entocort doesn't usually kick in quite that quickly).  And mentally I feel relieved!  It's like, phew, finally I have an actual proper weapon in the fight against this ongoing flare, I have something in my arsenal now to hopefully get me back into remission.  Fewer bad days, more energy, better quality of life - that's what I'm looking forward to!  And more gym days too!  

No massage for me last night, but I felt okay enough to hit the gym.  When I listen to my body, sometimes it tells me yes, it's feeling strong and well and I should go work out.  Other times it tells me no, it's not doing well and it needs rest, not exercise.  And sometimes, my body tells me to use caution - I feel so-so and I might be able to do a workout or I might just need rest, I'm at that in-between place where it could go either way.  I'm never quite sure what to do when my body is giving me the yellow light like that.  Last night was a yellow light/use caution kind of a night, so I wasn't sure how a workout would go.  But I hit the gym anyway, and I'm glad I did - had a great workout!  Felt quite strong and energetic once I got going.  The gym was super busy but I still managed to do everything I set out to do.  I did skip the abdominals machine because my stomach was still kind of iffy, but I did the plank so I got a bit of abdo exercise in.

I'm still feeling pretty well today, too.  Still very optimistic about Entocort.  Tonight I'm going to do 30 mins of yoga, then hubby and I will make a nice dinner and we'll watch the Olympics.  Tomorrow, I'm thinking I'll do weights in the little gym.  Saturday, it's supposed to snow yet again, but I haven't tried out my snowshoes yet so that sounds like an ideal day to do so.  I'll take my dog to the park and I will do a bit of snowshoeing there - my dog loves snow, especially fresh snow, so she'll have a great time with that while I'll probably be stumbling and waddling around.    Sunday, probably weights again.  Monday will likely be a rest day, weights Tuesday, and Wednesday maybe ice skating?  I'm probably getting ahead of myself, planning workouts so far ahead like this.  I recall that back when I was on Entocort the first time, I still had bad days here and there, so I should still be flexible about my workout schedule.  Still, I'm so jazzed about actually possibly having better days, it's hard not to plan!


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## mccindy

Cat, I'm glad to hear that the GI listened to you (especially after you had to listen to that guy snoring in the waiting room, tee-hee) and put you back on the Entocort.  Hopefully you get some relief!  I hope you get to stick to your plan and do all you all you want to for a while.

 I made it through my 1/2 hour both yesterday and today on my elliptical (yay!) and have been doing tricep dips and squats in my office pretty regularly at work.  I feel a bit stronger most of the time, and (probably thanks to the med switching) my headaches are getting better).  I'm still pretty tired by about 8 at night.  but I'm glad to be doing something phsyical that makes me feel strong!  I'm hoping to add some lunges in here soon.  I don't like them but they are good for the rear end!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yay, Cindy, I'm glad to hear you're exercising more and feeling a little better!  That's definitely good news.  Sounds like things are on the upswing for both of us.  

Still so far so good for me & Entocort.  My energy is up a little bit, but not so much that it affects my sleep or anything like that.  I did yoga last night and felt good.  I also did a 30 second plank on the Wii Fit - I do the plank all the time in the gym, but I like doing it on the Wii Fit too as the virtual trainer gives me feedback.  Well, last night the virtual Wii Fit trainer gave me my best score ever on plank, I got 90 points!  (Out of a possible 100.)  I think my highest plank score up to that point before that was like 86.  The score they give you is basically, how still can you stay while doing the plank - if you shake a lot or shift your weight or anything like that, your score drops.  So I am apparently getting stronger and less shaky during the plank, I'm excited that I'm improving!  

I feel well today - guts are ever so slightly iffy but not bad at all.  I feel pretty well overall, and my bad hip is quiet today.  Going to go hit the little gym for weights today.  Tomorrow, they're saying 1-3 inches of snow, so I'm going to go to the dog park and try out the snowshoes in the snowy weather.  Other than that, I'm going to stay in tomorrow and work on some craft projects.  Sunday I'll do weights in the big gym.  I'll probably binge-watch the Olympics, too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update:  I hit the little gym on my lunch break and felt great.  Pushed myself pretty hard, and was rewarded for that with some reflux and belching, but otherwise was fine.  I worked my arms harder than my legs, because I know I'm going snowshoeing tomorrow and I didn't want to make my legs too sore because I need to use them again tomorrow.    That sounds odd to say but you know what I mean!  So my arms feel kind of tired now, but that's a good thing.  I use the same weight machines all the time, and the body kind of gets used to doing the same exercise over and over, so it's good when I can still tire my body out and make my muscles sore even though I'm doing the same machines every time.

Oh, and this is interesting - hubby's been working a lot the past few weeks, so he hasn't been able to come to the gym with me very often lately.  Apparently he actually started missing working out, because he got out my set of 8 lb dumbbells at home the other day and he's been using them and also doing the plank while we watch TV!  Hubby is a total couch potato and he has said in the past that he doesn't enjoy going to the gym.  But he's also said that he's jealous of my arms, so maybe he's using the dumbbells in an attempt to have nice arms too.  At any rate, it's nice to see him exercising voluntarily!

Cindy, this reminds me - you mentioned in the past about possibly getting your hubs a stationary bike.  Did that ever happen?  I'm sure exercise is out of the picture right now with him recovering from surgery, but hopefully once he's better he can think about getting into shape again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/10/14:  I went snowshoeing twice over the weekend!    I had been to the gym on Friday and really pushed my arm muscles, so I had pretty sore arms, shoulders, upper back on Saturday.  Legs were okay though.  It was snowing on Saturday, a very pretty snow with the big fat puffy flakes coming down and it wasn't bitterly cold.  So I went to the park with my dog and snowshoed the entire perimeter, which is I think about 1.25 miles.  Felt pretty good - hips were the most sore afterwards, but nothing was overly sore after snowshoeing.  

Sunday, I was hoping to go to the gym again, but my arms were still kind of sore from Friday's gym session - guess I pushed myself a bit too much!  And I had a lot of stuff to do around the house, including shoveling the previous day's snow.  Hubby had to go to work, so I shoveled by myself, and that was enough to tire me out a fair bit.  The shoveling combined with the arm soreness meant I just wasn't feeling like going to the gym for weights - but my legs felt okay, and my dog needed a walk and it was sunny and almost pleasant weather, so I figured what the heck - I went snowshoeing again!    Again, not too bad, hips felt the brunt of it but still not terrible.  They're fine today, legs feel kind of tired but overall not bad.  Snowshoeing is something I can definitely do!  It's honestly not much harder than regular walking.

Today, I'm feeling okay-ish.  Guts are good, I'm just a bit tired - I never seem to sleep very well on Sunday nights.  Legs are kind of tired but I think I can do weights in the little gym, as there are only 2 leg machines and mostly arm machines in there.  Arms are finally recovered from their soreness, so I'll focus on arms today.  Tomorrow, probably a rest day.  Wednesday, probably weights in the little gym again and then hopefully a massage in the evening (if massage therapist doesn't cancel on me again).

I haven't had a rest day since starting Entocort - this is a good thing!  I used to have that kind of energy when I was in remission, and I'm happy to have it back.  Really looking forward to spring & summer, hoping I can get back into remission and do a lot of fun things outside once the weather gets nice!  And speaking of that, it's bitterly cold here yet again, but they're saying it'll start to warm up on Wednesday and we'll be in the upper 30s all next week!  Winter might finally be starting to end!  Oh, that's such a relief.  Don't get me wrong, snowshoeing is fun, but I'm totally done with winter right now!  Bring on springtime!


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## mccindy

Hey there, Cat.  no, the exercise bike is still in my cart on Amazon.  He's just not ready to commit, and I don't push him because it doesn't work to do that.  So, I'll keep it in there until someday comes.  
Made my 30 minutes again this morning on the elliptical, and doing my tricep dips and squats in my office today.  Adding in lunges this week!  

And maybe with the arm and leg work I'm doing, as I start to get some muscles..... your man is getting jealous.... maybe mine will?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It could totally happen, Cindy!  Around the time that we joined the gym together is when hubby started making comments about being jealous of my arms.  He'd (jokingly) say things like, "Stop having nicer arms than me" or "stop having bigger muscles than me!"  I know he wants to look better - my thing is, I don't work out to look nice, I work out purely for my health.  Having muscles and looking good is a very nice added bonus, but it's definitely not my priority.  I think that's why I've stuck with it for so long - I think if you work out just to look nice (like what I used to do before I got sick), you don't really enjoy it and you have a hard time sticking with it, and I think that's where my hubby is at.  I genuinely enjoy working out and I have stuck with it for almost 3 years and counting, because I want to improve my health!

So if you do talk to your hubs about the exercise bike at all, frame it that way - it's for health, not for looking better or being thinner or having sexy muscles or any of that stuff.  If he can get into the health mindframe versus the "I want to look good" mindframe, he might be more on board with the idea of regular exercise.  Even if you look awesome with great muscles, it still may not be enough to get your hubs to stick with it (my hubby still has to be dragged along to the gym and I work out far more frequently than he does, although he has started working out on his own a little bit at home lately).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update today:  I hit the gym and that mostly went well.  I tried jogging as a warm-up but my hips are still a bit sore from the snowshoeing, so I was not able to jog more than 1 min without pain in my bad hip.  So I did some jump rope, jumping jacks, and squats to warm up.  That all went fine, no pain with any of those.  I did all the weight machines including the abdominals machine with no trouble and not really even any reflux, which is surprising.  I had a banana today - I'm sloooowly trying to re-integrate bananas into my diet (I can have a banana blended into a smoothie just fine, but having a banana as-is can sometimes cause me pain, reflux, vurps, etc).  So I had a banana with some almond butter for a snack earlier in the day, and I was sure it'd cause me vurps because that's what often happened in the past when I'd have a banana before hitting the gym.  But nope, no problem at all today!  So that's a good thing, and aside from the jogging issue, I was able to do everything I wanted to.

I think tomorrow's going to be a rest day - I haven't had a rest day in 6 days now, so I guess it's about that time!    If Entocort continues to go like this, it will be awesome.  I love being able to work out so many days in a row without exhaustion or tummy symptoms.  I'm feeling a bit exhausted now but I think that's just because I didn't sleep great and because it's been a busy Monday.  Tomorrow I'll rest and recharge, Wednesday I'll be back at the weights and hopefully get a massage too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/11/14:  Bleh.  I knew it would happen sooner or later - I'm having my first bad day since starting Entocort.  It started last night actually, I didn't feel great after dinner and then I had blood in my stool.  For the rest of the evening, I felt very fatigued and had some pain in the LRQ.  I'm feeling somewhat better but still kind of exhausted, and the guts aren't very settled.  I had plenty of bad days when I was on Entocort a few years ago, so this isn't unexpected.  And I guess the silver lining is, I was going to take today as a rest day anyway, so it's not like I have to skip a workout to recover from this.  So I'm just taking today in stride and will hope that tomorrow's a better day and that I can hopefully make it to the gym tomorrow.


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## mccindy

Well that did kind of tie in to your plans of a rest day, so at least it didn't throw a monkey wrench into any big work out plans!  but boo, on not feeling well. 
I'm not feeling so great myself this morning, but I did make it through my 30 minutes on the elliptical...... my rest days are usually either Saturdays or Sundays, because during the week I just get in the routine of get up-eat-elliiptical-shower-off to work.  Unless I feel like butt.  Which could happen tomorrow, unless my belly calms down.  

I know what you mean about the health vs. looks angle.  I'm kind of trying to work the "hey, you should get into shape so you can grow old with me" angle lately.  Like, hey dude, if you don't watch it, you're going to keel over and make me a young widow.  Not that it's that serious yet, but it never hurts to start early, right?  Why wait until it's that serious?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, that's how my parents basically are - my mom is a health fanatic who eats mostly salads and runs marathons.  My dad is overweight, doesn't exercise, and loves high-fat fried foods.  My mom's parents both died of cancer, so my mom exercises a lot and eats healthy foods because she knows that healthy habits can to an extent lower her risk of getting cancer too.  My dad's parents are both alive but are in poor health - my grandpa has heart problems, diabetes, kidney failure, you name it.  My dad sees his father with all these health issues, and for some reason my dad thinks it's basically his destiny to have poor health too, so why try to fight it?  So as a result my dad has basically given up even though he could have good health if he made an effort.  My grandparents got their poor health from bad eating habits and no exercise, and my dad's following suit.  My mom has said a number of times that my dad is trying to make her a young widow.  So, if you figure out a way to get your hubs to start working out, let me know what your secret is, because I totally need to get my dad to exercise and eat better too!  My dad is already 60 so it is at the point where it's getting serious.  My grandpa had a cardiac arrest at age 75 so not much older than my dad is now.  I wish I had answers on how to get a stubborn person to turn their health around, but I can totally relate!


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## mccindy

Crazy.  It's funny, my father-in-law's father and grandfather both died of heart disease by age 55 so he always figured he would too, and when he didn't (he's almost 68 now) it's like he just figures he's good to go so does what he wants. My MIL was prediabetic, lost a ton of weight, was told she was no longer prediabetic, gained about half of it back, and rips on other overweight people.  <sigh>.  So I tell my hubs all the time that he's got some pretty terrible genetics.  Oh, and there's quite a bit of cancer on his mom's side too, but says it's all 'female' cancer so he's not worried about it!  Boo.  Figures that with all that I'm the one who ended up with cancer when I eat right, exercise and take good care of myself, right?  And he smoked for more than 20 years, too.  His doctors don't even give him a hard time about it!  They're like, oh, well, you know you need to lose weight so whatever, we're not going to lecture you.   The thing I don't get, is I work in the health care industry, and men are supposed to start getting prostate exams at age 40.  Well, his docs keep telling him he can wait, doesn't need to get one, even though he's got an extensive family history of cancer.  I just don't get it.  Especially since he's overweight and that can increase chances of cancer too.  I swear it's because his docs are men and they all are uncomfortable about prostate exams!  
The funny thing is, since he had his surgery, he hasn't had much appetite, and he's lost about 10 lbs.  I'm like see, you don't even need to exercise, just eat less!  Let's work on that!  And he's like, yeah,  you're right,  maybe we can.  So we'll see how that goes!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, yeah, portion control by itself can provide good weight loss results.  A former friend of mine did that.  She was quite overweight, so she tried portion control to lose some lbs.  She'd fill her plate as normal, then she'd draw a line down the middle and only eat half of the plate.  She lost quite a bit of weight that way, she didn't change her diet at all nor exercise, all she did was cut her portions in half.  She's a former friend because she's a compulsive liar and I found I couldn't trust her (in a nutshell, she said she had Crohn's but that was a lie).  I guess after I ended the friendship, she started gaining weight again - I heard she's quite fat again now.  Apparently this time around she's trying to exercise the weight off, and it's not really happening.  I did hear a statistic once that weight loss is about 70% diet and 30% exercise.  So anyway, if your hubs is looking to just lose weight, diet & portion control are the way to go.  But if he wants to be healthier in general, make his heart healthier, etc - then exercise would be a good thing too.  I'm sure you already know that, I'm just rambling now.  

I'm feeling somewhat better today.  I didn't pass any more blood yesterday, my LRQ doesn't feel so angry, and I have noticeably more energy today.  So yesterday was just a bad day, and yeah, it was nice that for once a bad day fell on a rest day as opposed to a day I was planning to work out.  So I rested yesterday and didn't eat a lot, and I feel reasonably okay today.  Guts are still a bit iffy, but well enough that I think I can go work out.  So I'm going to hit the little gym today for some weights.  I was hoping to get a massage today, but massage therapist cancelled on me yet again (he's got his kid this week so understandably he wants to spend time with his kid and that takes priority over giving me a massage).  So no massage, but I will hit the gym - I'll probably avoid the abdominals machine to give my tummy a bit of a break.  Tomorrow, I'm thinking I might go for an hour-long ride on my stationary bike at home.  I started getting into a new K-drama, so I could watch an episode of that while I ride the bike, that sounds like fun.  Friday, weights again.  Not sure about the weekend - we might actually have semi-nice weather for once!  It's supposed to be in the 30s tomorrow!  So if the weather is pleasant, I'll try go ice skating I think.  I have been wanting to skate all winter and just haven't had the time or nice enough weather to go skating.  Between having bad days, and the periods of ridiculous frigid cold weather, and other responsibilities like walking my dog, it just hasn't happened.  I'm determined though to skate at least once before winter ends!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I made it to the gym today.    I did skip the abdominals machine, as the tummy isn't quite settled just yet.  I actually had a few waves of nausea as I was changing into my gym clothes, but fortunately that settled down when I got into the gym.  I did every weight machine except the abdominals machine, and I also did 2 sets of squats and about a 15 second plank (I didn't want to push my stomach much at all so I just planked briefly).  

My arms are awesome, I just wanted to say that.    Sounds stupid but I'll explain.  Obviously I love lifting weights, and my arms are pretty much always raring to go.  Sometimes my legs will be kind of tired in the gym (like if I did the bike the day before), but my arms are almost always energized and able to do weights with no problem.  And today was no exception.  I've gotten to the point where I can count reps but also simultaneously let my mind wander a little bit.  I usually aim for 12 reps on each machine.  On a couple machines today (biceps and shoulders machines), I let my mind wander so much that I found myself on rep 13!  I couldn't do more than 13, my mind sort of came to when my muscles basically had nothing left which was on rep 13, but it was still kind of cool that I made it to that many reps without even really consciously thinking about it.  Even when I'm not overtly trying to, I'm still pushing myself a little past my limits - that's cool.    So yeah, my arms are awesome, even if I'm not thinking about it, they'll just keep going until they can't anymore.


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## mccindy

That's pretty sweet!  Not that I'm using gym equipment or anything, but I've noticed lately that when I'm doing my tricep dips in my office, I'm able to do 5 more than I could when I started, so I take that as a good sign!  Now if my squats and lunges will start to pay off...... but the bootie usually takes longer, darn old thing.  
I did make my 30 minutes on the elliptical this morning, yesterday was only 20. Maybe winter is making us nauseated!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

You're probably getting a better tricep workout than I am, using your body weight vs using a weight machine.  I usually set the machine to 75 lbs, so that's the amount of counterweight that my triceps are working against.  I really should just do some chair dips though and use my full body weight, 135ish lbs.  (Although maybe it'd be less than that since you keep your feet on the ground doing chair dips?  It's too early in the morning for me to figure out complicated math like that, ha ha.)

I'm having another yucky day.    Last night my GERD went off the rails.  It was my fault, I ate a trigger food (tomato soup).  Sometimes I can get away with that but not last night.  I started refluxing and it was very acidic.  I had to desperately try to get it under control so that I could sleep and so that it didn't cause a gastritis episode.  I took as many meds as I could - some Prilosec, extra Zantac, a few Tums, and I drank lots of cool water.  Finally it calmed down somewhat just before bedtime, so I did manage to sleep, but it was miserable for a good chunk of the evening.

Then this morning I woke up and my bad hip was very painful!  It felt like the joint isn't "clicking" together correctly.  I stretched it out and moved it around and stuff, but nothing I did made any difference, it still feels bad.  Walking is quite painful and I'm limping today.  It does this every so often and I don't know why, and I basically just have to wait it out until it does decide to click back into place properly (I wonder if there's some inflammation preventing it from clicking into place or something like that?).  I'm okay sitting, but walking sucks.  

So, given the hip pain, I guess I probably won't be riding the stationary bike tonight.  That frustrates me, I was hoping Entocort would have kicked in and started giving me some better days, but I guess it hasn't fully kicked in yet.  So an unexpected rest day it is.  At least it's not interfering with a weight-lifting day, but still - I hate to skip any workout.  So I'm frustrated and just grumpy.  My guts still aren't so great either.  I was in a foul mood getting ready for work this morning, and hubby asked if there was anything he could get for me.  I said yeah, a bone saw.    He just laughed and said those are too expensive.  My sense of humor gets kind of dark when I feel bad, and when I feel really bad then my sense of humor goes away altogether.  So I'm not really bad yet, but I'm bad enough that my humor is dark like that today.  I'm definitely feeling bleh.  And it's snowing AGAIN and it's overcast and gray outside which isn't helping my mood at all.  Such a yucky day, wish I could have just stayed in bed all day.


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## mccindy

Oh, poor Cat!  That really stinks.
I'm not having the best day either.  The medication switch from Keppra to Topamax for my head is doing all sorts of funny things to me.  There are some side effects that aren't a big deal - tingly fingers and feet, (that usually goes away by mid-morning) it makes my nose a bit runny frequently, and the skin on my face feels a bit rough.  As far the headaches, they are a lot better, which is great, since that was the main reason for the switch.  However,  I am having lots of problems with brain fog and memory problems, and this morning when I called the nurse to ask about it she could tell because I couldn't even remember what I was trying to tell her.  So she's going to check with the doc and call me this afternoon.  Plus it gives me a lot of nausea and no appetite and has a side effect of weight loss.... yeah.  


I don't even know how to do the math on weight resistance when using the body and having feet on the floor!    Math is not my strong point, lol.  I am happy to be trying to keep my muscles strong but then sometimes I worry about the extra calorie burn.

I hope that your hip starts feeling better - does it do that when weather moves through?  Could it be the snow moving through?  
I get grumpy on missed workout days too, so totally understand. 
hugs!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, my hip always aches prior to snow.  It was kind of funny actually, I woke up and my hip was just PAIN.  I checked the weather report first thing in the morning, and it said only a 20% chance of precip, so basically they didn't think it would snow.  I was like, that's a lie, my hip says it's going to snow a lot!  Sure enough, I got to work and then the snow started coming down in buckets.  I don't know how much we got because it's finally in the low 30s here so it started melting pretty quickly - but for about an hour or so, it looked like a white-out outside, just massive amounts of snow coming down.  It's stopped now but my hip pain hasn't.

So I think part of the pain was from the impending snow but this is different so the pain is sticking around.  This doesn't quite feel like a normal "it's going to snow" hip-ache.  It's a much sharper pain than usual, it feels like the joint isn't fitting together quite right.  My usual hip arthritis pain is like a dull constant ache.  This is like, every time I try to walk, the pain gets sharp with each step.  So I don't know what's up with it.  This happens every so often and it usually doesn't last more than a day or two, so I'm just trying to wait it out.  I'm hoping it'll be better enough by tomorrow that I can hit the gym as usual.  If there's anything I hate more than skipping a workout, it's skipping two workouts!  

So I am just going to rest it tonight, I'll probably soak in a hot bath for awhile.  Hubby's making a tummy-friendly dinner of rice and miso soup.  I had plain noodles for lunch and I'll have plain rice for dinner - boring, but it won't trigger my GERD and it'll hopefully let the tummy properly settle down completely.  Then hopefully tomorrow I'll feel okay and can get back to working out.

Math is not my strong point either!  It was funny, last winter during the supposed "Mayan Apocalypse", hubby and I had a little apocalypse-themed party at our house and it was just a few of hubby's nerdy-type friends who showed up (the weather wasn't great so the one friend I invited didn't show up, hmph).  We had some booze including this triangular-shaped bottle of alcohol that we drank some of, and I don't know how the topic came up, but suddenly everyone was doing math equations trying to figure out how much alcohol we actually drank from that oddly-shaped bottle.  People were literally bringing out calculators, measuring angles, doing equations!  I was like, I don't do math very well plus I've had a couple drinks and also you people are crazy nerds!    It was weird, ha ha.  So yeah, maybe I can have hubby's friends figure out what amount of your body weight you're actually lifting when doing tricep dips from a chair with your feet on the floor.  I'll bring it up the next time he has his friends over.    I'm sure they can figure it out!


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## mccindy

That's hilarious.  Yeah, I'm a nerdy type person when it comes to sci-fi and reading and grammar, but math just escapes me.  My son is a total math and science whiz.  He was all the way through calculus in high school.  When I had to take an algebra course in college I was calling him all the time, like "you have to help me!"  and he was all like, "Jeez, mom, it's so simple".  Grr.  Math people.  
If your hip keeps doing that thing, maybe you should get it checked out, maybe something slipped out of place?  It sounds possible (and painful!).  I know I have a hip that sometimes slips just a little out of place and it's just excruciating until I can get it back into place.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

The hip is fortunately feeling better today.    Actually, when I got up this morning, it still was giving me sharp pains!  But after a bit of walking on it, it must have clicked back into place because it isn't giving me the sharp pains anymore.  It feels a lot better now, I can walk without a limp and without hardly any pain (there's still a bit of a dull ache which is typical for my arthritis so that's not worrying).

Since the hip is doing better, I'm tempted to hit the gym today.  I don't want to make the hip mad all over again, and my guts aren't super great either, so I will take it pretty easy in the gym.  I haven't 100% decided if I'm going to the gym - I want to, just not sure it's a wise decision.  Maybe I should rest the hip and guts another day?  Or maybe I'll be fine - I'll probably be fine as long as I don't push my hip or my abdominals very much.

Last night my guts seemed full of gurgly air, it was like bubbles kept moving around in my guts and it was annoying to the point that I couldn't fall asleep very easily.  I made the mistake of having a few m&ms yesterday, and the chocolate triggered my GERD so I had to again take some extra reflux meds to get it under control (it wasn't as bad as the GERD attack from Wednesday evening though).  I think my body's adjusting to the Entocort and my GERD is getting riled up very easily because of this, so I have to be really careful to avoid reflux trigger foods.

This means I can't have chocolate on Valentine's day.    Hubby even bought me some very yummy-looking dark chocolate, but I don't want yet another GERD attack, so I put the chocolate away for now.  That makes me sad - hubby and I usually don't do much of anything for V-day, so the fact that he got me chocolate out of the blue like that, it's kind of special.  I really wish I could have some!

Speaking of hubby, this is random but kind of cute.  He works in a costume shop, it's mostly historical type stuff like renaissance costumes, Victorian-era costumes, etc.  People going to ren faires and conventions love to shop at this costume shop.  Anyway, so there's this girl who works at a Starbucks nearby and she's been a regular customer at the costume shop lately.  Apparently she developed a little crush on my hubby.  She oh-so-casually asked him what he's doing for Valentine's Day!  He was like, I'm flattered but I'm married.  She was crushed!  (I don't know how she didn't notice his wedding ring, he doesn't take it off.)  Oh, and the funny part is, it turns out this girl is only 18!    Hah.  Hubby is 36 so he's twice her age!  He was so proud of himself, getting asked out by an 18 year old.    That gave him a massive confidence boost.  I asked him, "Did you tell her you're twice her age?"  He said, "No, and I didn't take my hat off either!"    (Hubby's going bald so he wears hats to hide that fact.)  I just thought that was cute.  He seems a little jealous that when we're at the gym, a lot of guys seem to check me out but not a lot of women check out hubby.  It made him feel better about himself that an 18 year old has a little crush on him.  So that's nice, he's been depressed about his job situation lately so a confidence boost is nice for him.


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## mccindy

oh, that's so cute!  Poor girl, but nice for your hubby.  18-year-old girls don't remember to check for rings, I think, silly things.   
The costume shop sounds kinda cool, wish I could check it out.  

I hope things go well for you at the gym.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did manage to go to the gym today, and fortunately things went well.  My hip didn't bother me.  I avoided the abdominals machine because I could feel while doing other things that my guts were not up to par just yet.  I felt a bit run down but I was able to do everything else besides the abdominals machine, so it was a successful workout.

Entocort is still kind of throwing me for a loop though.  I remember when they stopped making Asacol, I had to switch maintenance meds a few times before I found one that worked okay enough for me, and all the switches made my forehead break out in acne.  Now that I'm back on Entocort, suddenly my chin has broken out in acne!  Every time I change meds or add a new one, apparently I'm due for a lovely breakout on my face.  Oh well, as far as side effects go, acne isn't too bad.

You know, I'm sure at age 18 I was looking to see if people were wearing wedding rings or not.  I met hubby at 18 and we started dating when I was 19 (he was 21), so it's been a very long time since I've been single, but I'm sure that even as a teenager I was in that habit.  And honestly, I still do it when I meet new people but not because I'm checking them out - I'm rather socially awkward, but one of my strong points is that I like to look for "clues" about people.  A wedding ring, or lack thereof, tells me a little something about that person, it's a clue to who they are.  Maybe that's just one of my quirks, though.  I guess most teenagers aren't really thinking about marriage yet so they don't always think to look for a ring.  Still, I find that so cute.  Hubby has kind of a baby face so I'm thinking the 18 year old girl must have thought that he was much closer to her age than he actually is.

Yeah, the costume shop is cool, but kind of dangerous in a way too.  There are so many pretty things, like corsets!  But I know I couldn't wear one, squishing my abdomen like that would just be a recipe for pain, I'm sure it would feel horrible.  And the fancy dresses and hoop skirts could be a nightmare if you suddenly have to run to the bathroom!  Particularly if you're going for historical accuracy and you're wearing crazy stuff like petticoats and bloomers underneath.    So I've only bought a few things for myself from the costume shop - a necklace, a bracelet, a cane, stuff like that.  Accessories rather than clothes.  Oh, I do have a pirate coat which the owner of the shop gave me, I think that's the one article of clothing I have from the shop, it's the only thing I can feasibly and comfortably wear!  No fancy dresses or corsets for me, my health issues just don't allow for that kind of stuff.  (I have worn hoop skirts on Halloween a couple of times, but I wore jeans or sweatpants underneath so I could more easily use the bathroom - no petticoats or bloomers for me!  I also wore a corset once on Halloween but it was years before I got sick.)


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## mccindy

definitely, tight things on the abdomen are not great , when the belly is always unhappy!  I think of the tight high-waisted pants I used to wear in high school- no way would that fly these days.  I can't stand tight things around my waist anymore.   But I'd bet it's a fun shop to browse in, I think that historical kind of stuff is just fun.  

I'm glad you made it to the gym and hope your weekend went well!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My weekend didn't go so great.    I woke up on Saturday morning with the start of a migraine.  I had a lot of things to do that day and I stupidly decided to just go about my day anyway in spite of the migraine.  Yeah, that was dumb.    I walked my dog and ran about 6 errands - by the end of all that, I felt very bad.  Got so nauseous but I had told my hubby I'd make him dinner (he was working), so I had to take a Zofran just to be able to peel some potatoes.  The hideous migraine stuck with me the rest of the day and I had a hard time sleeping because my head was throbbing with pain.

Sunday I woke up and my migraine was still there, but less severe.  I drank a bunch of water to really hydrate myself, which helped somewhat too.  So I decided to just go for it and go to the gym.  Fortunately that went great, my migraine quieted down as soon as I got warmed up.  I did everything including the abdominals machine and I felt pretty good the whole time, so definitely a successful workout.  I had to run a few more errands after the gym, but during those errands I could feel my head start throbbing again, so I stopped and went home and rested for the rest of the day.  That kept the migraine from getting worse again.  Long story short, my migraines don't like running errands but apparently going to the gym is okay.  

Today I feel mostly back to normal.  I'm finally having an okayish day, the migraine is almost completely gone and my guts are so-so - nothing's really knocking me down though so I am doing okay overall.  It's snowing heavily today - we're supposed to get anywhere from 3-7 inches of snow, yuck.  So I'm staying in on my lunch break, and since I did weights yesterday, I'm making today a cardio day and will go down to the gym and ride the bike for 30 mins on my break.  Tomorrow, weights again.  Wednesday, I am supposedly finally getting a massage, so I will probably take a rest day as my muscles get beat up enough from having a massage.  Thursday, weights again.  Friday, not sure.  That's the tentative plan for the week so far.

Back to the migraine thing though, this is really getting old.  For the past 3 weeks or so I've had I think 1 migraine per week on average (and sometimes they last 2-3 days).  I'm really hoping this is just my body adjusting to the Entocort.  I did get chronic all-day headaches for the first few weeks when I was on Entocort back in 2010, so hopefully I'll adjust soon and the migraines will go away.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, I made it down to the gym to ride the stationary bike.  Unfortunately, country music lady got there first (I hadn't seen her in the gym in awhile).  So I had to crank the volume on my ipod to try to drown out the twangyness of the country music channel on the TV.  Fortunately she left about halfway through my 30 min bike ride, so I got to put my music on as soon as she left.  I had a fine bike ride, had good energy and feel okay now.  Just a minor annoyance with the country music but otherwise all was good.  

My legs feel quite tired now, and my arms feel sore from being pushed pretty hard yesterday.  So I'm looking forward to a nice relaxing evening.  It snowed a lot today, so the drive home will probably be a bit stressful because I've heard the roads are slippery.  So I'm hoping to hop into a hot bath tonight, that sounds really nice - and since my face has broken out in acne thanks to Entocort, I bought myself some mud masque stuff which I could apply while in the tub.  Also, I think hubby is making california rolls for dinner and those are so yummmy, I'm really looking forward to that.  So it should hopefully be a nice, restful evening once I get home.


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## mccindy

Oh, migraines, yukky.  Mine have finally quieted down thanks to the Topamax.  Despite all the other side effects.  yesterday was not a good day, though for me.  I didn't feel well so I went home early.  Slept in this morning so no elliptical.  Guess I'll get back on the horse tomorrow! I hate missing it but then again it was nice to sleep in, I did enjoy it.  Hubs got the dogs up early so I could keep sleeping without getting up to let them out, he's so sweet.  
I hope you enjoyed the california rolls and I hope country lady stays away for a long while!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, I'm going to the big (paid membership) gym tonight - as opposed to the little gym in the basement of my workplace.  I only encounter country music lady in the little gym, so she won't be annoying me tonight.    The big gym comes with its share of annoyances ("Man versus Food" seems to constantly play on one of the TVs, sometimes people hog machines or don't wipe them down, etc) but that kind of stuff is to be expected.  The little gym, so few people use it and it's kind of my sanctuary.  I love being in the little gym by myself and doing my thing with nobody else getting in my way, so it's like extra annoying when someone else is there AND she has an affinity for country music.    If I ever somehow become rich, I'm going to buy a house with its own gym so that I won't have to deal with other people.  But for now I have to deal with people and annoyances, oh well.

Still, I'm looking forward to my workout tonight.  Hubby's going with me - it's been a few weeks since he's worked out with me, so that'll be nice.  I'm feeling fairly well today so I'm hoping to have a good workout.  I'm hoping the gym isn't too busy tonight.  I think most of the New Year's resolution people have quit by now, plus the weather is nice today.  The nicer the weather is, the emptier the gym is.  It was like 43 degrees out today (!!) so very nice warm weather compared to the frigid cold that has dominated most of our winter.  I'm hoping that means the gym will be relatively empty so that I can do my thing with minimal annoyances.

Speaking of the weather, we're in for more crazy weather - Cindy, what's your forecast look like for Thursday?  For us it looks like freezing rain and some snow, and then it'll get much colder again.  Yuck yuck!  They're already saying travel may be treacherous if the roads are icy, so if it's bad I might be stuck at home.  I had wanted to do weights on Thursday, but I'll have to change my plans if the weather is as yucky as they are saying it might be.  For now I'm just going to hope that the weather will be okay enough that I can get to a gym and lift some weights.  So not looking forward to the potential of freezing rain though!  I hate that much worse than snow!


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## hawkeye

Yuck freezing rain - I'd take the 14 inches of snow we got over the weekend any day over freezing rain.

Cat, do you find the migraines come on before storms or bad weather?


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## kel

The resolutioners are long gone. Good to see you've been keeping this up.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Kel!  How have you been?  All healed up and back in the gym yourself?

Hawkeye, yeah, I would also take snow over freezing rain.  And yes, I sometimes get migraines before bad weather, but sometimes not.  The latest migraine, it lasted about 2 days, and both of those days were sunny and no precipitation.  Then, on the 3rd day when the migraine eased up significantly, that was the day we got a lot of snow.  So I don't know, sometimes I definitely feel like a migraine comes on in response to bad weather, but other times they just happen seemingly randomly.  I did just start back on Entocort a couple weeks ago, and the first time I was on Entocort I had some bad headaches as my body adjusted to it.  So hopefully this round of migraines is just that, because I'm once again adjusting to being on Entocort.

Update 2/19/14:  I hit the gym last night and felt very good, was able to do everything including the abdominals machine.  The gym was super busy so I had to do things kind of out of order based on what machines were available/in use at any given time.  But I did manage to do everything, so that's good.  My hubby came along and he said he had a good workout too and he expressed that he'd like to come to the gym with me more often.  That's a good thing!    Tonight I'm finally getting a massage.  It's been awhile and I feel like I definitely need one, so that will be nice.  Hopefully I'll feel okay and not too beat-up afterwards.  Then tomorrow I'm just going to play it by ear - if everything is icy then I won't leave home, so in that case I'll probably do a yoga session at home.  If the roads are okay tomorrow then I'll hit the little gym in the basement at work.  Either way, I'll find a way to get in a workout.


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## mccindy

Hey there Cat.  We are on the western edge of the whole mess here in central MN, so it's kind of a crap shoot as to what we're going to get.  They're giving us a Winter Weather Advisory for now, saying potential 3-7 inches, but south and east of here, there's a blizzard warning and 6-10 inches with high winds.  Hopefully that part misses us, but last time they were a bit off and we got the high end of it.  I guess we'll see tomorrow!  I knew we'd end up getting a few snowstorms, since my hubs had his shoulder surgery and has to snowblow one handed (my useless back makes me unable to help him).  
I made my 30 minutes on the elliptical this morning, yay!  Glad to hear your gym routine went well and you're feeling better!  My hubs is down about 20 lbs just from eating less, and he's feeling pretty motivated, so I'm hoping as his arm gets better he's going to start wanting to do some exercise!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ugh, kind of a rough day emotionally (see my post in the Undiagnosed Club for details).  I am *so* looking forward to my massage tonight!  I cannot wait!

Yeah, we're getting the eastern side of the storm (you take one side and I'll take the other, ha ha).  Counties just west of us are supposed to get more snow than rain, we're supposed to get more rain than snow.  But they said that the storm might track slightly differently, in which case we'd either get all rain or maybe a lot of snow and a little rain.  I don't think these forecasters do a very good job!    With all their modern technology, they still can't even tell us if we're going to have a foot of snow or a half inch of ice or possibly it'll just be a warmer rain that doesn't freeze.  Maybe I'm just in a mood today (I am definitely in a mood today) but that's just stupid.  I could ask a magic 8 ball and get about the same accuracy as the weather forecasters!

Wow, 20 lbs lost, that's great for your hubs and I hope it does encourage him to work on his fitness once he's more recovered from the surgery!  I find that just having fitness equipment around the house is enough to get my hubby to spontaneously start exercising sometimes.  I think I mentioned this a little while ago, but he found my 8 lb dumbbells and he started using them recently.  We also have one of those ab rocker thingies and he uses that sometimes too.  And of course we have the stationary bike.  He has used the Wii Fit in the past too.  So yeah, having options available could lead to him spontaneously exercising.  And maybe psychologically, if you get something and say it's for you, he might not feel pressured to use it like he might if you got some exercise equipment and said it's for him, you know?  I think hubby's used my dumbbells now more than I have even though they're technically my weights that I bought for me (I just like weight machines better than hand weights/free weights, I feel like it's easier to do proper form on a machine than in 3-dimensional space with nothing guiding me, that's why I haven't used them very much).  Anyway, just a thought - if exercise equipment is readily available, he may feel inclined to put it to use.


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## kel

Hi Cat. I've been quietly doing my thing for the past few months. I started rehab on the shoulder in oct and all around it has gone as well as I could have hoped. I had a short flare in jan but between prednisone and flagyl I got better in like 2 days. And I was reallllly starting to feel like death for that week of flaring.

Sorry to hear about your estate sale experience, sounds like it's a good idea to put those aside. Sometimes when I have a very depressing day I feel like I need an emotional release and just give in to it. Usually the next day I'll wake up feeling much more positive. 

Are you getting a full body massage? I had my first one a couple months ago and it was pretty nice. I haven't felt that relaxed in a long time.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kel, I'm back on Entocort myself for the mild flare that I've been in for close to a year now, so I can relate.  I have gradually been feeling better the past few days, so I think it's kicking in - I started taking it 2 weeks ago, so hopefully it works its magic soon and gets rid of this pervasive unending flare.  And thanks, yeah, I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow.  Just a depressing experience today but tomorrow I'll be back in the gym which helps me get over just about any stressful or depressing episode.    Nothing like a good workout to get a metaphorical weight off your shoulders.

I'm not sure what exactly qualifies as a full body massage?  My massage therapist is a friend of ours, so he makes house calls and charges reduced rates.  (He owes us a favor or two right now from us helping him out when he had lots of car troubles, so my massage tonight will actually be free!)  He typically does a lot of work on my back, shoulders & neck, and some on my feet and arms & hands.  So maybe like a half body massage, I guess?    It usually takes about an hour, he's pretty thorough, and sometimes the day after a massage, I feel like I've been beaten up.  Last time I felt great after having a massage, so hopefully this time will be similar.


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## kel

I've never taken entocort. Tried uceris once which is supposed to be similar but I didn't feel it working ever. I must be one of the very few who likes prednisone but I like to know it's really working because that stuff kicks in fast and kicks in hard (like less than 24 hours).

I don't really know what counts as full body I guess :O
That sounds like what I got before. I wasn't naked, so I guess not quite fullbody.


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## mccindy

No elliptical for me again this morning.    Just wasn't feeling up to it, so I came into work early to make up for missing part of Monday.  Boo.  Hopefully I can get back to it tomorrow, since I'll be missing Saturday.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kel, I'm the same way with pred, it kicks in fast and blitzes my symptoms, I love the stuff!  But since I'm still technically undiagnosed, my GI feels it's safer to put me on something milder like Entocort instead of pred.  I was on Entocort a few years ago and it did get me into remission, it just took awhile longer than pred would have.  (I was on Entocort for 7 months from Oct 2010 - April 2011, it took that long to get me into remission before - I'm hoping it doesn't take another 7 months this time around!)

Cindy,   You've missed a lot of workouts lately and it sounds like you're losing too much weight too - I really hope that when you go to Mayo clinic, that they can actually help you feel better and be able to eat and gain weight again.  

I had a good massage last night, I don't feel beat-up today.  I'm still pretty depressed though - I found out this morning that a friend's mother was just killed in a terrible car accident.  My friend is devastated and I feel so sad for him.  So once again I'm feeling depressed, such a horrible thing to happen.

So, I'm really glad I get to go to the gym today, I need a good workout to get some happy endorphins going.  Fortunately this winter storm isn't too bad so far, we've mostly just had rain and it isn't really freezing to the roads.  So I made it to work just fine and I can hit the gym today, I'm looking forward to it.  Gotta stop being sad, and to do that I gotta go sweat and lift some heavy things!  

Cindy, how's the storm by you?  In our local news they said the storm shifted a bit more west than they thought it would, which is good for us but probably bad for you.  Are you getting lots of snow?

I have some nice things planned to look forward to which should cheer me up too.  Tonight, hubby and I are making homemade "tummy-safe" pizzas for dinner, with goat cheese, turkey pepperoni and avocado - yum!  I haven't had pizza in awhile and I'm drooling just thinking about it.  Also, hubby's been working every single weekend for quite awhile now, which is good because we need the money - but we haven't been able to go out and do anything fun together on the weekends for a long while since he's been working so much.  So hubby switched shifts with another girl who's been working a few hours a week at the shop, so that he could have Saturday off.  He's taking me shopping and to our favorite sushi place - double yum!  That will be great fun and I'm really looking forward to it.  I think hubby needs a nice fun weekend day off too so this will be great for both of us.


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## mccindy

Oh, your poor friend.  That's awful.  

We ended up with a few inches, but it was slushy wet first, so we've got ice under the snow, which is tricky; I turned my car sideways on the way to work this morning. No fun.  
I did get on the elliptical this morning!  Hooray!  my full 1/2 hour, and it felt pretty good. Ate my full breakfast too.  Hopefully I can hold on til I get to Mayo.

How interesting, my hubby made me my special gluten-free dairy-free pizza last night too! it was yummy.  And we've got a fun weekend back to WI planned together too.  So we'll be having a fun weekend at the same time, Cat!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm glad to hear you're having a better day, Cindy!  Full breakfast and a full workout is definitely a good thing.    Yuck about the weather though, it's icky here too.  It's much colder here today, so there are icy spots on the road now from where yesterday's rain froze.  It's also snowing and there are 30-40 MPH winds.  Yuck!  I also read a weather report that said that by this time next week, we'll be back to bitter frigid temps and -30 wind chills.  Double yuck!  Yesterday it was kind of warm and we had thunderstorms and I saw robins, so it sure felt like springtime.  Today, it definitely feels like winter is back in full force, and it sounds like it'll stick around awhile longer.  

I had a great workout yesterday and that helped a lot.  Still sad for my friend of course, but I'm doing better, not feeling so down like I was the past couple days.  Working out really does make such a huge difference in my mood, it's like magic.  I'm feeling tired today though, it's been a long rough week and I'm just kind of dragging now.  My muscles are feeling pretty sore from yesterday, particularly my quads, so I'm taking a rest day today.  I might do a bit of hula hooping tonight to work my abs, but I don't want to do anything that involves my quads too much.  Tomorrow will be essentially a rest day too - hubby's taking me shopping, so we'll be driving and walking a fair bit but not doing much besides that.  So, I'll be back in the gym on Sunday for weights.  Hubby works on Sunday so it'll just be me going to the gym, and I am hoping to have a nice long workout session to make up for taking 2 rest days in a row.

I hope you enjoyed your pizza, Cindy!  Mine was super yummy.  I ended up putting turkey bacon on it instead of turkey pepperoni.  Turkey bacon plus avocado, that was so delicious!  And lots of goat gouda cheese too, yum yum.  What a treat, and my guts were okay with all of it even though it was kind of rich and high-fat with the bacon, avocado, and the cheese.  Ah, I'm making myself hungry.    Anyway, have a good fun weekend in WI, Cindy!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/24/14:  I had a really nice weekend.  Saturday was essentially a rest day as I didn't do anything fitness-wise.  Hubby took me down to the Chicago suburbs for some shopping, we went to Ikea and to our favorite Japanese place for sushi, yum!  I'm also kind of a history buff and there's so much interesting history in the Chicago area, so we went to a couple historical sites.  We made it a day about Baby Face Nelson (such an interesting character!).  We found and went to the site where Nelson had a shootout with FBI agents, that was really neat to find the spot (I knew the town where it happened, but I finally found the specific spot in that town).  We also went looking for the grave of Nelson - we found the cemetery and the section that it's in, but there was too much snow on the ground and his gravestone is flush with the ground, so we didn't find it and will have to go back once the snow melts.  At any rate, it was fun doing some shopping and also doing some searching for history.  I really like true crime-type history, and my favorite subjects are Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde, and Nelson.  Someday I really want to head to Indiana and see some Dillinger sights - his grave, the jail he escaped from, etc.

Anyway.  So I didn't work out on Saturday but I had a lot of fun.  Sunday, I did hit the gym and I spent a lot of time doing a nice long workout.  I felt good, I could tell I was a little bit dehydrated but otherwise I felt quite well.  Did everything including the abdominals machine and barely had any reflux.  It's been almost 3 weeks now that I've been back on Entocort, and I think it has kicked in now.  I haven't had much d and it's been over a week I think since my last bad day.  I feel reasonably well and that's all I wanted!  So I'm happy with that.

Today, I am going to go ice skating.  It's a sunny day and not crazy cold (high temp in the low 20s) - it's going to get much colder later this week I guess.  Today looks to be the warmest day of the week.  The local outdoor ice rink is open, so I put my skates in my car this morning and am planning on doing a bit of skating this afternoon.  I'm kind of excited and kind of nervous - it's been awhile since I've been skating, so I hope I don't fall!  Or if I do, I hope that I don't fall hard.  I'm excited though from watching the Olympics, the figure skaters all make it look so fun.


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## mccindy

My pizza was SOO good!  I really enjoyed it.  I took the weekend off from working out, but got back on the elliptical this morning, which was very enjoyable.  I'm still doing my triceps dips and squats/lunges in my office, and I'm already noticing a difference in the booty!  Hubs did too so it's not just me.  
  I'm excited to hear how your ice skating goes!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I went ice skating!  I was really nervous about it and kind of tried to talk myself out of it.  It's colder than I thought today - temps are probably in the teens right now, and the sun is shining, but there's a very bitter strong wind too, so it's probably about zero with the wind chill.  Brr!  But I went anyway.  There's a little park a short drive from my workplace that has a free outdoor ice rink.  The conditions of the ice weren't great - there are actually 2 rinks there, but the larger one had really terrible looking (bumpy, uneven, un-skateable) ice.  So I stuck to the smaller rink which was so-so.  It had bumpy spots but most of it was okay.

So I got there (fortunately I was the only person there) and I put my skates on and stepped onto the ice... and oh gosh, it was difficult!  I guess I haven't been ice skating in a number of years now (6 or 7?  Eek, too long).  So I had kind of baby deer legs going on especially at the start.  My ankles and shins felt weak and started burning pretty quickly too and I think they'll be quite sore tomorrow.  Cindy, I remember you said that a relative of yours said that snowshoeing is a good ankle workout?  I didn't experience that with snowshoeing, but holy cow, ice skating is for sure an excellent ankle workout!  Wow, and ouch!  I actually just wanted to quit at the beginning, I was not able to go fast at all and my ankles were burning and I kept almost falling.  It was not fun at first.  But the longer I kept up with it, the more confident my legs got, and the burning sort of ebbed.  After awhile I was able to skate pretty well, it just took my legs awhile to get used to ice skating.  I spent about 40 mins on the ice and that's quite good, I didn't quit, I stuck with it.  This is definitely something that I'll have to keep up with, I want stronger ankles and I want to be able to skate faster, more confidently, less baby deer-like.    I'm glad I went today.  I may not be saying that tomorrow depending on how my ankles & shins feel!  But I do want to skate again and again, as often as I can.  It felt really nice to be back on the ice once I had my confidence back.

I know in the past I've been able to skate backwards and do back crossovers and of course front crossovers too.  I wasn't able to do any of that today.  So now my goal is to get back to that shape, to be able to skate a little bit fancy like that again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy, I missed seeing your post as I was typing mine, but I'm glad to hear you enjoyed your pizza!  And you can see from my post above how the ice skating went.  And yay, that's great news about the booty changing for the better, that's definitely a confidence booster!  You go girl!


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## mccindy

Aw, great job on sticking with the ice-skating and getting back to feeling a bit confident!  I'll bet a few more times and you'll be skating backwards just like the old days.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I hope so!  I probably need to find a bigger ice rink to go backwards.  The outdoor rink today was conveniently located, but quite small.  When you do front or back crossovers, you build up a lot of speed, so you need ample space to skate when you're going fast.  So the tiny outdoor rink met my needs today, but if/when I start to improve, I'll need to move up to something bigger.  There is an indoor ice rink not far away and they have free skate hours on weekends and sometimes on weekdays (I think it costs a couple bucks to skate there but it shouldn't be too pricey, particularly if I bring my own skates and don't have to pay to rent skates).  I might just head over there some weekend soon and take advantage of being indoors with no wind and a nice, maintained large ice rink.  Most free skates run a few hours, too, so if I'm feeling overly ambitious then I could do like a 2 hour skating session.  And if I go crazy ambitious with it, I could probably even take lessons at the indoor ice rink.  But in the meantime, I need to find some exercises that specifically strengthen the ankles, so that I'll be more prepared to skate in the future.  Anyone know offhand of ankle-strengthening exercises?  I might have to google some.


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## mccindy

That sounds pretty cool.  I don't know specifically of ankle-strengthening exercises, but I'll bet the snowshoeing will help with that some.  Google will too lol.  Pretty neat to think of you whizzing around backwards! 
 I did make it on the elliptical again this morning.  The pattern seems to be if I eat and get going right away in the morning, I'm okay - the nausea sets in a little after I get to work, so at least I can get through the workout.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ugh ugh ugh.  Stressful day at work!  I cover for the receptionist when she takes her breaks, and today a lady came to the reception desk and yelled at me for like 15 mins because I couldn't get her all the information she wanted (not my fault but I just had to sit there and take her abuse).  After that, I seriously need to hit the gym (and a stiff drink wouldn't hurt either).  Sheesh.

So hubby and I are going to the big gym tonight after work.  It'll probably be crazy busy because it was super busy in the gym last week Tuesday.  So that might suck but I'm going anyway.  I just want to power through and leave all my stress in the gym, so I'm going to push myself pretty hard tonight.  I can already feel my stomach being affected by the stress, ugh.  Gotta get rid of that stress and move forward!

I did google some ankle-strengthening exercises so I have some idea of what I can do.  And actually, my ankles feel fine today - no pain, no soreness in the ankles nor the shins.  That's promising, I think.  I don't know, after doing a new type of exercise that works my muscles differently than they're used to, I expected to be sore - so what does no soreness mean?  Does it mean I'm an awesome natural skater who acclimated fast or that perhaps my ankles & shins were already kind of strong to begin with?  Or does it mean I didn't skate long enough/well enough to inflict proper muscle soreness on myself - it wasn't a good enough workout for my muscles to even care, in other words?  I'm not sure.


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## kel

Soreness means nothing as far as strength or hypertrophy go.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Interesting - so what exactly does soreness mean then?  I don't usually get muscle soreness from lifting weights anymore, unless I do something like add weight.  I do yoga sporadically, so if I haven't done yoga in a bit and then do a full 30 minute session, I will sometimes feel sore afterwards.  I hadn't been ice skating in years so I fully expected to be sore afterwards as I was using muscles that may not have been used (or used in that specific way) in quite a long time.  It just seems odd to me!


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## kel

Ok I'm typing all this science business on my phone so bare with me.

Muscle soreness that presents 1 or 2 days after an activity is caused by microfractures in the muscle cells. The pain is caused by ultrasctructural disruptions of the myofilaments (mostly z disk). These connective filaments bleed and become inflamed causing local pain receptors to increase in sensitivity. This amount of trauma is not entirely necessary for an increase in muscle size (hypertrophy) or strength (somewhat based on the physical elements of the muscle but also strongly influenced by neurological adaptations). It has NOTHING to do with lactic acid which is commonly cited as the reason for soreness.  

Soreness is typically caused by the introduction of a new movement or exercise, OR a large increase in the intensity of a familiar exercise. 
Examples: if you are used to doing leg press with 100 lbs for a set of 10, and one day you decide 100 is easy and you can push yourself to do 150 for a set of 10 you might be sore the next day (greater intensity). Or maybe not, impossible to say. If you had chosen to do 110 instead as 150 seemed too big of a jump, you more than likely would not be sore. 
Example 2: if you are used to doing a leg workout every week and you are no longer getting sore, you might go for a run after gym. The introduction of the new movement (running) could very well produce some soreness, assuming you do not regularly run.

Increase in the size of a muscle is a result of two types of hypertrophy, sarcoplasmic or myofibrillar. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is an increase in the volume of muscle via an increase in fluid in the cells. Myofibrillar hypertrophy results in an increase in the size of the fibers and increase of the tensile strength (? not 100% on the term) of the muscle tissue. Myofibrillar is displayed more at high intensities and is associated with the microtrauma that can cause soreness.  HOWEVER there is also in large part a neurological adaptation (central nervous system) that occurs at high intensities leading to great increase in strength that happens regardless of the physical change or lack thereof in the muscle itself. This is why a weight class athlete can continue to increase in strength over time even if his lean body mass and total bodyweight remain relatively constant (for a time, there are physical limitations). 

This is all vastly oversimplified and I did not really feel like taking different types of contractions into account as it is even more detailed. Things to keep in mind is that none of this is absolute and these adaptations occur on a continuum. Many times people will claim different hypertrophy occur in specific rep ranges and the reality is any movement that is stressful enough to cause some adaptation will produce some blend of microtrauma, sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, and CNS adaptation. The ratio of each changes at different ends of the rep spectrum but anything much more specific than that is impossible to prove.    

I hope this was all fairly clear even though it doesn't really answer your question definitively.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm not sure what some of that means (z disk?) but am interested to hear more, if it'll give me some sort of understanding as to why muscle soreness sometimes does and sometimes doesn't happen.  The microfractures in muscle cells - the process of them healing, is that what builds muscle?  I guess I'm just still not sure what it means that I didn't get sore after ice skating, even though my shins & ankles were burning while I was skating.


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## kel

Finished my response. The "burn" is lactic acid.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks!  That's really interesting about strength changes in the central nervous system!  So if I understood that right, the central nervous system changes can happen as long as I'm working out past a certain intensity?  In other words, it's not just something that happens to elite athletes or professional power-lifters or people who are in the gym for 5 hours every day, it can happen to someone like me as well - as long as I'm doing enough exercise to make an impact on my muscles, it's also having an impact on my central nervous system?  That's so cool, to think in a way I'm strenghtening not only my body but also my brain in the gym!  I already knew that the gym is my "happy place" where I can go and get rid of stress, depression, any negative emotion and just work it out and leave it in the gym.  So I knew in a way it was affecting my brain because my moods and depression have been much better since I've been working out.  But that's really interesting that it's affecting my physical strength in both body and brain!


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## kel

The CNS is very fast to adapt - it is the reason people see "noob gains." It happens after the very first workout and will continue to happen everytime you provide sufficient stress. This is why practice makes perfect (for almost anything - piano, bowling, Knitting etc.)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ah, that makes sense!  (For the most part - I think I will always be a terrible bowler, ha ha.)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/26/14:  I hit the gym last night.  It was busy but not terrible, I was able to do all the machines I wanted to.  My least-favorite person was there, bandana guy (I may have a more colorful nickname for him that I can't politely say here, ha ha).  He's always wearing a stupid bandana on his head.  The really annoying thing about him is that he often just leans on a machine and chats with his friends endlessly (he's the guy I had to give the death glare to when he claimed to be "using" the hamstrings machine, when in reality he was standing 5 feet away from it and chatting with his friends).  He will literally just stand there and hog a machine but not use it while talking and talking for 20 or 30 minutes - so annoying!  The weird part is, I once saw him actually working out in the gym, he seemed very focused and he was actually lifting weights rather than standing near them and he wasn't chatting to anybody.  I guess his friends weren't there that day!  But last night his friends were there and they were all standing around next to a machine and chatting as usual.  Fortunately, there are duplicates of some of the machines, so I was able to use the other one that they weren't occupying.

Oh, and the really funny part was, at one point I was using a machine that was facing bandana guy and his chatty friends.  I saw my hubby walk near them as he was headed for the next machine.  He looked up and saw bandana guy, stopped in his tracks, gave him a look, and walked in a different direction.    Hah!  Hubby used to dislike one of bandana guy's friends the most, I guess there's a blonde guy who's always chatting with bandana guy, and hubby said he was most annoyed by the blonde guy.  But I think after last night, he's at least equally annoyed by bandana guy now.

Anyway, annoying gym people aside, I felt really strong last night and pushed myself pretty hard.  Did a few more reps than I usually do and I think it's just about time to increase the weight a little bit on at least one machine, so that is a good thing.  I did the abdominals machine even though I was refluxing to the point where I was uncomfortable.  Fortunately that ended up being okay even though it was risky.  I did have some d yesterday and today due to some stress that I was under, but I think I got most of the stress off my back from having a good workout.  I don't feel any symptoms other than a bit of d, I'm not fatigued or nauseous or anything.  I think Entocort is really helping, even with stress and d I didn't really have a bad day per se.  I was still fully functional, able to work out and eat normally, etc.  So this is all good!

Today, it's super cold out yet again.  We're under a wind chill advisory, I think the wind chill was about -22 when I last checked the weather.  Brr!  Too cold to ice skate, so I'm going to do yoga on the Wii Fit tonight.  I'm interested to see what the Wii Fit says my weight currently is, I haven't checked my weight in a bit.  Entocort definitely helps my appetite, so I'm trying to snack healthier (rice cakes instead of potato chips, etc) so that I can maintain my weight rather than gain.  I'm at a good weight now so no need to lose nor gain.


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## mccindy

The happiness usually comes from an endorphin release that comes from strenuous exercise, which is why it can be a stress buster or relieve depression.  An increase in blood pumping through the brain brings increased oxygen and nutrients which help the brain function better as well, so exercise does help the brain work better in that way too.  

I only got in 15 minutes on the elliptical this morning, but at least I got on there!  Still doing my lunges and squats in my office.


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## kel

Yup Cindy is right.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

So, just a thought - has there been any research into working out & studying at the same time?  If my brain is improving with more blood flow while I'm working out, would I be more effective at studying while working out?  For example, I am trying to teach myself Korean, and maybe if I did a set of reps and then looked at vocab flash cards as I'm walking to the next machine, or if I had a "learning Korean" audio thing playing on my ipod as I'm exercising - would that help me learn faster and retain more knowledge of what I'm studying?

I do listen to a lot of K-pop while working out, but that isn't really helping me learn the language (I can pick out words here and there that I know, but I'm still years away from being anywhere near fluent).

Anyway!  I'm headed to the gym today for weights.  Did yoga last night and felt good.  Tomorrow I'm thinking I might do the stationary bike for some cardio.  There are multiple K-dramas in my hulu queue so I'll likely watch one of those while doing a ride.


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## kel

I would recommend working out when you workout and studying when you study. Not to be an ass.

If you have an audiotape of "how to speak korean" or something like that you might pick somr stuff up while you exercise.  No idea how well it will work for you.

I found it easy to sit at my desk and eat lunch as I was doing rosetta stone German.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks, you're probably right.  When I listen to K-pop in the car or at home when not exercising, I feel like I do pick up on more words I know than when I'm listening to K-pop while working out.  Guess I was hoping maybe I'm subconsciously absorbing some knowledge when working out, but probably not!    And I'm betting that getting a "learn Korean" audiotape on my ipod would probably just distract me from my workout and make me forget what rep I was on.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/28/14:  I hit the gym yesterday and pushed myself hard.  Felt good then, feel tired today.  It's been a long week and I feel a bit wiped out both physically and mentally.  It's also very cold out yet again and going to snow, so my hip is aching a bit.  I was thinking of riding the stationary bike today, but I haven't had a rest day in awhile and I feel like I need one, so today will be a rest day.  It won't be super restful, I have to clean my house tonight because my parents are coming over tomorrow.  My house is fairly clean but I'll still need to vaccuum and clean the bathroom and stuff like that.  So I won't be able to just sit on the couch and veg out tonight.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping I'll have the energy to hit the gym in the afternoon/evening after my parents leave.  If not then I'll hit the gym on Sunday.  Other than gym and seeing my parents, I am hoping to stay in and rest up for the remainder of the weekend.  I've been doing a bit of reorganizing in my craft room and I have some sewing projects that I want to work on.  Now that my craft room is somewhat organized with more shelves, I have enough room in there to actually sew some things.  I have some cute pink plaid fleece and I want to make myself a hoodie from a pattern, I also promised hubby I'd make him a black hoodie - I also have a jacket and a dress that both need to be taken in a bit, and I have a hoodie pullover that I want to put a zipper in so that it'll be a zip-up rather than a pullover.  So yeah, sewing time!  I kind of do this to myself, I end up giving myself sewing projects.  I try on a piece of clothing and it's a good price and I think, it'd be really cute if only I fixed this one thing... so I buy it and I make the alterations myself.  But my sewing pile sometimes gets rather large because of my "I should buy this and fix it" mindset.  So that's my only other plan this weekend, is to tackle some of the projects I've got in my sewing pile.  And maybe someday I'll get caught up enough on sewing projects that I can actually sew myself some workout clothes!    I do have a few patterns for things like yoga pants, bike shorts, even a sports bra sewing pattern.  I know I could make such cute stuff for myself, if only I had unlimited time and fabric!  Oh well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/3/14:  I had a rather unproductive weekend.  Friday, my legs felt so stiff and sore, so I took it as a rest day.  I felt pretty bad actually, I was exhausted and my legs felt quite bad.  At one point I was at my desk and I kneeled on my chair to get something, and suddenly a massive cramp went through my right leg - hip & thigh were just horribly painful!  I got it stretched out and relieved the cramp, but for the rest of the day my right leg felt even worse than the left.

Saturday, my parents came to town.  My mom sometimes complains if I don't clean my house quite a lot, so I spent Saturday morning scrubbing my bathroom and vaccuuming up all the dog hair from every corner of my house.  Then I had to go outside and shovel because it had snowed, and hubby had already left to go to work, so I had to shovel all by myself.  After the cleaning and the shoveling, I was already wiped out for the day!  So I had lunch with my parents and they wanted to do a bit of shopping, but they left pretty early (thankfully) because it was snowing kind of a lot.  I sat on the couch the remainder of the day and rested up.

Yesterday, I decided to go to the gym.  I wasn't really feeling it, it was cold out and snowy yet again and I just kind of wanted to stay in and be lazy.  But I knew I needed to do a workout, so I assumed the "fake it till you make it" attitude and hit the gym.  I didn't feel particularly good or bad during my workout, just felt kinda average.  Didn't push myself particularly hard but didn't totally phone it in either, just sort of coasted along.  When I was using the hamstrings machine, though, my right leg was giving me just a few niggles of pain in the same area that had cramped up on Friday.  So I cut that machine short so as to not injure myself.  All the other machines went fine, and I haven't had any pain since, so I'm guessing the pain was just something leftover from when my leg cramped up.  To be safe, I'm taking today as a rest day too (which is good because I'm exhausted today, stayed up too late last night watching the Oscars).  Hopefully my leg will be back to normal tomorrow.  I hope to go to the gym tomorrow and have a better, more productive workout.

I did get a little bit caught up on my sewing pile over the weekend but still have lots to do.  I was feeling so lazy that I didn't do much of anything besides cleaning, shoveling, and gym over the weekend.  I did alter one jacket that looks seriously cute now, and I may be able to wear it someday if it ever becomes springtime.    We got a few inches of snow over the weekend and it's been miserably cold yet again - my hip is aching a bit today thanks to the cold weather - so I'm not optimistic that springtime is going to happen anytime soon.  The robins have started to come back but they all look cold, confused, and angry!  Poor things.


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## mccindy

I have heard people have seen a couple of robins, but I'd imagine the poor little things don't know what to think!  I think it's supposed to be actually in the 20s this weekend, so that will be nice, thank goodness.  We are planning to stay put.  We've been running the last couple of weeks and we're tired.  
After taking the weekend off of working out (other than some dancing Saturday night at the wedding) I did get back on the elliptical yesterday and today!  Tired though.  It's tough to finish.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I saw a few robins the other day, but yeah, they did not look happy.    I also heard that it's "meteorological spring" as of March 1st (not sure how that's different from the "official" first day of spring which is March 20?).  So it should be spring, but it sure is not.  We got even more snow last night, ugh!  I did hear that we're going to have temps in the 30s this weekend so that's something, but I also heard that they're predicting the whole month of March is going to be more wintry than spring-like.  Bleh!

I rested up yesterday so hopefully my leg is fine today.  The hamstrings machine will be the real test - I'll probably lower the weight on it by 5 lbs just so that I'm not pushing things too hard.  I put some new music on my workout playlist which is always motivating - I don't know what it is, but a workout makes music sound better somehow.  My current obsession is 2NE1's new album (they're a Kpop girl group, they're known as the queens of Kpop).  Excited to listen to that when I work out today.

If my leg is feeling okay today, then tomorrow I might ride the stationary bike or maybe go ice skating if it's okay-ish weather.  If the leg is still giving me pain on the hamstrings machine today, then I'll probably rest it tomorrow.  So my workout plans are tentative right now, just gotta make sure I'm not injured or aggravating anything.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, that workout didn't go so great.  About an hour before hitting the gym, my right hamstring started bothering me with some pain just above the back of my knee.  I went to the gym anyway, but it was bad enough that I skipped the hamstrings machine altogether.  I was able to do everything else - since it was the little gym, there's only one legs machine (which does quads & hamstrings) so my legs mostly got a break.  I did mostly arms.  I did do the abdominals machine & a 30 second plank, and some squats, and that all went okay.

I wonder if I'm coming down with something though.  There have been some people at work lately with colds, and I felt a bit fuzzy during my cool-down.  Specifically, I was walking on the treadmill to cool down, and I kept feeling like I was going to fall off!  It felt like the belt wasn't moving at a uniform pace.  But when I looked at the belt, it appeared to be moving just fine.  So I guess I was having a bunch of mini-dizzy spells or something like that?  Not really sure.  Also, after a workout I normally have more energy, but today I feel more tired after my workout.  Something's definitely off besides just my hamstring hurting.  Bleh!  Definitely a below-average workout, which is frustrating.  Tomorrow will probably be a rest day so that I can hopefully recover and get myself back on track.


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## kel

I was very dizzy fri and sat. I got out of the tub friday and literally almost fell on my face. Allergies can do that. I took a crapload of sudafed for a couple of days and now all I have is a runny nose.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I have year-round allergies but they normally don't make me dizzy like this.  I slept for about 10 hours last night but still feel kind of loopy and fatigued today, plus I have been coughing a bit, so I'm thinking this is definitely a cold.  I'm okay as long as I'm sitting, but standing/walking I get the dizzies.  When I get dizzy, sometimes it's due to my blood pressure dropping too low (it's normally low anyway), and I've found that increasing my sodium intake can sometimes help.  So I went to the store and bought some potato chips and some cold medicine, I'm hoping those will help me feel better.

It's definitely a rest day today though, I can't do much of any exercise when I feel like this.  I'll just have to play it by ear and see how I'm feeling tomorrow.  I guess the good news is that my hamstring hasn't given me any pain today, so hopefully that's on the mend.  Best case scenario is that I am well enough to do weights tomorrow - that's what I'm aiming for at this point.


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## mccindy

I saw on FB that you thought you were getting something.  I was hoping maybe it was just a brief down feeling, but apparently not.  Boo!  Hopefully it's just a short thing for you, that sucks.  
I did get on the elliptical this morning for about 20 minutes.  I am skipping my squats and lunges today because my back was really irritated and sore last night and I'm thinking a light day might be a good idea.  One thing I do remember is my PT back in WI telling me that losing too much weight would cause me problems with my back because losing connective tissue could be really back for it with all the issues I have.  and that was when I was at about 138 lbs.  I'm at 127 now, so I'd imagine that's probably why I'm having so many problems with it.  Hopefully after my Mayo visit I'll be able to put some weight back on.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I wrote on FB that I was coming down with a cold, that was at like 8:30 PM, and I went to bed right after I wrote that!  Slept pretty well but I definitely have a cold.  My sinuses are stuffy and I still feel pretty run-down even with the cold medicine helping somewhat.  Fortunately the sodium from the potato chips seems to have helped with the dizzies, I feel rather weak but at least I can walk a bit without feeling like I might faint or fall.

I think this is an Entocort thing - when I was on Entocort a few years ago, I got multiple colds and the flu.  It must mess with my immune system a bit - I was hoping that being on only 3 mg of Entocort would hopefully not be enough to screw with my immune system, but apparently no such luck.  It could just be that I randomly happened to catch a cold, as there has been a nasty one going around at work (of 4 people in my department, 3 of us have had colds within the last week).  But I think Entocort may be playing a part since I caught so many colds the last time I was on it.  Whatever the case is, bleh!  If I feel like this tomorrow, I don't think I'll be able to work out.  Yuck.


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## kel

I have year round allergies as well, and chronic sinusitis. Generally I do not get dizzy/ vertigo except for when it's in my ears.

Also, cindy what makes you think you will lose connective tissue with a few lbs of lost BW? That sounds insane to be honest.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I have chronic sinus issues too.  I'm not even sure what exactly is going on with my sinuses.  When I was a kid, I broke my nose (hit it on the bottom of a swimming pool, ouch!), and my parents didn't want a big medical bill so they didn't take me to the emergency room because they said a doctor wouldn't be able to do anything for a broken nose.  Well, a doctor could have at least set it so that it would heal straight but I didn't even get to have that done.  As a result, I have a crooked nose and most likely a deviated septum and who knows what else going on in my sinuses.  My nose is so messed up that they can only do an NG tube on me through the left nostril, not the right (they tried on the right, they jammed it in about 10 times but it wouldn't go and I had tears streaming down my face!).  Someday I'll have my sinuses properly looked at.  The sinuses have kind of always taken a backseat to my other health issues.

Kel, Cindy's got tons of back issues and I believe she's had her entire lower back surgically fused (correct me if I'm wrong!).  I therefore presume that her connective tissue around the spine has already been compromised due to surgery & degenerative stuff going on?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/6/14:  I'm thinking the gym is not happening today.    My cold is somewhat better, but still not great.  Also, I woke up with pain in my back - it's in the middle of the left side, it feels like muscle pain.  I am thinking I probably just slept on it funny or something like that.  Stretching it seems to help, so I'm planning to do some yoga tonight to really properly stretch it out.  I think I can handle yoga with a cold and it should help my back and my hamstring too, so that's the plan.  Presuming all goes well and I feel okay, I'll go back to the gym tomorrow.

Oh, and with this back pain I was hoping I could get a massage - but nope, my massage therapist has norovirus, so I don't want him coming anywhere near me right now!  I'd rather deal with back pain than with norovirus!


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## mccindy

Kel  - Basically, as Cat said, I have degenerative disk disease, and had my L5-S1 disk and L4-L5 disk removed and fused in 2003, and my L3-L4 disk partially removed in 2010.  I have a lot of issues with my L3 nerve channel and I'm very thin so I don't have much tissue and musculature between the fusion and my back.  I also have problems with nearly constant muscle spasms.  The PT I saw for years said that because of all of the scar tissue and the fusion that if I lost too much weight I would have problems with losing connective tissue around the fusion site.  

Cat - that sinus stuff is really tough for you.  I hope you are able to get through that .  One thing helps you and causes another issue.  And I know how much you hate to miss your workouts!


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## kel

I see.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/7/14:  I did yoga last night and fortunately that went great.  I'm feeling somewhat better today - back pain is gone, hamstring hasn't bothered me for over 24 hours, and my cold is mostly gone I think.  I'm kind of tired and still rather sniffly but that's about it.  So I'm going to hit the gym today!  I will do everything, including the hamstrings machine.  If it gives me pain again then I'll stop.

I'm looking forward to a proper relaxing weekend.  I have no plans and it's not supposed to snow, so I won't have to shovel!    I'm going to do some stuff around the house and I'll do some exercise of course too.  I'm thinking I'll walk my dog tomorrow, and I might either go snowshoeing or ice skating.  Sunday I'll go to the gym for weights.

Oh, while I'm thinking of it - Kel, I have a question for you since you know a lot about this kind of stuff (anyone else who knows the answer can feel free to chime in too).  I have heard the phrase, "Abs are made in the kitchen."  Meaning diet is more important than exercise for having a 6-pack I guess?  But what specifically does it mean?  Does it just mean that you need to be thin enough/not eat so much so that you don't have a lot of abdominal flab and that your muscles can show through?  Or does it mean a specific diet, like you should eat more protein to help your abs develop and show?  I'm wondering because I have a little bit of abdominal flab (thanks, Entocort) and I also tend to bloat out as the day goes on which seems to happen regardless of what I eat (though certain foods or just plain overeating will of course make it worse).  I'm just kind of thinking out loud here, I can't really see my ab muscles because of the little bit of flab & bloat.  If I lose a few lbs and ditch the flab, is that all I really need to do?  Or do I need to eat certain things and try to get the bloat under control too?  What's the best method and what does that phrase really mean?

Edited to add:  I should say my current height and weight - I'm 5'8" and currently about 137 lbs, which is well within the "healthy" range for BMI (I know, BMI isn't the best indicator).  I'm not too thin and I'm not overweight, I just have a teensy bit of flab.  When I was super sick 4 years ago, I lost 20 lbs and dropped down to 115 which was approaching scary-skinny.  Then I was on Entocort for 7 months and I gained about 25 lbs during that time, but it all came back as fat and a lot of it settled around my midsection (I always had a flat belly until my first round of Entocort).  So I don't actually need to lose weight, but if losing a few lbs (ideally staying above 130 lbs) is what it'll take, then I'm willing to try in order to actually be able to see my abs.


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## mccindy

Basically, when it comes to things like 6-pack abs, either you can get low enough body fat to show them or you can't.  Everyone carries body fat differently.  If you work out enough that your body is in the kind of shape that will have muscle definition in that area of your body, and your body fat is low enough, the abdominal definition will show through.  Some people carry more fat in their midsection and would have to get to a pretty low body fat percentage for that to happen as opposed to a person who carries more fat in his or her legs/buttocks.  

I'm certainly no expert, so kel, if you have more info in this area, please add.


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## kel

Did you have a six pack when you lost all that weight? If you couldn't see your abs then I don't suggest focusing on a six pack. Yes, if you are already working out the key variable to manipulate is your diet. You will need to lose bodyfat, which will be very difficult while you are on steroids (they are catabolic and make you retain water). I typed up a bit on this for a client the other day.

Defined abdominals (like all muscles really) are a function of low bodyfat and your own genetics (also manipulating carb and sodium intake can enhance definition).  From all the literature I have read on the subject having a low enough bodyfat to have a really shredded six pack is quite unhealthy for women, it messes with your hormones and can screw up your cycle and even cause fertility issues down the line. Sometimes called "athletic amenorrhea." Males encounter health issues too but at a much lower bodyfat than women.

To illustrate, something like this would be reasonably obtainable for a healthy, athletic woman (this is a bit arbitrary but it hopefully gives a little better idea of different levels of bodyfat)






Not so much this


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cindy - Ah, I see.  I should find out what my percentage of body fat is, that'd be interesting to know.  Is that the kind of thing my GP can measure?  I see him next week so I can ask about it then.  

As for where I carry my weight - it always tended to be more on my hips & booty area, I've always been a bit of a pear shape (I've always been thin, but the booty has always been just a little bit too big & wide for the rest of my frame).  It wasn't until Entocort that I started carrying a bit of fat in the belly area too.  So I feel like, this isn't necessarily my genetics to carry flab on my tummy area.  But it's stuck around for 3ish years now so maybe this is just my new normal?  When I first started working out, I was able to maintain my weight while lifting weights - so it seemed like I must therefore be converting flab into muscle, and I further assumed that it'd only be a matter of time before the belly became muscular and not flabby.  But 3 years later and it's still not cute, ha ha.    This isn't a huge deal, my fitness goal was never to look cute or have a visible 6-pack, but at the same time I am sick of the belly flab and want to know what my options are for getting rid of it, you know?  I've maintained my weight pretty well for 3 years now so I guess my thought was that if I lose a few lbs then maybe I'll look fitter and less flabby in that area.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kel, thanks - um, yikes, that bottom photo is pretty scary, I am not aiming for that much definition!    Honestly, the reason this even came up is, one of my favorite K-pop singers just revealed that she's got cute abs.  She reminds me of me, she's adorable and dorky and she honestly can't sing nor dance very well, ha ha.  So I kind of relate to her, and when I saw that she's got really cute abs, I admittedly got a little bit jealous.  She doesn't even have a 6-pack, just some cute definition and no flab.  That's all I really want.

But as you said, she's really thin, so I think that's why she has cute abs.  There's a picture of her in the link below - as you can see, she's really thin and tiny.

http://www.soompi.com/2014/03/02/2ne1s-dara-reveals-toned-abs-at-all-or-nothing-world-tour/

But basically what you're saying, in a nutshell, is that if I try to limit sodium intake (not always the easiest since I tend to lose sodium fast when I'm dehydrated) and my carb intake and try to lose a few lbs, I might get somewhere approaching Dara's abs or the top photo that you posted?  I think I can do that.

Edited to add:  No, I didn't have a 6-pack when I lost 20 lbs, I've never had a visible 6-pack.  Up until I got sick, I had a flat tummy - no definition but no flab either.  When I got sick and lost the weight, my belly sort of went concave which was not cute and a bit scary.  But, I never really worked out regularly until after I got into remission.  I would work out for a few months at a time here and there, but I never enjoyed it until I got ill and really learned to appreciate my health.  So yeah.  I can tell, when I flex, I can feel muscles under there!  I don't think it's a 6-pack under there but there's definitely strong muscles going on just under the flab.


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## kel

That girl is very thin. Not much muscle, not much of anything. 

I doubt your gp will know how to measure bodyfat accurately even if he says he does. There is the option of DEXA scan which is expensive and can still be wildly off depending on if you're fasted hydrated etc. If you can get skin fold calipers you can measure it yourself and come up with a reasonable guess. There are a lot of methods floating around the internet so you can google around if interested. Generally more sites = better accuracy. There is also the rope and choke method which uses a tape measure to find the circumference of various parts of your body. I honestly don't know too much about any of it as I've never needed to measure my own bf.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/10/14:  I had, well, not the best weekend.    Friday I went to the gym and had a good workout.  Saturday, I did a lot of stuff around the house including cleaning my basement.  Lifted a lot of boxes out of there to throw stuff away/take stuff to be donated.  So that was pretty much a workout in itself!  I also walked the dog on Saturday.  The snow had started to melt and then re-froze, so as a result the paths in the dog park were all very icy.  Fortunately I had the foresight to bring my snowshoes along, and I walked with those on the crusty snow away from the icy walking paths.  That worked out great.  I also ran a few errands and did a bunch of sewing - I really did a lot on Saturday!

So I didn't feel too worthless then when Sunday became an impromptu "stay at home, rest, and eat low-res" kind of a day.  I had inadvertently (stupidly) drank a swig of sour almond milk because my hubby said I should take a drink to see if it was still good or not.  It was not good, but I have a really hard time telling when things like that have spoiled, so I drank the mouthful of almond milk.  Hubby then took a swig and spit it right out, saying it had definitely gone bad and how could I not tell?  I don't know, I just couldn't.  So with my pre-existing tummy issues, drinking that bit of sour almond milk made me very worried that I would get some sort of food poisoning or bacteria and set off a flare.  I worried myself into a couple hours of nausea, and I decided the best course of action would be to stay home and rest and stay near my bathroom just in case.  So I sat on the couch and watched a few episodes of City Hunter (really cool K-drama) and worked on my crocheting and didn't do anything else, had a totally lazy day.  Fortunately I think I'm fine - it's now 24 hours later and I didn't get any symptoms aside from the initial nausea that I worried myself into having.

So, since I am apparently okay, I'm planning to hit the gym today.  I've got an interesting week planned with doctor appointments on Tuesday (eye doctor) and Thursday (GP).  So it works out well for me to do the gym on Mon-Wed-Fri.  I'd like to try to do something active on Tues & Thurs, maybe bike or yoga, so I'll do what I can on those days.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I hit the gym and finally had a great workout - it seems like it's been a little while!  I did all the machines, and the hamstring feels fine.  I did 2 sets of squats and a 30 second plank, too.  I felt exhausted when I got up this morning - stupid daylight savings time has messed with my internal clock.  But I felt very energized after my workout, it was just exactly what I needed.  

Tomorrow evening I think I'm going to ride the stationary bike for an hour.  Hubby likes to watch that "Agents of Shield" show which doesn't really interest me, and that show is on on Tuesdays.  So while he's watching his show, I'll watch another episode of my K-drama and ride the bike.  That sounds like a nice plan to me.  And since I'm actually trying to lose a few lbs, I can use the cardio.

Back on that subject, Kel, thanks for letting me know that it won't be worthwhile to ask my GP to do a bodyfat measurement.  I'll do a bit of googling and see what I can come up with.  As for that picture of Dara I posted, yeah, she is very thin.  I realize I shouldn't try to have a similar body when I have a different body type and surely different body chemistry and all that stuff.  I just have to keep trying to be the best Cat I can be!    I'd still like nicer-looking abs, so I'm going to move forward with trying to lose just a few lbs (like 5 lbs I think, I don't want to drop back into the 120s).  It's not a super high priority though.  I was just being silly with wanting to be like Dara.  My main goals are still to be healthy and strong.  The silly exterior stuff is not nearly as important.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/11/14:  Bleh.    I woke up this morning with a nasty headache.  A rain storm started moving through the area, which apparently caused a barometric pressure headache.  As the storm was moving through, my headache eased but then my bad hip started aching pretty badly.  Like to the point where I'm trying not to limp because I don't want co-workers to worry about me.  I think at this point I can safely say that the steroid injections have completely worn off, because my hip feels pretty angry.  Not going to get more steroid injections either, as I had tons of side effects and only a few months of relief.

I still want to ride the stationary bike tonight.  My hips are usually okay with me riding the bike (it's my knees that tend to experience pain from longer bike rides, and my knees are feeling okay right now), so I think I can do it.  I probably won't push myself too much and will do one of the easier "gentle sloping hill" programs rather than the "holy cow that's a huge hill" program.  And I may only do 30 mins rather than a full hour, depending on how things are feeling.  Right now I feel pretty bad, so I'm hoping exercise makes it better.

I feel like I'm complaining a lot, but I'm not adjusting well to daylight savings time, either.  I get up at 6 AM for work, and before we changed the clocks for DST, the sun was coming up around 6 and I was able to wake up pretty easily as the sun was coming through my windows.  Now, though, with the clocks forward an hour, I'm getting up when it's still totally dark out, and my brain & body are having a very difficult time with that.  I open my eyes, my clock says 6, but my brain and body say it's dark out so it is not time to get up yet!  I have to drag myself out of bed and I'm feeling pretty exhausted the past few days.  I usually have a hard time with DST time changes, but this year seems even more difficult than usual.  I just want to hibernate!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/12/14:  Another bleh day.    The hip pain got gradually worse yesterday and I ended up not being able to ride the bike.  I tried, I just pedaled a little bit, but that wasn't super comfortable, and I listened to my body and it was telling me no.  I tried a little bit of yoga, but just bending forward to touch my toes made the pain worse.  So I sat in a hot bath for awhile and that helped a little bit.  I ended up having kind of a fun evening in the end, as hubby and I watched an episode of my K-drama together.  He hadn't watched any previous episodes of this show, so I was explaining the plot to him, and there are some ridiculous parts so we kept laughing about certain things in the show.  That was fun, I needed a good laugh.

Today it's back to being cold and snowy!  :ymad:  So the hip is still hurting.  I tried walking around a little bit, and at first that was quite painful, but then the pain eased up as I walked a little bit more.  I'm going to walk throughout the day as much as I can to try to keep the pain at a reasonable level.  I'm also planning on going to the gym tonight with hubby.  I know I can lift weights even with hip pain, so that's the plan.  Now if it would just stop #@$%& snowing...


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ahhh, finally some relief.  It stopped snowing and now my hip isn't hurting nearly as much as it was earlier.  Walking on it every so often throughout the day seems to have helped too.  So I'm definitely going to the gym tonight, nothing can stop me now (unless it starts snowing again!   ).  I'm feeling positive and I'm looking forward to having a good workout.  I might not push myself super hard on the warm up (which will likely be the arc trainer) but I plan to push myself on the weights.  Particularly my arms - the hip is still a little bit achey so I'll just do what I'm able to do with the legs, but I will push my arms for sure.

I've had a little bit of a stressful day, so I went to the thrift store earlier and did a bit of retail therapy.  Found a super cute workout jacket that fits really well, only $6!  I know, I don't actually need any more workout clothes.  I already have I think 3 workout jackets?    I have an olive green one that has 3/4 sleeves, I have an orange one that has a hood, and I have a grey track-style workout jacket.  But, uh, I didn't have a black one yet, so yes, I totally needed to buy this one.    Sure I did.  Good thing my compulsive shopping habits are on the thrifty side of things.  And I try very hard not to be a hoarder - I just got rid of a whole bunch of stuff.  Cleaned my basement, threw out/recycled/donated about 8 boxes of stuff total.  So I feel justified somehow in buying yet another workout jacket, ha ha.    I'm so obsessed with workout clothes at this point, I get more satisfaction out of buying them than I do from buying regular non-workout clothes.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/13/14:  I went to the gym last night and I felt so good!  I had a lot of energy and was really able to push myself.  I had pretty much zero hip pain.  I did everything including the abdominals machine.  Felt a bit refluxy at the end but not too bad.  Hubby came with and he said he had a lot of energy and a really good workout, too, so we were both feeling like "Ahhhh!" afterwards.  

I went to my GP today and he did a bunch of bloodwork.  Sometimes I get woozy when they take multiple vials of my blood, but I feel okay today.  The hip feels just a tiny bit painful today but it's tolerable, just a little niggle of pain.  So, I think I'm okay to do a little cardio.  I'm going to do the bike for 30 mins.  My legs feel strong like I can do it.  So that's the plan!

Tomorrow, I'll do weights again.  Saturday, not sure - I'm supposed to get together with a friend, but she's being kind of flakey and hasn't said yet what time she'll be available to hang out.  So I may walk my dog on Saturday morning and then meet up with my friend a little later in the day - if she can be flakey to me, I can be flakey and walk my dog.    Sunday, the plan is to do weights again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, and my GP wrote me a new referral to go back to physical therapy, if I want to.  He left it up to me, he said the referral will be good for awhile so I can take a month or two if I want to think about it.  So, I'm not sure if I want to go back to PT - if it'll be worthwhile or not.  I still obviously have hip pain, and I exercise my hip a lot with both stretching and strengthening, so I'm not sure what more PT can do for me.  Also, I really liked my physical therapist from a few years ago, but I'm not sure if it's wise to go back to her or if I should get a new set of eyes on my case.  So that's what I'm mulling over now.  Any opinions or thoughts on that would be appreciated.


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## kel

What exactly is wrong with your hip?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kel, not entirely sure what's going on with my hip - it's kind of a long story but here goes.  Back in early 2010 I started having hip pain (right hip) so I went to my GP.  He did x-rays and diagnosed me as having mild arthritis, but he wasn't able to identify what type.  He sent me to an orthopedic surgeon, who was not able to figure it out either - he was used to seeing extremely obese people with severely damaged joints, so he didn't really know what to do with someone who was thin and only had very mild hip damage - he did say he saw "slight changes" in my hip but he also said that most people are not 100% symmetrical and he couldn't even tell if it was natural slight asymmetry or if it was mild arthritis.  So then I went to physical therapy which went pretty well.  I really liked my physical therapist, and she was able to reduce my pain by quite a lot with some gentle strengthening & stretching exercises.  Around that time, my presumed IBD went into remission (everything is presumed with me, nothing's been firmly diagnosed except for my GERD!).  When the guts quieted down, the hip followed suit.  I started exercising regularly as I was going into remission, and the hip and guts both stayed mostly quiet for about 2 years.

But then last winter (winter of 2012-2013), the hip pain came back.  Then a few months later in the spring of 2013 I fell out of remission, so once again both the guts and the hip were acting up.  I went back to my GP, who did another x-ray which he said showed mild arthritis in both hips, but again, he couldn't determine what type of arthritis.  My GP then referred me to rheumatology in an attempt to get more answers about my hip.  My rheumatologist did an MRI which he said showed no inflammatory arthritis (but my GP told me that the rheumatologist's notes say possible sacro-iliac arthritis?).  The rheumy ended up being kind of worthless and he said I should follow up with my GP.  I was like, no, you're the specialist, my GP sent me to you!  So I saw the rheumy once more, in August of last year I think, and he said he has no idea what's wrong with my hip.  But then he said, a steroid injection shouldn't do any harm and could help, so he could try that.  I agreed and he did 2 steroid injections.  I ended up having hideous side effects for about 3 weeks afterwards - increased hip pain, worse reflux, nausea, massive fatigue.  My worthless rheumy said I shouldn't be having side effects, he once again had no idea what waas going on with me, and he again said I should follow up with my GP.  Sigh!  So I just dealt with the side effects, they eventually went away, and for awhile I did feel some mild relief from the injections.  They've worn off now though and I'm back to having pain off and on again.

So yeah, I have arthritis probably maybe, but nobody seems to be able to tell me more than that.  All I know is, jogging makes it incredibly painful very quickly, within just a few minutes.  Weather also has a profound effect on it, very bitter cold weather makes it ache and snow or rain storms can make it sharply painful - the bigger/nastier the storm is, the worse my hip pain is.  Last year a blizzard was coming in and it was the worst hip pain I had ever felt, it sort of spilled over into my other hip and my lower back, everything in that area was just massively painful.  When it gets bad enough, I limp.  I own several canes and walking sticks because the pain can come out of nowhere at times.

My theory is that I have some sort of IBD and that I also have some sort of arthritis that is related to the IBD.  I'm 34 and my GP says I'm too young for wear-and-tear type arthritis.  He's puzzled, I'm puzzled, every specialist I've been to has been puzzled.  It's pretty much the same story with my IBD - I have had multiple tests including repeat colonoscopies & upper endoscopies, but nothing ever shows up on tests.  Yet I respond really well to IBD meds including pred and Entocort, which all my doctors agree those wouldn't work on "IBS" but they would work on IBD.  So I have a tentative diagnosis of presumed IBD, and possible presumed arthritis.  But whatever is wrong with me, it has been hiding really well for quite some time now!

That's why I'm almost proud of my GERD - it showed up on tests like a champ.    I had a test where they put an NG tube in me for 24 hours to monitor my reflux - how acidic it is, how high in my throat it goes, how many episodes I have, etc.  I was nearly off the charts, I had 48 separate episodes in 24 hours, and half of those episodes reached the top of my throat.  When I'm lying down/sleeping, I reflux more often than not.  My longest single episode of reflux was over 5 hours long, and that's just one of 48 episodes!  So it was definitely confirmed, I have severe GERD.  Of course, there is still a bit of a mystery, because they don't know why it's so severe and why it isn't particularly responsive to medications (I take 40 mg of Nexium, 2x 300 mg of Zantac, and as many Tums as needed per day, and that just barely keeps things under control - I still need to avoid trigger foods like acidic or spicy or fried things, and I can't do too many abdominal exercises in one workout or my reflux will still go haywire).

Sorry, I said that was going to be long!  But yeah, that's it in a very large nutshell.


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## kel

And what kind of results do you see with crp and sed rate when your guts are flaring?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My CRP and ESR are always normal.  I heard a statistic that about 10% of the IBD population will have normal inflammation markers, even when in a bad flare.  I presume I'm in that 10%.  I had a very slightly elevated CRP at one point - my GP said anything between 0 and 1 is normal, and I was at 1.7 - so just a teeny bit high and it only happened once.  All the other times I've had it tested, both CRP and ESR were well within the normal range.


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## kel

Why do they think it is ibd and not ibs? Because prednisone improves your symptoms?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

For many reasons both I and my doctors feel that it's IBD and not IBS.  I have had pretty much all the "red flag" symptoms, including unintentional weight loss, night sweats, getting up in the night to go, and as of about a year ago I started experiencing blood in my stool off and on, too.  I don't respond to IBS meds and one of them (hyoscyamine) even made me feel a lot worse.  But I respond to IBD meds like a champ - pred worked wonders for me, and Entocort got me into remission.  All of my doctors have agreed that those meds only work when there's inflammation present, and we've ruled out other inflammatory/autoimmune conditions like Lupus, RA, Addison's, etc.  I also respond really well to Asacol, it kept me in remission for 2 years (then they stopped making it in the US which is why I dropped back out of remission).  I'm on Pentasa now which seems like it's working okay, and presuming that Entocort gets me back into remission this time around, I'm hoping Pentasa keeps me in remission as well as Asacol did.  

So basically my IBD pseudo-diagnosis is based on all of the above.  It's more than "just IBS" but it's apparently not something outside the realm of IBD, therefore it is likely IBD.  My GI has been leaning towards microscopic colitis, as that would explain why he has never been able to visualize any inflammation.  He has done 2 colonoscopies on me, both with biopsies, but still didn't find it - I know that microscopic colitis has a skip pattern though, so perhaps he just didn't luck into biopsying the right areas.  Someday we'll figure it out.  I have an aunt who recently got diagnosed with Crohn's - after 30+ years of symptoms and countless tests, she finally got diagnosed.  Sometimes it just takes awhile for whatever reason.  I'm okay with being patient as long as my doctors are willing to treat me and take me seriously.

Update 3/14/14 - Happy Pi Day!    I did 30 mins on the bike yesterday, and I felt great.  Legs feel a little tired today but not bad at all.  I'm going to do weights today.  We will be having mini pies for dinner - chicken, mushroom and onion with a creamy sauce, yum!  Not the most tummy-safe thing, the cream sauce might do me in, and mushrooms don't digest easily at all.  I've noticed that some mushrooms are safer than others, though.  Shittake mushrooms do not digest AT ALL for me, I swear they come out the other end looking like I didn't even chew them.  But regular button mushrooms and baby-bella mushrooms are safer, I might pass undigested bits of them but at least they look partially broken-down.  So yeah, pies for pie day.  Yum!

Tomorrow will be kind of a rest day, I only intend to walk the dog and that's it.  My friend got less flakey and we firmed up our plans, so we're going to do a bit of shopping and have lunch together tomorrow.  It turns out she had a bad toothache and wasn't sure if she'd be feeling up to hanging out, that's why she was acting flakey, but she got pain meds and antibiotics for her tooth so she is feeling better now.  I haven't seen her in a few years so it should be nice to get together and catch up and reminisce about old times.  So I'm looking forward to that, and tomorrow should be a fun day.


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## mccindy

hey there!  I've been off the elliptical.  With losing so much weight, my hubs is concerned I need to stop working out altogether so I don't lose more.  which sucks.  so I'm staying off it.  I'm under 127 now.  

Even at my current weight, and low body fat, I don't have much for visible abs, just a line on each side.  I don't think I could have a "six pack" as some people do, it's just not in my genetics.


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## kel

I'll have to read up on microscopic colitis. That is very unfortunate they have not been able to definitively diagnose something. Could you see a GI who specializes in microscopic crohns perhaps?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kel, I don't know if there are any GIs in the area who specialize in microscopic colitis.  I know a bit about microscopic colitis, and what I know about it "fits" me very well.  Obviously with MC the inflammation is microscopic, so on visualization (scopes and scans), the bowel appears totally normal and healthy.  It doesn't cause bleeding like UC does (I have been bleeding off and on, but my GI found internal hemorrhoids which he says is likely the cause of my bleeding.)  Microscopic colitis can only be found on biopsy, and because it has a skip pattern like Crohn's does, basically they have to luck into biopsying the right areas on colonoscopy in order to find it.  The more biopsies they take, the better the odds that they'll find it.  I think my GI took a dozen or so biopsies during my first colonoscopy (in April 2010) but he found nothing.  He took some biopsies during my scope last year too (in August 2013) but also didn't find anything - I'm not sure how many biopsies he took that time but I know he took at least one random colon biopsy and one from the TI.  I saw the photos from that colonoscopy - everything looked pristine and beautiful, my colon visually is the picture of health.  So again, microscopic colitis would make sense, because the colon would look normal and healthy visually with MC.

Also, I've heard multiple people on the forum say that Entocort works really well for microscopic colitis - some people think it works even better for MC than it does for Crohn's.  Anecdotally then I may be more likely to have MC than Crohn's because I do respond really well to Entocort.  So there's a lot of, I guess you could call it circumstantial evidence pointing towards microscopic colitis.  It's just hiding really well I guess, whatever it is!

Kel, if you'd like to do some reading up on microscopic colitis, there are 2 main types of it - lymphocytic colitis and collagenous colitis.  You might have more luck googling those terms rather than just googling microscopic colitis.

Cindy, glad to see you back on the forum.  That sucks though that you're not exercising at all right now.    How is your back doing, any better or worse since you've avoided the elliptical?  Less than 2 weeks now till you go to Mayo Clinic - I really hope they can figure some things out and get you feeling better!

Oh, Cindy, you mentioned weight loss.  I should give a little weight loss update on me.  I'm actually for once trying to lose just a few lbs in an effort to rid myself of this little bit of belly flab that I've got.  I am taking baby steps right now and just making a few changes here and there.  For one thing, I had noticed a little while ago that if I eat just a very small dinner, I feel much better later on in the evening and the next morning as well.  If I eat a normal/large evening meal then I sometimes spend quite a bit of time on the toilet just before bed and also when I first get up in the morning, and I don't feel very well.  Eating just a small evening meal helps me avoid that and I just generally feel better, too.  So I'm trying to only eat a very small bit at dinnertime and so far that's going well.  (It might not be going well for hubby though - last night I ate about 1/3rd of the large plate of food he had prepared for me, and he said in a pouty way, "Do you even like anything that I cook for you?"  I was like, chill, dude, it's not all about you, I'm trying to be nice to my guts here.)

Also, I've made a few food switches.  I try to eat oatmeal as often as I can, because it's soluble fiber that I tolerate pretty well, and also because I have kind of high cholesterol.  I had been eating oatmeal that I added some sugar to, or even those instant packets of oatmeal that surely are full of sugar too plus who knows what else.  I know all that sugar can't be good for my guts nor my waistline.  So now I'm just eating plain, no sugar 100% organic oats oatmeal.  It was really bland at first, I won't lie, I kind of hated it.  But it's been about a week now and I'm getting used to it.  If I have something like fruit with it then that's all the sweetness I need, and it's even becoming tolerable on its own without fruit.  

The other food switch I made was, for making my morning breakfast smoothies, I switched from regular/sweetened almond milk to the light/unsweetened variety.  I can't tell a taste difference in my smoothies, so that's been a painless switch.  So those are my first couple of food swaps so far, not too bad.  I weighed myself yesterday and it said I have lost 2 lbs this week - not sure if I trust that scale though.  I'm just going to keep up with it and look for other ways to make little swaps to be a bit healthier and take in a few less calories.


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Update 3/14/14 - Happy Pi Day!    I did 30 mins on the bike yesterday, and I felt great.  Legs feel a little tired today but not bad at all.  I'm going to do weights today.  We will be having mini pies for dinner - chicken, mushroom and onion with a creamy sauce, yum!  Not the most tummy-safe thing, the cream sauce might do me in, and mushrooms don't digest easily at all.  I've noticed that some mushrooms are safer than others, though.  Shittake mushrooms do not digest AT ALL for me, I swear they come out the other end looking like I didn't even chew them.  But regular button mushrooms and baby-bella mushrooms are safer, I might pass undigested bits of them but at least they look partially broken-down.  So yeah, pies for pie day.  Yum!


Yum Yum.  What about some lemon meringue pie for dessert?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hi Hawkeye, hope you're doing better?  Are you out of the hospital now?  As for pie, I've never been a big fan of lemon meringue.  But I could totally go for some blueberry pie, yum!  I saw that a local grocery store has a lot of pies out on display today for Pi Day so I might be tempted to go pick one up for dessert.    Mmmm, pie.


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## hawkeye

I've been home a week Yesterday (from the "round 2"  release from the hospital - got out the first time on the 26th (surgery Feb 20th) but went back in on the 28th for an obstruction). 

Lost another 7.5 lbs following surgery so I came home at 129 lbs. I am on a low fibre diet until I go back to the surgeon next month (also off work until then so it will be almost eight weeks off). I am tracking what I eat to try to put some weight on while staying away from "bad and empty" calories and maximizing protein and limiting fibre.

Just really using extra strength tylenol for pain management and using less over the past couple of days. Haven't driven yet but have gone on trips to the grocery store and costco and down to the mailbox  to get out walking.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/17/14:  I had a pretty unproductive weekend.  I did walk the dog on Saturday but that was about it.  I had gotten my new laptop on Friday so I spent a lot of the weekend learning about Windows 8.1 (I hate it, ha ha) and moving files over to my new computer.  My old laptop is dying and it can no longer run games nor videos, so I spent some quality time over the weekend playing games and watching videos on my new computer.  As a result, Sunday I felt very unambitious about going to the gym.  I had saved up a bunch of online episodes of a show I like, and I wanted to watch a marathon of it.  I was also working on an annoying crochet project that had taken way too long, and I just wanted to finish the stupid thing already.  So I decided it was okay to have a lazy day every now and then, and that Sunday could be a lazy day rather than a gym day.  So I basically parked myself in front of the computer and watched hours of my show while finishing up my crochet project.  I did feel a little bad about not going to the gym, but I also really felt like I needed to just take a day for myself and veg out.

Today I'm right back at it though, I can't be lazy for longer than a day without feeling bad.  Hubby and I are going to the gym tonight.  Tomorrow, not sure - maybe yoga.  Wednesday, gym again and I also may get a massage.  Thursday, also not sure.  Friday will be weights with hubby again.

My hip is aching again and it's not even raining nor snowing.  It's overcast and I think snow is in tomorrow's forecast, but my hip shouldn't be hurting this much this far in advance of the snow.  I'm really getting sick of this stupid hip pain, and I'm now more strongly considering going back to physical therapy.  I'm also leaning towards going back to the same physical therapist, as I really liked her and I don't want to roll the dice with a new physical therapist and end up with someone I don't like.  I think first I'm going to email her, let her know my situation, and get her thoughts as to whether more PT could potentially help me.  So that's the tentative plan for now, I just have to compose a short & concise email (I can email her through the clinic's website, but you're only allowed to type a limited number of characters per message, so I can't get all wordy and blather on like I tend to do).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/19/14:  I haven't been to the gym.    Monday at work, there was big meetings coming up and my boss kept saying that she thought that the people organizing the meetings didn't need my help (even though they always do).  So at the last minute, the people said yes, they absolutely needed my help, so I ran around doing stuff for the meetings and and got a bit stressed.  I admittedly had very little time for lunch that day and ended up eating fast food (terrible, I know).  I paid for it big-time, too.  My stomach got kind of painful and I got pretty nauseous a few hours after eating.  I stayed home sick yesterday and I'm calling in today too.  I'm feeling somewhat better today but I'm going to take another day off of work to fully recover.

So as a result I haven't been to the gym in days.  I hate it, but I know I need to listen to my body and give it what it needs, and right now it's asking for a heating pad and some tea.  I hope to be back to the gym tomorrow or Friday.  And I've learned my lesson, fast food is terrible and I'm better off not eating than I am eating that stuff.    Bleh.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/20/14:  I'm going to attempt to do some yoga tonight.  I still feel kind of crappy, and am having pain in the LRQ (particularly in the mornings).  I don't know if I got a touch of food poisoning which then set off a mini-flare?  That's basically what it feels like.  I had worse food poisoning a year or two ago and this feels similar.

My hip is randomly aching today too.  Even though it's not bitterly cold and it's not raining nor snowing.  The hip seems to be getting worse lately.  I wonder if it's an Entocort thing?  When I first developed hip pain, it was during the time that I was initially on Entocort.  I don't know.  Not sure how long I'll be on Entocort this time around - it's been a bumpy road so far, so I suspect I'll be on it awhile to get things calmed down more.  I'll be interested to see how my hip behaves once I am off of Entocort again.

Anyway, so yeah.  I get really antsy just sitting there being ill.  I'm doing slightly better today so I'm back at work and I'm going to try some yoga to sort of ease back into exercise.  If it goes well, then tomorrow the tentative plan is to go to the gym with hubby and try some weights.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/21/14:  I'm finally feeling pretty much all recovered from the food poisoning or whatever it was.  I did yoga last night, and I had a few moments where I thought I was going to have to run to the bathroom, but I held it together and got through 30 mins of yoga without incident.  My body responded well and I feel pretty much back to my old self again today.    My hip stopped aching too, so I'm feeling all-around much better than I was.  So I'm going to hit the gym tonight.  I will probably go easy on my tummy just to be safe, so I will likely avoid the abdominals machine, but I'm hoping to do everything else.


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## kel

Good to hear the food poisoning or w/e is done. I've had it a few times and it is really a new low everytime.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks!  I'm pretty sure it was bad tomatoes in the fast food I had - I remember thinking they tasted a little bit funny, but I thought it was just a fast food thing.    I guess not!  I had bad tomatoes once in the past too and that time it just caused about a day's worth of d for both my hubby and myself, but we were fine after that.  The worst food poisoning I had in recent memory was when my hubby improperly thawed some frozen ground turkey in the sink.  He got a little sick and I felt awful for days.  That was a couple years ago.  We now make sure to thaw things properly!  I now see that I'm going to have to be much more careful about tomatoes in the future, too.  My hubby was a cook in the army many years ago.  He said that anytime people got sick from the cooking, it was more often than not from tomatoes.  I think I'm going to start avoiding tomatoes more.  They've made me sick twice now (I think).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/24/14:  Fortunately I had a good weekend and was able to make it to the gym.    I hit the gym Friday night with hubby.  I felt pretty tired and wasn't super energetic, and I did avoid the abdominals machine.  But I made it through my workout even though it wasn't the easiest.  Saturday I took the dog on a long walk - it was quite cold and windy out so that wasn't particularly easy either.  Plus the dog park was full of mud - I thought wearing sneakers to walk the dog would be okay since the snow has mostly melted, but I didn't consider that the dog park was a giant field of mud.    So my shoes and socks got soaked through pretty quickly which was uncomfortable.  My dog doesn't like mud (thankfully!) so she wasn't comfortable either.  She did play with a puppy though so they both got tired out and had a good time in spite of everything.  Yesterday I hit the gym again.  Once again, I wasn't feeling super energetic, but I made it through and I did do the abdominals machine without incident.  

Today I'm thinking I'll do 30 mins on the stationary bike.  I'm trying to incorporate more cardio than usual since I am trying to lose a few lbs.  I haven't lost any more weight - last week was kind of a bust with me getting sick and everything, and when I get sick I sort of go into panic mode.  I tend to associate weight loss with being ill, so I try to avoid losing weight and I make myself eat so as to minimize the effects of being ill.  As a result, I didn't lose and I didn't gain anything last week.  I'm still at about 135 according to the scale in my Wii (which seems to be more accurate than the other scales I have access to).  Hopefully I won't have any setbacks this week and can move forward with that.  I bought myself some safe fruit (blackberries, mango, and bananas) so that I have relatively healthy things to snack on.  I also realized that since I can eat mangos as long as I remove the skin, I should be able to do the same with things like peaches.  I have tried peaches a few times but they always upset me, and maybe that's because I tried eating them with the skins on.  So I'm going to get peaches and maybe plums or nectarines too and peel them and see how that goes.

Cindy, are you around?  I know you're going to Mayo clinic tomorrow - good luck and please keep me posted on how everything goes.  I really hope they can figure things out and get you some relief already.  Good luck!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I did 30 mins on the stationary bike, I tried to push myself and I did a hill program.  It was kind of tough but my legs held up (they do feel tired now though).  The hip is okay right now but it just started snowing a little bit and we're supposed to get up to an inch of snow tonight, so the hip pain may start back up again shortly, and I'm glad I did my workout before the snow started.

Tomorrow, I'm headed to the little gym for weights.  Wednesday may be a rest day or maybe yoga, depending on how I'm feeling.  Weights in the big gym with hubby on Thursday, and I haven't thought as far ahead as Friday (lately it seems that when I plan out my whole week, something happens and I end up having to change my plans anyway, so I'm trying to be a bit looser with my workout planning).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/25/14:  I feel pretty good today.  It snowed off and on yesterday evening through this morning, but my hip is doing okay in spite of that - it's slightly aching but it's totally tolerable, not bad at all.  I'm going to hit the little gym for weights today.  Tomorrow I'm thinking I'll take a rest day.  Thursday weights again, and Friday I may mix things up a bit.  I usually do cardio on the stationary bike, but I know I can do cardio stuff on the Wii Fit too.  I usually just use the Wii Fit for yoga, but I'm interested to try a cardio session with it, so I might do that on Friday.


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## Axelfl3333

Your right windows 8.1 is junk


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Axel, yeah, I am still not liking Windows 8.1!  It took me forever to find the stupid calculator on it (I made a shortcut to it on my desktop so that I can find it now, ha ha).  

Update 3/16/14:  My guts aren't great today.  I ate a small portion of a safe dinner last night (duck meat and mashed potatoes) but I had a bad episode of d and some cramping before bed.  Today I was thinking of taking as a rest day anyway, so that's just as well.  Hopefully resting will make my guts feel better.  My hip feels okay for the moment, but the weather report says lots of rain all day tomorrow, so I'm thinking my hip probably won't like that.  Still, I'm planning to go to the gym tomorrow evening anyway.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/27/14:  Having a bleh day today.  It's raining so of course the hip is very achey, and my lower back isn't feeling great either.  Also, I'm due for my "time of the month" to start any minute now, so I'm a bit crampy and bloated too.  Yuck.  I think a trip to the gym can only make me feel better though, so I'm definitely going to hit the weights tonight.  It might not be pretty, but it's better than sitting here and feeling sorry for myself.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Silly update:  So I recently got a new laptop with windows 8.1 and I just moved my itunes music over to the new computer.  I just synced my ipod (which I use to work out with) yesterday to the new computer, and I realized just now that I should test out my ipod to make sure my playlists work properly and that all my music is on there before I head to the gym.  Well.... I have an ipod shuffle, so no screen but there's a voice-over feature that says the names of your playlists, it can tell you the name of a song and who sings it, and it can say things like how much battery life you have left.  My old computer was Windows 7 and the voice-over on my ipod was a lady.  Now, having synced my ipod to the new computer, I find that the voice-over is suddenly a male???  And he's got some quirks, instead of saying what I've named my playlists, he just says "Playlist 1, Playlist 2" etc which is not helpful at all (the lady used to say the name of the playlist, she'd say "K-pop, J-pop", etc.  And the male voice-over doesn't say the names of the songs/singers at all (the female voice-over did).  So something funky is going on with this.  I'm not sure if it's itunes or windows 8.1 that did this but I'm not liking it!    It's silly but I'm very particular about my music, especially when I'm working out!  I just googled, and google seems to indicate that the male voice is for Mac users and the female voice is for Windows users - but I'm a Windows user, why is my ipod on the male voice??  Eek, I'm going to have to do some fiddling around with this later tonight to try to get the lady voice back.  I think it's okay enough that I can do my workout, I managed to find my workout playlist (it's "Playlist 5", note to self!).  But if this is how itunes/my ipod is going to be from now on, then I am liking Windows 8.1 even less.  I at least need to know which playlist is which!  

I just realized, I like the female ipod voice-over and I like the female virtual trainer on Wii Fit.    I don't like guys telling me anything in the gym I guess!    Every so often on Wii Fit, I get the male trainer, he says something to the effect of, he'll be filling in for the female trainer tonight.  I get mad and reset the game so that I can work out with the female trainer, I just refuse to have his annoying voice tell me what to do when I'm doing yoga.    The female trainer can be annoying too but I find the male trainer to be much more irritating when I'm trying to focus and concentrate.  Is that weird?  I feel like this shouldn't be a big deal but it bugs me, I want the female voice back on my ipod and I don't ever want the male Wii Fit trainer!  I think I'm just weird, ha ha.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/28/14:  I got the female voice back on my ipod!!     Hubby fixed it for me.  I got home from work and it turned out he had an issue with his car which I fixed, so we resolved each others' problems.  (He had put gas in his car and then he said his car was acting "sputtery" right afterwards - I said I know what that is, sometimes when you get gas, if they just filled the underground tanks at the gas station then a lot of sediment gets kicked up, and if that sediment gets in your gas tank it can clog up your fuel injectors, so all you need is a bottle of fuel injector cleaner and it's really cheap!  Yay, I know next to nothing about cars, but that's happened to my car a few times so I actually know just how to fix that particular issue.)  So a couple of crises were averted there and we both went to the gym in good moods.

I had a fantastic workout, I felt strong and energetic and just overall good.  I was able to do everything including the abdominals machine, and I was able to add a bit of weight and/or do a few extra reps on some of the machines, which I can only do when I am feeling very strong and well.  Hubby said he didn't feel so strong during his workout though and he got kind of nauseous, so he didn't have a good workout.  After the gym we went home and had dinner, but I messed up on cooking it a bit so it was fine but didn't taste great.  (Baked spaghetti that I messed up on the baking part.)  Hubby felt fine after dinner but my guts didn't like it, and I spent a good chunk of time in the bathroom after dinner.  I feel like crap today, too.  Exhausted, having a lot of d, and did I mention exhausted?  I feel like I could sleep for a week, and I have chills too, it feels like a mini-flare.  I was hoping to do some cardio tonight, but my body is not just telling me to rest, it's practically screaming at me to rest.  So, it's a rest day.  I'm going to go to bed early tonight and sleep in tomorrow, and hopefully I'll wake up tomorrow feeling rested and able to work out.  The good news is, if I do feel crappy all weekend, at least hubby will be home so he can walk the dog and do whatever needs doing around the house.  So if worse comes to worse, I can just rest up the whole weekend.  I'm hoping today's just a bad day and that it won't continue into the weekend, but it's good to know that I'm able to rest if need be.

The plan though is to rest today, hit the gym tomorrow, maybe walk the dog on Sunday.  It's supposedly going to be 60 degrees (!!!) on Sunday, so I would really like to get outside and enjoy actual springtime weather finally.  They're saying up to 25 mph winds, so a bike ride is probably out of the realm of possibility, but walking the dog and then maybe going to the zoo sounds really nice.  We have a lovely free zoo just a couple miles from my house and I haven't been there in a little while, so it will be nice to visit the zoo this weekend if I'm feeling up to it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/31/14:  I hit the gym on Saturday and did well.  I was *so* exhausted on Friday, so I let myself sleep in on Saturday and that helped a lot.  I felt much better so I was able to go do a nice workout on Saturday.  Hubby didn't have to work on the weekend for once, so we got to go to the gym together and we had lunch afterwards and just had a nice day.  I felt pretty good during my workout and was able to do it all, including the abdominals machine and a 30 second plank.

Yesterday I was planning on walking the dog, but my parents decided to come to town for a visit.  So I had to scramble to clean my house instead (hubby walked the dog while I cleaned).  Got my house cleaned and probably burned a few calories while doing so, but I didn't have a proper workout that day.  Had a big lunch with my parents, then took a short walk, had ice cream, went shopping, then my parents went home and I rested for the rest of the day.  I was stuffed with food and didn't exercise - not great, but it's okay to have a day like that every now and then.

Today, hubby and I are going to the gym this evening.  Tomorrow I will likely do either the stationary bike or yoga, depending on which one I feel like doing.  Wednesday weights, Thursday not sure, Friday weights.  That's the tentative plan so far.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/1/14:  I hit the gym yesterday and surprisingly did okay.  I say surprisingly, because I was having some abdominal pain before I went.  You know when you get like a "plug" of constipated poo but there's diarrhea behind it?  I had that going on and couldn't get the plug of poo out before I went to the gym, so I had to do my workout with rather full and unsettled guts and I was having some abdo pains because of it.  In spite of my guts, the rest of my body felt great - I felt quite strong and had good energy, I was able to do a few extra reps here and there and I added weight to 2 machines.  I even did the abdominals machine and felt okay afterwards, or at least I didn't feel any worse.

Last night just before bed, I was finally able to properly go to the bathroom and I rid myself of the constipated plug and the d that was building up behind it.  Today I feel a bit constipated again, I'm really not sure what's up with that as I tend more towards d than c.  In spite of feeling less than stellar, I did the stationary bike for 30 mins today.  That felt pretty good, my legs felt strong, although my guts were a little bit painful again during my workout.  I got through it just fine though, the pain wasn't a huge issue and it didn't deter me.

Tomorrow, I'm planning on doing weights.  I may or may not be getting a massage too - my massage therapist made it sound like he's probably available tomorrow, but I haven't heard from him for sure.  Sometimes he's hard to get ahold of so we'll see!  Thursday, I'm thinking I need a rest day.  Friday, I'll be back at the weights again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/2/14:  I hit the gym and feel good, but tired.  Definitely a good thing that tomorrow will be a rest day.  Oh, and I don't get to have a massage tonight, my massage therapist can't make it.  So I'll have a nice restful evening and tackle a few things - I have amassed a sewing pile of things that need buttons sewn back on them, so that'll be easy enough to do from the couch.  I'm also finishing up crocheting a scarf, which I may actually need soon as we're under a "winter weather advisory" for freezing rain, snow, and sleet starting tonight and going through Friday.  Yuck!  There's another good reason that tomorrow is a rest day, my hip is likely to be quite unhappy with the wintry weather.  So anyway, yeah, I'm going to relax tonight and just do those few projects while I watch TV.  I'm absolutely obsessed with a new K-drama and I'm a few episodes behind and I don't want to read any spoilers online, so I need to catch up!    So, tonight will be spent doing that.

I was originally going to hit the gym today with hubby, but he got called in to work today, so I went to the little gym on my lunch hour by myself instead.  Hubby is working all weekend too, so I'll be hitting the gym by myself then as well - which is fine, I love working out by myself and prefer it to working out with other people, so that's a win-win - hubby will work and make a bit of money, and I'll go do my thing in the gym with zero distractions.  Can't beat that!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/3/14:  Today's a rest day and I'm enjoying that.  I had great fun watching my K-drama last night, too - I understood an entire sentence that one character said!  Okay, so it was a short sentence - she said, "Niga wae yogi?"  Niga=you, wae=why, yogi=here.  So she said, why are you here?    That was pretty cool.  Sometimes I can pick out words I know, but it's really rare for me to understand everything about a phrase that is said.

Tomorrow I'll be hitting the gym by myself - hubby's got to work at a convention while his boss runs the costume shop, so he'll be working some long hours from Friday thru Sunday.  Saturday, it's supposedly going to be in the 50s and sunny and not windy, so I am thinking about maybe taking a bike ride.  (It's rainy and cold today and supposedly going to snow tomorrow so I have a hard time believing that Saturday will actually be nice weather!)  Sunday I'll hit the gym again by myself.  I'll likely walk the dog somewhere in there too.  And I'm sure I'll have to do some things like prepare dinner for hubby, so it won't be a terribly relaxing weekend, but that's okay.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/4/14:  It's my dad's birthday today, and there always seems to be terrible weather on his birthday.  Today is no exception, it's been windy and rainy and cold all day.  So my hip has been a bit angry.  I'm still considering going back to physical therapy for it but haven't decided just yet.  I did go to the gym today, and I concentrated a bit more on my hip than usual.  It feels okay now, so maybe I just need to work on my hip more on my own.  I work on strengthening it and stretching it each time I work out, but maybe it just needs a bit extra when it's not feeling good.  So that's my thought for now - I'll try to work more on my hip on my own, and if that doesn't work then I'll give more thought to going back to PT.

My workout today went well - I was so stressed and kind of chilled and just feeling blah before I hit the gym.  I wasn't feeling particularly ambitious about doing a workout, but I went to the gym anyway.  I put on my music, and the very first song got me really pumped up.  I brought my jump rope to the gym and used it as part of my warm-up, and I found myself really jumping hard & fast to keep time with the music!  That felt great and my workout went really well overall.  I feel pretty good now although I'm kind of tired as it's been a long week, and cloudy/rainy weather always makes me feel a bit tired too.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow - they're still predicting temps in the 50s and lots of sunshine!  If that's really true then I think I will go for a bike ride.  Probably just a short one to get used to riding a "real" bike again since I've only done the stationary bike all winter.  If the weather is really nice then I should walk my dog too, so I think I'll do a long walk and a short bike ride if I can manage both.  Not sure if I can do that much activity in one day, but I will try.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/7/14:  I had a so-so weekend.  Didn't feel great, but managed to work out anyway.  Saturday I felt fine and I walked the dog.  Sunday, I knew I needed to eat breakfast before I could think about working out.  We didn't have a lot of breakfast foods in the house, so I made some cinnamon rolls.  I think I messed up the instructions or something, because they didn't cook through and were kind of doughy and just gross.  I felt rather nauseous after eating.  I took some Zofran and made myself go to the gym anyway.  I felt barfy while I was changing into my workout clothes and I wasn't sure if I would be able to make it through a workout.  I did my warmup on the arc trainer and started to feel a little better.  Hit the weights and felt a bit better with each machine I did.  By the end of my workout, I was still a bit nauseous and refluxy, but I made it though (I did avoid the abdominals machine but did everything else).  I felt pretty proud of myself.

I got home, still not feeling great, and my dog was being pesty.  It was really nice weather and I knew my dog needed to burn off some energy, so I took her for a walk even though I really wasn't feeling up to doing even more activity.  She had a nice walk but my hip started aching from overdoing things.  So I ended up on the couch for the rest of the day with a painful hip and a riled up tummy.  Still, I managed to do way more than I thought I could - gym and a walk!

But the hip is still pretty achey today (it rained earlier this morning which didn't help the hip any), so today is going to be a rest day.  Tomorrow I'll hit the weights again.  Not sure yet about the rest of the week - I'm thinking yoga on Wednesday and weights Thursday, but I'm keeping things tentative for now since I'm still not feeling super great.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/8/14:  Ugh, nope.  No gym today.  I got a wicked headache last night - you know those headaches that kind of start out as barometric pressure headaches and turn into sinus headaches, and just lodge themselves in your head for days at a time?  Yep, got one of those.  Now, I have been known to hit the gym with those headaches before.  But, my guts are also quite upset.  Last night I got hit with more nausea, cramping, just feeling horrible.  Didn't sleep much and woke up feeling exhausted and still nauseous.  Anything I eat is going right through, and is coming out that orangey color (meaning inflammation, I think?) with globs of orangey mucus.  Lovely.  Oh, and my bad hip is acting up too.  So I'm just a big mess today and the gym is out of the question.  I'm sort of borderline functional today and a workout when I'm feeling like this is just not possible.

So, I'll rest and see how I feel tomorrow, or the next day.  That's all I can do.  Oh, and I see my GI next month - if these mini-flares continue, I'm going to ask him to bump up my dosage of Entocort.  I don't think 3 mg is enough - it's clearly not keeping breakthrough symptoms at bay.


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## Orchid

That almost sounds like a migraine to me!

The orange stools mean they're not getting exposed to enough bile for some reason. Either it's passing very quickly, or something is blocking your gallbladder. That or you've been eating a lot of fresh fruit.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I haven't been eating a lot of fresh fruit, nope - stuff has been passing quickly today though so that's likely it.  And yeah, maybe it is a migraine, but I get another kind of migraine too so I guess I'm confused as to what a migraine really is.  This headache I have now, it's like it sets up residence for a few days each time I have one.  It's immensely painful but no other symptoms really.  The other kind of migraine I get, I get the visual aura beforehand and then some (a tolerable amount) of head pain and some nausea and sensitivity to light & sounds & smells - it lasts a few hours to a day at the very most.  I guess with the aura & light sensitivity and all that, that's what I consider to be a "true" migraine, whereas what I have going on now without that stuff but with terrible days-long pain, this I've always thought to be just a horrible headache.  I don't know.  I take 25 mg Amitriptyline every day which prevents most of my headaches, but as a result, it seems like the "lesser" headaches get stopped by the Ami but the worse ones get past it - the only headaches I get nowadays are bad ones, pretty much.

Anyway.  I went home sick from work, took a nice long nap, and I'm now relaxing on the couch and feeling a bit better.  The head pain is still there but less throbby.  I think I slept on my hip funny during my nap though, as the hip is now more painful.    Oh well, I can't win.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/11/14:  Well, I still haven't been to the gym this week.  The migraine or whatever it was, lasted for about 4 days and is still kinda there but seems to finally be on its way out.  I am still rather exhausted and my guts aren't right - I have very little appetite and still having some cramping & gut pain although not as bad as it was.  So I've mostly been resting this week.  I'm aiming to go back to the gym tomorrow - hopefully by then I'll be feeling okay enough to at least get through a workout.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/14/14:  I finally made it to the gym on Saturday.  I still wasn't feeling particularly great, but I wanted to give a workout a shot.  I made it through - it was kind of tough, but I did it.  I was quite tired afterwards and ended up taking a 2-hour nap later that day.  I then slept 9 hours Sat night - but woke up Sun morning feeling totally exhausted.  I don't know if this is a mini-flare or if it's turning into a proper flare or what.  I'm going to contact my GI and ask him to bump up my doasage of Entocort (I'm only on 3 mg right now).  Obviously this low dose isn't doing enough.

Today I'm exhausted again but I'm going to attempt to do another workout.  I really am stubborn!    I wish I could just get over this wicked fatigue already so that I can get back to working out more normally.  Yuck.  Oh, and my bad hip is still bad too - it snowed this morning (!!) so the hip was very unhappy with that.  I was hoping we were done with snow for the season but nope.  So that's made my mood kind of low too - hopefully a workout will help with my mood at the very least.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I went to the gym but I am still baffled by what my body is doing.  Both with this workout, and the one on Saturday, I didn't really feel anything after my workouts.  Usually I feel good, or strong, or tired in a good way.  It's like my body almost always has a positive reaction after a workout.  But this time, and last time, I just felt nothing.  No different.  I just feel the same amount of tired as I did before, I don't feel less stressed, I don't feel stronger, I don't feel like it was worthwhile.  It was just like meh.  And that honestly frightens me - even on bad days in the past, my body has responded well to workouts.  So WTF is it doing now and why isn't it responding to me hitting the gym??  I went into the changing room right after my workout today and I cried.  I'm scared of what this means.  I guess I'm just going to keep on hitting the gym and hope that what's happening to me lately is just a fluke, or maybe it will end if/when I can get my doctor to bump up my Entocort dose.  I'm rambling, I know, but I'm just frustrated and confused and depressed about this.  And working out has always helped ease my depression in the past, it's not supposed to make me feel nothing and therefore become depressed!    Ugh.  This has to be a fluke.  It just has to be.


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## kel

You've been having a rough time lately. Try to make it to your GI appointment and don't dwell on a couple lackluster workouts. You go to the gym several times a week for years, it's impossible for every workout to be a good one.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Kel.  Yeah, the fatigue has been getting to me lately.  I feel a little bit better today and more optimistic too.  And I guess I did have a good workout yesterday after all - my legs are SORE today!  Quads, hamstrings and glutes are all definitely feeling the effects of my workout.  So I'm taking a rest day today, I don't want to push it when I'm this sore.  Hoping to get back to the gym tomorrow - hopefully my body will go along with that plan.  I'm feeling a bit relieved, too.  It's been really hard to get through a full work week with this fatigue - but I remembered that I have off on Friday, so I get a nice 3-day weekend and hopefully can rest up lots.  I'm still going to try to do my workouts of course, and I have to go see the in-laws for easter, but otherwise I'm hoping to just rest and do not much of anything over my long weekend.

As for my GI - I emailed him telling him what symptoms I've had lately and asking if he can bump up my Entocort for a bit.  My next appointment with him is in mid-May, so about a month away.  I could probably wait it out until my appointment, but I think at this point more corticosteroids would at least get me out of this fatigue-filled slump I'm in, so no harm in emailing him and letting him know the situation.  My GI knows I'm a pain in the butt so he generally gives in to my demands, ha ha.    I haven't heard back from him yet but that's not surprising, he often takes awhile (sometimes a week or more) to respond to emails.

Oh, and I will say this too since I'm thinking of it - my workout yesterday seemed to help my bad hip.  It snowed quite a bit overnight (seriously, I think springtime forgot to happen here) which would usually make my hip ache - but no acheyness from this snowstorm.  I made sure to stretch my hip out really well after I did the weights and I guess it liked that.  Strengthening exercises are hit-or-miss with it, sometimes they seem to help but othertimes they seem to just make the pain worse.  So I'm going to try to incorporate more stretching into my cool-down routine.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update:  My GI responded to my email, saying that I can go up to 6 mg Entocort for a week and we'll re-assess how I'm doing after that.  That sounds like a good plan to me.  Hopefully 6 mg will be enough to knock down this fatigue!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/16/14:  I slept poorly last night - I got a massive calf cramp (a charlie horse or whatever that's called) in the middle of the night which woke me up, and although I stretched my leg out and got the cramp to ease up quickly, my calf muscle is still feeling sore & painful from that.  It was hard getting back asleep after the cramp, as every time I changed position in my sleep, my calf hurt a little bit from the movement and that woke me up multiple times.  So I'm feeling pretty exhausted today just because of that!  I'm still feeling pretty optimistic, though.  I started on 6 mg Entocort today, and I'm really hopeful that it will be enough to turn things around.

On a whim, I just googled to see what could cause a charlie horse.  WebMd says it could be from magnesium or potassium deficiency.  I am always borderline low on my potassium levels so I presume that's it.  Usually when my potassium dips too low, I get foot/toe cramps though.  I haven't had a charlie horse in years.  Hmph.

Anyway.  I'm still planning to hit the gym this afternoon.  Hopefully my calf will benefit from a workout.  I can stretch it out a lot more in the gym too, so I think that'll help.  I'm also trying to get as much potassium as I can - I always blend a banana into my breakfast smoothie, and I've got a regular un-blended banana to eat as a snack, too.  And I have some sweet potatoes that I can roast for dinner.  Hopefully that will help.


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## kel

Whenever I flare I get these occasional cramps in my feet at night that are excruciating. Low minerals would be a good guess. You could try powerade or something like that.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kel, you mentioned foot cramps during a flare - do you ever get the foot cramps from sweating as well (like during a workout)?  That's when I most commonly get the foot/toe cramps - not so much during a flare, but definitely during workouts.  I had read somewhere that if you already have borderline potassium, when you sweat it's possible to lose enough potassium through your sweat to push you down from borderline to low, and that drop in potassium can cause cramps - particularly in the feet.  And I experience that fairly regularly when I'm in the gym and sweating.  Sometimes it makes the drive home from the gym super painful if it's my driving foot that's cramping up!  (Thank goodness I drive an automatic and not a manual, at least with an automatic only one foot has to be involved in driving rather than both.)  The cramps usually don't last long, if I stretch my feet out and eat something then they usually go away pretty quickly.  They suck while they are happening, though!  

I am not a fan of powerade, but I have some gatorade in my gym bag.  I can't drink it before nor during a workout (can't have anything but water and antacids, or my GERD will go nuts) but I can try having some after a workout.  I'll give that a try.


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## kel

Hmm funny you should ask I have been having some pains in my feet at the gym lately, I just assumed my shoes were getting uncomfortable because of gaining weight. It doesn't feel the same as the nighttime ones I've had on the past. 

I'll try to get some extra K and see if that prevents it next time I go. I used to drink OJ + a tablespoon of salt before hand and that seemed to work pretty well to prevent cramps. I was losing a huge amount of liquid at the time because I trained in a warehouse without AC in the summer in Texas. I doubt you would want to try that though given the gerd. Can you take some kind of basic multi mineral pill in the morning so your levels will be good by the time you workout? I'll get back to you on friday about it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I do take a vitamin powder mixed into my morning smoothie - I'll have to check it and see what the electolyte amounts are in it.  I blend a banana and some almond milk into my smoothie so there should be some potassium just from the banana and presumably from the almond milk too.  Hm, I'll have to look at some labels when I get home tonight and see what's what.  I buy my almond milk and my supplement powder mainly based on the fact that they don't contain carrageenan, but I honestly haven't looked at the ingredients much farther than that.  I do take a potassium supplement too but it's a huge chalky pill that I can't swallow, so I tend to take it with food (chew up the tablet and eat it with my food so that it tastes less vile), and that means I usually end up taking it after a workout.  I could try taking it before (like with breakfast) to see if that makes a difference.

Yes, having OJ before a workout (even hours before) would sadly make my GERD very unhappy.  I rarely drink OJ, and only when it's freshly made from my juicer.  I recall that at one time, I had 2 small glasses of fresh homemade OJ with breakfast, then I went to the gym hours and hours later - even so, my GERD still went pretty haywire.  I don't normally get heartburn, but I had wicked heartburn that day!  I can have OJ fairly safely after a workout, but definitely not before even if it's hours in advance.

Training in a warehouse with no AC in the summer in Texas!  Holy cow, you are hardcore!  And here I've been complaining because someone keeps turning up the thermostat in the little gym up to 72 and I like it set at 68.    I'm from a cold climate, and I cannot handle heat and humidity well at all (it tends to make my guts cramp up).  The first year I was ill, we had just bought our house and it didn't have air conditioning.  That summer was so miserable, my guts were a mess.  The following spring, we massively splurged and had central air conditioning installed.  Best investment ever.  

Okay, so, I went to the gym a little while ago, and I finally had a good workout.    I felt good, my body behaved for the most part (my GERD acted up a little towards the end).  I had enough energy and I felt better afterwards.  Stretched my hip out really well but then I walked on the treadmill a bit to cool down, and I could feel the hip just giving me a little bit of pain.  I only walked for like 5 mins so that's troubling, the hip has been giving me some pain pretty much every time I try to walk anywhere lately.  I'm still hoping it's just an Entocort thing - the hip pain seems to get worse when I'm on it.  So hopefully the higher dose will get the IBD in check, and then hopefully the hip will improve once I can get off the Entocort.  Isn't it fun how these meds fix one problem but cause another?


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## kel

Okay so I did a bit of digging and found that on 3/7/2014 I had pretty bad cramps in my feet at the gym. I remember it hurting for a while afterward too. On 3/11/2014 I had bloodwork done and my potassium levels are right in the middle of the normal ranges. Calcium tiny bit high. I don't know how much your blood levels would change in a few days though. I'll still try to get some extra in the next couple of days and see how I feel on Friday.

Glad that you are feeling better after your workout today. I actually like training in the heat. A lot of the university gyms I've been to are really cold and it throws me off.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My medical records are available online so I glanced over them to see what my potassium levels have been historically.  The medical record says that anything lower than 3.5 is considered low, and mine apparently has always been at either 3.6 or 3.7, so on the very low end of normal.  That's going back to 2009, so for the entirety of my illness my potassium has always been borderline (even when I was in remission).  It's never gotten above 3.7 and it's been checked at least once per year for the past 5 years.  Oh well, at least I'm consistent!    My sodium is regularly low or borderline too, but everything else was okay the last time I had bloodwork done.  Stuff like B12 and D were both right in the middle of the normal range, so it's just the electrolytes that I'm struggling with.

I also checked the potassium amounts in my smoothie ingredients.  My supplement powder, one serving contains 4% of the daily recommended potassium, and only 1% per serving for my almond milk.  So I'm not getting much potassium out of those.  I think I need to start eating more sweet potatoes, and I think doing more juicing would be good too.  I did juicing twice this week, I replaced my breakfast smoothie with homemade juice (carrot, grape, apple, and cucumber went into my juice).  So there's a start.

I'm still feeling pretty good today.  Not sure if it's the increased dose of Entocort kicking in already or just coincidence or what.  I have less fatigue and more energy.  So I might do yoga tonight.  Planning on weights tomorrow - since I have tomorrow off of work, I think I will sleep in, have a nice breakfast, and then hit the gym around lunchtime.  The gym is usually dead quiet at lunchtime on weekends, so hopefully it'll be really quiet on a Friday, too.


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## hawkeye

Out of interest I had a look at my potassium intake.  I have been tracking what I eat on-line since I came home from the hospital to try not to eat empty calories for the sake of weight gain and to watch my fibre and protein levels  (I was on a low-fibre diet after surgery and the surgeon mentioned protein was good for recovery).  Looking at it quickly most days I am getting about 50-60% of my recommended potassium intake. 

Maybe its just one of those nutrients that is hard to get enough of without making a conscious effort to eat the high potassium foods.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I think so too, Hawkeye.  It seems hard for me anyway to get enough potassium, given my limited diet.  For one thing, I'm lactose intolerant, and when I googled "potassium rich foods", I keep coming across things like milk & yogurt as being high in potassium.  But almond milk doesn't seem to be so high in potassium and I don't do well with probiotics so I just avoid yogurt altogether.  Hmph.  Sweet potatoes and bananas seem to be my best bet.  I've had some trouble with bananas in the past - if I eat more than one whole banana per day, I get reflux and abdo pains.  But I can blend as many bananas as I want and have them in smoothies without any trouble, so I do that with the occassional un-blended whole banana as a snack.  Sweet potatoes, I am not really sure how to prepare them other than to drench them in butter and brown sugar which is obviously not very healthy, so I need to find some more recipes for sweet potatoes.


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## hawkeye

What about slicing the sweet potatoes into fries and baking in the oven?


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## kel

I like to cube them and toss some olive oil on them and roast them up in the oven. Slicing them would be very similar I imagine.


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## theOcean

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> And yeah, maybe it is a migraine, but I get another kind of migraine too so I guess I'm confused as to what a migraine really is.  This headache I have now, it's like it sets up residence for a few days each time I have one.  It's immensely painful but no other symptoms really.  The other kind of migraine I get, I get the visual aura beforehand and then some (a tolerable amount) of head pain and some nausea and sensitivity to light & sounds & smells - it lasts a few hours to a day at the very most.  I guess with the aura & light sensitivity and all that, that's what I consider to be a "true" migraine, whereas what I have going on now without that stuff but with terrible days-long pain, this I've always thought to be just a horrible headache.  I don't know.  I take 25 mg Amitriptyline every day which prevents most of my headaches, but as a result, it seems like the "lesser" headaches get stopped by the Ami but the worse ones get past it - the only headaches I get nowadays are bad ones, pretty much.


Belated but wanted to chime in! I get chronic migraines but don't experience auras/nausea. It's still very much considered a "true" migraine.


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## kel

I ended up training in a different gym today as I was getting some coaching for an upcoming meet. I spent about 2 hours lifting and I was sweating like crazy the whole time. But no cramps at all! So I don't know what to think now :/ I did not actually make an attempt to get extra minerals today so I thought for sure my feet would cramp up.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks guys!

TheOcean, I guess I get 2 types of migraines then, the "classic" kind with auras and the kind that settles into my sinuses and hangs out for days at a time.  They seem worse lately and I think that's thanks to Entocort - the first time I was on it, I got wicked chronic headaches as a side effect.

Kel, I think I figured something out over the weekend about potassium - I definitely lose it through diarrhea, and I might lose more through d than through sweating.  I think it was Thurs evening, the hubby and I made some homemade OJ and I had like 3 small glasses (living dangerously, I know!).  Then just before bed I had a bad attack of d - and the next morning, I woke up having bad foot cramps.  I hadn't had any night sweats as far as I could tell, so I think it was the d.  I know I lose a lot of sodium through d but I had thought that I was losing potassium more through sweat.  I guess not though, I guess I lose potassium through both sweat and d.  Ugh, lovely.  At times in the past, my sodium has gotten so low that I've had to resort to eating teaspoons of soy sauce (yuck, but it worked like a charm).  Soy sauce is super high in sodium and seems to be absorbed very well because it's in liquid form.  I hope my potassium doesn't get to that point, because I don't know of a magical super-potassium-rich easily absorbed food that I could go to in an emergency, the way I can go to soy sauce in a sodium emergency.

Update 4/21/14:  I had a so-so weekend.  I had off on Friday, and it was a really nice day, so we ended up doing a bunch of yard work outside rather than do a gym workout.  Last fall, the leaves had fallen off the trees and then it immediately snowed, so we weren't able to rake very well and as a result our yard was still full of leaves.  So we raked all that up, that was definitely a workout.  We also pulled a bunch of dead weeds and tilled our little garden and started some seedlings and all sorts of stuff like that.  I felt sore in my abs and back later on!

On Saturday we hit the gym for a proper workout.  I felt okay except my back was still sore and my workout only seemed to make it more sore.  Oh, and we walked the dog after our workout, as I was hoping that a bit of walking would help my back loosen up.  Nope.    So Sunday was basically a rest day, although going to the in-laws' isn't exactly restful.  My nieces & nephews were all there (5 kids ranging from ages 6 months to 10 years) so that was a bit crazy.  I am not a fan of kids and I really don't like babies, so I had to put up with the usual comments.  "Are you suuuuuure you don't want to change the baby's diaper?"  "Hey, everybody look, she's holding the baby, quick, take a photo!"  But if I made some comment about certain people not even knowing how condoms work, I'd be a jerk.    I think it's just one of those things, like how it's somehow okay to comment on skinny people's weight but not fat people's?  People who are purposely child-free are weird and therefore need to be ridiculed, but people who can't stop popping out kids are "normal" - I guess.  Sorry, that turned into a bit of a rant!  Love my nieces & nephews but I'm glad I only have to see them a few times a year, they exhaust me, and the adults in the situation and their comments don't help matters any.

Anyway.  Today I'm hitting the gym for a weight session.  I'm feeling a bit exhausted after yesterday, and it's been rainy so both my hips are aching (sometimes the good hip starts aching - my GP did say he saw evidence of arthritis in that hip too, but most of the time that hip is fine).  I think I'll be fine to work out in spite of the achiness - hopefully a good stretching session after the weights will get the hips feeling better.


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## hawkeye

Yeah the yard work uses a different set of muscles. Managed to get the front and side yards raked yesterday afternoon and this morning.  Bought a rake for my little helper at Target this morning


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## theOcean

If they're from the entocort that wouldn't surprise me. I used to get terrible migraines while on prednisone because they'd mess with the pressure in my eyes. (It's what led to me getting glasses, actually. I get less migraines since I got them.) 

Also totally feel you on the kids thing. My in-laws do the same to me, and my grandmother practically begs me for kids. No thank you.  I'll just stick to cats.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

TheOcean, that's interesting about pred changing the pressure in your eyes.  I wonder if Entocort does that to me, too.  For the longest time, every time I'd go to the eye doctor, my vision in alternating eyes would get worse.  So one year my left eye would get a bit worse, then the next year the right eye would be a bit worse, and so on.  Then I got sick and my GI put me on Entocort - and then sponteneously the vision in both my eyes got a bit better!  It was very weird and I wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or related to the IBD or the Entocort.  My vision has stayed about the same with very little change since then.

I think it also messes with the pressure in my sinuses.  I'm already rather sensitive to changes in the barometric pressure (I can feel it in my bad hip and in my head if a storm is coming!), and I think Entocort has been exacerbating that.

Ugh.  I just got some rather stressful news about work (a co-worker is leaving and I'll likely have to take on a bunch of her tasks until they hire a replacement).  I'm feeling very stressed now and my guts aren't too happy.  I'm suddenly really looking forward to going to the gym in a bit!


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## hawkeye

Forgot another thing about the sweet potato fries - if you can tolerate spices / flavours  / or coatings you could coat them before putting them in the oven - basically like shake and bake for potatoes.


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## hawkeye

theOcean said:


> Also totally feel you on the kids thing. My in-laws do the same to me, and my grandmother practically begs me for kids. No thank you.  I'll just stick to cats.


I think the whole asking thing is more of a generational thing with the "older" age set. Quite simply it is really no one else's business.  Some people don't want children and that is fine but others may be trying hard and (may) not be able to have them so continually being asked could touch a bit of a raw nerve.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm not sure if it's a generational thing or what.  My in-laws have been really good about NOT asking if/when I'm going to have kids (probably because they already have 5 grandkids already thanks to my husband's sister).  My mom, on the other hand, has told me I have to have kids (my brother is a flake who won't settle down, and I don't have any other siblings, so I'm basically my mom's only shot at being a grandmother - but literally, the way she phrased it was, "You HAVE to have kids.  Kids are WONDERFUL.").  Um, no.  My hubby would like a kid, but we've discussed it and I've told him there's just no way I can do that.  I don't like kids, I don't want kids, my body is already messed up enough and I think pregnancy would highly suck, I don't want to pass along my crappy genetics, I'm selfish (I like sleeping in or just sleeping at all!), our finances are barely enough to keep me and hubby afloat so I see no need to create any more people that I would need to be financially responsible for, when I'm flaring I can hardly take care of myself let alone a tiny needy person, etc.  There are so many reasons I see not to have a kid, and I don't really see many reasons to have one - some people think babies are cute, but I don't.  Babies are disgusting, so much grossness comes out of them (poo, snot, puke, spit-up, etc), they're even more selfish than I am, they SCREAM at you when they want anything, they're just terrible people really.    And then they grow up and disappoint you or resent you or blame you for all their problems, or whatever.  None of it seems worth it to me, just thinking about it is mentally draining.  It's just so not for me, not one single aspect of it!  I like being an aunt, I see the nieces & nephews a few times a year and they think I'm cool and I buy them presents - then I go back home to my quiet house and sleep as much as I want.  

In other words, what TheOcean said about cats is spot on!    I do have a dog but I'm totally a cat person (my hubby is more of a dog person).  My dog, I have to take her outside so she can do her business and I have to walk her, it's a little more hands-on than I'd like.  My cat, though, she does her business in a litter box so no need to take her outside - and I even have one of those robotic self-scooping litter boxes, so all I have to do is empty the poo bin periodically.  My dog is kind of spazzy and needy and silly, but my cat is so low-key and not needy, and she gives me purrs when I need them and she likes to hang out in the bathroom with me.  That to me is way better than any baby.  Even when I factor in the cat puke and the shedding.


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## theOcean

You and I definitely have the same opinion on babies.  They gross me out so much on a hygiene level, and Crohn's doesn't help my hypochondria.  I know my boyfriend would like to have kids, but he often flip-flops about it and eventually decides he'd rather just have pets. (I'm a cat person and my boyfriend is more of a dog person as well!) 

Even when I do consider the possibility of having kids, I say to my boyfriend that I'd have it through IVF and surrogate. I'm not coming off my medications and sending myself into a flare! (And now with how you can have three parents via IVF, you can make sure the child wouldn't inherit Crohn's.) So I think that's a pretty reasonable deterrent on a financial level as well.

Conclusion: cats are the best.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I've heard that, about being able to have 3 parents' genetic information form an embryo via IVF - it's amazing the things science can do now.  If they can make a baby that doesn't have a constantly snotty nose and doesn't spit up every 10 mins then I might be slightly more intrigued, ha ha.    Yes, cats are definitely the best!

I guess I should give a fitness update since this is my exercise thread.    I hit the gym yesterday and worked off some of this work stress.  But like 5 minutes after getting back to my desk, I felt really stressed again.  I went home, burst into tears, and had hubby pour me a stiff drink.  I feel a little better about it today.  I've had worse job stress than this in the past so I can get through this somehow.  I need to exercise a lot to work through the stress, and now that the weather is getting nicer, I can go outside and soak up some vitamin d which seems to help too.  We've had a lot of rain showers off and on, but if it's not raining tonight, I think I'll take my dog out for a walk.  If it is raining, I think I'll do some yoga.  Then maybe another stiff drink, ha ha.  (Seriously, why is it called a Long Island iced tea when there's like no tea in it, it tastes like soda but is pretty much pure booze?)  I'm mostly kidding about the drink, my guts tolerated the drink yesterday but they won't put up with much more.  I typically have like one glass of wine every 2-3 months and that's about my limit, so having alcohol two days in a row would be very risky and I'm trying to get out of this stupid flare already.


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## theOcean

Do you have other coping methods to help deal with stress outside of exercise? Anything that might make you feel better while still at work?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Errr... at work I may or may not check the forum at times for stress relief.  :shifty:

Exercise though is definitely my #1 stress reliever.  Or things related to exercise, like shopping for workout clothes.  Or just shopping in general.    Exercise is a much healthier habit and obviously much easier on my bank account, so if I have the choice, I'm going to the gym rather than to the store.  But sometimes when I'm feeling too crappy to work out but still somewhat functional, shopping is like the one thing that cheers me up.  I can't eat much, don't want to spend another minute feeling worthless on the couch, want something cute or fun or pretty to make me feel happy, so shopping I go.  I'm fortunately usually placated by something small like yarn or nail polish.  Lately I've been buying chain maille links and making myself chain maille jewelry (if I can do something semi-productive from the couch like that or like crocheting, sewing, etc then I don't feel worthless).  So yeah, shopping and crafting get me through when I'm not able to work out.

It's pretty nice outside, sunny and still no rain, so I'm going to take my dog to the park in a little bit.  My hubby works on Tuesdays & Wednesdays (I work Mon-Fri), so our poor dog has to be cooped up in her crate all day on Tues & Weds every week.  I think she'll like getting to go run around in the park and stretch her stumpy little legs for a bit (she's a corgi, ha ha).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/23/14:  I took my dog for a walk yesterday and that went really well.  About halfway through, I saw my neighbor walking her 2 corgis.  These 2 dogs get along really well with my dog (they're the 3 corgi amigos), and I enjoy chatting with my neighbor, so we walked together and our dogs played together.  Apparently her dogs are obsessed with my dog at this point - she said they always want to come over to my house to see my dog, and yesterday they insisted on walking with my dog all the way to my home even though their home is a few blocks in the other direction.    (My neighbor tried to steer her dogs in the direction of her home, but they actually laid down and refused to walk in that direction - they really wanted to follow my dog the whole way home!)  That was so cute!  So that made me feel happy, it was a nice time with some really adorable dogs.

My guts though aren't so great.  I had some bad cramps, gas and d last night and then again this morning too, so I'm feeling a bit drained and I'm having some chills.  Still, I'm planning on hitting the gym this afternoon anyway.  I feel okay-ish enough to work out, and I think it'll help me feel better.  So that's the plan.

Oh, and this is kind of unrelated, but I need good luck and happy thoughts!  My hubby has been underemployed for quite some time (he's currently working about 15 hours a week for minimum wage in a shop).  I work full-time and it's been stressful having to basically be the main breadwinner while being ill.  Hubby had been looking for work in his field (art/animation) but he couldn't find anything, so lately he's just been looking for any job.  Even that has proven to be tough as he didn't get any calls back nor any interviews.  But finally yesterday he got a call back from a prospective employer, and he has an interview on Friday for a full-time bakery job!  I really hope he gets it, our finances are not good and him working full-time would make a huge difference and it would be a lot of stress off my shoulders.  I think he has a good shot at it as he's worked as a cook/chef in the past.  So please think happy thoughts for us that hubby gets the job!


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## theOcean

Good luck to your husband! I really hope he gets the job. :hug:

Also hope that you feel better soon!


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## kel

I wish you and your husband well come friday. You have started the increased dose of steroids correct? Hopefully it will kick in soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kel, yes, I've been on 6 mg of Entocort for a week now (I was on 3 mg before, which is the lowest possible dose - 9 mg is the highest recommended dose, so I'm sort of on a mid-strength dose now at 6 mg).  I think it's helping, although I've had a lot of job stress this week and haven't been eating the best, so my guts have been pretty unhappy because of that.  The increased Entocort dose does seems to be helping with the fatigue, so that's a good thing.

I hit the gym today but I was feeling rather sluggish all throughout my workout.  Which is not unexpected when I'm having some gut symptoms, so I'm not too concerned.  I managed to do everything, I was just a bit slower than usual about it.

I think having d due to the stress has really affected my potassium levels though.  I didn't even get particularly sweaty during my workout today, but as soon as I was in the changing room, both of my feet started cramping up pretty badly.  That was not fun.  And I even had a banana a couple hours before hitting the gym!  Hmph.  I see my GI in a few weeks so I might ask him about my potassium issues.  It's been pretty annoying lately, I'm getting foot cramps quite often.

Thanks guys for the well wishes for hubby's job interview!  I know a bakery job isn't much, but it'll be much better than his part-time job now (which he said he intends to keep if he gets the bakery job, so he'll be working 2 jobs - wow!) and I'll be overjoyed if he gets this job.  I'm trying not to think about it too much as I don't want to get my hopes up before he's even had the interview.  I'm also trying not to drool because this bakery place has really yummy stuff and I'm daydreaming about the prospect of hubby bringing home yummy baked goods from work... Oh man, corticosteroids and baked goods, I am really going to have to watch myself!  I've maintained my weight so far on Entocort, but if delicious baked goods come into my life then I might be in trouble.


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## hawkeye

Cat - Good luck to your husband,  the baked goods sound like quite a perk.


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## theOcean

If he does bring back any baked goods you'll have to share photos with us.  I know I would be in danger of gaining weight too if I worked at a bakery!


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## Orchid

What sort of bakery? The nice kind or the kind we have out on the west coast where they do tasteless "vegan" stuff. Seriously there is nothing worse then walking into a bakery, buying a cupcake, and realizing it's vegan garbage because it has a texture like sand and a taste only slightly bolder.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Orchid, I don't think they do any vegan stuff at this bakery - it's all full fat, high-calorie, animal products-containing deliciousness.    Yummm.  His interview is tomorrow - I'm getting nervous on his behalf!  The key thing is that he needs a job - the baked goods would just be a nice perk.  A really nice perk.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hubby had his interview this morning - it was really short, but he said it went well and they liked him enough that they're doing a background check and will arrange a 2nd interview once the background check goes through.  I guess they're pretty thorough!  The bad news is, they told him it'll probably be about 2 weeks for the background check to go through and for the 2nd interview to happen, so it'll be awhile longer before we know if he got the job or not.  Hmph.  Oh well, at least it's going well so far!  I'll keep you guys posted as to what happens in the next few weeks.

I should probably give another fitness update, ha ha.    I don't want this to turn into the bakery thread (or maybe I do?   ).  I took yesterday as a rest day, as my legs were feeling pretty tired.  They're feeling fine today though.  So, tonight I'm going to go hit the gym for a nice long weights session.  This weekend is supposed to be chilly & rainy, so I probably won't be able to do much outside (no yard work and no bike rides).  So I'll probably do something like yoga or the stationary bike tomorrow, and weights again on Sunday.  I'm also going to do a fair bit of walking tomorrow - in spite of the weather, it's garage sale season again (finally!) and I've seen a lot of ads for "rain or shine" garage sales, so I'm definitely going to go out and hit the sales.    The first one I'm going to, it advertised women's workout clothes like-new for way cheap - sounds great to me!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/28/14:  I went to the gym Friday evening with hubby, and that was a fantastic workout.  You know those workouts where you have tons of energy, the weights don't feel particularly heavy and you can easily add weight AND reps and you just feel good the whole way though?  Yeah, I had one of those workouts, it was wonderful.  

Saturday we hit a bunch of garage sales - I was hoping to buy some workout clothes, but I couldn't find anything acceptable in my size.  I did buy some regular clothes - got a few cute dresses for super cheap.  After the garage sales, we walked the dog and ran a few errands.  So we were busy the whole day but didn't do much actual exercise unless you count walking the dog.

Sunday, we hit the gym again.  I felt fine, I didn't have one of those super good workouts like I did on Friday, but I felt fine and was able to do everything (wasn't able to add extra reps or weight this time though).

Today, it's pouring rain and my hip is pretty achey.  The achiness is sort of expanding into my thighs and lower back so I just feel bleh.  I might do some yoga tonight if I feel up to it, as I think that'll help the achiness.  It's supposed to rain literally all week - every day through Friday has rain in the forecast.  So it may be a sucky, achey week.  I'm just going to listen to my body and will do what I can when I can.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/29/14:  Bleurgh.  The rainy weather triggered a massive migraine which started last night.  I barely slept, every time I moved I got another jolt of head pain.  Called in sick to work and managed to sleep for a few hours, and I'm feeling slightly more human now.  Still in a lot of pain particularly if I move though, so I'm just trying to keep as still as possible.  Ugh.

So obviously I didn't do yoga last night, nor am I going to the gym today.  I just have to get through this wicked migraine - my last migraine lasted about 5 days, so it may be a bit before I can work out again.  Yuck yuck yuck.

I think I've figured out that it's the weather triggering these migraines.  I'm on Entocort which gives me headaches, and I'm also on Amitriptyline which prevents headaches.  So most of the time Amitriptyline wins out, but when a big rain storm moves in (it's been raining for 3 days straight now and yesterday we had hail, downpours, and lightning), I'm sensitive to changes in the barometric pressure like that so it allows a headache to win.  I just need to get myself healthy and get off the freaking Entocort already.  It's definitely helping my guts - I haven't passed blood in a few months and I haven't even passed those little undigested bits of Pentasa since I've been on it, so I can tell it's helping guts-wise.  But the headaches are just horrendous.  I've basically just traded bowel symptoms for migraines.  Gotta get the bowels fully healed so that I can stop having these headaches.


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## theOcean

Nooo, I hate when migraines function as a barometer for bad weather.  Hopefully you can get some better sleep and a better pain day tomorrow. I get chronic migraines too, so my heart goes out to you.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks, TheOcean.  Yeah, I either get headaches or joint pain when any type of storm rolls in, but it seems like I get more headaches/migraines with rain and more joint pain with snow.  So I guess now that winter is over, it's headache season.  Ugh.  

The good news is, I made it in to work today and am feeling somewhat better.  Not 100%, but I'm definitely functional and in far less head pain than I was yesterday.  So I'm going to attempt some yoga tonight.  If that goes well then I'll be back at the weights tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/1/14:  Well, the migraine is still hanging around a bit (it seems a bit worse today than yesterday, but I'm still functional, it's not terrible like it was on Tuesday).  In spite of the migraine, I managed to do yoga yesterday, and that felt fantastic.  So today I'm going to go do weights - hopefully that will go well, too.  My guts are pretty okay right now, and my hip is fairly quiet today, so it's just this stupid lingering migraine that is getting me down lately.  But if I could do yoga with it then I think I can do weights with it too.  So that's the plan!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/2/14:  I hit the gym yesterday evening and felt great.  It was kind of busy in the gym but I managed to do everything I wanted to do.  I feel pretty tired today, but that's fairly typical for me on a Friday.  Work has been really taking it out of me lately (a co-worker is leaving so I have to take on some of her projects until they hire a replacement for her).  I'm going to attempt to do 30 mins on the stationary bike today - not sure how that'll go since I'm already feeling pretty wiped out.  I feel like I need to do more cardio though, as when I did yoga on the Wii fit the other day, it said I have gained 2.5 lbs.  I have been at a good weight and I've been maintaining my weight pretty well in spite of the fact that I'm on Entocort - weight gain isn't something I need right now, so a bit of extra cardio will hopefully cancel that out.  I'm not overly concerned but I don't want the weight gain to continue.

Tomorrow I plan to hit the gym for weights again.  Sunday, I'll probably just walk the dog and that'll be it.  The rest of the weekend, I just want to stay in and do crafty stuff like sewing - I have 2 dresses that need altering (one just needs to be taken in on the sides, but the other one needs a lot of alterations to be wearable), and I have some really cute fabric that I want to make an apron out of.  So I'll be sewing quite a bit and I'll hopefully end up with some cute items when I'm done with that.  Oh, and on facebook the other day someone pointed out that it's only 6 months to go until Halloween, so I'm starting to panic slightly.  Hubby and I always go all-out on making our Halloween costumes, and we know what we want to be this year, but it'll be quite challenging to make the costumes.  So I might go to the fabric store and peruse my options.  I need to get some pinstripe fabric and make it look sort of shiny like vinyl... eek!  Spray lacquer maybe?


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Oh, and on facebook the other day someone pointed out that it's only 6 months to go until Halloween,


Why not just say less than 8 months until Christmas....


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha ha, Hawkeye.    Hubby and I are, I guess you could call us cosplayers although we mainly just dress up at Halloween.  But we like to make everything ourselves for our costumes and we go all out, so it's time-consuming, and the sooner we start work on our costumes, the better.  We've picked particularly challenging costumes this year so I'd rather start work on them soon.  And since you mentioned xmas - I do my xmas shopping all throughout the year, too.  The other week when we went garage sale shopping, I saw some Star Wars toys for cheap at a garage sale, and my friend's little son loves Star Wars, so I bought the toys and put them aside in my closet to give to the kid at xmas.  

Update 5/5/14:  I did 30 mins on the stationary bike on Friday, and although it felt good at first, later that evening my legs felt very sore and tired like I overdid it.  Fortunately I felt okay on Saturday and I was able to hit the gym.  I wasn't really able to get into my workout on Saturday though - people kept talking to me!  Ugh!    When I go to the gym, I am not there to socialize or to goof off or anything like that - I'm just there to seriously work out.  But random people who I don't even know, kept coming up to me!  One girl was finishing her workout as I was starting mine, and she tried to strike up a conversation about the weather - "Oh, is it nice outside?  Has it stopped raining?  Do I need a jacket?"  I wanted to say, shut up, lady!  Then as I was on the biceps machine, a different lady came by and she was like, "What's this machine for?  Arms?  Oh, you're strong!"  Ugh, please go away.    So those distractions kept getting me out of my groove a little bit, and I had a hard time getting into my workout.  By the end people left me alone - maybe I was sweaty and stinky enough at that point that nobody wanted to approach me anymore - and finally by the end of things I felt like I was doing okay.  But, ugh!  The gym is not a place to talk to random strangers!  Particularly if that stranger has headphones on and a "leave me alone" look on her face.

So that was Saturday.  Sunday was essentially a rest day - I tackled my sewing pile and walked the dog, but didn't do anything particularly strenuous.  Today, I'm going to hit the little gym in the basement of my workplace for some weights.  The good thing about that gym is, I'm almost always the only person in there - so slim to no chance that someone else will distract me in the gym today!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  It's been a rather strange and stressful day.  A gym session was SO needed and it felt great.  Nobody was in the little gym but me, so I got to blast my music and do my thing.    I'm going to relax tonight - I'm obsessed with a new Korean drama (it's so so so good) and I've been waiting on pins & needles for the lastest episode which should be online tonight, so I'm going to watch my show and veg out.

I'm slightly embarassed by my K-drama habit though.    The shows always seem so good to me, but when I try to explain the plot to my husband it comes out sounding totally silly.  For example, when I described City Hunter to hubby, I was like, "He's basically a ninja and a super hacker, and his dad is the president but he doesn't know it and he needs to take revenge on him... oh, that sounds dumb, doesn't it?"  Hah.  So good yet so bad!


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## theOcean

Aw! I get that, haha. I never really got into k-dramas but I did get pretty obsessed with k-pop a few years back and ended up watching things following various groups.  (And otherwise might follow a handful of Japanese things.)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

TheOcean, what K-pop groups are you a fan of?  I'm pretty much a fan of everyone from YG family.    Big Bang is my favorite group, but I also really like Lee Hi, 2NE1, Akdong Musician, and even the people who aren't with YG anymore like Se7en and Gummy (Se7en's contract with YG expireed shortly after he joined the army and he likely won't have a career to come back to because of his scandal, and Gummy moved to a different label - she's supposedly got a new album coming out soon!).  I used to really be into J-pop as well, but my favorite singer was Utada Hikaru, and when she walked away from her career, suddenly J-pop started sounding kind of stale without her.  So that's when I got more into K-pop, and it sounded fresh and fun to me.  I mostly listen to K-pop when I work out, actually (so as not to get the thread too off topic, ha ha).  My "power" song is "I am the Best" by 2NE1 - that song gets me pumped!  If I can hear that song during a workout then I know I can power through it, because the song is totally correct - I am the best.


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## theOcean

Me too! I used to follow Big Bang, G-Dragon, Super Junior, SNSD, f(x), Brown Eyed Girls, 2NE1... I don't listen to them too much now, but still like them. I remember I used to really like Han Geng from Super Junior-M but he also left around the time I got into them. 

And oh gosh, my j-pop days. I used to be suuuuper obsessed with Miyavi when I was younger, as well as Nana Kitade and Ayumi Hamasaki... I also love love love Shiina Ringo, though that's not exactly "pop"  Oh! I also still listen to Perfume on and off and want to hunt down their albums again, haha. (And then listen to the occasional Kyary song and stare in awe at her videos.)

Was the Utadu Hikaru perhaps related to Kingdom Hearts at all?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, Utada did the theme songs for the first 2 Kingdom Hearts games and that's how I first heard of her and subsequently got into J-pop.  I think that's how most non Japanese speakers have heard of Utada!    I miss her music but I completely understand and agree with her reasons for walking away.  Plus, she did release one new song since she walked away, and she may release more, so she hasn't been totally absent from the music world.  It's still up in the air as to whether or not she'll do the Kingdom Hearts 3 theme song - I read that if she doesn't do it, Disney will get Demi Lovato to do the KH3 theme.  Barf!  I *so* need Utada to do the KH3 theme!

Ah, so you're a G-Dragon fan?  Is he your favorite member of Big Bang?  Because I'm rather obsessed with TOP myself - that man is so beautiful it should be illegal.    I actually started watching K-dramas because of TOP - he had a minor role in a show called Iris, and it was really good in spite of the fact that TOP was only in about every 3rd episode for about 2 minutes each appearance.  So that got me hooked and I have watched a handful of different K-dramas to completion at this point.  I'm currently watching Angel Eyes (because Seungri from Big Bang is in it, ha ha) and it's soooo goooood but also kind of silly.

Kyary kind of scares me.    You know that J-pop "singer" who is really a robot?  And I think there's one who's really a hologram too?  I think Kyary is something along those lines.  She's not quite human.  Those 48-member girl groups scare me, too, like AKB48.  I don't understand the appeal of a group with 48 members - how do you pick your favorite one??  And more seriously, I don't like that the girls are so strictly governed - they aren't allowed to have a boyfriend or even go on a date.  That's so wrong!


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## theOcean

Had a feeling! And oh gosh, Demi Lovato, no thank you. I think I ended up getting introduced to a lot of j-pop music either through video games or anime I ended up watching. And I have a feeling if Utada Hikaru doesn't end up doing the KH3 theme, a loooot of fans will be upset about it.

I was following GD for a bit, yeah! Although I keep hearing pretty negative things about him lately (mostly about him being racist/doing blackface, ugh). He was my favourite at the time, though... I have a bunch of friends into TOP. 

Oh! Do you mean the vocaloid, Miku Hatsune? I was actually super into those for awhile, and really loved following videos of them. It was just so interesting, because the characters were totally developed by the fans, and vary from video to video with the exception of a few traits usually. So I liked that each song was usually its own "story" and often had really interesting iterations of those characters. They're basically voice-bank software with illustrated character models that've been pretty glorified, though.  But they've gotten so popular that they've even given hologram concerts that people have gone to.

And oh my god, yeah. I don't understand how a group can have that many members. Super Junior and even SNSD was bad enough! And ugh, yeah, there's a lot of misogyny in those companies  Guys in these groups will get away with soooo much, but then the girls -- like you said -- can't even have a date.


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## hawkeye

I thought Big Bang was just a TV show


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## theOcean

Big Bang Theory is a TV show! Big Bang is a Korean boyband.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, and it's annoying when I'm trying to google Big Bang and I get a bunch of results from that TV show and not the K-pop group.  

TheOcean, yes, many fans will be quite upset about KH3 if Utada isn't involved - myself included.  Her father really upset the fans too, on Twitter he was asked if Utada is going to do the KH3 theme song, and at first he said yes.  So a lot of fans were like, it's confirmed!  But then a couple days later, Utada's dad redacted that and said something to the effect of, he was confused by the question and they're still not sure if Utada will do the KH3 theme.  And now there's a lot of confusing info floating around online because some people are still under the mistaken impression that it's been confirmed.

I suppose I should give a fitness update.  I hit the gym yesterday and felt great.  Last night my sinuses felt a bit iffy so I took a benadryl before bed, but my sinuses feel a bit worse today and it's starting to feel as if a new migraine may form due to the sinus pressure.  UGH.  So sick of these recurrent migraines.  I got nauseous today too, like nauseous enough to feel the color drain from my face, so I had to take a Zofran.  So, I'm not doing super great today.  It's definitely a rest day today with how I'm feeling, and I'll hit the gym tomorrow if I'm feeling up to it.

I see my GI next week, and I'm not even sure what I should tell him - I want to stay on Entocort awhile longer to get my guts under control, but at the same time I kind of want to come off of it because the migraines are really knocking me down.  I am more on board with the idea of staying on Entocort for awhile longer though - the migraines suck, but I've already come this far and I want to get my guts back into remission so that I can feel more or less like a human on a daily basis again.  I'm not going to get into remission without Entocort, so I think I just need to muddle through a bit longer.  So then, I'm not sure if I should even tell my GI about the migraines - he won't be able to do anything about it but it might make him want to take me off Entocort.  So should I lie to him and say I'm doing fine?  I don't really know what to say to him.  Maybe I'll downplay it and say I've had a few headaches but remission is my primary goal.


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## hawkeye

Why not ask him about the about the migraines, maybe the issue has come up with some of his other patients and he can suggest something.  Can he prescribe anything for them?


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## kel

Does pred give you the same problem?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, I have already asked my primary care doc about the migraines.  He prescribed sumatriptan, which gave me rebound migraines, so that is no good for me.  When I told him about the rebound migraines and asked if there was anything else I could try, he only said that I can take Zofran for nausea with my migraines.  So basically no, my doctor seems to not be able to give me anything else for the migraines.  I just have to deal with them.

Kel, I was only ever on pred for very short times.  I did a trial of 5 days on pred to see if it'd work for me and it worked fabulously - my GI then decided he'd put me on it for longer, but after 6 days of that he changed his mind and decided he wanted me to do more tests first.  After that round of tests, he put me on Entocort which did get me into remission (that was about 3.5 years ago) so I know it works, it's just that it has a sucky side effect of giving me headaches & migraines.  I was on name-brand Entocort before and I'm on generic Budesonide now, and I think the migraines are worse this time around - I'm not sure if that has anything to do with generic vs name brand or not.  (The name-brand is much more expensive so cost-wise I prefer the generic, I don't think a generic was available 3.5 years ago so I could only take the name-brand back then.)  So long story short, I was never on pred long enough to get many side effects from it.  I remember having euphoria and not being able to sleep very well, but feeling so fabulous that I didn't care that I was up all night - those are the only side effects from pred that I seemed to get.  I don't recall headaches during those handful of days that I was on pred.

Anyway.  Yesterday was a rest day and that did me quite a bit of good.  I still feel like I may be on the verge of a migraine, but it hasn't fully manifested yet and it is very tolerable right now (it's more sinus/head pressure than it is pain right now).  I am planning on hitting the gym today.  Tomorrow, we'll see how I feel - it's supposed to be warm but maybe thunderstorms.  If it's warm and not raining, I may go for a bike ride in the evening.  If it's raining or if a storm looks imminent then I'll likely either do yoga or the stationary bike.  Friday I plan to hit the gym again, and Saturday I'm going to go to some garage sales and then I might drag hubby out to play tennis with me.  There are tennis courts right near our house and we've never used them, so I feel like we need to play tennis there at least once - if nothing else, to remind ourselves that we suck at tennis and that tennis is hard.    It seems like a good workout though so I want to try it!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/8/14:  I hit the gym yesterday and that went great, I felt really strong.  In spite of being on the verge of a migraine all week (it still hasn't really manifested yet), I've had some reallys trong workouts lately!  Today the weather is super weird, we're in a mini heat-wave - it's going to be 80 degrees out today (it's been in the 50s/60s on average lately) and it's super muggy and humid out.  We're supposed to get thunderstorms later tonight - I'm hoping the storms avoid us so that I can take advantage of the warm weather and do a bike ride.  My guts don't like heat & humidity, but they've been pretty quiet since I've been on 6 mg Entocort, so I'm hoping they comply.  If it's storming this evening then I might just do the stationary bike at home.  Although, the bad hip is feeling a bit iffy already, which usually indicates a big storm is headed this way.  I may just end up resting the hip if it gets worse.  We'll see what happens, it's just going to be dependent on the weather!

Tomorrow is supposed to be back to our normal weather and I plan to hit the gym with hubby tomorrow evening.  Oh, speaking of hubby - he's got his 2nd interview at the bakery place scheduled for Monday!  Since the job would be working overnight shifts, they want him to go in for the interview late in the evening on Monday so that he can meet the other people in the bakery staff and make sure he's a good fit with them and stuff like that.  So, hopefully by Tuesday morning we should know something about whether he gets the job.  We've been seriously poor lately, to the point that I'm hoarding food even more than usual (I think I was a squirrel in a past life, ha ha).  When we have a bit of extra money, I'm like, let's buy groceries to put in the freezer or in the pantry so that we have it for later!    So if hubby gets this job, I will hopefully be able to relax a little and buy groceries like a normal person without hoarding food quite as much.


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## theOcean

Congratulations to your husband on getting a second interview! I hope it goes well.

Maybe if he gets it you'll get some free bakery goodies to squirrel away as well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks!  And yeah, I'm sure there will be delicious baked goods in my future if he gets this job - they may not get squirreled away in my pantry, they may just end up squirreled away in my stomach.    If he does get the job, he'll be working overnights, so presumably he'll be coming home just as I'm getting ready to leave for work myself - so, if I can resist eating the bakery foods myself, I could always bring them to work with me and share with my co-workers.  That's IF I can resist eating them all myself, ha ha!


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## hawkeye

Nice fresh butter croissants and pastries for breakfast....


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yumm, breakfast pastries.  *drool*

Update 5/9/14:  I took a bike ride last night.  Didn't go too far (I think I went about 6-7 miles), just wanted to take a short-ish ride.  That felt pretty good although my abdomen felt fairly sore afterwards - that's my main trouble with bike rides, is that balancing & steering the bike requires me to keep my core somewhat flexed during the entirety of the ride.  It doesn't feel like I'm doing much with my core during the ride, but afterwards, my abdomen is often unhappy, sometimes to the point of causing a mini-flare or a bleeding episode or both.  This time, I seem to just have gotten a bit of soreness, no flare symptoms & no blood, so it went fine all things considered!  I stubbornly keep riding my bike, in spite of my abdomen often feeling crappy afterwards, in the hopes that if I can just build my core muscles up enough then maybe I'll eventually get to the point where these symptoms no longer happen after a bike ride.  Wishful thinking and probably unrealistic, but I really enjoy riding my bike and I'm prepared to deal with feeling anywhere from meh to awful afterwards.

Today though, I'm feeling pretty unwell.  My boss has had some sort of virus this week, she lost her voice and she had a fever.  I think I've caught it, as I woke up feeling run down and with a sore throat, and now I'm feeling rather chilled so presumably a fever is coming on.  I was really hoping to go to the gym tonight, so I'm drinking lots of tea and trying to get myself feeling better in the hopes that I can still go work out.  But at this point, it's seeming like a workout tonight is unlikely, and I'll probably have to just rest so that I can recover from this virus or whatever it is.  I hate missing a workout, but I also recognize that I shouldn't be exercising when I feel like this, and my body is asking me for rest and not gym time right now.  So, it's very likely a rest day unless I make a miraculous recovery in the next few hours.  Bleh.


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## CrohnsChicago

Sorry you aren't feeling well today  Rest definitely sounds like the better option.

Do bike often? How frequently does this happen? You definitely have a high threshold for pain (as do most of us by now with this disease lol) in order to tolerate those reactions to bike riding. That's my biggest concern about working out is it causing a flare. The core is so essential to getting the rest of the body where it needs to be what other types of core exercises do you do?

Maybe some good stretching or light yoga would make you feel like you accomplished a workout today?

Feel better!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I don't do a lot of core exercises to begin with - I have severe GERD, and the more I work my abdominals, the more I reflux.  The gym I belong to has 3 different abdominals machines, and on a good day I do one of the three.  On a not super good day (but a day that I can still hit the gym), I avoid the abdominals machines altogether.

I think I said this in a different thread, but my reflux isn't so bad if I'm doing an abdominal exercise that isn't a "squeeze-relax" type of exercise - stuff like situps or the abdominals machines in the gym I think of as being "squeeze-relax", and that type of motion does make me reflux a lot - every squeeze seems to send more reflux up my throat.  But stuff like the plank, where it's even pressure and I'm holding still while working my core, that is much easier on my reflux and I feel it coming up my throat far less if at all.  So I think bicycling is similar to that - I'm not squeezing & relaxing, I'm keeping even pressure on my core the whole time.  But obviously a bike ride is a lot longer than a 30 second plank!  And even though I don't feel like I'm putting much pressure on my core muscles, after an hour-long bike ride, it apparently adds up and sort of overwhelms my guts.  I'm not sure exactly what's going on - not sure if my abdominal muscles are pushing on my guts or what.  I get a very specific sort of pain & symptoms after a long bike ride that I don't feel any other time.  It's sort of a churning angriness.  It usually goes away within 1 to 4 days after the bike ride.

I should add, I started doing regular bike rides last year right around the time that they stopped making Asacol (which is when I think I fell out of remission) so that could be a key factor as well - I think the dominoes lined up perfectly with me not having my maintenance meds anymore and me putting too much pressure on my core muscles with the bike rides.  That's when I first started bleeding - I was never a bleeder up until then (my GI says internal hemmies are the cause of my bleeding, so I guess they get irritated by bike rides?).  Now that I've been on Entocort for a few months, I haven't passed blood at all in that time, so I felt more confident about being able to do a bike ride yesterday.  I do have a bit of the churning angriness, but it's not nearly as bad as it could be.  So bike riding is still upsetting my guts somewhat, but Entocort is acting as a buffer I think.  I haven't passed any blood so far since my ride, either, so maybe Entocort is helping my hemmies?  Not really sure.

I guess I should also add, all winter long I ride the stationary bike in the gym as my main source of cardio.  But it's a recumbent-style bike, so I can sit back and just pedal.  I don't need to use my core to maintain balance nor steering.  My guts are absolutely fine with me riding the stationary bike, there's no churning angriness whatsoever after a ride on it.  But, I find it SO boring!  It drives me nuts to just sit there and pedal but not go anywhere.  I love getting outside, breathing the fresh air, riding my bike through nature - the only drawback is the churning angriness in my guts afterwards.  Yes, I do think it's worth it as long as I don't overdo it (I need to stick to rides less than 10 miles - last year I did a few 14 mile rides and I felt terrible for days afterwards).  Of course, the odometer/speedometer on my bike no longer works so I'm just guesstimating distance.  I think I did 6 or 7 miles yesterday.  That distance seems relatively okay.  I just need to remember to take it easier when I do bike rides outside.  My inclination is to tackle big hills, go fast, ride as far as I can.  I need to slow down, do less hills, and not go so far.  It's difficult though because like I said, I don't really feel it in my guts until after my ride is over - it's only then that I realize I've caused myself some trouble.

This is way too long already, but yes, I think I must have a higher threshold for pain than I used to.  I used to be such a wimp!    This is kind of cheesy, but now I feel more like a warrior.  Having a chronic illness or 4 really changes you inside and out.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I felt really fatigued up until lunchtime.  I didn't feel hungry at all, but I knew I should get some calories, so I made myself eat.  That went better than expected, the food sat well in my belly and gave me some energy, so I don't feel quite so bleh.  I have a teeny bit of pep back in my step.  But, my throat is still sore, and I can tell that things are still not "right", so I am going to just rest today.  I will play it by ear and see how I'm feeling tomorrow, I hope I can get to the gym soon but I know I need to rest until I start getting over this virus or whatever it is.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/12/14:  I didn't do anything over the weekend, no exercise at all.  Friday & Saturday I felt like I was coming down with a cold/virus so I rested - Sunday my throat felt better, but I somehow wrenched my neck (that happens every so often - feels like a pinched nerve maybe?) so I spent all of Sunday with pain that radiated from my neck down into my upper back, shoulders, shoulder blades, etc.  It's somewhat better today but not great.  I may try some yoga this evening or I may rest, depending on how I feel later today.  Don't want to make it worse by overdoing it or by doing the wrong thing.

Bleh.  I hate having to rest so much with one thing after another!  Can't wait until I'm able to hit the gym again - hopefully soon!  It's been thunderstorming off and on the past few days so I haven't even been able to walk the dog - I literally sat on the couch all weekend and played computer games because I couldn't do much else.  I hate that!  I think the virus is out of my system, so I just have to get my neck feeling better and hopefully nothing else will come along to halt my fitness progress.

Soooo, I have no fitness plans yet for the week as I'm just going to play it by ear and see how I feel.  As soon as I'm able to, I hope to hit the gym again!  And if it ever stops storming, another bike ride would be nice too.


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## CrohnsChicago

Sending you a virtual bowl of soup! :chef: 

Also a cookie because who doesn't love a cookie when they feel like yuck :cookie:

Keep taking care of yourself and hope you feel better soon! :hug:


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Chicago.    I guess I should give some positive updates too - it isn't all doom and gloom.  The good news is - I don't have a migraine!    With these thunderstorms we've been having, I expected to get a migraine.  I'm rather surprised that I didn't get one.  Maybe I'm finally adjusting to the 6 mg dose of Entocort, or maybe it's a fluke.  Either way, I'm happy that for once it's raining and I'm not having tremendous head pain.

Also, hubby is going for his 2nd interview at the bakery tonight!  Since the job would be working overnights, they want him to go in when the other bakery staff is there so that he can see if he's a good fit with them.  I'm probably going to be in bed by the time he gets home from the interview, but I may be too nervous to sleep.  At any rate, we should hopefully know soon if he gets the job.

Oh, and I see my GI today.  It's kind of odd because for once I don't have a long list of questions for him!  I mostly just want to ask if I can stay on 6 mg of Entocort for a bit longer to ensure that I get into remission - even though this dose of Entocort has given me some trouble (namely migraines), I'd rather deal with the migraines and get back into remission, rather than stop taking it and go back into a flare.  But, that's all I really wanted to talk to him about - usually I have a long list of questions for him.  It might be a short appointment and that never happens!    But that must mean I'm doing well if I don't have a zillion things to ask about, so I'm taking it as a good sign.


----------



## theOcean

Aw, was wondering where you were over the weekend! I'm sorry to hear that you're still so run down from this mystery virus. At least you were able to get some good gaming time in? (Which games?)

Also so glad to hear your migraine finally cleared up! :hug: Even though this virus has been hitting you hard, it at least sounds like you have a few good things going for you, your husband's second interview included.

Maybe you could at least mention the migraines, and possibly get referred to a neurologist when you're at your appointment? Either way: good luck!


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update:  Saw my GI, and he said I can stay on 6 mg of Entocort for another 2-4 weeks at least, and longer if I'm still not feeling well enough to taper.  I'm doing well at 6 mg, even though it's been giving me migraines, and I'm a bit hesitant to taper down to 3 mg.  But, he did say that if I taper down and then flare up right away or get worsening symptoms, I can certainly go back up to 6 mg again.  So there's a bit of a safety net in place.  I just gotta get back into remission, that's the important part!  Feeling cautiously optimistic that I can do it - still not sure that 2-4 weeks will enough, though.  We'll see, I guess!

My neck is feeling a fair amount better, too.  Still a bit painful, but as the day goes on it's improving, so that's a good sign.  I think I will do a bit of yoga tonight, hopefully that will help my recovery from whatever this neck pain is.  (My co-worker said he gets these same symptoms from time to time as well and he also suspects it's a pinched nerve.)  If yoga goes well tonight, then I will attempt to do weights tomorrow.  Gotta get back on track!


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

TheOcean, I was writing my update as you posted!  Yeah, I often take a sanity break from the forum on the weekends although I check in periodically to make sure there are no major issues.  But yeah, I really had the wind knocked out of my sails this past weekend!  Oh, and as for what games - The Sims 3, and Plants vs. Zombies.    I just got a new laptop a month or two ago, my old laptop was slowly dying and it could no longer run any games (it could run solitaire and that's about it) and it even had a hard time with youtube videos, it'd freeze and chug and sometimes just crash.  So a new laptop was needed, and now that I have it, I've been catching up on older games that I haven't been able to play for awhile - mostly the Sims, but also PvZ.


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## theOcean

Oh gosh, I got so addicted to The Sims 3 for awhile, and I played it and modded it until I broke it on my old laptop, I think. I've sworn off of it until The Sims 4 comes out now. I'm really hoping it'll be good and have better customization! (And possibly less buggy, but EA doesn't inspire confidence in me.) And I play PvZ sometimes, too. I have PvZ2 on my iPhone and I'm so determined to get everything possible without spending a single cent on it. It's a "free to play" game so of course it gives you options to buy everything to make things easier. I refuse!

And aw, hope the neck pain goes away. I've had that before and dared to take an Aleve to help with it a little, just once. It's super painful, though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh yeah, The Sims 3 has been really buggy for me too and I don't mod anything nor use any custom content for fear of more buggy-ness.  The glitch that's frustrating me lately is, my main sim can't seem to get a job - he accepts the job, but when it's time to actually go to work, he glitches and suddenly disappears and re-appears at a different spot on the screen, but he won't ever go to work.  When my old laptop was still able to run the Sims (it's been a few years), I had a sim who was in the park one day when the grim reaper sim appeared!  But, he acted just like a regular townie and he said his name was Scot.    So my sim married him, and their sim kids came out with pitch black skin and bright green eyes - very freaky!  That was my favorite glitch, the grim sim appearing as a regular townie, but I haven't gotten it to happen on my new laptop just yet.

I don't have PvZ2 yet - I don't have a smartphone, and it doesn't yet seem to be available for PC nor for Kindle Fire.  So I've just been replaying the original PvZ and trying to collect all the zen garden plants (please tell me the zen garden is in PvZ2 - it's not in the Kindle version of PvZ).

I took some tylenol for my neck pain - it didn't do much, but it did take the edge off a little bit.  The pain has become tolerable enough that I can turn my head to either side without screeching pain, so that's promising.  I think some yoga will help.


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## theOcean

The one main one I found I absolutely needed was AwesomeMod, because it actually fixed most of the bugs that EA never bothered with. And that's a really strange glitch! I'm not sure if it's the same thing, but someone tried to find a fix for a job-related problem here. And oh my gosh, grim reaper kids. That's crazy!

And hmm, I'm not sure if there is a zen garden in 2, actually.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I've noticed that EA isn't big on fixing bugs - but boy can they churn out the expansion packs!    I think I saw an expansion pack called "Katy Perry stuff" or something like that - I don't think there's a need for a Katy Perry's stuff expansion pack.  They're just getting silly now.

Oh, I'll be sad if there's no zen garden!  That's like the main reason that I keep playing the original PvZ, I need to own all the plants and get the tree of wisdom as tall as possible.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/13/14:  Well, yoga ended up not happening last night but not because I didn't want to.  I got home from work and hubby already had dinner ready - he had forgotten that I had mentioned the possibility of doing yoga.  I can't eat and then work out, and he made a really nice dinner that would have been cold & dried out if I let it sit around while I did yoga, so I decided to forgo yoga and eat the nice dinner instead.

I'm feeling relatively well today - my neck pain is almost completely gone, virus is gone, no migraine, guts are quiet, joints are quiet - can't ask for much more than that!    So I'm going to go hit the weights today.  I'll probably take it a little bit easy since it's been a few days since I've worked out, don't want to push myself too hard.  I'm excited though, I missed the gym!

Oh, so about hubby's job interview - it apparently basically didn't happen.  The manager or whatever of the bakery, apparently he couldn't come last night, but he didn't bother to let hubby know that.  So hubby showed up and there was some other manager who had no idea what was going on.  He introduced hubby to the bakery crew and showed him around, but it wasn't a full interview.  The first manager, the one who didn't show up - I guess he had told hubby that the interview would be about 2 hours, but with this other clueless manager hubby was only there for like 20 mins.  Supposedly the first manager is going to call hubby today and... I don't know.  Reschedule the interview I hope?  Hubby said it was really dirty in there though so between the manager guy not showing up/not calling, and the place being dirty and kind of gross, he's not impressed and is seeming far less enthusiastic about the prospect of working there.  So at this point, if he gets the bakery job, he'll accept it but he will only work there until he can find something better.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/14/14:  I hit the gym yesterday and felt great, so I did push myself a little bit.  Feeling a bit sore today, but that's a good feeling!  Because of the soreness, I'll either make today a rest day, or I'll do something gentle - if the weather is nice tonight, I think I might take the dog to the park.  A quick walk shouldn't hurt.

Tomorrow, it's back to the weights.  Friday, not sure yet.


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## theOcean

Yay! I've been feeling a bit sore since my session on Monday, too, but it always makes me feel like I've made some progress. Now I just need to motivate myself to go back today!

And I'm sorry to hear about the mess-up with your husband's second interview... as well as how he was disappointed with the cleanliness of the place. I know that would be pretty disappointing to me, too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/15/14:  I walked the dog last night and that went okay.  My dog apparently isn't feeling well, though, she had some diarrhea on our walk.  But other than that, she was energetic and acting normal, so I'm not too worried.  Sometimes she sneakily eats a little something that she shouldn't, so I presume she just ate a little something when I wasn't looking (out in the yard, she sometimes eats weird/inedible stuff like rabbit poop or dead leaves) and it upset her tummy a little bit.  So, other than my dog having a few episodes of d, the walk went fine.

Tonight I'm going to hit the gym for weights.  I'm feeling pretty well so I plan to push myself.  Hubby's coming to the gym with me, which is good because he needs to work out more (he never goes to the gym by himself, he only goes to the gym when I ask him to come with me).  He's going to follow up with the bakery manager guy today too, as the guy never bothered to call him back (this bakery thing gets less promising all the time).  But, hubby got a little nibble of another job prospect, one that's actually in his field (art/animation).  He sent his resume' to a local company and they responded asking him to send them more samples of his work, so that seems like a good sign!  At this point, any response at all from a prospective employer is better than nothing.  

Oh, and my job will hopefully be less stressful soon too!  I can't remember how much I already talked about this, but in a nutshell, there were 4 people in my little department and one of them quit recently.  The rest of us had to take over her projects for the time being, and one of the other people in my department is basically a massive screw-up and not very bright, so we didn't want to give her many projects or we'd just have to re-do them ourselves anyway.  Sooo, as a result I got really stressed particularly with one big confusing project that I had to take on.  But, my boss seems to have found a replacement for the lady who left, and it's someone I know and like (it's someone from a different department), and she apparently starts in our dept on Monday!    I'm excited, I'm going to get some stress off my shoulders and I'll have a nice new co-worker.  All good stuff.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/16/14:  I hit the gym last night and pushed myself a fair bit.  I usually do either 10 or 12 reps per machine (depending on the machine - some are really hard and I can usually only make it to 10).  So, I decided to one-up myself on each machine - on the machines that I normally do 12 reps on, I pushed myself to do 13 reps, and on the machines that I normally do 10 reps, I made myself do 12.  That was really tough but I did it!  I don't even feel particularly sore or tired today, so that's encouraging that I can push myself to that extent and still be okay the next day.

Today I'm kind of tired - I sometimes can't remember if I took my medications or not.  As a result, I think I sometimes take a double dose - I think I didn't take them so I take them again, when I really did take them the first time.  My short-term memory is terrible!  Anyway, so last night I was getting ready for bed and I couldn't remember if I had already taken my Amitriptyline.  Just could not remember at all.  But I figured, it's better to take a double-dose (50 mg rather than 25) than to take nothing, as I haven't had a migraine in a few weeks and I don't want to jinx that (Ami prevents most of my migraines).  So I took my Amitriptyline, but it seems I had already taken it.  I zonked out and slept great, but felt quite groggy and a bit out of it when it was time to get up.  Not a huge issue, but I've felt a bit sleepy all day because of it (I nearly fell asleep at my desk at work and I had to get up and do some squats and lunges to get my blood flowing and try to wake up!).

So because I'm feeling sleepy, and the weather is cold and yucky, I'll probably just rest tonight.  I was briefly considering yoga or walking the dog, but I'll probably just go to bed early instead.  I'll hit the gym tomorrow for weights.  Sunday I probably won't have a chance to exercise, as I'm going to visit my grandparents.  That's always rather mentally exhausting - my grandpa is physically very ill (heart problems, kidney failure, diabetes, in a wheelchair, etc) but he's all there mentally.  My grandma is fairly physically healthy - she can walk at least and she isn't at the doctor 6 days a week like my grandpa is - but she's losing it mentally, her memory is gone and she gets confused easily.  We're going to a restaurant, so it's going to be a constant stream of reminding my grandma what she likes to eat there, then remind her what she ordered, then after the meal remind her (multiple times) of what she ate, etc.  At least I can have a conversation with my grandpa and he'll remember it 5 mins later -  not my grandma though.  I can't remember if I took my pills, but she can't remember anything anymore and she gets confused over simple things - I presume it's dementia but I don't know if she's actually been diagnosed with anything as of yet.  So anyway, last time I saw them I ended up with a massive headache from constantly having to remind my grandma of what's going on, and I just had to rest for the remainder of the day.  I'm presuming this Sunday will be similar.  The good news is, I'm driving them (they still drive which is really scary) and they're always really appreciative when I do stuff like that for them, so I know they'll have a nice time.  Last time I drove them to a restaurant, my grandma kept saying what a good driver I am and what a lovely travelling companion my hubby is and she kept trying to give us money.    So I know they enjoy getting out and having a nice time, it's worth getting a headache over.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/19/14:  I rested on Friday - as I said in my last update, I was quite tired.  On Saturday, we hit the gym.  I still felt kind of tired, didn't have tons of energy and took it a bit slower than usual in the gym.  I also got kind of nauseous towards the end, so I skipped the abdominals machine just to be safe.  Not a great workout overall but I got through it.  Went home after the gym and rested a bit, then decided to walk the dog, so I was actually quite active on Saturday.  The weather was nice all weekend so it seemed a shame to waste it.

Sunday, I was in the car for a good chunk of the day.  My grandparents don't drive on the highway anymore (they still drive in their city and on back roads which is scary enough).  So I drove to my grandparents' city (an hour drive), picked them up, drove them to the city my parents live in (90 mins drive), took them to lunch with my parents, took them back to their home, went home myself.  I was in the car for hours and hours.  Plus, my grandparents are both going deaf so they talk loudly and I had to talk loudly for them to hear me.  And my grandma is really losing it mentally, her memory is shot and she may have dementia, so it was frustrating to repeat the same thing to her 10 times.  Because of all that, I did end up with a headache.  But, when hubby and I finally got home from our chauffeur duties, I wanted to move around a bit because I had been stuck in the car the whole day.  So we did some gardening and then took the dog on another walk.  I think keeping active helped - my headache hasn't turned into a migraine, and it seems to be improving today.

So, since I'm doing relatively okay today, I'm going to hit the gym.  Just a quickie lunch-hour workout in the little gym in the basement of my workplace.  Wednesday & Friday, I'm planning to do my workouts in the big (paid membership) gym - that gym is less conveniently located, but it has more equipment and I can do a better, longer workout there.  Not sure about what I'll do on Tues & Thurs - maybe yoga, or if the weather is nice maybe a bike ride, or I could always walk the dog some more (she needs the exercise too!  She's a bit fat, ha ha).  Hubby picked up more hours this week at his part-time costume shop job (his boss is going to be a vendor at a convention, so he's going to help her pack & set up and then he'll run the shop while the boss is at the con).  So it'll pretty much be me by myself for most of the week - which is fine, I'm a huge introvert and I look forward to getting some alone time.    During my alone time, I'm going to work out of course, do some gardening, some sewing & crafts, color my hair, catch up on some K-dramas, stuff like that.  Just generally recharge and catch up on stuff.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Ugh.    Well, about an hour before it was time to go to the gym, I got rather nauseous.  I took a Zofran which helped a bit but I still didn't feel "right."  Felt dizzy too.  Still not a lot of head pain, so I'm not sure if this is a relatively painless migraine or a mini-flare or what.  I made myself go to the gym anyway but I wasn't able to do much.  I pushed through but it wasn't pretty and I skipped the abdominals machine, and I just generally felt un-energetic and yuck.  I usually feel better after a workout, but after today's workout, I felt relatively the same - nauseous and bleh.  Less dizzy, but still definitely feeling "off."  Going to rest up tonight with my heating pad.  Tomorrow, if I feel similar, it will definitely be a rest day.  Ugh, yuck.

I have been doing somewhat better lately so I guess I wanted to keep that streak going, that's why I didn't skip the gym today.  I probably should have, though.  At this point, I'm hoping to recuperate and be gym-ready by Wednesday.  That's the goal.  I hate hate hate to skip a weight-lifting session, and I do weights every other day, so (in my mind) it's okay to take a rest day tomorrow as long as I'm back to (relatively) normal on Wednesday for my next weights session.  In the meantime, I'll rest and eat low-res and just try to take it easy (no gardening or walking the dog).


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## theOcean

I can totally feel you on the deaf grandparents thing. My grandmother is deaf and has a bad habit of always forgetting her hearing aids, which usually results in some interesting games of charades. Also: lots of yelling on her part even though I can hear her just fine.  Sorry to hear about the dementia, though... one of my grandfathers had Alzheimer's so I know what that's like.

What color are you dyeing your hair?


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## CrohnsChicago

I'm sorry it's been a bit of a rough one for you Cat. At least you still tried to get the workouts in, that counts for something.

Dementia is really difficult to deal with I know I have been around and interacted numerous times with relatives and friends' relatives with either Alzheimer's or Dementia. All the more reason to take care of yourself because it can be really stressful to deal with and provide support.

Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully you can get some fitness activity done then. Until then take care of yourself.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks guys.    Ocean, I'm mostly just coloring the greys out of my hair!    (I started going grey right around the time that I got sick, so I consider it another symptom and hair dye is my medicine, ha ha.)  But I do like to go a bit darker than my natural color.  Naturally I'm sort of a light golden brown, and I like to do a darker brown with a hint of red.  I've found a box color that comes out looking pretty natural (sometimes fake red in hair dye looks totally unnatural) and I get lots of compliments on it.

As for my grandma, I'm not sure if it's Alzheimer's or another type of dementia or what.  She's mostly just forgetful but she's gotten a little aggressive at times lately, too.  (Like, she yelled at a waitress for bringing her the wrong thing - but apparently she just forgot what she ordered, it was correct but she couldn't remember.)  It's just starting to become frightening and I'm sure that it'll get worse.  She's 81 and relatively healthy so she could live quite awhile longer and she'll likely just continue to decline.  It's sad and scary!  And it gives me migraines.  She has a hearing aid too but she "lost" the batteries in the bottom of her purse and she didn't bother to look for them.


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## theOcean

Oh gosh, fake red. I think the worst cases I've ever seen of it are elderly European ladies. They love it, for some reason. It looks terrible.  Always looks something closer to this color. As a natural redhead (or a previous one, thanks to my medication!) I get a little offended by it. I have no idea why it's so popular!

It sounds like you're dyeing yours a nice red, though.

Aggression, personality changes, changes in taste and paranoia are a number of the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. My grandfather was originally diagnosed with dementia, so we've really seen him through all the stages. Like CC said: definitely remember to take care of yourself, because it often ends up being far more difficult for the caretaker than anyone else.


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## hawkeye

Hang in there Cat.


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## kel

One time my brother was coming to visit our parents and he told my mom he had colored his hair.  He was going on about how good it looked. Much to our surprise and amusement it turned out he had turned it into almost exactly the same color as mine (red). Of course I could not let him live it down.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kel, my brother did something similar.  He's naturally blonde and I naturally have rather mousy brown hair.  He tried dyeing his hair black, but the dye didn't take right and he ended up with dull, mousy brown hair for a little while - very similar to mine!    It looked terrible on him, too.  He hasn't dyed his hair since, I think he learned his lesson.

Ocean, oh yeah, I've heard that particular shade of old lady fake red hair color referred to as "menopause red"!    I've also known several older women who went for the extremely bad faux red dye, I don't know why that's such a popular thing for older ladies to do.  Like I said, the dye I use is primarily dark brown with just a teensy hint of natural-looking red!  Even though I am dyeing out the greys, I'm not terribly old (I'm 34) and I am not ready to go crazy with the weird "this color is not found in nature" shade of brassy almost-neon red hair dye.  

Thanks, Hawkeye.  How are you doing, better since your surgery & obstruction?  Getting back into running yet?

I suppose I should update - I am almost certain now that this nausea is due to a relatively painless migraine.  When I woke up this morning, I had some head & neck pain and it felt like a migraine, but once my head got off the pillow the pain subsided.  My stomach is still not right though so I'm taking it very easy food-wise and sticking to absolutely safe foods in small amounts.  I think this is the first migraine I've had where I've had more nausea than pain!  I usually get very little if any nausea during a migraine so this is abnormal for me.  But, I have zofran and it's not like I'm not used to dealing with nausea, so I'm actually coping better with this than I have with my last handful of (painful) migraines.

So I'm doing okay-ish.  Still going to take today as a rest day - the bad hip is acting up today too so I may stretch it out a bit, but a workout is off the table today.  I'm hoping that as long as I stick to low-res safe foods and rest today, that I'll be well enough to hit the gym tomorrow.  That's the plan.  I do feel a bit better today than I did yesterday so hopefully the migraine is on its way out.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Yep, it's definitely a migraine.  There's some pressure and a bit of pain.  Still not too bad, I'm still functional and the pain is tolerable.  The nausea is getting better but the head pressure seems to be getting a bit worse.  Yuck!  In a few days, I'm going to try to taper down from 6 mg to 3 mg of Entocort - that should help with the migraines quite a bit.  The big question is, will my guts be okay with me tapering, or is it too soon?  If it's too soon then I'll have to go back up to 6 mg, which I don't really want to do.  But I do want to get the guts under control and back into proper remission, so I'll go back to 6 mg if I have to.  But anyway, hopefully the taper will go fine and the migraines will stop happening so often.

The weather here is super nice today!  It's a shame it's a rest day - if I didn't have a migraine, I'd want to walk the dog or take a bike ride.  It's supposed to be nice here all week though, sunny and in the 70s, so hopefully my body will allow me to do something outside at some point soon.  Tentatively, I'm thinking of taking my dog on a hike on the weekend - hubby has to work at the costume shop all weekend, and it's supposed to be really nice weather.  There's a state park not too far away that has nice hiking trails and they allow on-leash dogs, so that could be a lot of fun.  So that's my tentative weekend plan!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/12/14:  I'm doing somewhat better today.  Still feeling like I have a bit of a migraine, but I don't feel too bad.  Some head pain, but the pressure has eased up.  The nausea is mostly gone too.  I did pass some mucus last night but otherwise I had normal, solid stools, so I'm not too worried about the mucus.  My arthritis started acting up yesterday evening too, but it's feeling better today.  

So, given that I'm relatively okay-ish, I'm still planning to hit the gym tonight.  I probably won't push myself too much and am just aiming to get through my workout.  If I am able to push myself, then that'll be a nice bonus.  So yes, gym tonight for weights.  Tomorrow, I think I'll walk the dog.  Friday, I really want to go see that big meteor shower that's predicted for late Friday night/early Saturday morning - so, I'm thinking I'll hit the gym on my lunch hour for a quickie weights session, then after work I'll nap for a bit, then get up when it's dark out and pack myself a little picnic, and drive out into the country and watch the meteor shower for awhile.  That sounds like fun.    Saturday, I think I will take the dog for a long hike, and Sunday gym again.  Oh, and Monday is a holiday here, so if the weather is nice and if my health cooperates, I'd love to take the kayak out on the water!  We have a 2-person kayak and our dog fits in it with us, so it's a lot of fun when me & hubby & Lily pooch go for a paddle.  Lily loves to look at ducks and sniff everything, ha ha.  So, those are my tentative plans for now!  Of course everything is subject to change depending on my health and the weather.  (Can't go meteor-watching if it's cloudy and don't want to go kayaking if it's raining.)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/22/14:  I'm doing well today.    Still a bit migrainey, but it's still not too bad and the nausea is gone.  My migraines that I've been getting from Entocort, on average they've been lasting about 5 days each, and today is day 5 of this migraine, so hopefully it'll go away fully soon.  Speaking of Entocort, I looked over how many capsules I have - my GI said I can taper when I feel ready, and my guts are doing okay so I'm just about ready to taper.  I'm going to stay on 6 mg through the long weekend, and on Tuesday I'm going to attempt to taper down to 3 mg.  Hopefully my guts will be okay with that, and also hopefully the migraines will go away or at least be less frequent and/or less intense.  So that's the plan!  I'm excited to taper - I really want to get back into remission and this feels like a good step in the right direction!

I went to the gym last night with hubby.  Chicago talked about this in her thread a little bit - like she said with her gym, it was wayyyy too warm in my gym too.  I could tell they were running the air conditioning and the fans, but it was quite warm outside and that's a big space to try to cool down all at once, plus the gym was quite busy which seems to raise the temp in there a bit just because of all the body heat & heavy breathing.  So, it was too hot and I felt a bit miserable.  I somehow had a good workout anyway - I felt strong and didn't run out of steam - but I also sweated a ton and felt a bit gut-crampy.  I hate working out when it's too warm in the gym, but anyway, I got through it and I felt good when I was done.

Tonight I'm just going to walk the dog and that'll likely be it.  Tomorrow, gym.  I think I wrote all this out before so I won't repeat myself!    I'm looking forward to the long weekend.  It'll be nice to have an extra day to relax and recharge before my taper.


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Thanks, Hawkeye.  How are you doing, better since your surgery & obstruction?  Getting back into running yet?


Looking at doing a 5K during the local marathon weekend here in August, got to get out on the lunch hour walking now that the weather is getting better and then build up the running. I've got loads more energy since the surgery, mowed the lawn and put lime down Saturday afternoon (our lot is 100 feet by 150 feet) there is no way I would have been able to do that in an afternoon last year without taking a lot of breaks.

Had a GI appointment this week. Doing a scope in November,the past 2 scopes weren't successful due to the stricture so I am still off any meds until then.  Apparently they like to do a scope 6 to 12 months after a resection, not sure if that is a general rule of thumb for GI's or just how he does things.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That's great that you're doing better, Hawkeye!  A bit weird that they won't put you on meds until November - hopefully things stay quiet until then.  I'm planning on doing some yard work myself tomorrow - I'm going to put in some edging blocks around my hedges, and if I have enough energy I'll also mow the yard (we have one of those manual push-mowers, so that in itself is a workout even though our yard is pretty small!).

Update 5/23/14:  I walked the dog last night and was fortunate enough to run into my dog park friend (she's my neighbor - I have one corgi and she has 2 corgis, and the 3 of them get along well and my neighbor is a nice person to chat with, so we like to walk our dogs together when we run into each other).  So my dog had a nice walk with her corgi friends and I had a nice time walking & talking with my neighbor.    The weather was lovely and a good time was had by all.

Today, I hit the little gym on my lunch break.  Had a good workout, and then when I got back to my desk I had some projects that required me to lug a few boxes around and also to keep going up & down the stairs, so between the gym and my job, I've had an active day!  I'm feeling rather tired now.  When I get home, I'm going to take a nap so that I can wake up late tonight and go watch the meteor shower.  (That's the plan anyway - we'll see how peppy I feel when I wake up at midnight-ish.)  

Tomorrow, yard work is the plan - as I said, I'm putting in some concrete edging by my front hedges.  The concrete paver things weigh 18 lbs apiece and I bought 16 of them, so that'll definitely be a workout to dig a trench for them all and then move them and put them in place.  If (big IF) I still have energy after that, then I'll mow the lawn and/or walk the dog.  Sunday will be a gym day and probably not much else, as it's supposed to rain.  Monday is a holiday so no work for me or hubby, so the plan is to get the kayak out on the water for a bit.  I'm so looking forward to that!  Now we just have to decide which creek to paddle!  There are 2 nearby which are relatively easy, and there's another one a bit further away which is a bit more challenging but still not too bad.  Since it's our first paddle of the season, I will likely vote for one of the easy creeks.  Hubby's not a big fan of the challenging creek, so I'm sure he'll feel likewise.

Since I have a lot of activities planned for the long weekend, I probably won't be online much - so, everybody have a good weekend and I'll "talk" to you in a few days!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/27/14:  I had a very active weekend!  Friday evening, I walked the dog and then stayed up late to watch the meteor shower (which was a bust - I saw 5 or 6, and apparently I was lucky, as some of my friends were saying they didn't see any).  Saturday, I did a lot of landscaping work in my yard.  I basically dug a long trench across the front of my front yard and put in edging blocks.  It looks really nice now but it was a lot of work, I think it took me about 4 hours of fairly intense labor.  The edging blocks went in right near my front hedges, and the hedges apparently have long, tough roots so I had to contend with those.  It took a lot of work, but it does look really nice now.

Sunday, I was thinking of going to the gym, but I opted to do more yard work instead.  I mowed the entire yard, which is a chore because we only have a manual push mower (no motor).  Pushing that thing around is definitely a workout in itself, so after mowing I didn't feel the need to go to the gym.  I walked the dog on Sunday as well.

Monday was a holiday here, so no work.  Hubby and I took the kayak out - it was a bit risky as the weather report called for scattered thunderstorms.  We fortunately avoided the thunderstorms (the first round of storms came through about an hour after we got home).  We just paddled in the little creek near our house, which is usually an easy creek.  But, it hasn't rained much lately, and as a result the water level was quite low and we kept getting stuck in spots where the water was too low.  It really took a lot of arm strength and core strength to get the kayak unstuck when it became wedged on sandbars!  The water was murky, too, so we couldn't always see where the sandbars were.  So that was a bit more challenging than I anticipated, but in the end it went fine and we made it from one end of the creek to the other and back again.

Today, I'm thinking it's a rest day.  My shoulders are still sore from kayaking, and my whole body is still a bit sore from all the yard work!  Tomorrow I'll hit the gym for weights.  Thursday, I may have a cardio day and do the stationary bike on my lunch break, then I will (hopefully) get a massage that evening.  Friday, gym again, and I haven't throught as far ahead as the weekend just yet.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/28/14:  It's been a busy time at work lately (there's a new person in my department which is awesome, but she needs to learn a lot of stuff and she's understandably leaning on me for help) so I haven't had much time to update.  I'm here though and checking in when I can!

I did rest yesterday - I thought about walking my dog after work, but as I was leaving work yesterday it started pouring rain.  I mean, it was ridiculously pouring heavily to the point of flooding.  Some of the city streets got flooded and my mom called me to see if I got home okay!  So that was a rather wicked rainstorm and I obviously didn't take the dog on a walk in that mess.  I practically could have kayaked in it though!    So yes, yesterday was a rest day, which was fine as I was still rather sore from my weekend of gardening & kayaking.

Tonight I'm going to the gym - headed there shortly.  I'm excited and I hope it's not too busy.  I'm feeling well today and am looking forward to a workout.  Oh, I started my Entocort taper yesterday - I went down to 3 mg.  I feel hopeful that I can come off it altogether soon.  I felt the start of a migraine last night with the strong storm moving through, but I think being on the lower dose of Entocort is helping, as today I feel fine (I did take a benadryl last night before bed, but those usually aren't enough to stop a migraine).  Anyway, I'm off to the gym in a bit!  Tomorrow I likely won't get a massage - my massage therapist has been super flakey with me lately.  Hmph.  But I'll likely do something active, maybe go for a bike ride.  Friday, I plan to hit the gym again.  The weekend is a bit up in the air - I was hoping to visit my mom, but long story short, my brother is crazy and so I might not go over there because I don't want to deal with his BS.  (He literally thinks I'm going to steal his childhood toys - he's 28 by the way so yeah, he's crazy.)  So I will probably stay at home and avoid my family because I cannot deal with their stress!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/29/14:  I hit the gym last night and felt pretty well.  It was too warm in there again, so I had a bit of a hard time getting going, but once I got warmed up enough to the point where I was sweating, then I felt better (it seemed really difficult for the first few mins of my warm-up before I started sweating!).  I did everything including the abdominals machine.  Knock on wood, but my GERD has been super quiet lately.  Sometimes about halfway through a workout, my GERD will kick in and I'll start belching - I'll suddenly have to belch 5 to 10 times in a row, and then I know the reflux is going to start coming up.  But last night, I belched only once, and it was during my cool-down at the very end of my workout!  So that's fantastic, I don't know how long it'll last but it's really nice that my GERD is being so quiet lately.

So, I had a good workout last night.  Today, I very likely won't be able to get a massage, so I'm thinking that on my lunch break I'll do a bit of cardio on the stationary bike in the little gym.  Then this evening if the weather is still nice, I'll walk the dog.

My Entocort taper is still going well - like the GERD, it's almost suspiciously too well.    I had a bit of LLQ pain yesterday which was weird (my usual "pain spot" is in the LRQ) but I think it was stuck food or trapped gas?  Eating and drinking a bit seemed to help whatever it was move along.  So hopefully that was just a fluke.  Other than that, the guts have been quiet and no further migraines either.  I feel like I'm getting back into remission - I hope so anyway!  I'm cautiously optimistic.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/30/14:  I did 30 mins on the stationary bike yesterday and that went fine.  Then after work hubby and I walked the dog.  We met up with her corgi friends and our human friend again so that was really nice.  I found a 4-leaf clover in the dog park, and I gave it to my neighbor, but then her corgi tried to eat it!    So it got chewed on a little bit.  My hubby actually complained that he didn't want to do a full walk around the park, but I made him do it.  (He had already walked the dog earlier in the day, so it was a 2nd walk for both of them.)  My dog really enjoyed the walk though, and when we got home she was so tired she slept and started snoring, loudly!  It's sometimes hard to tire my dog out, so that was nice that she was so zonked out after 2 walks.  

Today, I'm going to hit the little gym for weights on my lunch break.  I'll maybe walk the dog again tonight, too.  My bad hip is kind of aching today though so it's possible it didn't like the walk yesterday after I had already done the bike - so I'm not sure if it's going to hold out if I do weights and then another walk today.  So, I'm going to play that by ear - if my hip is still aching this evening then I'll likely just rest it rather than go for another walk.

This weekend, I'm not really sure what my plans are fitness-wise.  I'm not going to visit my crazy family (phew) and hubby's working, so I'll be on my own.  I'll probably do some gardening, maybe some crafts.  Possibly I'll do a bike ride outside tomorrow if the hip is doing better.  Sunday, it's supposed to thunderstorm, so I'll go to the gym but probably won't do much else besides that.  I might grocery shop, too.  I've been making baby steps at eating healthier.  Instead of chips, I find that I can snack on carrots and my guts are surprisingly okay with that, so I've been having carrots & hummus.  I'm also slowly introducing probiotics back into my diet in the form of soymilk yogurts - I've had 2 so far this week and I've had no trouble with them at all.  And now that berries are in season, I've been eating blueberries and those cause me no trouble either.  We're growing our own raspberries & strawberries, too!  So I should go buy some groceries and stock up on more of my new go-to healthy snacks.


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> We're growing our own raspberries & strawberries, too!


Keep us posted on how you do with this.  I've got 7 tomato plants (Sunsugar - an excellent cherry tomato variety) and a pepper plant that I am planting tomorrow.  I would have liked to have them in before this, but we are about 3 weeks behind weatherwise this year.  It was below freezing here Wednesday night.


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## theOcean

Good luck with the crazy family! I can definitely relate to what that's like -- fortunately (unfortunately?) that's my SO's side rather than mine, haha.

How is soymilk yogurt in comparison to regular yogurt? I've been trying to have probiotic yogurts myself but can't find one that's in a snack-size -- only the large tubs, and then I feel like I'll just waste them.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, we had a cool spring but it's finally warmed up to where we can properly garden.  We did start seeds in those little plastic tray things this year so that we could bring them inside at night, and that worked great.  We just transplanted the little seedlings to the garden a couple weeks ago.  The strawberry plants we actually got at a garage sale, there was a sign saying $1 for a shovelful (and the guy wanted to get rid of his strawberry plants so he let us take 2 shovelfuls for $1).  So those are mature and flowering and will hopefully produce some strawberries soon!  The raspberry plant, my hubby saw it growing wild on some public land near the dog park and he took part of it home (he left enough of it so that it's still growing just fine on the public land, he didn't kill it nor take it all).  So that's mature and flowering as well and should also produce fruit soon.  The seedlings we planted from scratch are cucumber, bell peppers, broccoli, pumpkins, tomatoes, snap peas, basil, cilantro, and loofah sponges (apparently they come from a gourd?).  We also had some things come back from previous years - peppermint and spearmint (you apparently can't kill mint), onion, and ginger.  So my little garden is slowly but surely coming along!  

Ocean, the soymilk yogurts are quite good although I do have to say that there's not enough fruit in them.  For example, I ate a blueberry one the other day, and I think there were maybe 2 actual blueberries in there.  I can do fruit okay as long as it's been processed like that, so I like having lots of fruit in yogurt, and it's disappointing to have hardly any.  So that's my one complaint.  But other than that, the soymilk yogurts taste good and haven't caused me any tummy troubles at all.  Oh, and I can get the small individual sized containers here, they're 99 cents apiece which is slightly more pricey than regular yogurt but still not bad.

Update 6/3/14:  I had a super lazy weekend.  On Friday evening while walking the dog, I noticed that my back felt kind of sore.  I didn't sleep well on Friday night, and when I woke up I felt even more sore.  It felt like that pinched nerve or whatever it is was acting up again.  It wasn't quite as bad as last time, but it still wasn't pleasant and I wasn't in any state to be able to exercise, so I just rested.  I watched TV, I crocheted, and that's about it.  I just laid around and felt a bit sorry for myself, didn't leave the house, just had a totally lazy time.

Yesterday, I was still feeling the pain somewhat but I was doing better, so I decided to try to go to the gym.  That kind of sucked, I was nervous about making my neck/back worse so I held back quite a bit and did fewer reps and/or less weight and just took things very easy.  My bad hip started aching too so overall it was not a good workout.  Today, I'm finally actually feeling better, and I think I'm going to do yoga tonight.  Tomorrow, I plan to head back to the gym for a proper workout.

I'm not sure about the rest of the week, but I really want to go kayaking this weekend.  Last time we went kayaking (on Memorial day), the water levels in our local creek were way too low and we kept hitting the sandy bottom of the creek.  But we've had some torrential rains on Sunday and Monday, and it looks like the water level in the creek has gone up by quite a lot because of the rains.  So I really want to kayak now that I know the creek is going to be easier to paddle!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/4/14:  After a few rough days with the pinched nerve thing, I'm back to feeling very well again.    I had a rough day in the gym on Monday, and I hope to have a much better day today - I'm heading to the gym shortly.  My neck/back feel almost totally better so I'm encouraged and I think I will push myself a bit in the gym today.  I did yoga last night and that went quite well and I felt good the whole way through, so that's encouraging too.

The "try to eat healthier" thing is still going okay, too.  For my snack today, I again had a soymilk yogurt and also some carrots & hummus.  I'm not sure if it's because I'm on Entocort or because I'm getting close to remission, but eating carrots doesn't bother me at all lately.  I fully expected my poo to turn orange, but it's been fine.  If anything, my stools have been a little bit too firm which is unusual - I think I got a tiny fissure today from passing a hard-ish poo as there was just a teensy bit of blood on the TP when I wiped.  I am currently not taking psyllium to regulate my poo consistency, as it was causing me a lot of cramping recently, so that may be partly the cause of the stool firmness.  I tried oatmeal yesterday but that caused cramping too.  So I don't think I'm fully back into remission yet, because in remission my body can handle some soluble fiber such as psyllium & oatmeal.  Or maybe my body has changed - perhaps it's just like how every flare is a little different, perhaps every remission is a little different too?  I'm not really sure.  At any rate, I'm still avoiding most fiber at this time.  But carrots are okay.  Weird!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/5/14:  I hit the gym yesterday and did very well.  I felt good the whole way through and I feel fine today too.  Today, I'm thinking it'll probably be a rest day.  My quads feel a bit tired so I'll give them some rest.  Tomorrow, going to the big gym after work with hubby.  Hoping to get the kayak out on the water again this weekend!

It's kind of funny, I have a new co-worker in my department and I've been helping her with some projects as she learns her new job.  My habit of working out has come up a couple times in conversation (I went to pick up a box and she said it might be too heavy, and I was like, no problem, I have muscles - she was like, oh right, because you go to the gym a lot).  I felt like she was getting borderline snarky about me working out, but then today she walked up 2 flights of stairs and she was totally winded and sweating (she's not overweight) and she said she felt very embarassed that she was so out of shape!  So perhaps now I can get her to understand that fitness isn't a bad thing.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/6/14:  I didn't end up totally resting yesterday - I spent all day cooped up in an office and the weather looked so nice, so when I got home, I took my dog to the park.  Hubby came too.  We do this thing where we look for 4-leaf clovers while walking the dog, as the park seems to have a lot of them.  We found 3 yesterday!  I found 2 and hubby found 1.  I've been pressing all of our 4-leaf clovers in a book, and I plan to go buy some small, inexpensive picture frames at garage sales, and then frame my clovers and give them away as gifts.    I think I've found about a dozen or so 4-leaf clovers so far this year, the book I press them in is starting to get a bit full!

So yeah, we had a nice walk with our dog.  Tonight we're going to the gym.  I keep checking the weather for this weekend, and they keep saying thunderstorms on both Saturday and Sunday.  Hmph!  I still hope to get the kayak out on the water for a bit, but obviously it's not safe to be in a tiny boat while holding a metal paddle during a thunderstorm, so I'll just have to see what the weather is like when I wake up tomorrow.  I really hope the thunderstorms stay away so that I can go kayaking!


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## theOcean

Oh wow! I think I've only ever found a four-leaf clover once, in my grandmother's garden when she was still living in another city. I love the idea of framing them and giving them away as gifts -- that's so thoughtful, and unique! I've never heard of anyone doing that before.

Here's hoping the weather holds so you can go out on the water!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, we didn't get out on the water today - we did a bunch of much-needed yard work instead which was a workout in itself.  I may have mentioned in the past that I have a gigantic lilac bush (more like a lilac tree, it's huge!) in my backyard.  It's nice for the 3 days or so that it blooms every year, but it's way too huge.  My house was built in the 1950's and I presume the lilac was planted when the house was built.  So every year, I cut a bunch of it off - not enough to kill it, but gradually I will make the stupid thing a more reasonable size!    So today we got out the loppers and the saw and we cut a bunch more branches off of it.  It's still too big but it's getting there.  Then we had to haul all the cut branches to the front so that the city can haul them away, so there was a lot of manual labor involved.  We did a bunch of other stuff in the yard too (pulled a lot of weeds, planted some more flowers, trimmed the hedges, etc).  So we had a productive day and got all that done before the rain started!

The weather might be better tomorrow so we're tentatively thinking of taking the kayak out in the morning if it's nice and not raining.  We'll see what the weather does.  Oh, and yeah, I haven't heard of anyone ever doing 4-leaf clovers in frames, either.  We did hit a few garage sales first thing this morning and I got a handful of small, nice frames for very cheap.  In fact, 2 of them I liked so much that I'm keeping them for myself!    But I am going to give the others away as gifts.  I framed a few of my 4-leaf clovers and they look really nice!  (In fact, I found yet another 4-leaf clover while we were out garage sale shopping - I looked down in the grass in some random stranger's yard, and there was a nice one!)  I have a co-worker who is getting married next month, and I am going to put a few clovers in a nice frame for her, I hope she likes that.  I also made a little frame for my neighbor with the corgis - I had found a 4-leaf clover for her but then one of her dogs tried to eat it, so it got chewed up and icky.  But she wanted to keep it anyway, and I was like, I'll find you a better one!  So I'm going to surprise her with a framed 4-leaf clover, I'm sure she'll like it.    It's actually not difficult to find 4-leaf clovers, just go to a park or somewhere that isn't mowed super regularly - the dog park is ideal for me because they mow paths but they don't really mow anything else, it's a lot of tall grass and big clovers.  Then you just sort of scan the clovers until you see one that doesn't quite match the pattern.  Honestly, that's it!  I told a friend about how I find a lot of 4-leaf clovers, and then he went out looking for them, and he found a bunch near his workplace.  It's just a matter of specifically looking for them!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/9/14:  We didn't get the kayak out on Sunday, either.  Saturday evening I felt like I was becoming headachey, and Sunday morning I woke up in a lot of head pain - oh yay, another migraine.  I rested awhile, took some tylenol and had some dark chocolate (sometimes the small amount of caffeine in a bit of dark chocolate will help my migraines, but too much will trigger a migraine) and I put my heat wrap thing around my neck.  That all seemed to help and the pain eased up to where I was functional.  Not well enough to exercise much, so all I did was walk the dog and do a bit of stuff around the house.  Today the head pain is still there but still tolerable.  I think I'm going to attempt 30 mins on the stationary bike this afternoon and see how that goes.  Hopefully I'll be well enough to do weights tomorrow.

So, the tentative plan is, bike today, weights tomorrow, maybe yoga on Wednesday, weights Thursday, Friday rest day.  Friday is hubby's birthday so we'll do something fun - I think he wants to go see the new "How to train your dragon" movie.  We'll probably eat something fun too.

Oh, speaking of eating something fun!  I had been reading online about protein because protein is important particularly after a workout, and I read that rabbit meat is extremely high in protein and very low in fat (it's practically all protein), so I had been wanting to try eating rabbit.  We finally found a place in town that carries it, and for a fairly reasonable price too - it was about $9 for a whole rabbit.  We roasted it, and it was good although the meat was rather tough/chewy (apparently that's just how rabbit is, pretty much).  We'll prepare it a different way next time to see if we can get it to be less chewy.  But my guts seemed fine with it, so now that we know where to purchase rabbit, we'll do it again sometime.  Hubby also found out that there's a butcher shop about 30 mins from here that supposedly has all kinds of exotic meats - alligator, ostrich, etc.  So we may check that place out on his birthday (he's a total meat eater - I don't do red meat so much, my guts can't handle beef and I don't like pork, but I'm willing to try other meats to see how my guts do with it).  So, we may be preparing a rather interesting birthday dinner for hubby on Friday depending on what we end up bringing home from that butcher shop!


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> We roasted it, and it was good although the meat was rather tough/chewy (apparently that's just how rabbit is, pretty much).  We'll prepare it a different way next time to see if we can get it to be less chewy.


Slow cooker rabbit


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## theOcean

Ooh, rabbit! I've only had it once before but I liked it -- I actually tend to prefer gamey meat (and can't eat red), but my favourite is duck so it's kind of the antithesis of what you're aiming for.  That butcher sounds awesome! I hope you make some great dinners together.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I like duck a lot too, sometimes we make duck in the crock pot.  It's a bit pricey (about $17 for a whole duck at our local supermarket) so it's something we just have every so often as a nice treat.

I found out the butcher shop isn't as great as hubby said.    No alligator nor ostrich meat - they basically only have beef, pork, lamb, and goat.  Hubby was intrigued by the goat so we may end up trying a bit of goat meat.  I'm curious to try lamb, too, I'm not sure if my tummy could handle it or not.  So that'll be a bit of an experiment.

I should give a fitness update - on Monday, I did 30 mins on the stationary bike and felt very well, my legs felt strong and didn't get tired easily so I was able to push myself a bit.  Then that evening we walked the dog as it was a nice day.  We saw our neighbor and gave her the framed 4-leaf clover, she liked it very much and showed it off to other people in the dog park.    We also found 5 more 4-leaf clovers, and hubby even found a 5-leaf clover!  He thinks I should start selling framed clovers on etsy.  

Yesterday I hit the gym for weights.  The TV in the gym isn't working right - we had a power surge in the building the other day and I think that made the TV work even more wonky than it did before (sometimes it doesn't want to play DVDs and it seems to be worse now).  So I had a hard time getting it to play my music and that was frustrating, I think I'm going to have to rely on my ipod and not DVDs in the little gym from now on.  Other than the technical difficulties, my workout went fine.

Tonight I think I'm going to do yoga.  Tomorrow, weights.  Friday, hubby's birthday.


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## theOcean

Lamb I actually find pretty agreeable with my stomach -- I'm just not as fond of it taste-wise, unfortunately! And aw, that's a shame about the butcher. They're not even able to maybe order things in?

Happy birthday in advance to your hubby!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

No, hubby was just plain wrong about the butcher shop.    I have no idea where he got that information - when I looked at the butcher shop's website, it just talked about how they only do locally sourced meats and slaughter everything on-site themselves to ensure freshness and quality and all that - that's why they only have a few types of meat, and they have nothing exotic.  So basically hubby told me the complete opposite of what was true about this butcher shop!    We'll still check them out as we are curious about lamb & goat meat, but yeah, hubby was just totally wrong and I have no idea where he heard that misinformation.  Anyway, in looking on the butcher shop's website, I found out that they have a retail store right here in the city, so now we won't have to drive 30 mins outside of the city to check them out at least.  So that's one nice thing.


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## hawkeye

Cat, lobster is on sale here for Father's day $ 5.77/lb live and $6.77/lb cooked


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, I'm so jealous!  We're nowhere near the ocean so lobster is much more expensive here.  Lobster is $15.99 per lb (live) here - I know the price exactly because hubby spontaneously decided that he'd rather have lobster than goat/lamb for his birthday dinner, so we picked up a couple of live lobsters on Friday.  We got 2 lobsters which were about 1.5 lbs each, and the cost with tax was about $51.00.  Ouch!  Fortunately my grandparents gave hubby a very generous amount of money for his birthday, so we were able to afford lobsters because of that.  (It was funny, all hubby really wanted/needed was new socks & underwear for his birthday, so he bought socks, underwear, and lobsters!)

Update 6/16/14:  I had a pretty good weekend overall but one bad workout.  Thursday after work, I went home and tried to get hubby to go to the gym with me.  But he was tired and didn't want to go, so I went to the (big, paid membership) gym by myself.  For some reason, when I go to that gym with hubby, I never get bothered by other guys.  But when I go alone, sometimes total creeps hit on me, stare at me, follow me around, etc.  Unfortunately Thursday was one of those days.  This weird old bald dude (he looked to be at least 65) totally creeped me out for the entirety of my workout.  I warmed up on the arc trainer, and he came over and just stood next to me - he was pretending to watch the TV, but I could tell he was staring at me.  Ick.  After my warm-up, I moved on to the weight machines, starting with the assisted pull-up bar.  Again, he just stood near me, uncomfortably close and staring at me, and as soon as I was finished with the machine, he leaned in and said, "Is that hard to do?"  I just said no and walked away really quickly!  I did the rest of the weights and my stretches with him being somewhat less creepy - he at least kept his distance even though he still stared at me a few times.  Then, during my cool-down (walking on the treadmill), he got on an elliptical right in front of me so that I'd have to see him.  Ugh, go away!    When that kind of thing happens, I always get the most nervous as I'm leaving the gym - I don't know what I'd do if the creep followed me out to my car (fortunately that didn't happen, but I was afraid it would).  I was followed by a different creep in that same gym awhile back and I had the same fear - fortunately he didn't follow me to my car either.  But jeez, how creepy anyway!  I don't understand how certain creepy guys like that think that kind of thing is okay.  And it's not like I'm going to like someone if they stare at me and follow me around, even if I wasn't married!  (Yes, I was wearing my wedding ring in the gym which should tell people that I'm taken, plus I was wearing headphones the whole time which should convey a message of "I want to be left alone".)  Ugh, anyway.  I hate when that kind of thing happens, it really bothers me to basically be stalked and leered at during my workout.  The gym is my happy place, and stuff like that makes it a lot less happy.

Anyway, so yeah.  I did come up with a plan - if I do ever get followed to my car by a creeper at the gym, I'm going to call the police while driving to the police station.  That seems like a safe thing to do - I definitely wouldn't want to drive home and have the creep know where I live!  And if I get blatantly stared at/followed around again, I suppose I could also mention it to the gym's management.  I'm not sure if they'd do anything or not though.

Other than that, the weekend went well.  Hubby had a great birthday and my health was good enough to allow me to have a nice time, too.  I did eat some things I shouldn't have, so I'm paying for that a bit now (it was worth it, though - homemade cheesecake!).  We went kayaking on Saturday, the weather was absolutely perfect and we had a very nice time paddling down a local creek.  Friday we walked the dog and did a bit of yard work, and Sunday we walked the dog and then walked around the zoo with my parents.  So mostly walking and some kayaking, that was our weekend.

Tonight hubby and I are going to the big gym after work - he's definitely coming with me this time to hopefully ward off any other creeps!  Tomorrow, I have a dental cleaning happening on my lunch hour and then it's supposed to thunderstorm tomorrow evening, so I think my options will be stationary bike or yoga.  I'm leaning towards doing the bike.  Wednesday I'll hit the little gym at my workplace.  Thursday, there are supposed to be more thunderstorms (it's supposed to storm every day Tuesday thru Saturday!) so again I'll probably have my options limited to indoor stuff - my poor dog may not get walked for a little while!  So I may do yoga on Thursday.  Friday, gym again.  Saturday, haven't decided yet.  Sunday, it's finally supposed to be nice weather, and I think I may ride my bike to the gym.  That's always a good workout - it's about 4 miles to the gym, so a 4-mile ride to warm up, then a weight session at the gym and some stretching, and then another 4-mile ride home.  That's definitely a workout!  I did that a few times last summer and it's tough but do-able.  So I'm looking forward to that.  Hubby does work on Sunday, so I'll do the bike-gym-bike thing by myself, but usually the creeps seem to hang out at the gym in the evenings, so I'll head to the gym around lunchtime on Sunday as there's usually hardly anyone at the gym at that time of day and shouldn't be any creeps.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/17/14:  Hubby and I hit the big gym last night.  Yet again, it was way too warm in there so I was sweating buckets.  It was nicely empty in the gym though, I think most people were at home watching the soccer game on TV (a few people in the gym just stood around watching the soccer game too).  So that was pretty nice, the gym is usually busy on a Monday after work but it was pleasantly un-crowded yesterday.

I'm not sure what's up though, I felt very tired after my workout.  Hubby said he was the same.  Literally walking down our basement stairs to get the laundry was exhausting!  I don't know if the heat sapped our energy or what.  I was feeling a bit achey too, particularly my legs, so I took some tylenol PM at bedtime and zonked out.  That turned out to not have been the best idea, as some major storms rolled through during the night and there were tornadoes in the area!  A few miles west & south of here got his pretty hard, with roofs blowing off and trees falling over and stuff.  We fortunately were fine though.  My co-worker said the wind was super loud and there was tons of thunder.  I slept through it all and I slept through the tornado sirens too!  Oops.  Hubby also slept through everything even though he didn't take any tylenol/sleep aids.

I was thinking of riding the bike today, but my legs still feel a bit sore, so I think I'm going to rest them instead.  There are supposed to be more strong storms tonight, so I won't do anything that requires more tylenol - that way, I might actually wake up if tornado sirens go off again.  So yeah, a rest day today.  Gym again tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/19/14:  I rested on Tuesday and hit the gym yesterday.  That went okay - I think the DVD player in the little gym is totally fried, so no more DVDs for me - but my ipod kept me going just fine.  My legs didn't feel so good on the hamstrings machine though - I keep feeling like I'm going to (re)injure myself on that stupid thing (I think I got a minor injury from it in the past as I had some pain awhile back for about a week and things haven't been quite the same ever since).  So, I'm thinking I'm just going to skip the hamstrings machine for awhile.  I can do other stuff (bike, yoga, lunges, etc) to work on my legs, so it should be fine.  Other than that, my workout went well.

I walked the dog last night too.  I had to take a couple tylenols because my legs were a bit achey, but fortunately that worked, and walking seemed to help too.  We had a good walk, we met up with my neighbor & her corgis again.  My neighbor has started looking for 4-leaf clovers too as she had never found one - she found 2 last night, and I found 6!  Hubby and I have been discussing it, and I think we're just going to focus on finding as many 4-leaf clovers as possible right now during the warm months, and then in the fall & winter we'll start to frame them or maybe even embed some in resin, etc and then hopefully start selling some online.  I thnk it would be really neat to have a little clover business.  

Anyway.  Today, I'll walk the dog again if it's not raining (it's been raining here a LOT this week).  If it is raining, then I'm thinking I'll do yoga - I got some new yoga pants and have been wanting to try them out.  Tomorrow, little gym again.  Saturday, not sure - if the weather is nice, I'll probably seek out some garage sales as I want to buy more small picture frames for my clovers, and I'll likely walk the dog too.  If it's raining then I'm not sure what I'll do - maybe the stationary bike.  Sunday, I was hoping to ride my bike to the gym, but now they're saying rain on Sunday, so I guess I'll probably just do a regular gym session without biking there and back.  Hmph.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/20/14:  I had a rough night last night.  I tried to refill my Pentasa prescription days ago, but I apparently ran out of refills so I've been waiting and waiting for my GI to send through some more refills.  He still hasn't gotten around to doing that, and so I ran out of Pentasa last night.  Now I'm quite worried, if I don't have mesalamine in my system then I tend to flare pretty quickly (that's what happened last time - they stopped making regular Asacol, my GI switched me to Asacol HD but I couldn't break down the tablets, so they passed through me undigested and I wasn't getting the meds in my system, and I flared within about a week and that was the mild flare that I stayed in for about a year!).  So I'm stressed and nervous.  I'm still on Entocort so I hope that'll keep the inflammation at bay.  I also still have a small amount of Asacol HD and Delzicol, so I've been taking a few Delzicols (I know, self-medicating is bad, but flaring would be worse I think) just to make sure I still have Mesalamine going to my guts.  REALLY hoping my GI puts through the stupid refill soon already!  The stress of it is making my guts very unhappy - I had a safe dinner (baked potato, no skin), but even so, I ended up in the bathroom for quite awhile last night with explosive d and wicked cramps.  Today I feel a bit weak and tired because of that.  Not good.  I see my GI in August and I plan to lecture him on how he needs to put through refills promptly and not make people wait a week+.  I know he's a busy guy, but this is unacceptable.

So yesterday was a rest day - it was raining when I got home and I just didn't feel up to doing anything.  Today I'm going to attempt to hit the gym, although I'm going to skip both the hamstrings machine (to avoid injury) and the abdominals machine (because my guts are still quite unhappy).  Soooo it might not be a very good gym session.    The little gym only has 8 weight machines to beign with so I'll only be doing 6 of them - if I feel up to it, I'm going to try to do extra squats, lunges, etc to make up for it!

It's supposed to rain all freaking weekend according to the weather report, with maybe a few breaks here and there.  So I'll walk the dog if/when I can and maybe do some yard work if possible, but otherwise I'll be hanging out indoors from the sound of things.  Bleh.  A crappy rainy weekend to match my crappy mood - great.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another update for today:  Ugh.  I'm supposed to go to the gym in about an hour, but I just don't feel well and I'm thinking I should skip it.  I hate doing that, it's been a little while since I've had to skip a gym session due to feeling crappy, but I know I need to listen to my body and give it what it needs.  And right now, it's saying that it needs to rest.  So I'll rest and hopefully be feeling better tomorrow and can get to the gym then.


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## kel

They always have loads of samples of the mesalamine products. In an urgent case like this you can call their office and explain you need samples until the doc gets the script put in.

When I used to take pentasa the GI's nurse gave me a paper bag with easily $200 of pentasa samples.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I didn't even think of that, Kel.  I'll keep that in mind if it happens again!  I did get my Pentasa so it worked out, fortunately.  I managed to get ahold of one of my GI's nurses on Friday, she said the pharmacy never sent them the fax requesting the refill (???).  So somebody dropped the ball somewhere - my pharmacy said they sent the fax twice.  Hmmm.  At any rate, my GI's nurse was able to send through a few refills, so I got my Pentasa on Friday evening.  Phew!

I had a pretty hideous weekend though.  Or at least it started off hideously.  I had wanted to go to some garage sales on Saturday morning - that's one of my favorite things to do in the summer.  I woke up early and felt horrible.  So fatigued, guts were a mess, just felt awful!  But I pulled myself together somewhat and headed out for the garage sales anyway.  I hit 3 or 4, and then as I was pulling up to the next sale, parking my car on the street - my car's shifter apparently broke??  I have an automatic, and when I went to put it into park, the shifter suddenly had no resistance and seemed completely non-functional.  Oh no!  The car would start and run but it wouldn't move, so I was worried that my transmission had a sudden failure.  I started crying because I felt like garbage and now my car wouldn't work.  I called the hubby and he came out to where I was, but he couldn't do anything, so I called for a tow.  Got the car towed to a shop (fortunately we found one that's open on Saturdays!).  The shop was able to diagnose it - I broke my "shifter cable" - I don't know much about cars, but apparently there's a cable that attaches the shifter to... the transmission I guess?  And that broke, so my shifter became worthless and I couldn't put the car into gear.  That makes sense, and I'm glad it wasn't my transmission itself!  They didn't have the parts they needed (of course) so they're supposedly getting the parts and fixing it today.

So my weekend started off on a bad note, and I felt yucky most of Saturday.  There was so much to do around the house but hubby told me just to rest, so I did.  We didn't want to cook so we ended up going out for dinner - I figured, I was already feeling yucky, so I ate what I wanted.  That ended up being a hot fudge sundae and a salad!  Eek, normally that stuff would do me in, but I actually felt okay after eating it.  I have avoided salads for over a year after the last one I had went tremendously badly, but this one went okay, so that gives me hope that I might be able to eat the occassional salad without too much trouble.

Sunday, hubby had to work and he obviously took his car, and with mine in the shop I had no transportation.  But I wanted to go to the gym, and the weather looked okay, and I was feeling somewhat better.  So I rode my bike to the gym.  That went pretty well - sometimes when I ride my bike, I get wicked abdominal pains afterwards (I think all the steering & balancing and so on requires me to keep my abdomen flexed, which puts pressure on my guts - that's my theory anyway, all I know is that my guts sometimes get angry for days after a bike ride).  On my bike ride, I tried to pay attention to how I was breathing and what my abdominal muscles were doing - I tried relaxing them as much as I could.  I don't know if that made a difference or not.  I had a little bit of abdo pain after my ride to & from the gym, but not nearly as bad as it could be.  So maybe being mindful of it did help.  At any rate, it's about 4 miles to the gym, so I did an 8 mile ride plus weights and stretching.  I avoided the hamstrings machine and the abdominals machine but did everything else.  The gym was nice and empty, and it seemed less horribly warm in there than it's been recently.  I had a pretty good workout although I got really sweaty from riding my bike outside in the heat (it was in the 80s).

Today's a rest day - I was thinking of walking the dog tonight, but it sounds like my car may be ready this evening, so I don't know if I'll have time to walk the dog after picking up my car.  So probably I will just get my car and that's it today.  Tomorrow, assuming I have my car back, I'll go to the gym.  Everything's kind of up in the air with the car situation so I can't really plan much in the way of workouts just yet!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update:  Ughh.  My car won't be ready until tomorrow evening.  This means I get a bonus bike ride in tomorrow evening.  Hubby and I both work tomorrow, at different times, so we had to figure out how we're going to do this with one car.  So this is our plan - he's going to drop me off at work in the morning, with my bike (fortunately he can fit my bike in his big car).  Then he'll go to work with his car.  When I finish work, I'll ride my bike to the shop where he works (about 5 miles away, not bad) and I'll hang out there with him until he finishes work.  Then we'll put my bike back in his car and both go to pick up my car.    Sheesh, it sounds confusing, but I think it'll work.  Oh, and my car is going to cost quite a bit more than I expected to fix, too - wonderful.  So my stress levels are high, I'm frustrated and upset, but I'll do weights AND a bike ride tomorrow so hopefully all that exercise will help me relieve some stress.  I really hope my guts are up to the challenge.  They're doing okay today and the weather looks good tomorrow, so I am optimistic that I can get through a weights workout and a bike ride in warm weather.  Honestly, this should be easier than yesterday's bike-gym-bike.  I'll be going to the little gym tomorrow, so fewer machines, and I'll be riding 5 miles instead of 8 - so surely I can do this.

Since my car won't be ready tonight, I guess that also means I can walk my dog this evening.  So that's good.  More workouts, and the end is in sight.  I miss my little car so much!  I like my car more than I like some people, ha ha.  I've been driving hubby's car today (he didn't have to work today) and I just don't like it - there's no air conditioning so it's very warm, the muffler has issues so it's very loud, it's huge and I'm used to driving a nimble little car that I can park in tiny parking spots (I seriously suck at parking this big behemoth car).  I can't wait to get my car back tomorrow!  But in the meantime I have a dog walk, a weights session and a bike ride to look forward to.  Trying to stay positive.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/24/14:  My car has been repaired and is officially drive-able again!  I just gotta go pick her up!  Can't do so until hubby is done with work though.  So the plan of me riding my bike to his workplace tonight is happening.  I brought my bike with me to work - I felt iffy about parking it outside at the bike rack (it has a lock but you just never know, you know?).  But I have a good-sized desk cubicle, so I parked it in my cubicle.    Multiple co-workers have come by to compliment me on it, so I guess it's cool that I brought my bike to work today.

So yeah, in a short while I'll go to the little gym for some weights.  Then after work I'll get on my bike and head over to hubby's shop.  When he's done with work, we'll go get my car and then hopefully things will go back to normal-ish.  (The stress of not having a car and having to worry about how I'll get to work, and the stress of how much it was going to cost to fix, were both getting to me - that should be just about over now.)  My car does need one more minor repair which I'll have done in a few days when it's more convenient, but for now, my car is road-worthy and I'm just so excited to get her back.


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## CrohnsChicago

Wasn't this week a national ride your bike to work week too? I know we had one in Chicago. If so then it's suitable to bring your bike into the office  

Glad you got your car fixed. Much more convenient than a bike for important travel.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I think our local ride your bike to work week was about a month ago?  I recall seeing something on facebook about it.  I can't ride my bike to work, it's just too far.  It's about 12 miles and that's my upper limit for the day.  So I guess I could theoretically ride my bike to work but not home.  

My 5-mile ride on Tuesday from my work to hubby's workplace was super challenging.  There are a lot of hills squeezed into those 5 miles!  Plus it was really warm out which didn't help things.  I was exhausted and very sweaty when I got to hubby's shop, and it took me about an hour to ride 5 miles (on the stationary bike, even on a hill program, I can do about 12 miles in an hour - on the real bike it's much more challenging though, real hills are wayyy tougher than virtual ones!).  About an hour before my bike ride, I had felt my stomach gurgle a bit and then I had an episode of runny d.  Not good!  I took some Zofran to settle things down, and fortunately I was okay on the bike.  But that night, as I was trying to sleep, my guts kept cramping and giving me pains and I had to keep getting up to use the bathroom, so I just couldn't sleep.  I think I finally zonked out and slept for a few hours, but still felt crappy and obviously exhausted when I woke up, so I called in sick to work yesterday.  Did nothing but sit around and rest and try to recover.

Today I went to work and I'm feeling somewhat better.  Guts are still a bit wonky although better than they were.  I was able to fall asleep last night - although at about 4 AM, the power went out so my white noise machine turned off, and that woke me up and I wasn't really able to get back to sleep after that.  So I am still kinda exhausted today!  I was sort of hoping to hit the gym today, but my guts are still iffy enough that I'm going to rest instead.  Tomorrow and Saturday I have plans that will take up a big chunk of both days, but I'm hoping I can make the time to fit in a bit of yoga and stuff like squats, lunges, planks, etc.

Oh, and my car saga isn't quite over yet!    I picked up my car Tues evening, it went into gear and was driveable and seemed totally fine, so I was quite happy.  But a few blocks away from the repair shop, I heard a metallic sound and saw something small and metal bouncing away in my rearview mirror.  I suppose I could have just ran over something metal in the road and kicked it up, but I am worried that something wasn't bolted down correctly or whatever when they fixed my car and a piece of... whatever (I'm not very car-knowledgeable!) came off of my car.  My car still runs and drives fine so I'm not sure.  So, I am taking my poor little car back to the repair shop again tomorrow as they needed to fix one more minor thing anyway, so I'm going to have them check everything over to see if any parts are missing.  Hopefully nothing fell off of it and I'm just being a worrywart!  Ugh though, this is like never-ending.  My car has always been really awesome and reliable so this is very unusual, having to have it in the shop so much.  I want to get back to having a super reliable car again!  Because it's clear that I will never be able to ride my bike to work.    Hubby did offer that I can buy a moped, though (with what money I'm not sure!).  I've been longing for a Honda Metropolitan scooter for several years now and there's a used one I've been eyeballing on craigslist recently, and with the car situation it would be nice to have a scooter as backup transportation (although only for the summer months obviously!).  So I'm mulling that over.  It probably won't happen because I already paid a ridiculous amount of money to fix my car so I don't exactly have money to plunk down on a moped too - but it's a nice thought.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

This is the scooter I've been eyeballing.  I like the Asian-themed pattern on it.    I probably can't afford this specific one, but if I save up, maybe I can get one next summer (I have probably been saying that every year for awhile now!).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/30/14:  I didn't do much for a few days.  On Wednesday I had felt pretty icky, so I rested Weds & Thurs.  Friday, I had taken the day off of work and we went out of town for a quick overnight trip.  My mom was running her 100th (yes, 100th) marathon and she wanted me and my brother to be there at the finish line.  My brother even ended up running the last 10 miles with my mom so that was nice of him (he's been more tolerable lately which is good but I don't trust that it'll last).

So yeah, Friday and Saturday were spent doing that and we also went to a little amusement park.  As a result, From Wed thru Saturday I basically did zero exercise.  We got home Saturday night, and Sunday I did ride my bike to the gym and back so I got a nice workout in there.  Today, I was hoping to walk my dog tonight after work, but a big storm is rolling in so I am thinking I'll do yoga instead!  Tomorrow, weights again.  Not sure about the rest of the week.  I'm hoping hubby and I can take the kayak out on the 4th of July since we'll both be off of work - hopefully the weather will cooperate.

I think I'm going crazy though.    My last post, I was still ogling the moped.  I still want a moped, but hubby and I talked quite a bit on our little road trip this weekend, and we have decided we want to get an old (like 1960's) camper and restore it.  Apparently, old campers from that era are much lighter than modern campers and can be pulled with a regular car, no truck needed.  Hubby thinks he can do most of the grunt work, and I can do stuff like sew pillows and curtains for it.    Yes, we're ridiculous.


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> My mom was running her 100th (yes, 100th) marathon .


Hats off to her


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, yes and no - yes, of course it's great that she's in good enough shape at age 60 to do that many marathons.  But she totally overdoes it, she over-trains.  She's had a few bad falls, she's got a bad back, and she's given herself running-induced asthma (I didn't even know that was a thing until she got diagnosed with it, now she has to carry an inhaler with her everywhere because too much running has messed up her lungs/airway).  I kind of look at her as an example of what *not* to do fitness-wise.  There's a fine line between doing yourself more harm than good, and she's crossed way over that line.

Anyway.  Update 7/2/14:  I did yoga Monday night but it was delayed a bit - the storm that rolled in that evening was huge and produced tornadoes, so I spent some time in the basement waiting for the worst of it to pass.  Then I did yoga.  It felt tough, it was difficult to get through my entire yoga routine.   I felt good afterwards, though.  Yesterday I did weights, and again, that felt tough and difficult.  Sometimes the weights feel heavier than usual and I struggle to get to my usual number of reps, and yesterday was one of those days.  I made it through, and again I felt good afterwards, although kind of sore too.

Today's a rest day.  And supposedly I'm actually finally getting a massage tonight!  My massage therapist has had some family issues lately (his father is dying of cancer) so he hasn't been available much and I haven't had a massage in a few months.  But supposedly we're definitely on for this evening for a massage, so that'll be nice.  I still don't completely trust that it'll happen, since massage therapist has cancelled on me the last 3 or 4 times, but we'll see.

I also found out, hubby doesn't work all weekend, and of course we get a long weekend because of 4th of July.  So I told him I definitely want us to go kayaking, and I want to do a lot of stuff around the house too (cleaning, organizing, purging unneeded stuff, etc).  We'll probably do yard work/gardening as well.  So that's the plan!  If my health plays nice then we should have an active and productive weekend.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/7/14:  I had a rather interesting long holiday weekend.  I did stay active every day!  Friday, I was off work for the holiday.  Hubby and I did a bunch of yard work and we also walked the dog.  Saturday, hubby went to visit friends so I went to the gym by myself.  I felt pretty good, although once again it was way too warm in the gym.  I also walked the dog by myself that day and did a bunch of stuff around the house.

Sunday, we went kayaking on a pretty long and sort of difficult creek.  The "easy" creeks we paddle, those take 1-2 hours and have minimal waves & currents.  This creek, it has more waves and currents and takes more like 3-4 hours to paddle.  So we were really tired when we finally got back to the car!  The worst part was, I got a bit injured.    When we got back to the car, we put the kayak up on the roof rack.  We hadn't strapped it on to the roof rack yet, so it was just sitting there.  I was untangling the straps so I wasn't looking at the kayak, but apparently a gust of wind came along and knocked it off of the roof and right onto me!  Ouch!  The kayak hit me full force on both arms.  (It's a 14-foot 2-person kayak so it's quite big and a bit heavy.)  Nothing's broken (well, except for the car's passenger side mirror which got taken out by the kayak!) but I have massive bruises on both arms now.  It really hurt when it happened (still hurts a bit now) too.

So, seeing as how my arms are a bit sore anyway from strenuous kayaking and even more so from getting huge bruises, I'm taking today as a rest day.  Just going to wait and see how I feel tomorrow and will go from there.  If my arms aren't feeling up to lifting weights tomorrow, I could always try something leg-centric like riding the stationary bike or walking my dog.  I'm just going to rest up a bit for today and then play it by ear.


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## CrohnsChicago

OUCH! That must have hurt terribly I'm glad you are okay!

Kayaking does sound like a great thing to do this summer, so long as injuries are able to be avoided. I wish I had the opportunity to do so (without paying to do it which is my only option lol). 

Take it easy, you've got the right idea. Focus on lower body work if you can, if not, it's okay to take a break, I think you earned it after this recent adventure!

Feel better!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks!  Yeah, this is the first kayak-related injury I've gotten (and I was standing on dry land when it happened, ha ha).  Kayaking is really fun, I guess I just need to be slightly more careful about getting the kayak up on the car roof rack!  And to put it in perspective, I'll heal up soon and this won't affect me at all in the long run (which I guess is more than I can say for hubby's car's side mirror - that's probably going to be held on with tape for the rest of the car's life, hah).  I'm feeling fine for the most part - the arm bruises only hurt when I touch them, so I'm just trying to let them be so they can heal.  I will definitely rest up today, probably do the stationary bike tomorrow, and then assess how my arms are doing on Wednesday and possibly do weights then.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/8/14:  I did 30 mins on the bike today and felt pretty well.  Did some stretches afterwards, and I noticed while stretching that my arms (particularly the left arm, which has the nastier-looking bruise) still hurt when I move in certain ways.  The worst was, I did the cobra pose as part of my stretching, and that caused me to feel an uncomfortable amount of pain from my arm bruises.  So I'm thinking I'll give my arms at least one more rest day, I will not go to the gym for weights tomorrow but am hoping now to get to the gym on Thursday.  It kind of sucks but I don't want to make things worse, these bruises go deep and are still painful so I don't want to mess up my muscles or injure myself worse or anything.  So, I'll probably walk the dog tomorrow since I did the bike today.  Just gotta stay positive, and also gotta keep my legs moving while my arms heal!

(If you're not familiar with the cobra pose, it looks like this stock photo below.  Using my arms to prop my upper body up, that didn't feel so good on my poor injured arms.)


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## CrohnsChicago

I LOVE that pose! Good ab stretcher. Arms still sore, huh?  Any improvement whatsoever?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It was mainly the left arm that became sore/painful when I did the cobra pose.  It is feeling somewhat better today, but still sort of painful and I don't want to push it so I'm resting again today.  The bruise on that arm has gone from reddish-purple to yellowish-purple, so hopefully that means things are healing!

In addition to the lingering arm issues, I'm having kind of a bad tummy day as well.  I'm totally exhausted and a bit nauseous today and no appetite.  Having a hard time focusing and just want to go back to bed but I can't.  I did taper off of Entocort recently, my last day of taking it was Sunday, so this may be due to me coming off Entocort.  Not sure though.  So anyway, even if my arms were doing okay, I'm too exhausted and just not feeling well enough to exercise today anyway.  Just feeling bleh all around.  If the bleh feeling continues then I'll get in touch with my GI and ask to stay on Entocort longer.  That's not what I want, I wanted to be done with the stupid stuff and get back into remission already.  I'm really hoping this is just a fluke and that tomorrow I'll be okay again.


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## CrohnsChicago

I'm sorry about the stomach issues. Entocort was a beast to me when I tried it. Gave me horrible cramps and the worst gas I ever had in my life. Hoping all it is for you is a tapering side effect and it wears off eventually. Those bleh withdrawls. I know them well. Keep resting for as long as you see fit and I hope you feel better soon. :hug:


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Entocort has always been good to me, the only side effect I got from it was headaches/migraines.  Those certainly suck, but I tell myself it's worth it to suffer through a few months' worth of migraines in order to obtain a few years' (hopefully) worth of remission.  It's not working out that way this time though.  I don't think it's withdrawals I'm experiencing - I am pretty sure I'm flaring.  I went home sick from work shortly after my last post in this thread, I got so nauseous that Zofran was no longer helping enough and I didn't want risk barfing at my desk at work (the bathroom is too far from my desk to make a run for it).  And the abdo pains and bathroom trips were just starting.  I even had to get up in the night last night to go, which for me is a sure sign that I'm flaring.  Ugh ugh ugh.

So I put myself back on Entocort - I have a handful of capsules left over - and I emailed my GI/his nurse to ask for a refill and to explain what's going on.  I've been sleeping a lot and I feel slightly better, but I'm not sure if that's because I took an Entocort this morning or if it's just because I slept all morning and haven't eaten anything today.

At any rate, I have to get through the worst of this flare before I can even think about going to the gym, which sucks.  I really hope the Entocort kicks back in quickly and blitzes all this crap and makes me feel human again right away.  I hate that Entocort didn't get me into remission, I feel like a failure, and I hate that I have to go back on it.  Trying to stay positive but it's really difficult right now!  I see my GI next month, so hopefully we can figure things out then.  In the meantime I just have to keep taking Entocort and hope it helps.


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## CrohnsChicago

I'm really sorry Cat  You are doing the right thing though and taking care of your symptoms first to avoid making things worse than they actually are. 
With regards to eating, I started using this meal replacement shake from Ideal Shape and it's super helpful for days my body doesn't feel like accepting food as well as others and has a good deal of protein and nutrients. The chocolate version even tastes a million times better than Ensure and that other stuff.

The ups and downs of this disease and being undiagnosed is so burdensome in so many ways. You'll pick back up soon! If the Entocort helps, then do what you gotta do to get things back under control for now. Keep us posted on how you are doing. Hope you bounce back quickly!

 :hug:


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Chicago, does that shake you mentioned have carrageenan in it?  I'm trying to avoid carrageenan, and it's in almost every supplement drink.  I did find some supplement powder at the grocery store, it's called "Total Soy" and it has no carrageenan, so that's what I use.  I usually mix it into a smoothie, although if I'm in a hurry I just stir a spoonful into a glass of almond milk.  It comes in chocolate flavor and it's actually pretty good.

Update for today:  I'm on day 2 of being back on Entocort and feeling somewhat human again.  I went to work today - I always feel weird about calling in sick on Fridays, my hubby says that if I call in sick on a Friday then they'll think I'm faking and just want a long weekend.    I told my boss that and she was like, I know you have a chronic illness, so if you're sick on a Friday then you're sick on a Friday!  But I still feel weird about it, and I felt okay-ish enough to come in, so I did not call in sick today.

I got some good news, too.  My GI is on vacation, but I emailed him anyway and his awesome nurse responded today.  She found another doctor in the clinic who was able to write me another refill of Entocort, so this means I can stay on it at least until my GI appointment on Aug 25th.  Phew!  Hopefully my body just needs some more time on Entocort to get me back into remission.  And of course I'll tell my GI everything at my appointment and we'll figure things out from there.  So I'm feeling mentally more positive today as well as physically somewhat better too.

But I'm not feeling great physically and I still don't know when I'll make it back to the gym.  I'm hoping at this point that I'll rest and get over this flare on the weekend, and will re-assess how I'm doing at the start of next week.  Ideally I'd love to go back to the gym as soon as possible, but I know I can't push myself when I feel like this and I need to rest and recover.  At least my arms are doing better though!  The bruises have turned yellow-ish/brown-ish and are starting to fade, and my arms don't hurt anymore.  So at least there's that.  I recovered from my injuries, now I just need to recover from this flare!  What a weird, rough week this has been!  I feel like I've been majorly put through the wringer.  Looking forward to a relaxing weekend!  Going to do some sewing and other craft projects, might do a little bit of shopping, but otherwise going to hang out on the couch and relax.  I'm going to make my hubby walk the dog and do the yard work, ha ha.


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## CrohnsChicago

There's no carrageenan in it. Here's the link to the ingredients: http://www.idealshape.com/ingredients/

It's also about $60 for a 30 day supply and you have to order it online but it comes in the mail really fast and I personally find it worth it. I mix almond milk with it to make it more filling. Tastes even better that way too. And like I said if you go for it, get the Chocolate version.

Glad you are feeling better today! Sounds like the Entocort is the key. How long have you been on it, long term, right? I try not to call in on Fridays for that same reason. Almost did it today because my throat is sore and I feel a bit drained but pushed myself out of bed because I didn't want them to think I was playing hookie.

Enjoy your weekend I hope it is more relaxing for you than the last few days have been.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ouch, $60!!  That's a bit out of my price range sadly.  The Total Soy stuff I get is something like $12 for a big container of it which lasts me a month or two.  It's not super delicious like you described your shake as being, but it's not bad either and I can afford it.

Yeah, I've been on Entocort since February.  The first time I was on it a few years ago, I stayed on it 7 months that time - it took that long to get me into remission.  So now I've been on it 5 or 6 months but still clearly not in remission.  My GI did say that he feels it's safe to be on Entocort for up to 9 months or so (not sure where he got that number from but I suspect he pulled it out if his, well, you know).  So he's not too worried about the timeframe and I'm mostly just concerned with getting into remission.  I know one of the big concerns about being on corticosteroids long-term is bone loss, so I try to get plenty of calcium (in foods & supplements) plus vit d and magnesium, and I do weight-bearing exercise of course which helps my bones stay strong too.  So I'm also not too worried about that.  I'm way more concerned about the effects of uncontrolled flaring than I am about being on Entocort for awhile.  Obviously it's not ideal to be on Entocort somewhat indefinitely, but it's far less ideal to just flare out of control and have damage going on etc.  It sucks a bit but my goal is remission so I'm going to do what I have to do to get there.

I hope your throat feels better!  Hopefully you can have a relaxing weekend too.  I heard next week we may get Polar Vortex part 2 - the news said some areas may get as cold as 40 degrees!  40 degrees in July, that's insane!  So stay warm!

(This is total coincidence as I didn't know about the Polar vortex thing yesterday, but when I'm flaring and can't do much of anything, I like to crochet as it makes me feel worthwhile and gives me something productive to do while I'm sitting on the couch & resting.  So yesterday when I was home sick, I crocheted myself a new winter hat - didn't realize I'd need it quite so soon though!)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/14/14:  I'm still not doing very well.  I'm only going to the bathroom about 2-3 times a day, but it's almost always d.  I have random cramps and abdo pains throughout the day which seem to be gas pains?  If I go to the bathroom when the pains & cramps are happening, I almost always seem to only pass gas or maybe a bit of mucus, no stool.  My appetite is very small and I basically have to remind myself/force myself to eat.  I'm pretty exhausted and just feel run down and very bleh.  I'm kind of afraid that I screwed myself - by coming off of Entocort and flaring up like that, I'm afraid that now 3 mg of Entocort isn't going to be enough to get the flare back under some semblance of control.  Which means I may need to ask my GI for a higher dose of Entocort AGAIN, and I don't want to do that.  The higher doses give me migraines (even on 3 mg I've got a fairly wicked sinus headache today) and I also don't want to be on Entocort for what's seeming like forever - I really just want to get into remission and stop taking the stupid stuff, but that's apparently not in the cards for me right now.  I'm just tired and sick of this.

So needless to say, I haven't been to the gym since this flare started.  It's been over a week now since I lifted weights - I miss it, but I'm in no state to try to go back to the gym just yet.  I did end up taking my dog on a short walk yesterday - she may have eaten some insect poison (she ate a mystery substance near former wasp nests in my neighbor's yard, and the neighbor wasn't home to tell us what it was) so we had to induce vomiting in her.  We gave her the hydrogen peroxide (apparently that stuff is fantastic for making dogs vomit, who knew!) and then walked her around outside until she barfed everything up.  That seems to have worked, she seems fine today.  So yeah, I was okay walking her for just that short little while - it only takes about 15 mins for the peroxide to cause vomiting in dogs.

I was hoping to maybe try a bit of yoga today, but honestly I don't even feel well enough for that.  So maybe if the weather's nice tonight then I'll try walking the dog again (without the induced vomiting this time though).  I'm just trying very hard not to be frustrated with my body and resting as much as I can, but I really really really want to go to the gym.  I just know that wouldn't go well right now though.  Ugh.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update:  A grumpy little grey cloud came through just now and it started sprinkling, so I guess the rain means I won't walk my dog after all (neither of us enjoys walking in the rain - some dogs like water but my dog doesn't like it in any form!).  But, I'm feeling slightly less terrible than I did earlier.  I managed to eat a little something and my guts didn't revolt (I just had some turkey and some white bread, I'm trying to stick to low-res during this flare).  I feel slightly more energetic and less, I guess less mentally bad?  This morning I was all woe is me and trying not to cry at work, but this afternoon I've had fewer episodes of my eyes welling up with tears and I just generally feel slightly better physically and mentally.  So, with the rain and me feeling slightly more human, I think I will try some yoga tonight after all.  Since I only do yoga on the Wii Fit anyway, if I find I can't do it then I can pause the Wii & rest or just turn it off.  It would be different if it were like an actual class with other people, but it's just me at home so that'll be okay I think.  I'm gonna give it a try shortly.


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## kel

Hey Cat I hope you get through this flare and start feeling better soon. I tapered off pred earlier in the year and had to immediately go back up to 40mg. It's frustrating but for me it was the right thing to do, as I recently tapered off completely and have not gotten worse. Good luck with whatever you decide on.


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## CrohnsChicago

The joys of steroids...I'm sorry you are still struggling but glad to hear you are at least we'll enough to attempt to do some sort of mild physical activity and that you are able to eat even if only a tiny bit. 

Maybe try some fresh ginger tea (boil some water in a pot with slices of fresh ginger) and see if that breaks up some of the gas in your system and relieve some discomfort.

 Things will get better for you :hug:


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Kel, it's good to know that it's possible to have a successful steroid taper after an experience like that!  Glad to hear you're off the pred and doing well now.

Chicago, I love ginger tea!  Ginger and chamomile are my favorites.  I'm drinking chamomile right now and I think I'll have some ginger tea a bit later today - it's cold out (it's like 50 degrees out, I guess we're in a summertime polar vortex according to the news?) so hot tea is really nice today.

Update 7/15/14.  Apparently it wasn't just gas but it was also stool in my system - I wasn't exactly blocked, but things weren't moving along properly and seemed a bit jammed up in one area of my intestines.  I did manage to do yoga last night - it was a bit tough, my balance was worse than usual so I fell over like 3 times (stupid tree pose!) but I got through it.  During the half moon pose, in which you sort of bend and stretch to the side - as I was stretching to the right, I felt a pain in the LRQ.  After yoga, I massaged that painful spot which apparently did the trick, and suddenly I felt things start to move along!  I had to high-tail it to the bathroom and it felt like everything just came rushing out of me.  It was a relief once it was all over with, I felt like I lost about 5 lbs.  I poo'ed so much yesterday evening that I didn't go at all this morning (highly unusual for me).

I feel significantly better this morning, not sure if that's because of yoga or because I finally got to poo or if it's just Entocort starting to work its magic again (maybe all of the above?).  I actually have an appetite today and I just feel more human both physically and mentally.  Yoga went okay yesterday, and since I'm feeling reasonably well today, I'm tempted to attempt doing some weights today.  I'll of course take it easy and I'll avoid the abdominals machine as I don't want to make my guts angrier, but I am really feeling like I could do weights today.  That makes me excited and happy, I've missed the gym so much!  So I'm going to try it.  I'm not 100% but I think I can give it about 80% in the gym today.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/16/14:  I went to the gym yesterday and felt wonderful.    It was so nice to get back to it!  I wasn't able to push myself too much, and on a couple of things I had to do fewer reps than usual, and of course I avoided doing anything with my abdominal muscles - but even so, I felt really great during & after my workout.  I had a bit of a headache going in, but that disappeared once I started working out.  My guts quieted down, my whole body just stopped being a jerk and went along with the workout.  It was really nice, it was just what I needed.

Last night before bed, though, I had a really wicked episode of d and cramping.  It's nice that things weren't so backed up anymore, but having d like that makes it clear to me that I'm not out of this flare yet.  I felt rather icky this morning too, and I had to go to a big meeting first thing in the morning for work, so I took an anti-diarrheal just so I could get through it without having bathroom trouble (it was an off-site meeting and I had to walk a bit to get there from where we parked and I didn't know where the bathrooms were, etc).  So I may end up just getting backed up again because of the anti-d meds I took!    But you gotta do what you gotta do, and I couldn't miss that meeting.

I'm thinking today is a rest day.  I feel okay now but I don't want to push myself too much.  I may walk the dog tonight, but that's as strenuous as I'll get.  Tomorrow, presuming I'm still feeling reasonably okay, I'll do weights again.  Friday, I am taking the day off of work because there's this sidewalk sale thing that hubby and I like to go to, so we'll do that.  That will involve a lot of walking, so that'll likely be just a walking/rest day as well.  I don't want to plan too far ahead because with this flare, I really don't know how I'll be feeling on any given day.  Last year at the sidewalk sale, I was doing okay guts-wise but I was having a bad arthritis day, so I walked with my cane.  Then I ran into a bunch of people I knew, including some family members.  Everybody just sorta rudely stared at my cane but didn't say anything, except for my aunt, who made some remark like, "You're too young for this."  Gee thanks, I'll tell that to my hips.  Seriously, my age has nothing to do with my health.  At least she acknowledged it, though, she didn't just let it be the elephant in the room like everybody else.  Anyway!  So this year I'm hoping to be well enough to walk around without my cane!  My bad arthritis days most often occur in winter, I'm usually pretty good arthritis-wise in the warmer months, so hopefully last year was just a fluke.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/17/14:  Well, the anti-diarrheal med definitely backed things up.    I haven't gone at all since I took it!  I don't feel uncomfortable though so it's okay for the time being.  I'm drinking some hot tea in an effort to hopefully gently move things along.

I still feel fairly well.  Still not quite back to my normal, but I'm definitely functional and able to be fairly active.  I did walk the dog last night after all - the weather was really nice and I just wanted to go outside for a bit, so I took Lily to the dog park and we walked around.

Today I'm planning to hit the gym for weights - I'll probably still avoid the abdominals machine, but I think I'll try doing a plank and see how my guts respond to that.  I'll probably push myself a bit harder than last time, too, just to see how my body reacts.  I feel good, I feel like I can do that.  I won't push myself too too hard of course, but I want to push myself a little more.


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## CrohnsChicago

Very happy to hear you are starting to feel somewhat better and you got to get back in the gym 

How often are you currently using the cane now? Just remember to get your stretches in when walking and exercising.

You might not be doing as much as you would like to at the moment but everything you are doing sounds pretty delightful to me (minus the symptoms, of course)! You're definitely not letting being ill hold you back from living life and that's good. 

People's comments and ignorance never cease to amaze me but I often have to remind myself that they are just ignorant (not necessarily in a bad way) and go about my business. If I stopped and said something to every person who sounded insensitive I'm sure a vein would show in my head and explode and I don't want that


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I probably should use my cane more often than I do.  My hip pains are significantly worse in the winter - bitter cold and snowy weather seem to both trigger hip pain.  And the worse the snowstorm is, the worse my pain is.  But, I kind of hate to bring my cane to work with me because I know I'm going to get comments and stares and whispers behind my back, and I just don't need that at work.  It's one thing to walk around the grocery store with my cane and not bump into anyone I know - it's another thing to come into an office building where like 50 people I know are all suddenly wondering what's wrong with me.  Some of my co-workers know a little about my tummy issues, but few of them know I have arthritis too.  And since I sit at a desk all day anyway, it usually makes more sense for me to just forgo the cane on work days when the hip is bad.  But yeah, usually winter is worse than summer.

Thanks, I really really try not to let illness hold me back too much!  I know it does somewhat, that's just a given, but I try to limit the control it has over my life.  As long as I'm able to, I'm still going to work and exercise and live like a relatively normal human.  I'm not pregnant and have never been pregnant and don't ever plan to become pregnant - however, I sometimes feel like I'm a perpetually pregnant woman as I seem to have a lot of things in common with pregnant women.  I have nausea, reflux, mood swings, I tend to feel pretty crappy in the mornings (the IBD version of morning sickness!), etc.  And I had read an article somewhere saying that for pregnant women, if you were already leading an active lifestyle, you can continue to do it in pregnancy but maybe dial it back to about 80% of what you were doing.  So I sort of apply that logic to my IBD - I'm leading an active lifestyle when I'm in remission, and as long as I dial things back a bit and don't overdo it, I am going to try to do things the same in a flare, including exercise.  That seems to be working for me okay

Oh, and the hot tea worked!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/21/14:  I did well in the gym on Thursday - felt strong, was able to do my usual number of reps.  Still avoided the abdominals machine but was able to do a short plank without issue.  Friday we walked around downtown a bunch and that's about it.  Saturday, I woke up feeling like I had slept on my neck all wrong.  But it turned out to be my pinched nerve (or whatever it is?) acting up again, so I was in pain in my neck/shoulders/upper back all day on Saturday.  As a result, I didn't do anything active, I just rested on the couch all day with my heating pad on my neck.  I think that helped, as I felt significantly better on Sunday (still fairly stiff & sore but not as bad and not as painful).  I had a family thing to go to on Sunday, and I still wasn't feeling gym-ready, so I didn't work out then either.  Today I'm almost back to normal - things just feel slightly sore but not too bad, so I think I can make it through a workout this evening.  So that's the plan.

Guts still aren't back to normal either.  I'm vascillating between c and d.  As long as I stick to safe foods, I seem to have c.  But if I eat something naughty then I'm running for the toilet.  On Saturday, with the neck pain, I was having a little pity party for myself so I ate some pizza (not a safe food for me!) and had to run to the bathroom about 5 minutes after eating.  Watery, floaty, totally unformed d - yuck.  But since then I've eaten safe foods, and I haven't had a poo since.  So things are still not right with my guts.  Other than that, though, I don't really feel very flare-y.  My energy levels are decent, I haven't really been nauseous lately, haven't gotten up in the night to go, very few if any abdo pains, etc.  If I can just get the d and c to turn into more normal bowel movements then I'd be doing quite well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/22/14:  I did make it to the gym last night.  We're in a mini heatwave right now, so it was quite hot in the gym (they have air conditioning but it doesn't seem to work super well at cooling such a large space, and the more people that are in there, the warmer it seems to be).  So that was a bit tough, and because of the heat I did go a bit slower than usual.  I sweated a ton too!  But I made it through, did everything except the abdominals machine.  I did do a 30 second plank with minimal abdo pains (just a few prickly little pains which I think was due to being constipated/bloated).

The c slowly went away-ish.  I'm still more distended than usual, I have a little fat-looking belly.    But I did manage to go a bit last night and again this morning - it was loose stool though which confuses me.  I feel constipated but then I have d?  It's weird.  I think I'm still constipated or at least I still need to go more to flatten out the distension in my abdomen.  I might try some stool softeners and/or a bit of miralax if this goes on any longer.

Today is super warm again - the high temp is 91 F!  That's just too warm for me so I'm going to rest today and stay in the air conditioning.  Tomorrow is supposed to be less hideously hot, so I'll try for the gym again tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/23/14:  Yesterday was indeed a rest day.  It was way too hot to do anything.  It was 91 degrees and humid, and I just can't function in weather like that (too hot for me, and my guts hate it as well).  I had to pick up a couple things at the grocery store and even that was miserable, so after that I just kind of hibernated in the air conditioning at home rather than attempt to do anything active.

Today it's much nicer weather (it's like 78 degrees and less humid) so I feel up to working out.  Going to go hit the gym in a little while.  I'm expecting it to be too warm in the gym because it usually is and I'm sure yesterday's heat didn't help matters any, but I'm also confident that I can get through a workout even if it's a bit too warm.  I feel pretty strong and well today - my bowels have kinda sorta regulated finally, my stools are semi-formed and not really d anymore and I don't feel constipated anymore either.  I still have a teensy bit of pinched nerve stiffness and soreness in my neck/shoulder area, but it's not bothersome at all and barely even noticeable, so I think a workout will be just fine.    I'm looking forward to it!

I'm also looking forward to having a weekend by myself.  Hubby and his boss are going to be vendors at a convention out of town, so I'll be on my own.  I'm very introverted so I'm looking forward to having some "me time."  I'll of course work out - I'll walk the dog and I plan to go to the gym at least once, I might do some yard work which is always like a workout in itself, if it's nice out then I may go for a bike ride, and there are other things I want to do too like sewing (I have a few shirts to mend/take in, I am going to make my dog a new cushion to sleep on, etc).  I may be getting over-ambitious, but I do always get a lot accomplished when hubby is away, so I think I can hopefully do everything.  The weather report says it might rain, so the bike ride and yard work may not happen, but I'll still go to the gym and get stuff done around the house regardless, as well as recharge my introvert batteries with some lovely time alone.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/25/14:  I've still been having issues with the stupid pinched nerve or whatever it is.  I was thinking of hitting the gym for weights today, but I really feel like I need to let the stupid nerve heal or at least stop hurting so much (the pain kind of comes and goes and I think I've been aggravating it by stubbornly going to the gym and lifting weights).  But, I realized that since the nerve issue is in my neck/shoulder blade, that shouldn't stop me from riding the bike, right?  So I did 30 mins on the stationary bike, I feel good, and I don't feel like I aggravated anything.  It was a good compromise!  I think I'll give it another day, maybe do yoga tomorrow and see how that goes, and if it goes okay then I'll attempt weights on Sunday.

Yesterday was mostly a rest day although I did walk the dog.  We met up with our neighbor who has corgis.  One of her corgis was super naughty though!  In the summer, the Parks department kind of lets the grass in the dog park grow way too long, then they mow it.  So they mowed recently - and when they mow, they often kill a lot of little toads, mice, moles, etc that have been hiding in the tall grass.  And they don't bother to pick up the little carcasses.  So my neighbor's dog found a dead mouse and rolled in it, yuck.  As my neighbor was cleaning up the mouse corpse, her dog found another dead mouse, rolled on it and then ate it!  YUCK!!  So we kept a close eye on him to make sure he didn't find any other "treats".  But for about 5 seconds we took our eyes off of him, and sure enough, he managed to find yet another dead thing, roll on it and eat that too!  Ewww.  My poor neighbor, she had to bathe her smelly dog and then keep an eye on him to see if he puked up the horrible things he'd eaten.    My dog is not always the best-behaved, but she rolled in and ate zero dead things yesterday, so she looked super obedient and awesome in comparison.  

Anyway.  Hubby's away all weekend so I'm going to both get stuff done and do some relaxing!  It's a bit cool out today (rainy and in the upper 60s/low 70s) so I'm thinking a bubble bath might be happening tonight.  And of course I'll do some cleaning, crafts, etc as well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/28/14.  Well, I didn't do much exercise this weekend as my stupid neck was STILL hurting.  I'm going to call my GP and set up an appointment because this is getting ridiculous.  I did walk the dog but that's about it.  Still some pain today, but I don't care anymore, I'm going to go lift weights in a bit.  It seems I'm going to be in pain either way, so I may as well lift weights!  If my GP says not to then I'll probably have to listen to him, but in the meantime, screw it, I'm going to do what I want and hope that my body plays nice, but if it doesn't I'm still going to do what I want.


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## Jim Gonsler

I just read your thread and absolutely agree that exercise is the key to both controlling your crohn's and providing a better quality of life overall.  With that being said, man is it hard to get into the gym on some days!  The toughest part of working out is just getting to the place that you do it.  I've never, ever had a regret after I'm done however.  I'm 63 now and I still have the mobility and strength I had in my thirties.  I know also that I've been able to control my crohn's flare-ups and reduce my stress levels because of a regular schedule of exercise.  I particularly like weights but cardiovascular is great too.  I enjoy your posts, please continue.
Jim


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Jim!  I agree with most of what you said - I don't think I can control my flare-ups with exercise alone, but everything else you said I agree with.  I like weights too, they're probably my favorite thing!  I like going into the gym and transforming from sick girl into healthy girl for a little while.  I don't feel like a sick girl when I'm working out.  I feel super awesome and strong and healthy when I'm lifting weights, I can forget all about being sick for awhile.

Update 7/29/14:  I did go and lift weights yesterday, and I feel a lot better today.  I finally was able to sleep a full night without neck pain.  Hopefully this pinched nerve is finally easing up!  I did feel a little bit of pain in the gym - after my warm-up, as I sat down at the first weight machine, I felt a bit of a pain in my left thigh.  I think I strained a muscle?  Because of that, I focused on arms/shoulders/back and didn't do much with my legs.  Later that evening I walked the dog, I wanted to walk around on my leg as I hoped that would help, and it did seem to help.  My leg feels fine today.  I'm taking a rest day today just to be sure, but with a little luck I'll be back in the gym tomorrow.  Hopefully my neck and my leg are both on board with that idea!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/30/14:  My leg and neck are both feeling pretty good today so I'm giving myself the green light to go hit the weights tonight.  Hubby's coming with me to the gym - he hates working out, but he's been seeing results lately and he likes what he sees, so that makes him more apt to come to the gym with me.  Hubby's never been a muscular guy in the past - when we were dating, he was just plain skinny, and then when we got married he started eating more and got, not fat, but definitely more meat on his bones.  He felt fat when he gained the weight (he gained it almost overnight) so I know he didn't like how he looked either way - he didn't like being so so skinny but he also didn't like it when he gained the weight.  Now that he's been coming to the gym with me at times, he actually is liking that he's gained some muscle, he likes how his arms look.

So we're hitting the gym tonight and then we're going to get take-out for dinner from this great little falafel restaurant (yum!).  Tomorrow, I think I might do the bike or possibly yoga.  Tomorrow evening we're going grocery shopping - it's been way too long, my fridge is almost empty and I haven't done any juicing for awhile, so I'm excited to buy a bunch of produce and make myself some healthy juice.  Friday, gym again (presuming my body is still playing nice).  Haven't planned as far as the weekend yet.  The way my body's been lately, it isn't worthwhile to plan out more than a couple days at the most.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update:  I haven't been to the gym yet (going in about an hour), but I did go shopping.    I have a serious addiction to workout clothes at this point.  I recently started bringing in my old clothes, jewelry, etc to the consignment shop - when an item of mine sells, then I get a little money... and I turn right around and use it to buy more workout clothes.  I went in to the consignment shop today and there was a pair of really cute grey workout capris that fit me perfectly, and a pink sports bra that also fit perfectly - both items look like they're brand new, too.  So of course I bought them.  They were only $10 total, and I had a $5 credit from some of the stuff I had brought in, so I only ended up paying $5.  Love that!  But it's also dangerous, I'm on the cusp of being a workout clothes hoarder.    I think I need a workout clothes intervention.  I can see it now...  "Tonight on a very special episode of Intervention:  Cat:  'I can stop buying workout clothes whenever I want.  Ooh, is that sports bra in my size?  I NEED IT!!'"


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## CrohnsChicago

I love consignment and resale shops. I've never done a consignment sale myself but I should it's almost time for my seasonal closet cleanse. As for the hoarding...you could be hoarding much worse things  at least when it's time to get rid of it you can make some small sale off of it lol.

Glad you are well enough again to get your workouts in!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Chicago.  I'm not always well enough unfortunately.  My health has been up and down lately so I get in workouts when I can!  In addition to the flare (which is now semi-controlled by Entocort but I'm still having sporadic bouts of nausea, fatigue and d), lately I've been dealing with a pinched nerve in my neck, so that's been holding me back a little bit too.  It seems to finally be getting a little better the past few days though.  It's still painful if I do certain things (sleeping on my left side seems to make the pinched nerve incredibly painful) but I can usually work out without aggravating it.

Speaking of my health being up and down, yesterday was an up day and today is decidedly down.  I felt good yesterday, and had a great workout.  I felt strong the whole way through.  You know those days where the weights don't feel quite so heavy and everything just feels good?  Yesterday was one of those lovely days.  But today, I woke up with a wicked sinus headache.  You know those headaches where your sinuses are full of pressure, and if you bend over or tilt your head too much then the pressure shifts and the pain gets sharply even worse?  And the sinus pressure is so great at times that it kind of forces tears out of your eyes?  Yeah, that.  Sometimes if I catch these headaches early enough then I can at least take the edge off with tylenol, but so far tylenol doesn't seem to be doing anything this time around.  I was kind of hoping to have a cardio day today, but now I think it'll be a rest day instead.  My guts aren't feeling too great today either so rest is probably best.  I'm just hoping to be feeling better tomorrow.

Yeah, it took me awhile to become a consigner at the consignment shop, I just became a consigner recently, but it was worth it.  There are hoarders in my family (my dad and my grandma) so I try not to be a hoarder too, and getting rid of stuff is obviously a key element of that.  If I can get rid of some old stuff and make a bit of money/get a nice new item, then that's okay.  Otherwise I'd just be giving my old stuff to goodwill or whatever, I'd still be getting rid of old stuff regardless, so I may as well get a little bit of a profit out of it.  And I try not to hoard workout clothes too too much - they are worthwhile to have (I use my newer & nicer workout clothes to work out in obviously, and my older but still fairly nice workout clothes are used for stuff like walking the dog and doing yard work).  And I try to keep my workout clothes limited to what fits in one laundry basket.  Okay, the basket is kind of heaping and overflowing, but it all kind of still fits in there?  Yeah, I'm definitely a borderline hoarder!  But at least I'm not saving hundreds of old egg cartons like my grandma does, and I don't have a path through the piles of stuff like my dad does.  I don't want to ever get to that point though!  

So I do feel a bit bad about basically hoarding workout clothes, but I don't feel terribly bad about it.  My eye is so attracted to workout clothes, I like to buy them even more than I like to buy regular clothes.  I think part of it is, most of the time I feel like a sick girl, and I always have to be thinking about things like, did I take my medicine and should I eat this and should I call my GI and what does this symptom mean, etc.  It always has to be on my mind, I always have to be conscious about my illness.  But when I go to the gym and I put on my workout clothes, it's kind of like I'm putting on a superhero costume.  I transform from sick girl into healthy girl when I put on my workout clothes and hit the gym.  In the gym I don't have to think about sick girl stuff - I can just think about, what rep am I on and what's my form like and how's my breathing, etc.  Normal, healthy girl stuff!  That's why the gym is my happy place, it's the only place I can go to and forget about being ill!  And workout clothes are the thing I wear when I transform into healthy girl for an hour or so in the gym - so I think I like workout clothes so much because of that.  They just make me so happy, like I'm buying another superhero costume when I buy another pair of workout capris or another sports bra.  So I know that's a big part of why I hoard workout clothes, and I don't particularly want to deny myself that happiness that I get from buying my healthy girl superhero clothes.  I know realistically I don't need quite this many articles of workout clothes, but what they symbolize for me is so important, you know?


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## hawkeye

Cat, check this out - 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...-spark-tourism-buzz-on-social-media-1.2723528


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, yum!!  I wish someone would come to my city and hand out free lobsters!

Update 8/1/14:  So, yesterday I started out feeling pretty yucky and I figured I'd just have a rest day.  But as the day went on, I was like, screw this.    I wanted to work out so I decided to just work out anyway.  I did 30 mins on the bike - since I had strained a quad muscle the week before, I didn't go quite as intensely as I usually do.  I still worked up a nice sweat, didn't aggravate my quad at all, and felt really great afterwards.

Today I'm feeling so-so - less yucky, but still not stellar.  But, since I was able to do a workout yesterday, I knew I could do one today too.  So I hit the gym for weights.  I even did the abdominals machine, which is something I've been avoiding lately.  And that went well.  I feel fairly good, the icky sinus headache is mostly gone, I feel less exhausted than yesterday and my guts are slightly more behaved today than yesterday.

Tomorrow, I'm thinking I'll do yoga.  It's supposed to rain, so an indoor activity sounds best.  If it doesn't rain, I'll walk my dog.  Sunday, presuming I'm feeling well, I'll hit the gym for weights again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/4/14:  It ended up not raining for most of Saturday (a few sprinkles in the evenin and that was it) so I did walk my dog on Saturday.  That was nice although it was pretty warm out so we were both hot and tired when we got home!  

Sunday, I had wanted to hit the gym, but then it occurred to me that we should play tennis.  We've lived in our house for nearly 6 years now.  There's a big park about 1/2 block away - this big park contains the dog park, a soccer field, a community garden, and public (free) tennis courts.  We've always meant to go over to the tennis courts and play, but in 6 years we never actually made it over there!  So on Sunday, we decided to go play tennis finally.  It was fun!  Neither the hubby nor I are particularly skilled, so we spent more time running after the ball than we did actually playing.  But we did have a few good times where we were able to hit the ball back & forth to each other.  I could definitely see us doing that again.  My only complaint was that it was a bit too hot out, and I forgot to put on sunscreen, so I think I got a teeny bit sunburned (not bad though).  On a slightly cooler/cloudier day, I think tennis would be ideal.  We had a lot of fun and spent about an hour playing.  We were both super sweaty and tired!  And today, I feel fairly sore in both my arms and legs.  So it was a good workout, it was fun, and I'm definitely going to do that again sometime.

So, I was hoping to hit the gym today, but with this soreness, I'm now thinking that perhaps I'll just do something easier like walk the dog instead.  I'll hit the gym tomorrow for weights.


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## CrohnsChicago

That's pretty great you finally got over there and tried it!

Is your park well shaded by trees? Too much heat is a good way to get me hiding unless there's plenty of shade. I just can't take it and after only 5 minutes outside I have a tan line. Being on 6-mp makes it even more important that I protect my skin too. I'm going to Spain in 3 weeks and need to start thinking about sun protection. Anyway, glad you pushed through the heat and made the most of the day.

Living near a park is great. My last few apartments have been walking distance from parks and the lakefront. I'm convinced living in those types of areas really make you more motivated to get out and get active.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

No, there are hardly any trees at the park by my house unfortunately.  The park is built on an old landfill, which apparently means no trees (I am not totally sure why, I think it's because the ground is too unstable to support the roots or the weight of a tree?).  There are just a few very small trees in the dog park (literally there are like 4 tiny, sickly-looking trees), but for the most part it's just a big empty field that dogs can run around in.  There are a handful of pine trees near the tennis courts as well, but it turns out that those are actually kind of annoying (if you hit your tennis ball outside of the fence, which I did several times, then you have to go searching in the pine trees and pine needles to find it!).  So no, not much shade at all.  I did wear a baseball cap to play tennis, so at least the sun was off my face and out of my eyes, but the sun really got hot on the tennis court.  I will definitely be checking the weather reports and looking for cloudy days to play tennis!  I truthfully did get a bit overheated on Sunday, and walking that half-block home, my guts were painfully cramping the whole time.  Getting home in the air conditioning, drinking some cool water and taking a cool shower stopped the cramps, but it was still quite uncomfortable for a little while (that's normal for my guts, they hate heat & humidity and they do tend to cramp in those conditions).

Chicago, can I ask, how close are you to the lakefront?  My hubby lived in Chicago for about 4 years when he was in art school, he had a small studio apartment near the intersection of Foster and Sheridan, so just a few blocks away from the lakefront on the north side.  His building wasn't the nicest, but it was nice that he was right by the lake like that.  Being able to walk to the lake in under 5 mins was a big plus!


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## CrohnsChicago

I used to live off of Sheridan too!  My last two apartments were near Irving Park / Addison and Sheridan not too far from your hubby, actually. All walking distance. The buildings up there are mixed. Some good, some old. Small square footage and large rent prices. However the bonus about living along the lake is that the further north you go (near where your husband and I both lived and further), heat/water/gas is typically included in rent and there's an abundance of transportation options which was great for me because I don't own a car in Chicago so I could walk or take a quick trip to almost anything of necessity and fun that I wanted to do.

I liked it over there but the reality is that it's super congested these days with due to all of the bars and new condos and apartment complexes being put up. Also the last place tried to raise my rent one year by almost $100/mo. so as much as I loved the space and the area, I decided it was time to go.

Where I currently am is walking distance as well. I'd say it takes about 10 minutes to walk to the lake.

Baseball caps trap too much heat since heat escapes via your head. I noticed this while jogging and stopped wearing them in the summer when I am exercising outdoors. That's interesting how your guts respond to the heat and humidity. Is there anything that helps while you are out besides escaping the heat?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, a baseball cap wasn't my first choice, but I couldn't find a visor anywhere in my house so I had to opt for a cap instead.  I'm actually going to make some purchases with tennis in mind - our tennis rackets are both in good shape as far as the racket itself is concerned, but both of our handle-grip things are disintegrating.  So I need to go buy a visor and some new grippy handle stuff!    (I'm sure when I buy a new visor then I'll find like 5 of them in my house, ha ha.)

And yeah, when my guts cramp due to heat/humidity then I just need to go cool off, there's really nothing else that I've found that stops those cramps.  The first year that I was sick, that summer was so miserable because it was a very hot summer and we had no air conditioning.  The house did come with one window AC unit, but the previous occupants were heavy smokers, so if we turned on the AC then the smoke smell overwhelmed us!  So we lived with no air conditioning, and my guts gave me a lot of cramping and pain all summer long.  It was really awful.  The following year, we installed central air conditioning.  It was really expensive (several thousand bucks) but so worth it!  I looked at it as an investment into my health and I've never regretted having central AC installed, it's been just lovely.

Wow, it sounds like the north side has changed a bit since hubby lived there!  He moved away from Chicago in 2002 when we got married, so I'm not very familiar with how the area has been since that time.  We used to go down to Chicago every so often to visit friends, but since I got sick that hasn't really happened (we do sometimes take a day trip to the northwest suburbs to go to Ikea, but that's as close as we've gotten to Chicago in at least 5 years now).  Yeah, his building was one of the older ones, the radiator would make clanking sounds all night sometimes and I think he said the building was over 100 years old (I guess now it's over 110 years old!   ).  His apartment was tiny, and it had mice and roaches, so it was just kind of an icky place.  But like you said, I do believe that heat, water, and maybe even electricity were included in the rent.  And he did actually have a car (just so that he could drive to WI on weekends to visit me - we were doing the long-distance dating thing at that time when we were both in school so we'd commute back and forth to see each other on weekends) and parking it on the street was always interesting.  There were several hit-and-runs, at least one break-in to his car, not to mention the parking tickets!  So I think you're doing it right, not having a car.  If you aren't going out of town/out of state every weekend then it's not worth it to have a car in Chicago.  Too expensive and more trouble than its worth!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/7/14:  Sorry, it's been a busy week, I haven't had much time to update!  Monday was a rest day to recover from tennis.  Tuesday I hit the gym for weights and I also walked the dog that evening.  Yesterday I also walked the dog, plus I had to lift some heavy stuff at work so I essentially got in a mini weightlifting session.

Today, I'm headed to the gym for a proper weights session.  And, I might have company.  I have a co-worker, she's pretty new to my department but I really like her.  She's close to my age and is fun to talk with.  But, she's said a few times that she doesn't like to exercise, but she's also said that she's unhappy with her weight.  So yesterday, she was moaning about her weight again, and I told her that I'd be going down to the gym today (there's a gym in the basement of our workplace) and I told her what time I usually go, and offered to show her how to use the machines if she'd like that.  She said she'd think about it.  Today, she showed up to work with a brand-new pair of tennis shoes and says she'll go with me to the gym - it is pretty clear that she's more excited about her new shoes than she is about working out, but I'm happy to show her the ropes anyway and we'll see what happens.  She's not huge but she's seriously out of shape (she recently had to walk maybe 2 miles in one day to check out a venue for an upcoming work event, and she said the next day that she could barely walk because of "all the walking" that she did the day before - 2 miles is not that much so that's a bit shocking and sad).  So, my goal is to show her how to use the weight machines, and maybe I can get her to do some squats or a plank with me as well.

Tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'll be doing.  Maybe yoga.  The weekend is kind of booked up too so I'm not sure when I'll be able to work out!  I'm hoping I can maybe get in a bit of tennis Sunday morning as that's about the only free time I'll have.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/11/14:  My co-worker did join me in the gym on Thursday!  I showed her how to use all the weight machines... and then all she did was walk on the treadmill.    (I did my usual weights routine while she walked.)  I think the idea of using weights is still a bit overwhelming to her.  I guess the walking went well though, because this morning she asked if I'm going to the gym in our workplace today because she wants to walk again.  I said no, I'm not going down there today - she said that's okay, she's planning on going down and walking by herself anyway.  I consider that a success, I'm glad that she's at least making an effort and isn't dependent on me being down in the gym!  Maybe once she gets bored with walking then she'll move up to the bike or the weights.  We'll see what happens!

So, my update - Thursday I of course did the weights while my co-worker walked.  Friday, I walked the dog.  Saturday, hubby and I got up early and took a day trip to Indiana and Illinois to do a few things (shopping and touring historical sites).  That was really fun, it was a really full day, and my guts behaved themselves even though my whole schedule was thrown off (we didn't eat lunch until almost 4 PM and dinner at about 9:30 PM!).  I was really happy that my body allowed me to have a day like that - I had enough energy to do everything I wanted to, and my guts were super well-behaved.  It was a really lovely day, I had a great time and felt almost normal!    Didn't do much in the way of exercise (walked around a fair bit but that's it) but it was still fantastic.

Yesterday my parents came down for a visit.  After they went home, hubby and I went to the park for an evening tennis session.  That was nice, it wasn't too warm or sunny by that time of day, and we played for over an hour.

Today I'm heading to the big gym after work and hubby is coming with me.  Tomorrow, I'll probably walk the dog or maybe yoga or bike if I'm feeling ambitious.  Tentatively I'm planning this week for weights Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun.  Saturday, I have to help out at a work event, so I'll probably be running around and probably also carrying heavy stuff around for that event, so that'll be like a mini-workout.  So Tues & Thurs, I may either rest, walk, do yoga or ride the bike, depending on what I feel like doing.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/12/14:  Hubby and I hit the gym last night and that went very well.  I had eaten some iffy foods earlier in the day (wild rice with an unknown sauce that kind of gave me the burps) so I wasn't sure how my reflux would be in the gym.  Fortunately my reflux was very quiet and behaved itself.  I managed to do everything including the abdominals machine.  And my workout wasn't interrupted too much even though my gym enemy was there!  There's this guy who I have mentally dubbed "bandana d-bag", because he's this jerkface idiot who always wears a bandana, and he's frequently at the big gym and he bugs me every single time he's there.  He seems to never actually work out, he always just stands around talking and talking and talking with his friends - it's so disruptive, I can hear him just gabbing on and on even with my headphones on, and sometimes he'll just sit or lean on a machine but not actually use it and then I have to give him a death stare if I want to use that machine.  So when I had started my workout and I heard talking, I knew who it was without even looking at him!  Sure enough, it was him.  I think he knows well enough to stay away from me now though, so I didn't bump into him any more during my workout and I didn't have to make him vacate any machines.

So other than one brief run-in with my gym enemy, everything went as smoothly as can be.  I had good energy, I felt pretty strong, I was able to work my abs without refluxing even a little bit.  A very good workout!

Today, I feel kind of tired and just slightly off.  My guts are okay but I feel very "meh."  The weather has turned much cooler - it's only maybe 65 degrees F at the most today, so it's chilly for August.  I feel chilled and maybe like I'm on the verge of getting a headache, and I'm just kinda tired and blah and don't really feel like doing much.  I'm going to attempt some yoga tonight, but after that I'm just going to sit in a warm bath and try to feel better.  I'll probably go to bed early too.  I hope I'm not coming down with anything, hopefully it's just a "meh" kind of a day.

Tomorrow, the plan is to hit the gym with hubby again.  Hopefully my bandana-wearing enemy won't be there!    Hopefully the "meh" feeling will have passed too - if not, hopefully a workout will cure it.


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## hawkeye

Ah the gym death stare, reserved only for those who site on the machines and talk on their cellphones whilst not doing any exercise

We usually get a week of cooler mornings in August


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I hate people who sit on a machine while fiddling with their phones, too.  But this bandana guy, he stands in a group with his friends and they all just talk to each other while hogging machines.  So there will be 2, 3, sometimes even 4 guys just standing around a machine or two and talking endlessly.  It's hugely annoying if I want to use one of the machines that they're "using".  So the death glare has come in handy with that group, particularly with my bandana-wearing enemy.

Well, I didn't do any exercise yesterday.  Couldn't even make myself do yoga.  After work, I went to vote (the primary was yesterday for my state) and then I went home and sat in a hot bath.  That helped me feel quite a bit better.  I'm feeling significantly less "blah" today.  Going to hit the gym tonight with hubby.  Tomorrow, not sure.  Friday, gym again.  Saturday, work event - but it's an outdoor event and now the weather report is saying it's supposed to rain, so Saturday might be a bit miserable.  Hopefully the weather report is wrong!


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## hawkeye

How does the primary thing work at the state level?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, this primary was mainly for the governor's race.  Our current (idiot) governor is a republican who is trying to get re-elected in November.  There were a couple democrats who want to run against our current governor in November's election, so there were a couple dems to choose from in that primary.  There were also primaries for more minor offices like county sherriff, coroner, etc.  I think those more minor offices were all running unopposed, but they had to be on the ballot anyway for some reason.  So mostly, it was just a primary to choose which democrat will run against our republican governor in November.  

Update 8/14/14:  It's been another stressful, exhausting week at work and it's going to continue to be stressful all the way through Saturday evening.  After a tough day at work yesterday, I was very excited to go to the gym and work off some stress.  I had a good workout, felt strong, even increased the weight on one machine.  I didn't see my gym enemy either, and my reflux was once again pretty quiet.  So that was very good.  Tonight I think I'm just going to walk the dog or maybe do some yoga - my bad hip is pretty achey today so I'd either like to either walk around on it to loosen it up, or stretch it out with some yoga.

Tomorrow, gym again.  Saturday, I'll be running around helping out at an event for work so that'll likely keep me very active.  Sunday, gym again.  Phew!  I have a feeling I'll be taking a nap on Sunday to recover from all of this!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/15/14:  Yesterday was mostly a rest day, although we did walk the dog.  And it was possibly the best, cutest dog walk ever!  We have a corgi, and we met up with our neighbor who has 2 corgis.  We also ran into a lady who has 1 corgi and 4 Swedish vallhunds!  (They look like a corgi mixed with a wolf - they're short and stumpy and basically corgi-shaped, but wolf-ish coloring with slightly wolfier faces than corgis have.)  So in total we had 8 short, stumpy, adorable corgi or corgi-esque dogs walking in a pack around the dog park.  I unfortunately did not bring my camera on this walk, so I don't have any adorable photos to share.    But it was amazing, it was the corgi-est walk ever.

Today has been a pretty stressful work day, and I don't even get to relax too much since I got roped into working tomorrow too!  But I am heading to the gym shortly to get rid of some of this stress.  Tomorrow will be full of exercise too (carrying lots of boxes into the event space and running around taking care of things).  I feel like I just need to get through tomorrow and then I can relax.  So I'm really looking forward to Sunday!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/18/14:  I had a pretty rough weekend.  Went to the gym Friday evening.  Was feeling pretty burned out because of the long and stressful work week, so I kinda ran out of steam in the gym.  I  wasn't feeling particularly energetic and on a few machines I wasn't able to do my usual number of reps.  Just felt wiped out.

Saturday, I had to help out at a work event, which turned out to be hugely stressful and a lot of exertion and activity.  We had to lug a lot of boxes into a stadium, set things up, run around and hand out trinkets, etc.  It was super hectic and quite stressful!  Plus it was super warm and I didn't have access to a lot of water, so I think I got a bit too dehydrated.  And I was on my feet for hours and hours - I'm used to working a desk job and sitting at a computer all day, so this was different for me.  My feet were absolutely killing me at the end of the day, and I had a feeling that with all the standing/walking and the dehydration and the stress, I was going to be paying for it the next day.

And, I did pay for it.  Woke up on Sunday morning feeling very nauseous and with a wicked headache (migraine?).  D and cramping as well.  (Oddly my feet felt okay, but the rest of me did not!)  So I spent the day on the couch trying to rest and recover.  The nausea finally eased up thanks to me popping some Zofran, and the Zofran seemed to help calm down and slow down my guts too.  The head pain sloooooowly and gradually eased up as the day went on.  I've found that for that type of headache, taking one tylenol PM and one benadryl at bedtime seems to help a lot.  So I did that, and I feel significantly better today.  Nausea gone, appetite back, guts slightly crampy but mostly quiet, headache still somewhat there but much more tolerable than it was.  I'm functional today and I was definitely not functional yesterday.

So, since I'm feeling better, I'm hoping to hit the gym tonight!  Not sure how that'll go, and I probably won't push myself too much as I don't want a repeat of yesterday.  But I've gotta try it anyway!  As long as I'm feeling okay-ish then I feel like I can get through a workout.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/19/14:  I hit the gym last night and felt really good.  It was really warm and humid outside, and it seemed fairly warm and humid in the gym as well.  As a result, I had a bit of a hard time - it felt difficult to breathe at times, like the air was too heavy.  But other than that, I had a good workout.  Good energy throughout and I was able to do everything including the abs machine.  My reflux did act up a little bit but not too bad.  I had eggs for lunch, and I'm finding that when I eat eggs before a workout, I sometimes get gassy and/or burpy.  Eggs are pretty safe for me except for that.  So I might re-assess what I have for lunch on workout days and try to stay away from eggs (or have them after a workout rather than before).

Today is mostly a rest day, although I probably will walk the dog tonight if it's not raining.  If it is raining then possibly yoga, or maybe just rest.  Tomorrow is another gym day.  Haven't planned things out farther than that yet.  This week is shaping up to be less stressful than last week, so I'm just trying to pace myself and not get burned out by the end of the week.


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## CrohnsChicago

I can't help but laugh at the thought of a gym enemy...it sounds like you are setting up for a storyline meant for a comedy film 

Had to look up corgis and swedish vallhunds (I am dog breed ignorant)...such cute things! I didn't know what they were called. 

It sounds like you've had a few up and down days health-wise. I love that you keep trying but you also understand when you need to take a break. Eggs before a workout would not only leave me burpy...it would prob also cause some unpleasant odorous moments for my gym colleagues as well. I have a habit of needing to fart when I am exercising hahahaha!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I guess I'm lucky in that regard, I almost never need to fart when I'm working out!  My intestines seem to calm way down and go totally quiet when I'm exercising - my stomach is another matter though and it gets all refluxy and burpy.  My nose also often drips a lot when I'm working out.  So, I'm not typically farting in the gym, but I do belch and wipe my nose a lot!  

Yes, corgis and vallhunds are so cute!  I knew what a corgi was before I got one - my hubby used to describe them as looking like "foxes that have had their legs squished down".  Ha ha.  The most common color for Pembroke corgis is that sort of orangey-red foxy color so I can see why he thought that.  Lily is a black tri-color Pembroke though (meaning she's mostly black with some white and a bit of orangey-red) - it's an accepted color for corgis, but it's also the least-common color for Pembrokes.  (There are also Cardigan corgis, a similar but different breed - they tend to have tails, whereas Pembroke corgis usually don't.  Lily is a Pembroke, and Pembrokes seem to be more common.)  So yeah, before we got Lily, we had been looking around for a corgi mix as we didn't want to buy a purebred from a breeder.  But then Lily kind of fell into my lap, she is a purebred and she needed a new home.  She was pretty much the perfect dog, the breed I wanted, she was only 2 when we got her so she was past the puppy craziness and she was trained and house-broken but obviously still young with a lot of life left.  She's almost 6 now and is still a great dog!    She's slightly too fat but nobody's perfect, ha ha.

We're actually going to a corgi meet-up in a few weeks - so Chicago, keep your eyes peeled on my facebook as you'll likely see a ton of corgi pictures then!  Not sure if any vallhunds will be coming as they're not technically corgis, but I am hoping to see both Pembrokes and Cardigans at the meet-up.

So yeah, back to the eggs thing - hubby and I went to the gym last night and we just wanted a quick, easy, high-protein dinner afterwards, so we ended up making turkey bacon and scrambled eggs.  I think I have now confirmed that eggs definitely make me gassy!  After dinner, my guts were making all sorts of noises, and I felt very bloated.  And this morning when I woke up, instead of having a poo, all I was able to do was pass a ton of gas.  I'm wondering though, maybe it's the yolks that are bothering me?  Next time I want eggs, I'm going to just use egg whites and see how that goes.  Hopefully that will be easier on me and less gas-producing.  It'll be an interesting experiment.


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## hawkeye

Breakfast for supper, that's a quick and easy meal I've had before. I think the egg whites are better for you overall


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I love breakfast for dinner!  Haven't had a chance to test out just egg whites yet.  Maybe this week.

Update 8/25/14:  I had a pretty active weekend.  Friday I hit the little gym in my workplace for a quick weights workout.  Saturday was my rest day, it rained for a good chunk of the day so I stayed in.  Sunday, hubby and I got up early as we had decided we wanted to do some major yard work.  Specifically, we finally decided that we wanted to chop down our lilac bush!  It was a huge lilac bush, more like a tree really.  Chopping it down only took maybe 20 or 30 mins, but digging up the stump took like 3 or 4 hours.  That was a ton of work!  We exhausted ourselves digging, the roots were awful and for awhile hubby just kept whacking at the stump with his sledgehammer trying to get it to budge.    Finally we got it out of there, it felt like such an accomplishment!  Now our yard looks much nicer and we're going to put in a fire pit hopefully this coming weekend.

As a result of all the strenuous tree stump removal, I'm super sore today!  So, today is another rest day.  I'll hit the gym tomorrow for weights.  Haven't planned the rest of the week out just yet.  Also, next week I'm going to largely be away - I'm taking a few days off.  Hubby and I are going to do more yard work, and we're going to go out of town to do some kayaking (we found a new to us kayaking spot that looks absolutely beautiful).  So next week I'll mostly be away from the forum as I'll be out having fun!


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## CrohnsChicago

Here's an egg white omelette recipe I enjoy

2-3 egg whites
hand-full of spinach (or baby spinach)
diced mushrooms
diced pieces of turkey sausage
diced tomatoes
diced onion
low-fat shredded monterey jack cheese

Sautee the veggies and sausage. add egg whites and create omelette. before folding the omelette over, add a bit of shredded monterey jack in the center. 

A nice, simple, veggie-packed, flavorful breakfast (or dinner  ).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sounds delicious!  I would probably swap out the turkey sausage for turkey bacon, and the cheese for goat cheese, but other than that it sounds great!


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## hawkeye

Digging roots by hand is hard work. We had a tree at out old house that was planted too close to the house.  We had it cut down but dug the roots out ourselves.  It was a full afternoon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It definitely is hard work!  All we had to work with was 2 shovels, a pick-axe, and a sledgehammer (we had a power saw to cut down the lilac, but no power tools to help with the stump).  Our neighbor came over for a bit to help and he brought a hatchet which he used to hack away at some of the roots too.  But most of the work was done with shovels and the pick-axe.  It's been 2 days since we cut down the lilac and dug up the stump, and I'm still a bit sore!  Planning on going to the gym this afternoon anyway, but I will probably not push myself very much.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Quick update:  I have decided against going to the gym today.  I feel a bit "off" and specifically I've had dizzy spells all day.  When I go to the little gym in the basement of my workplace, I am always a bit worried that I might injure myself or pass out or whatever, and nobody would find me for awhile (I'm usually the only person in that gym).  So on dizzy days, I know I need to avoid going to that gym because the risk seems greater.  I've decided that I'm going to do yoga at home tonight instead.  I'm a bit frustrated, and not sure why I'm dizzy today.  Been having some d and am kind of headachey as well.  Just feeling a little blah, plus I'm still a bit sore from stump digging, so yoga sounds like a better plan today.


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## Jim Gonsler

Probably a good idea not to push it.  Even if you did I'd do light weight, more reps.  Here in Michigan the humidity has been real high.  That'll knock the heck out of you too!  I'm sure your weather is close to the same.  Anyway, enjoy kicking back a little!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Jim.  Unfortunately, I don't know if I'm going to make it to the gym today either.  The dizziness is worse today than it was yesterday!  I'm not sure if this is due to a migraine?  I feel some head pain although the dizziness is the thing that's bothering me the most.  I have had some dizziness in the past as either a flare symptom, or a symptom of steroid withdrawal (I got the dizzies pretty bad after I had completed my first pred trial).  Those dizzies (both flare and steroid dizzies) seem to happen because my blood pressure drops - if I consume some sodium, that raises my BP and those dizzies go away.  So I tried that today, I had some potato chips.  That seemed to help a little bit, but not much.  I'm still fairly significantly dizzy, to the point where walking in a straight line is nearly impossible.  

So once again I'm thinking going to the gym is too dangerous while I'm this dizzy.  Right now I'm trying to figure out the cause of the dizziness - I suspect it might be a migraine.  Sometimes my migraines last for 5 days though so I'll be frustrated if this goes on for that long (I'm currently on day 2 of whatever this is).  I googled and it said that migraines are a common cause of dizziness/vertigo, and I'm prone to migraines, so that's a suspect at least.  I don't know that I've ever had a migraine that caused dizziness before, though.  But my migraines do like to change things up a lot - when I get migraines with aura, the aura is different every single time.  And I don't always get the aura, sometimes I get nausea and sometimes not, sometimes the pain is tolerable and other times it's hideous and throbbing, etc.  So this could very well be a migraine.  I don't know.  Just frustrated right now, I want to go to the gym!  I want to not feel dizzy!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/31/14:  Sorry for not updating for the past few days.  That dizziness that I mentioned in my previous post, it just got worse and worse.  It turns out I have labyrinthitis (an inflammation of the inner ear, which causes horrible vertigo, and the vertigo causes horrendous nausea and vomiting).  So I've basically been not functional.  Thursday was the worst day of it - I could not open my eyes nor move my head, and I only got up to use the bathroom, and even then I had to have hubby help me get there.  It's very slowly and gradually started to get better from there.  I vomited quite a bit on Thursday & Friday.  Yesterday I was finally able to eat and keep food down (I had toast).  Today I'm able to walk a little bit with my cane for stability.  I had a bit more exciting foods today too (soy yogurt) because I am already sick of toast.  

So, needless to say, I haven't done anything in the way of exercise since this started.  I am thinking I might try some gentle exercise soon though.  I could probably do a short easy ride on the stationary bike, and I think I might be able to lie on the floor and lift my 8 lb dumbbells?  If I can't do that stuff, I'll just keep walking around with my cane (I consulted a labyrinthitis page on facebook, and they said walking can help me recover faster as it'll help my brain re-understand where my body is in space during movement).  So, I haven't been exercise, but only because I've been so ridiculously dizzy and nauseous from this labyrinthitis.  I am going to keep trying to have little baby steps of improvement every day.  The doctor I saw said that I should expect the worst of the symptoms to last maybe a few weeks, so I'm trying not to be too impatient about getting back to the gym.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/8/14:  It's been 2 weeks now with the labyrinthitis, and fortunately it seems to be on its way out.  I have been steadily improving a little bit every day, and finally I have very little vertigo/dizziness today.  As a result, I'm able to drive my car again (I missed driving!) and I'm able to exercise again (I really missed exercise!!).  I had read on a labyrinthitis facebook page that walking around can help, so I made sure to walk as much as I could each day.  Mainly this meant walking the dog slowly and with a cane/walking stick to help me balance.  Yesterday, I was finally confident enough to walk my dog without my cane, and I did great.  I also was able to do the stationary bike yesterday as a way to ease back into exercise.  I was planning on just doing 20ish minutes at a slow pace/low resistance.  I ended up doing 40 mins at a moderate pace, so I'm very pleased with that!  I could have gone longer than 40 mins, but I didn't want to push it too much too soon and make things worse again.

Since the bike and walk went so well, today I went to the little gym for my first weights workout in 2+ weeks (since before the labyrinthitis started).  That went pretty well.  I can tell I've lost a little bit of strength/stamina, as I wasn't able to do my usual amount of reps (I try for 12, and I ended up anywhere between 9 and 11 on most of the machines).  I didn't lower the amount of weight at all though and I did everything, including the abdominals machine.  So I'm satisfied with that and looking forward to continuing to build myself back up to where I was before vertigo temporarily took over my life!  If all continues to go well, then I'm thinking yoga tomorrow (that might be interesting as my balance still isn't great - honestly it's not great even when I am not dealing with vertigo, and I've still got some residual dizzies, so I don't have high expectations of my yoga capabilities).  I'm also thinking weights at the big gym on Wednesday.  I haven't planned anything out past that time, just kinda taking it day by day until I'm totally recovered.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/10/14:  Rather than do yoga yesterday evening, I decided instead to walk the dog.  There was an impending thunderstorm, and my dog hates thunder, so I thought that maybe if I got her tired out before the storm hit that then she'd freak out less during the storm.  It turned out that the storm wasn't bad anyway, but that's fine.  We had a nice walk anyway.

Tonight I'm headed to the big gym after work.  It'll be my first time there in something close to 3 weeks.  I miss it!  I'm slightly nervous to do a "full" workout (I did work out in the little gym on Monday, but there are far more machines in the big gym so I do a lot more when I'm there).  I'm still doing okay though, I feel like I'm about 95% recovered from the labyrinthitis.  Things are no longer spinning, it's more like things are just kind of... leaning?  My head still isn't quite right, still a whisper of vertigo, but it's definitely getting better.  Hardly dizzy at all, can walk fine without a cane, I even walked down stairs today without holding the hand rail!  So I'm almost completely better and I'm confident that a workout in the big gym shouldn't be problematic.  I've updated my workout playlist, my gym clothes are washed and ready to go, and I'm looking forward to hitting the weights properly!

Since I didn't do yoga yesterday, I'm thinking I might do it tomorrow.  Friday will be weights again, and I haven't thought out the weekend yet.  Possibly tennis or maybe even kayaking if the weather is nice, it'd be nice to get outdoors if I can.  Fall is here already, there's a chill in the air and suddenly everything is pumpkin-flavored and the trees are changing color, so I'm going to try to get outdoors before it gets too terribly cold out!  I will of course get outside during winter, I plan to use my snowshoes a lot and I hope to do some outdoor ice skating as well, but I'd still like to do other outdoor activities before winter hits.  I haven't been kayaking since my "injury" (the kayak fell off the top of the car and landed on me, which gave me hideous bruises on both arms) and I'd really like to hit the water at least once more before it gets too cold out.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/15/14:  I ended up having a little flare-up of gastritis over the weekend, so I ended up not working out.  When I get gastritis attacks, I get sharp stomach pain (a couple inches above the belly button), nausea, d, etc.  So that kind of knocked me down for a bit.  And since I didn't have much appetite during that time, I wasn't eating a whole lot.  Well, I still have a little bit of vertigo/dizziness, and it's significantly worse when I don't eat enough.  So that's been bothering me a little bit more now, too.  Ugh.  It's to the point where I've made another GP appointment to get more info on how to treat this vertigo stuff more effectively.

Sooo.  With all that going on, I haven't been to the gym since Wednesday.  I'm going to go tonight since I feel so-so.  My stomach has mostly recovered but the vertigo/dizziness is still bothering me today even though I've been eating more today.  So we'll see how I do.  Hubby will be there with me, so if I have any issues, he'll be there to help.  I don't have high expectations of tonight's workout, but I'm sick of doing nothing and just backsliding into worse health.  I'd rather just go to the gym and at least try to make an improvement in my health!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/16/14:  I *finally* feel like I'm getting back on track.  I went to the gym last night and had a great workout.  Phew!  I did avoid the abdominals machine as I didn't want to rile up the gastritis again, but I did everything else (including a short plank) and did fine.  I felt pretty strong, I had enough energy to do everything, and I had no issues.  Having a workout like that after everything I've been through in the past 3ish weeks, that was very encouraging and very much needed!

Hopefully it's all onwards and upwards from here.  I'm planning to do yoga tonight.  Gym for weights tomorrow.  Thursday will likely be a rest day, then gym again  Friday.  That's the tentative plan so far.  Hopefully my health just improves from here on out and allows me to get back into a regular workout schedule!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/17/14:  I'm still doing well with getting back on track.  I did yoga last night and felt mostly well.  Towards the end I felt my stomach getting a little grumbly but it wasn't too bad.  And fortunately things seem fine today so I guess I didn't anger my stomach too much.  Tonight I'm still planning on hitting the gym for weights.  I'll probably avoid the abdominals machine again but I plan to do everything else.  Tomorrow is likely a rest day (I may walk the dog, but I won't do anything more strenuous than that).  Friday will be weights in the little gym.  Saturday, not sure - it's supposed to rain, so possibly a ride on the stationary bike (if it doesn't rain, I'd love to take a bike ride outside).  Sunday I'll probably hit the big gym for weights.  Hubby does have to work on the weekend, but he doesn't go in until noon, so if the weather is nice then I may make him go play tennis with me for an hour or so before he goes to work on Sunday.  I find that I really enjoy tennis, even though I'm pretty terrible at it, and it's a fantastic workout.  I'm always totally exhausted after an hour of tennis!  So anyway, that's the tentative plan for the rest of the week.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/19/14:  I swapped my gym day and rest day - so on Wednesday I rested, and yesterday I hit the gym.  I felt pretty tired on Wednesday and hubby was exhausted, so we decided to rest.  Yesterday we both hit the gym and did well.  I'm still having the dizzies off and on, but they didn't bother me in the gym at all.  I was even able to walk on the treadmill for my cool-down without holding on to the treadmill - I haven't been stable enough to walk on the treadmill without holding on, until yesterday.  So that's a nice little bit of improvement.

Today I'm going to walk the dog.  Tomorrow, gym - and if it's not raining then I think I'll ride my bike to the gym.  Sunday, I'm still thinking tennis.


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## javanov

Anyone do kung fu on here?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hi Javanov, welcome to the forum.  This thread is essentially my personal fitness diary, and no, I don't do kung fu.  There have been a few threads about martial arts in this section of the forum, so have a search and see if you can find anything.

Update 9/22/14:  I had a pretty restful weekend - I went to the gym on Saturday, rested on Sunday.  Cleaned the house a little bit but otherwise mostly sat around.  I'm hoping to go to the gym tonight, but I'm having a very blah day.  I didn't sleep well last night, so as a result, the dizziness is much worse again today.  I'm also nauseous.  Getting really frustrated with the dizziness, it's been a month now and I'm starting to wonder if it'll ever fully go away!  I see my GP on the 1st about the dizziness/vertigo and I can't wait.  I really hope he can help as I'm so frustrated and really sick of being dizzy all the time.

So, I'm just going to play it by ear.  If I can get the nausea to ease up then I will hit the gym tonight for weights.  The dizziness seems to improve greatly when I exercise, so I am not worried too much about being dizzy while working out.  If I can have a successful gym session today, then I plan to keep going and exercise as much as I can.  Tomorrow, this may be ambitious, but I'm tentatively thinking that I'll do 30 mins on the bike on my lunch break and then walk the dog after work.  Wednesday I'd ideally like to hit the gym for weights again.  I'm so sick of being a slave to this dizziness, so if it's possible to kill the dizziness with exercise then I'll give it my best try!  Maybe that's silly, but the medication (for symptom relief only, not for the underlying cause of the dizziness) hasn't done anything except make me drowsy, and I am at a loss for what else to do.  The dizziness eases up as long as I get enough sleep and eat a lot, but if I fail to eat or sleep well enough then it hits me hard.  It just sucks, I hate it.  I'm just rambling and venting now, but yeah.  I hope I can successfully treat the dizziness with tons of exercise, and if not, then I'm out of ideas and will be even more frustrated.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  The nausea and dizziness win this round.  I'm not feeling well enough to go to the gym.  I'm going to walk my dog tonight, and hopefully hit the gym tomorrow.  The nausea's just been too much today for me to do a weights workout.


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## javanov

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Hi Javanov, welcome to the forum.  This thread is essentially my personal fitness diary, and no, I don't do kung fu.  There have been a few threads about martial arts in this section of the forum, so have a search and see if you can find anything.


:rof: Dunno how the hell my post ended up here, meant to post it on the forum I think :redface:



Hope you are feeling better from the yoga overall 

PS: What type of yoga do you do?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Javanov, I do yoga occasionally, but my main form of exercise is lifting weights.    When I do yoga, I do it on the Wii Fit so that I can be in my home near my bathroom and not feel self-conscious (I don't have good balance, and it's been worse lately due to vertigo issues, so I tend to fall over sometimes while doing yoga!).  Weight-lifting is my favorite thing to do though, it makes me feel strong and healthy and awesome and not like "that sick girl."  I also walk my dog, ride my bike, kayak, play tennis, whatever I can do to stay active and try to keep my guts in check.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/26/14:  I don't think Lialda is working for me.  I've been having more bad days since I switched from Pentasa to Lialda.  Today I feel pretty awful - I didn't sleep well, I'm super fatigued now, very nauseous, having some d, and just generally feel kinda awful.

I was hoping to go to the gym today, but it's seeming like I'm not well enough to consider doing a workout.  Needless to say, that's frustrating.  I'm so sick of this.  I'm still dizzy too from the stupid labyrinthitis.  I also woke up with a pretty hideous sinus headache this morning, but then I got overwhelmed and cried a bunch, and the crying actually cleared up my sinuses pretty nicely.    And my hubby says crying doesn't solve anything - hah!  Now if only crying could work for all my other symptoms, I'd be set.

So, that's where I'm at.  Still feeling crappy and having to miss workouts.  Same old, same old.  If I feel any better by this evening then maybe I'll attempt some yoga or a walk with my dog.  I did manage to play tennis for an hour on Wednesday evening and that went really well except for the mosquitoes (there were TONS of them and they seemed to be attracted to my sweat - if I stopped moving for even a second I started getting swarmed).  So at least I got in a little exercise this week - I would have liked to do more though, feeling so frustrated that my body continues to be a jerk.


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## hawkeye

Did you check with your doctor?  Is it an inner ear infecton?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, I see my GP on Wednesday so I'll hopefully find out more then.  I'm still having a lot of ups and downs.  Felt actually quite good on Saturday and was able to walk the dog AND go on an 8ish mile bike ride!  Sunday I felt so-so.  I was able to eat and no nausea, but the dizziness was bothering me all morning.  Today, I woke up feeling exhausted and nauseous and dizzy.  The nausea fortunately didn't hang around, but I'm still pretty wiped out and a bit dizzy.  Bleh.  Wednesday can't get here soon enough!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/30/14:  I'm still dealing with the dizzies.  I see my GP tomorrow afternoon about it so hopefully we will work out a treatment plan then.  I have still been up and down - I was super nauseous yesterday morning, felt okayish yesterday evening, feel fairly well today.  Going to the gym tonight for weights.  Hoping to go to the gym again on Thurs.  Am not planning things much in advance since I've been so up and down lately.

I have had a ridiculously stressful day at work and tomorrow won't be any better (if anything, it may be worse!).  So I really really need this gym session tonight and I hope it's a good one!


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## jacktin

Hi Cat,
Have you gone to an ENT doctor yet? Before I got diagnosed with Crohn's colitis, six months before I had vertigo so bad I cannot drive a car anymore or walk straight without any support holding me up. I had to take meclizine all the time to get anything done.I started getting sick in my trashcan at work often because my vertigo was so bad. When I finally saw an ENT doctor and had several test done – the treatment was vestibular rehab therapy. It took some time, but within three months I was able to walk without a cane and begin to drive a car again.my ENT doctor told me at first that I had what you had (Laybrinthitis) and that he did not know why I was losing my hearing. Then I had another ENT doctor tell me in reality I have the early onset stages of Ménière's disease (which my grandfather has and has lost both of his ears to after many years). I actually don't think either one of them really know. Strangely enough, there was a 10-year-old boy in North Carolina a few months ago he was losing his hearing and it was due to Crohn's disease!! Though I was not completely sold,according to two different doctors I saw, meclizine makes vertigo worse so you have to fight through and rehabilitate to compensate the part of your inner ear and signaling to your brain that has the damage from whatever's causing the vertigo. Regardless of what is causing the vertigo, vestibular rehabilitation therapy May be what you need to make you better  maybe your doctor – GP – can get you with a vestibular rehabilitation therapist soon. prayers you get to feeling better soon*hugs*


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Jacktin!  I haven't seen an ENT but I am planning to ask my GP about the vestibular rehabilitation (when I first got diagnosed with labyrinthitis a month ago, a different GP mentioned VRT as a possibility).  I was prescribed meclizine when I got diagnosed, but it didn't seem to do much of anything except make me sleepy.  I took like 3 naps the first day I took meclizine.  I need to be awake & functional, and it didn't actually seem to help the dizziness much, so I stopped taking it.

Can I ask, what tests did they give you to determine that you have Meniere's?  I've also heard of MAV (migraine accompanied vertigo or something like that) but it sounds like they mostly just guess when they diagnose these things, there aren't a lot of good tests for anything to do with vertigo.  They did zero tests on me when they first diagnosed the labyrinthitis.  So I'll be asking my GP about tests, too!  I did have head pain when the vertigo was first bad which made me suspect MAV - it really did feel like a migraine which caused dizziness/vertigo.  I don't know though, hopefully my GP will be more knowledgeable.  If it is labyrinthitis and my inner ear is inflamed, then I'm wondering if pred might help.  I have a long list of stuff to ask my doc!


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## jacktin

Hi Cat,
Yes, of course I'll tell you what tests I had to do. My GP actually could do nothing for me and immediately referred me to an ENT doctor. It was at the ENT doctor that I was first required to see an audiologist and have the longest and strangest hearing test i've ever had. When you see an audiologist have a hearing test – it's not like elementary school where they put headphones on you and you raise your hand at the tones, so I found out. They put you want to sound chamber by yourself and put the special things that are similar to headphones but not in your ears! None of it hurts, it's just strange LOL. It was probably more strange for me because I could not walk and had to be in a wheelchair because I was having vertigo so bad. During the same day after the audiology appointment, I saw an ENT doctor. He examined me with different maneuvers (Tapping on my sinuses, follow his finger, saying one thing Etc.). He could not really determine anything after his assessment and got the nurse to try to do what is called the Epley maneuver her just in case I may have BPPV. They did the maneuver twice and it did not work at all. The ENT doctor said he knows it does not work on me because my eyes were still shifting around. It was at that point he ordered a CAT scan of my brain (I have had migraines for years and he went to investigate that on top of making sure I did not have MS or something like that).I had that immediately after the appointment and the next day I was scheduled to have an ENG (electronystagmoraphy). During the ENG test, you're not allowed to take any medication because it can alter the test. They put electrodes on your head and put you in chair that's like a dentist chair and do different things to record your eye movements (they lean you back, use a laser pointer on the wall, etc.). It sounds scarier than it is, but none of it hurts. The only thing that was rather uncomfortable was when they put hot and cold pressurized air in each ear. Apparently it causes or provokes a reaction and your involuntary Eye movements so they can see which ear is damaged internally.because this test was rather inconclusive for me, they also did what is called a VNG (videonaystagmography). A VNG is the same thing as an ENG-The only difference is instead of electrodes on your head, they make you wear big giant video goggles and the room is dark. Again none of this hurts.couple of days later I went back to my doctor and we did more balance tests in his Office (such as trying to standing on one leg) and he revealed to me some test results. He said I did not have MS or anything like that – which was great! However, he was perplexed as to why I had such intensely bad vertigo and it was notable on my hearing tests, balance tests, and Ian G and VNG tests. He didn't even really have any diagnosis, but he said he'd set up an appointment with me later in the day to see the head of the department ENT doctor and if I would be willing to hang around for an hour or so. Ha ha, like I have a choice right?
So I waited for that other doctor, and my ENT doctor was also present. This other ENT doctor did a whole bunch of balance and other tests that the first ENT doctor did. Then my ENT doctor and this other doctor left the room for a while to consult each other. Apparently they were discussing my results over everything. When they both came back the other doctor told me that they were both very perplexed why I had such bad vertigo.The only thing they knew for sure was that I had inner ear damage and was losing my hearing from irreversible damage inside of my ear. To be honest that was quite a shock to me at the time!! According to their tests, I only had 40% hearing left in my left ear and 80% hearing left in my right ear! I could not believe it! I told them two weeks prior to all that I had an ear infection and a small cold could that have done anything to cause this? The other doctor told me your infection would've had to be so bad that I would've been in the hospital with 104 fever to cause the kind of damage that was present in my ears. They knew that the damage was causing the balance problems but there was no pill or anything that could be done to fix the damage. At that point, the other doctor said the only way for me to get back to normal would be to retrain my brain to accommodate the damage. That is when he prescribed vestibular rehab therapy. VRT does not hurt, is very helpful, but does make you pretty dizzy LOL. I would bring somebody to those appointments to drive or be ready to sit for an hour or so before you drive.I think it depends on the damage you have Or the issue that you're having in your inner ear to determine how long you go to vestibular therapy. For me, I had to go for four months. But, it worked I am now able to walk without a cane or any additional supports and drive a car again. Yes, I do still get vertigo from time to time and I've had to see an ENT doctor every four months to check on the progression of what is going on (in the ER at the beginning of this – they said that I had BPPV. My GP said I have Laybrinthitis and BPPV. Both the ENT doctors were not really sure what I had but both feel strongly that I have early onset Ménière's disease because it runs in my family and I have a lot of symptoms of it that have lingered).
I hope your appointment today is very fruitful and that you get the relief you need and deserve


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Wow, Jacktin!  Thank you for all that info, it's really helpful.  I'm so sorry you've had to go through all that, though!  Can I ask more about your ears - do you ever feel pressure in your ears, like you can't pop your ears, or it even feels like there's crackly stuff in your ears?  I didn't have anything like a cold nor an ear infection before all this started, but I recall that for a couple weeks, my ears (particularly the left ear) felt weird like it was full or had crackly stuff in it.  Then the vertigo hit, and like you I had to be taken to the doctor in a wheelchair as I couldn't walk either.  The doctor did say that it would help me recover faster if I walked around as much as possible, so I tried doing that with my cane once the worst of it was over (once the vomiting stopped) and that did seem to help.  So hopefully VRT would also help.  The doctor said it's kind of similar to physical therapy?

All those tests sound freaky!  I'm glad you don't have MS.  I wish you had clearer answers about what you do have.  I recall there was a girl who used to be a regular in the Undiagnosed Club, she ended up being diagnosed with Meniere's.  (Her main symptoms were nausea & vomiting, so her doctors initially thought IBD, but when they realized that her symptoms were caused by vertigo then they put the pieces together and said it was Meniere's.)  So I have heard of it but don't know much more about it than that.

I'm heading to my doctor in about an hour and I have a loooong list of questions for him!  Thanks again for all your help, it's been really informative!  I'm glad to hear you're doing better thanks to the VRT, too!


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## CrohnsChicago

Good luck at the doctor! Hope you can get this all sorted out :hug:


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## jacktin

Hi Cat 

I am so sorry you are going through what you are going through too  I hope you get some answers and relief today at your doctor appointment! 

And, yes, VRT is kind of like Physical Therapy but very specialized to help with the workings of the inner ear and balance issues. They teach you things like balancing in a corner, following a post-it note with the letter "Z" taped to an end of a pencil swinging your arms back/forth until dizzy starts, etc.They even teach you how to walk a certain way with a cane! None of it hurts but I found it tiring and it does induce vertigo spells for a bit until you get use to stuff and build tolerance. That is how you get better-building tolerance with the exercises they make you do and give you until the damage in the ear is compensated for. However, it DOES work and gets you better (just takes time and work) . Hang in there, keep strong *hugs*

Thank you! This has been a really "fun" and medically expensive year for me LOL! 
I got hit with the ear/vertigo stuff about 6 months before I found out I had Crohn's granulomatous colitis (I for sure have Crohn's confirmed after a skin biopsy of Erythema Nodosum  caused by Crohn's-that is still healing six months later- a colonoscopy, 9 biopsies from colonoscopy that confirm I have one of the worst and most aggressive cases of Crohn's my doctor has seen in 10 years, and an upper endoscopy that revealed I also have a stomach disease that produces so much acid it is burning holes in my stomach and esophagus. Yay! LOL). I am being super sarcastic, but trying to stay positive.

I was the OPPOSITE of the other person you know with Meniere's Disease. I thought the ear stuff was what was causing all the bathroom issues so I did not seek help until severely dehydrated and my GP sent me to ER for fluids. The ER lied to me (whole other story) and the whole IBD journey began.

I am now on a crap-ton of medicine and Remicade infusions now every 8 weeks (though I keep having some serious reactions to Remicade- like chest pain and hard to breathe- so I keep needing an emergency Solu-medrol push in my IV which makes me gain soooo much weight and retain soo much water. Not sure if I will be staying on Remicade). The good news is I am using the bathroom a lot less 

Yes, please ask all the questions you like! I am not shy and if anyone can benefit from what I experienced, I am glad to help!! 

Yes, I do have pressure in my ears (not unlike an airplane ride) from time to time-especially when I have allergies. I also have a ringing in my ears randomly (probably happens at least once a week with NO obvious correlations or causes from my observations) and it is known as tinnitus. To me, the ringing sounds like a tuning fork being banged in one ear inside my head.  I have asked my GP, dentist and ENT about it-all agree it is related to inner ear but not sure of cause because a lot of things can give you tinnitus apparently. However my ENT doctors still think I have Meniere's disease because of all my symptoms and family history of the disease (migraines, pressures, hearing loss, ringing in ears, intense vertigo spells, family history, etc.)

As a result of my continued hearing loss, I am now in the process of learning sign American Sign Language to "get in front of it" and hope to have a part time career in the future as an ASL interpreter. It is kind of a blessing in disguise because I have always loved languages (besides English, I grew up speaking Spanish because I am half Mexican and learned Japanese as well because my husband and his family are from Japan) and all my life I have been looking for a career that would help people, is interesting and was fulfilling. I was going to be a nurse, a few other majors and (most recently) a court reporter- but none of them panned out because of my health. So being an ASL interpreter may just be it for me and I feel blessed !

Have they tested you for BPPV? That can cause the crackle sensation you have from the crystals (that cause vertigo and imbalance) in your head that come lose and cause severe vertigo immediately. The Epley maneuver can put the crystals back too, but only an ENT doctor can do it. Plus, a regular GP won't know what all the inner ear imbalance problems are. If your GP does not, I suggest seeking an ENT for better help-if you are willing- because they know how to help you a LOT better with Vertigo (especially of the intensity you are experiencing). 

They will probably make you do the "freaky" tests too, but they are just odd-not painful and give better insight to what the cause and solution needs to be. 

Sorry for the NOVEL and any misspellings!! Once again, I pray your doctor appointment goes well that that you get the relief you need and deserve! Please feel free to ask any question anytime 

*hugs*


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks again, Jacktin!  I did get a referral for VRT... but the clinic where they do VRT is booked up until mid-November.  Ugh!  By that point the dizziness may finally have gone away!  They are going to put me on a cancellation list, so there's a slight chance I could get in sooner, but I'm not holding my breath.  My GP didn't order any tests and he didn't refer me to an ENT either (he wants to see how VRT goes first, and if I'm still struggling then we'll move on to tests and specialists).  But he said he does think what I have is more along the lines of BPPV than labyrinthitis.  (Just his hunch, he did zero tests.)  Is the epley maneuver the thing where you lie down with your head turned to one side, then sit up quickly?  If so, my GP tried that with me, but it didn't really do anything.  It didn't make the dizziness better or worse.

So at this point, I'm not sure if I'm even going to do the VRT given the long wait for an appointment.  I can exercise at home pretty successfully, so I'm thinking I might google some VRT exercises and just try to do them myself at least for the time being.  Since I apparently have a 6+ week wait for VRT, I may as well try to help myself during that time.

And oh goodness, it must have been absolutely horrendous to go through Meniere's and Crohn's in the same year!    I've had IBD (not fully diagnosed but it's some form of IBD) for 5 years now, and I just came down with this vertigo stuff in August.  So at least I more or less knew what to expect with the IBD when the dizziness came along.  Having to go to the bathroom a lot when the world is spinning, though, that's miserable!  The first day the vertigo hit for me was also the first day of my menstrual cycle, which always gives me looser stools and more bathroom trips than usual, so that was really not fun having my husband have to help me to the bathroom like 10 times that day.  So I definitely feel for you!  It's good to hear that the remicade is working for you and allowing you to go to the bathroom less (although that's not good that you're having bad reactions to it!).

That sounds like a wonderful job, being an ASL interpreter!  I wish you lots of luck with it!  And I know what you mean about having a love of language.  I'm impressed, Japanese is a really tough language (particularly the written side of it!).  I had wanted to learn Japanese, but I just cannot memorize all that kanji.  Then I fell in love with the Korean language (and the fact that it has a written alphabet, so it's MUCH easier to learn to read & write in Korean than most other Asian languages), so I've been slowly trying to teach myself Korean these days.    It's such a fun, cool language.


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## jacktin

Hi Cat,

Sorry for any misspellings. Do you NEED a referral from you GP or can you just go see an ENT doctor specialist on your own? If you are experiencing the kind of dizziness you describe and for the length of time you have been having it, it is better to find out really why and what is causing it with tests and such outside of your GP's scope so you can better treat it. Some of the exercises in VRT can actually make vertigo worse or cause further permanent inner ear damage if they are done incorrectly or if a particular exercise is not suppose to be done at all. Sorry, but I would not recommend googling VRT exercises in fear it may cause more harm than good. I know it is hard to be so miserable, especially with two very difficult things plaguing you at the same time-I am sorry  I pray you can get relief and the correct kind of help you need very very soon!!

An ENT doctor can get you a list of exercises to help you on top of getting you into VRT faster too. I am surprised your GP did not order ANY tests or send you to an ENT straight away because the vestibular system is very delicate and specialzed (so I found out later). Espeically since your GP thinks you have BPPV (in that case, the Epley Manuever should INSTANTLY fix the dizzies-but must be performed by a trained professional so they won't hurt you because of the jerking of your head/neck/body that must be done or further damage your inner ear).

The Epley maneuver is like something you described in the sense of laying down and getting up really fast, but the doctor guides your head and body a certain way and the nurse holds you down to assist in your body keeping really straight. This maneuver cannot be done on your own and you can really hurt yourself permanently if it is done incorrectly. Also, a trained professional can see if it is actually helping you or not (like they could for me) because they know what to look for. I really do encourage you to get help outside of your GP and pray you get the help you need/deserve really soon!

I am also sooo sorry you have to deal with this at the same time along with not fully being cared for properly for IBD. And for as LONG as you have been ill??!! Wow 
That is BEYOND horrible and I could not even imagine how hard that is  I am very sorry and I will of course pray for you. You have a Gastroenterologist? Have you had a pill cam procedure or colonoscopy recently?

I got Meniere's a few months before and just started to be ok then the Crohn's hit hard after the vertigo stuff was getting a lot better. As stated before, I do get the dizzies from time to time still, but not like before. 

I know what you mean by the vertigo just hitting you all at once too! I was DRIVING!! Luckily it was 4am and I was headed to work not even 10 miles from where I lived. I was shocked not cops stopped me!! It was a Friday and it was one of the most scary things I have ever experienced. I had a hard time walking and after about an hour at work I fell out of my chair and threw up a lot. An ambulance was called and they took me to the ER because my blood pressure was at stroke/heart attack level and I have a history of blood clots. I had to leave my car over the weekend for my family to come pick up and I could not drive a car from that point for almost 5 months safely or it would have been like I was driving drunk. Since I am was a licensed insurance salesperson for a very large auto insurance company, that would have been frowned on at the very least LOL. And yes, thank you, I am blessed the Remicade is FINALLY working a bit after 3 infusions. Its not without its problems (like reactions, odd side effects, etc.) but it is soooo worth it to get my life back sorta 

Thank you for the luck in my future job as an ASL reporter  I will need it!
Sadly, I am not as impressive as I seem LOL I for SURE cannot read Japanese!! I can only SPEAK Japanese and I had to do it out of necessity to understand my in-law (who I lived with for over 2 years before I got married). It is amazing what you will learn so you can eat HAHAHA! I find speaking Japanese to not be very difficult because it sounds similar to Spanish to me. Even some of the words are the same! (Ex: "Pan" is bread in both Japanese and Spanish). You should hear me murder some French sometime and you can see how not very impressive I am LOL! I went to Paris as a high school graduation present (strange in itself because I do NOT speak French or ever tried to learn and knew nothing/had no desire to go to that part of Europe, but my family thought it would be nice for me to go to France. France IS very beautiful and the food is AMAZING!! I never liked mayo until I went there!). Since I am VERY bad at French, I got in a lot of little bits of trouble in Paris. Silly things you would see in a short film presented in a foreign language class (like locals laughing at me as a fumble through a Berlitz trying to ask how to get to the bathroom as I did the "potty dance". That, by the way, is universal  ).

However, My husband and his family can read/write all three of course being from Japan, and I also find it impressive anyone can write Japanese. One of the most beautiful memories from my dating my husband was going to one of those shops in the mall that does ceramics with him on a date and he made me an ice cream cone jewelry box with a short silly love poem and my name in Japanese and read it to me when he got done painting it. I still have it after 10 years . He had to read all our wedding cards from Japan too LOL. Hiragana and Katakana are the easier ones, it is Kanji you have to worry about. The other two are more simple, like a lot of Korean writings. Kanji is for more difficult or non-native Japanese words. 

I am VERY impressed you are learning to speak AND write Korean!! That is awesome and sooo cool! I think Korean is beautiful and I love their culture and food. I use to really love Kim Chi until Crohn's too. Mmmm, galbi! And I use to LOVE soondubu chigae when I had a cold. Now it is too spiced for me 

I pray and wish for the best for you and your health ASAP!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks again!  I do need a referral from my GP to see an ENT.  I think I will just wait and see what happens then with the VRT.  I *still* haven't actually gotten a call to book the appointment (I was told at my GP apt that the VRT clinic would call me - at this rate I might be lucky to get in by December - but, maybe the dizziness will be better by then?).  Honestly, your dizziness/vertigo sounds much worse than mine.  Mine was definitely horrendous at first but I feel like I'm about 80% better now.  I can drive again and work and all that good stuff, and I haven't vomited in weeks.  It's more of an annoyance than it is debilitating at this point.  So hopefully it'll either go away on its own or the VRT will make it go away.  But if it doesn't, I will definitely ask for an ENT referral.

I have an inkling of how difficult Kanji must be to learn.  I have an old friend from high school, I remember he had been studying Japanese all through high school.  After college, he moved to Japan to teach English to Japanese students.  He's been living in Japan for about 12 years now.  And finally, just last year or so, he read a book in Japanese for the first time.  It took him that long plus over a decade of living in Japan just to be able to read it!  So that to me says that it's incredibly difficult to learn to read Japanese even if you're immersed in the culture like my friend has been.  So therefore, I don't think I could ever learn to read/write Kanji.

And yeah, Korean is actually pretty easy to learn how to read!  There are a few tricky grammar rules and I sometimes forget how to pronounce vowels when multiple vowels are lumped together, but for the most part I can read and write Korean.  (I make a lot of mistakes, and I read very slowly like a little kid sounding out the letters, but I can do it!)  I try to watch a lot of Korean drama TV shows - I find that is actually really helpful.  When the characters on the shows are having everyday conversations, I can sometimes pick out words and phrases that I know, and it's helpful to hear these words spoken in an everyday type of way and it helps give my brain some context to the words I know and it also helps me learn new words.  And oddly enough, there are a lot of Korean shows on Hulu!  I don't have to look very hard to seek them out, I just add them to my hulu queue and I can watch marathons of various different shows.    And yes, Korean food is often very spicy!  I can't do spicy foods either so I don't really eat many Korean dishes.  Mostly I just study the language, watch the TV shows and listen to K-pop.  

Oh, and as for the IBD - I do have a GI and he is treating me as though I have IBD, even though we haven't been able to figure out yet which type of IBD I have.  My GP also treats me as though I have IBD.  (I have IBD symptoms, we've ruled out pretty much everything else, and I respond well to meds like pred and Entocort which wouldn't work on something like IBS but do work on IBD, so the presumption is that I have some form of IBD - my GI has been leaning towards microscopic colitis.)  So I am on medication (currently on Entocort and Lialda).  When I first got sick, I was ill for about a year and went through tons of tests (including colonoscopy and pill cam) but none of the results were conclusive.  My GI could see that after a year of disappointment and illness, that I just needed to get better, so that's when he first put me on medication (Entocort and Asacol).  That got me into remission and I spent about 2 lovely years in remission, but then they stopped making regular Asacol in the US, and I struggled to find another maintenance med that works well for me, so that's when I flared up again.  Now I've been in a mild flare for about a year and a half and am trying to get back into remission (I had another colonoscopy last year, which was also inconclusive/normal).  This vertigo stuff has thrown my health a curve ball but I think I'm finally getting back on track!  So yeah, long story short, they haven't just let me suffer for 5 years, my doctors treat me well for the most part and they do act as though I have IBD and I have spent a good chunk of time in remission.


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## jacktin

Aww, I am sorry no one called you back yet in regards to VRT. Can you call them or does the doctor HAVE to call for you? I use to be part of an HMO that the doctor HAD to call for you to get in line with a specialist (like VRT) so I know how frustrating the wait game is. I pray you hear something from them soon because it sounds like VRT will help you the best if you are not better on your own soon. If not, maybe call your GP to get a list of VRT exercises for in the mean time? I am happy to hear it is not too bad for you, but still-no one should have to live that way. Especially with the IBD stuff on top of it!

And you are VERY right about Kanji being difficult. My husband, who grew up in Osaka Japan, says the kids (including him) from a young age go to Japanese school every Saturday to learn to read and write Japanese correctly from around age 5 to early teens! It does help to be either live in Japan and/or be immersed in the culture though. It was really funny when I first lived with my in-laws because I did not know ANYTHING they were saying. Within two months, I signed up for a Japanese class and started speaking to my future husband in Japanese as often as I could. After 6 months, I knew enough to get by and shock the heck out of my in-laws LOL. 

My mother in law and I both watch Korean Dramas! We LOVE them!! Netflix has a ton of them too. I will have to look in to Hulu for Korean TV shows 

As for your IBD, I am sorry they have not been able to give you a straight diagnosis yet. Prayerfully they will find one really soon! I am very happy to hear you have a good GI doctor who is working with you and giving you helpful treatment! That is WONDERFUL and hopefully you will get back to remission really really soon.

I myself am still trying to get to remission after almost a year of this and over 5 months of being diagnosed with Crohn’s Granulomatous Colitis. Thankfully, my GI is also an angel and she is throwing everything she can at it to try to get me to remission as quickly as possible.  I am on Remicade infusions now (just finished loading doses a couple of weeks ago) and take a ton of other meds like Imuran and another one of which is Asacol. You said USA no longer makes regular Asacol? Did they change the formula? 

 I am happy to finally report that I have slowed down using the bathroom (I was going avg 18-22 times a day now the avg is 10), but I seem to be having some other issues in its place (very bad joint pain (not allowed to take ANY pain killers or drinking alcohol either because of liver issues), bad iron deficiency anemia, liver problems, no appetite, hair falling out, terrible heart burn, weird food aversions, etc.). I am hoping those all get worked out soon-my doctor continues to listen and treat each thing so I still feel blessed to have her but I can’t WAIT till remission LOL!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Jacktin, what Korean dramas have you watched?  I really like the spy/action type dramas - I really liked Iris (well, I didn't like how it ended but I liked the rest of it) and City Hunter.  The medical ones can be pretty good at times too, I really enjoyed watching Emergency Couple.  

I did get a call to schedule the VRT, but of course it was at a time when I wasn't near my phone and didn't hear it ring, so on Friday evening I realized I had missed a call and couldn't call them back until today.  I'm going to call them in a little bit and schedule the appt.  I'm thinking, if I'm still dizzy in mid-November then I'll keep the appointment, and if not then I'll cancel it.  So that's my plan for now.  I was actually disconcertingly dizzy again this morning, but much better now.  It kind of comes and goes in terms of the severity.  But just like with my IBD, first thing in the morning and late at night seem to be my worst times for the dizziness.  Not sure why that is!  I'll have to see if I can book my VRT for an early morning appointment.

I hope you can get into remission soon.  It was so lovely spending 2 years in remission and feeling almost normal (you can never totally forget that you have a chronic illness, and for me I still had food triggers to avoid, but for the most part I felt almost like a normal person again!).  Yes, they still make Asacol HD (the larger pills) but they stopped making regular Asacol (the smaller pills).  Apparently the patent expired, which means anyone can now make a generic version of Asacol - the problem is, nobody has made a generic.  The makers of Asacol came out with a new drug, Delzicol, which is supposedly the same, but for me it didn't work as well.  With Asacol, I was taking 6 tablets a day (2 tablets 3 times daily with food).  I couldn't always digest my Asacol properly, so I would end up passing 1 or 2 of my tablets undigested every day (so I was still absorbing 4 or 5 of my tablets, which was enough to keep me in remission).  With Delzicol, it was a tablet inside of a capsule (seriously).  So I had an even harder time breaking that down!  Plus, you were supposed to take it at least 1 hour before or 2 hours after eating, rather than taking it with food like Asacol.  So I had to time my meals just right and that didn't work so well for me.  So Delzicol just didn't work very well for me.  I had also tried Asacol HD, but you only take 2 big tablets a day rather than 6 small ones.  I couldn't break those tablets down very well either, so I was still passing 1 to 2 tablets a day - in other words, only getting half or none of my medicine!  It was on Asacol HD that I first flared up again.  

So, after Asacol HD and after Delzicol, I tried Pentasa.  That worked so-so.  That one works more for the small intestine than the colon, and I feel like my colon needs more help.  Again, I'm still not sure which type of IBD I have, but it seems likely that there's colon involvement.  So now I'm on Lialda which works mainly on the colon & rectum.  After a few mini-flare days, it seems to be working okay now.  So my guts are currently fairly quiet and I think I'll stick with Lialda.  I'm also tapering off of Entocort - I currently just take one 3mg capsule every other day and I'll hopefully be stopping it altogether soon.

Are you still living in Japan?  I ask because my friend that I mentioned, the teacher who moved to Japan after college, he's got some digestive issues.  Apparently most doctors in Japan are not at all familiar with IBD as they very rarely see it over there.  But my friend grew up in the US where it's more common and he likes to eat a Western diet (hamburgers are his favorite food), so I think factors like that make him more likely to have IBD than a Japanese person.  And a few years ago he started getting abdominal pain and other IBD-type symptoms.  His doctors insisted that it's his appendix, they removed it and told him he should be fine now.  He is somewhat better, but he's still having issues, and he said it's nearly impossible to get testing or treatment for possible IBD over there.  So if you are living in Japan or if you move back there, I hope you can get better medical care there than my friend has gotten!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Since this is my exercise thread, I really should give an exercise update, huh?    I didn't do anything all weekend.  It was so cold here, in the 30s and raining ice pellets and they were saying it might even snow.  Um, brr!  I know I live in a cold state, but it's usually not this cold this early in the season and it usually does not snow in October!  So that made me just want to stay in and hibernate all weekend, which is what I did.  I did a bit of sewing, a bit of crocheting, I played around with chain maille loops some more.  Mainly just crafts like that.  I stayed in my pajamas and watched Netflix and that's about it.  Did not exercise at all.

Today, I went to the gym.  It was tough though.  The dizziness was fairly bad this morning, then I felt okay-ish early afternoon, but when I went to the gym it was obvious that the dizziness had drained my energy too much.  I wasn't able to do much, was not up to my usual level, and that really frustrated me.  I felt like a failure.  I know it's not me, it's the labyrinthitis or whatever it is.  But still, I wish I could have done more.

So, I scheduled the VRT.  Nov 17th is my initial assessment, that was the soonest they can get me in.  I really, REALLY hope the dizziness is gone by then as that's another 6 weeks away (I've already been dizzy for about 6 weeks!).  Sheesh.  So, we'll see what happens.  The scheduling lady I talked to told me that I can always cancel if need be.  I don't want to cancel, I want an appointment sooner!    So much of health care is "hurry up and wait."  So for now, I'm just going to keep doing what I can do.  Walking around helps so I'll walk as much as I can.  With the weather being colder, though, I still don't want to go outside!  Bleh.  Just feeling kind of down today especially after that disappointing gym session.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/9/14:  Here's a brief breakdown of this week.  Monday, I went to the gym but I did very poorly.  The dizziness was bad that day and it sapped my energy, so I felt very drained and wasn't able to do much.  That was very frustrating.  Tuesday I walked my dog and felt so-so.  Still rather dizzy but not quite as exhausted as Monday.

Yesterday, I finally had a really good day dizziness-wise.  I had hardly any dizziness and I had a good amount of energy.  I was able to go to the gym and have a really good workout.  I had to stop myself from breaking out in a grin halfway through.  I was in the middle of doing my workout when I had this thought - "I'm so lucky and happy that I'm able to be in the gym and working on my health and feeling well!  I'm SO happy and fortunate and grateful for this!"  And that's when I had to stop myself from smiling (I didn't want to look like a weirdo as there were lots of people around, ha ha).  It was a really great workout.  I really, really needed that.

Today, I'm back to feeling somewhat dizzy.  So today's probably a rest day.  I'm hoping to get back to the gym tomorrow.  It'd be really nice to have another good workout.  I hope the dizziness stays away tomorrow and that my energy level is okay.  I'm just going to keep doing what I can do and appreciate the good days!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/13/14:  I went to the gym on Friday.  It didn't go so well, though.  I was a bit dizzy and fairly nauseous the whole way through.  I really had to pace myself, take deep breaths, and distract myself from the nausea.  That worked okay and I didn't vomit and did make it through my whole workout (minus the abdominals machine which I've been skipping for the most part lately).

Over the weekend I felt pretty well.  Saturday was a rest day, although I spent a few hours cleaning and organizing my craft room which was a big undertaking, so I was a little bit active as I was moving boxes around, taking garbage out, etc.  Sunday, I wanted to do a workout but I also wanted to watch football, so I compromised and worked out at home.  Did my stationary bike for warmup.  Then did some hula hooping.  Used my 8 lb dumbbells to work my arms.  Did a few exercises with my yoga ball too.  Did a lot of things like squats, lunges, etc.  And did a good amount of stretching at the end.  I felt like I did okay considering I don't have a ton of exercise equipment at home!  And it made me want to go out and get more exercise equipment!  

Today, it's chilly and rainy so outdoor activities are not happening (won't be walking my dog).  I think I will maybe do 30 mins on the stationary bike to get in a bit of cardio.  Tomorrow is weights - hopefully I won't be nauseous this time!


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## jacktin

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Jacktin, what Korean dramas have you watched?  I really like the spy/action type dramas - I really liked Iris (well, I didn't like how it ended but I liked the rest of it) and City Hunter.  The medical ones can be pretty good at times too, I really enjoyed watching Emergency Couple.
> 
> I did get a call to schedule the VRT, but of course it was at a time when I wasn't near my phone and didn't hear it ring, so on Friday evening I realized I had missed a call and couldn't call them back until today.  I'm going to call them in a little bit and schedule the appt.  I'm thinking, if I'm still dizzy in mid-November then I'll keep the appointment, and if not then I'll cancel it.  So that's my plan for now.  I was actually disconcertingly dizzy again this morning, but much better now.  It kind of comes and goes in terms of the severity.  But just like with my IBD, first thing in the morning and late at night seem to be my worst times for the dizziness.  Not sure why that is!  I'll have to see if I can book my VRT for an early morning appointment.
> 
> I hope you can get into remission soon.  It was so lovely spending 2 years in remission and feeling almost normal (you can never totally forget that you have a chronic illness, and for me I still had food triggers to avoid, but for the most part I felt almost like a normal person again!).  Yes, they still make Asacol HD (the larger pills) but they stopped making regular Asacol (the smaller pills).  Apparently the patent expired, which means anyone can now make a generic version of Asacol - the problem is, nobody has made a generic.  The makers of Asacol came out with a new drug, Delzicol, which is supposedly the same, but for me it didn't work as well.  With Asacol, I was taking 6 tablets a day (2 tablets 3 times daily with food).  I couldn't always digest my Asacol properly, so I would end up passing 1 or 2 of my tablets undigested every day (so I was still absorbing 4 or 5 of my tablets, which was enough to keep me in remission).  With Delzicol, it was a tablet inside of a capsule (seriously).  So I had an even harder time breaking that down!  Plus, you were supposed to take it at least 1 hour before or 2 hours after eating, rather than taking it with food like Asacol.  So I had to time my meals just right and that didn't work so well for me.  So Delzicol just didn't work very well for me.  I had also tried Asacol HD, but you only take 2 big tablets a day rather than 6 small ones.  I couldn't break those tablets down very well either, so I was still passing 1 to 2 tablets a day - in other words, only getting half or none of my medicine!  It was on Asacol HD that I first flared up again.
> 
> So, after Asacol HD and after Delzicol, I tried Pentasa.  That worked so-so.  That one works more for the small intestine than the colon, and I feel like my colon needs more help.  Again, I'm still not sure which type of IBD I have, but it seems likely that there's colon involvement.  So now I'm on Lialda which works mainly on the colon & rectum.  After a few mini-flare days, it seems to be working okay now.  So my guts are currently fairly quiet and I think I'll stick with Lialda.  I'm also tapering off of Entocort - I currently just take one 3mg capsule every other day and I'll hopefully be stopping it altogether soon.
> 
> Are you still living in Japan?  I ask because my friend that I mentioned, the teacher who moved to Japan after college, he's got some digestive issues.  Apparently most doctors in Japan are not at all familiar with IBD as they very rarely see it over there.  But my friend grew up in the US where it's more common and he likes to eat a Western diet (hamburgers are his favorite food), so I think factors like that make him more likely to have IBD than a Japanese person.  And a few years ago he started getting abdominal pain and other IBD-type symptoms.  His doctors insisted that it's his appendix, they removed it and told him he should be fine now.  He is somewhat better, but he's still having issues, and he said it's nearly impossible to get testing or treatment for possible IBD over there.  So if you are living in Japan or if you move back there, I hope you can get better medical care there than my friend has gotten!


Hi Cat,
Sorry for the late reply. I have been under the weather. Not 100% yet, but getting better 

I like a LOT of Korean Dramas, but I am really into Secret Garden and a funny one called Protect the Boss. I will have to check out Emergency Couple 

I am also a fan of Spanish tele novelas because I do not need to read subtitles for those (I speak Spanish) so I don't have to concentrate as much to keep up with the storyline. I bet you feel the same way since you read and speak Korean 

I noticed you still get dizzy spells, sorry to hear that  For me, it still comes and goes too even after VRT. I was told by my VRT therapist to stick with recumbent bike, a short walk outside, or swimming during a period of vertigo or if I feel it coming on. Anything off the ground can spur on vertigo. She also told me to make sure I work out with someone for safety reasons. I fell off the treadmill once and decided to listen after that LOL.

I take the HUGE Asacol HD pills, and I hate taking them because they are huge-- ugh, I don't like them and I am not sure if they do anything for me at all!! I was taking 4800 mg a day, now been reduced to 2400mg. I wish I could just go into remission already or at least get off a ton of medicine. Dare to dream LOL. I do pray you feel better really soon and I pray you can get off your meds like you want, too!

I myself have never lived in Japan, but my husband and his family are from there in Osaka. I lived with his family before I married him in a guest room in their home in southern California  my husband and I met through friends when I was a divorced single gal alone on a fun trip to see a friend from California I knew in college. My husband became an American citizen for 3 years already when I met him.

I was hoping actually to start something romantic up with him, but I got a surprise when I arrived because I found out he had a boyfriend. I was happy he found such a great guy, but that left me alone to ride the rides at Disney and Knotts Berry Farm. My friend's boyfriend had a sister who knew a single guy who had the time to be a platonic companion for me during the duration of my trip (since I was the 3rd wheel). 

Long story short the Japanese single guy who was suppose to just be a warm body for me to ride the rides with and see SoCal ended up becoming my husband (who grew up in Japan)  We hit it off pretty quick and had a long distance relationship for about 2 years, we got engaged and stayed engaged for 2 years (because we went on Pirates of the Carribean ride, he incorporated that into his proposal to me and even got my whole family to wear eye patches as he proposed engagement to me as a pirate--after he asked my Dad for my hand. He even gave me a pirate hat  we were sooo meant to be together). 

During the time we were engaged, I moved from Texas to SoCal to be closer to him and I ended up living with him and his family in a guest room until we got married. We had a long engagement for a lot of reasons-I was a bit nervous to get married again (I was divorced) and also my twin sister was getting married at the same time--so financial reasons were part of the issue too. After the 2 years, we got married in a banquet hall with our Pastor from our faith in Nevada close to the strip the day after Halloween coming up on 8 years ago this November. It was the funnest Halloween rehearsal dinner ever (held at Treasure Island) and we all wore costumes  I was a Bridezilla and my husband was a Wolfman groom. It was a fun evening wedding the next day with everyone from all over the world. 

It was fun then and still fun now to be married to him. He made me believe in love again and is TRULY the love of my life-- and we still love the snot out of each other (despite all the insane curveballs with health, finances and other stuff). LOL

Yes, your friend is correct in regards to IBD. IBD doesn't really exist in Japan so not too many doctors know about it. It is mostly in Western cultures and Israel. Maybe it is the food? Or how we deal with stress? I am not sure. I will pray for your friend though, I really pray he gets better!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Jacktin, you flatter me.  I am definitely nowhere near fluent in Korean so I need the subtitles on for sure!  I can pick out words & phrases I know, and I can read Korean (although very slowly so I still need English subtitles) but if there were no subtitles then I'd be totally lost!    I'm trying to teach myself, I pin a lot of Korean vocab on pinterest and I listen to K-pop and watch K-dramas and just try to pick up as much as I can naturally as I feel that's an easier way for me to learn.  I tried learning Spanish when I was in high school & college, but I feel like the classroom setting doesn't really prepare you for the "real life" version of the language, you know?  You don't really learn any slang or how people actually speak.  By listening to the way people speak in Korean dramas, that seems much more natural to me and you learn the actual language as Korean speakers speak it, rather than how a textbook says you should speak it.  But anyway, I am definitely not fluent and am very grateful for the subtitles!

Yes, I'm still getting dizzy spells.  I'm not sure if the weather is a factor, but it's been rainy yesterday & today and it seems to be worse with the rainy weather.  I've had a couple of "woah" moments yesterday & today where I just need to stop what I'm doing and focus on a fixed object and wait for the world to stop spinning.  Hopefully this rain stops soon so that I can be less dizzy!

That's adorable about your Pirates of the Caribbean engagement and bridezilla rehearsal dinner!  It sounds like you guys are a great couple.  As for my friend in Japan, I think Western-style diets probably play a role as IBD mainly seems to be a Western/developed nation type of disease - my friend is of Jewish ancestry as well, which may make him more likely to develop IBD.  I think it's probably a combination of factors including genetics, diet, environment, antibiotic use, etc.  My friend lived in the US up until he finished college, so he had plenty of time to eat a Western diet here and be exposed to whatever other factors may cause IBD, so the damage was probably done before he moved to Japan.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/15/14:  I hit the gym yesterday and did well.  My stomach has finally calmed down to the point where I can do the abdominals machine again!  Woo hoo!  Now if the dizziness would just go away, I'd be doing really well.

Had my flu shot today so it's a rest day to deal with that little bit of arm soreness.  In the past I've found that I can usually go to the gym the day after getting a flu shot, so that's the plan, to go to the gym tomorrow evening.

The dizziness is still hanging around.  This morning I parked my car and was attempting to walk into my work building while putting my keys in my pocket.  Apparently walking while putting my keys away was a bit too much multi-tasking for my dizzy brain to comprehend, and I did a bit of "drunk walking" for a minute.  So I'm still being affected in weird ways by the dizziness and it's frustrating.  Still over a month to go until my first VRT appointment.  Hmph!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/16/14:  The flu shot arm soreness is almost totally gone, so I have given myself the green light to hit the gym in about an hour!    I'm feeling pretty well today.  Still some minor dizziness but today is better than yesterday, so that's encouraging.  Guts are quiet too.

Tomorrow, I'm thinking maybe yoga.  Hubby's working all weekend again this coming weekend, so I'm going to hit the gym by myself on Saturday.  I got some cute stretchy fabric and I'm going to make myself some workout headbands out of it, that'll be my craft project for the weekend.  Other than that, I think I'll be resting a fair bit.  It's been another loooong work week and there's a chill in the air, so I think curling up with a blanket and some tea and a good movie sounds like a wonderful weekend plan to me!

Oh, and I likely won't be able to walk my dog at all this weekend unfortunately.  She somehow lost all the tags off of her collar!  (Didn't lose the collar itself, just the tags somehow!)  That means I need to get her new tags - if I walk her without tags, I could get hit with a fine.  That's frustrating!  I got her a new rabies vaccination tag from the vet, and a new ID tag from the pet store.  I just need to get her dog license tag and her dog park tag replaced and then we'll be good to go.  So hopefully soon I'll be able to walk my dog again!  I'm sure she's getting annoyed with being cooped up in the house.  So that's my other quest lately, if I can get my dog new tags then we can go on walks this weekend.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/28/14.  It's been awhile since my last update because of the site being down/slow.  I've been doing fairly well exercise-wise.  Trying to get to the gym as often as I can.  I'm officially off Entocort and I think my body is having a bit of a rough time adjusting to that.  Whenever I change medications or stop a medication, my face breaks out in acne, so I've had that.  I've also had a couple migraines, one really wicked attack of acid reflux, a nasty fissure, and some various other things like sporadic nausea, fatigue, etc.  I don't think it's a flare though, I think it's just my body adjusting to not being on steroids.  I had been on Entocort since February so it's been like 8 months on it, so I'm not surprised that my body is freaking out a little bit by not being on it after such a long time.  Oh, and I gained 3 lbs when I came off the Entocort, not sure what that's all about!  

So I'm just doing what I can when I can.  Went to the gym yesterday and felt quite well.  I was even able to do the abdominals machine!  Today I feel a bit fatigued and have a bit of a sinus headache, but I think I'm well enough for a bit of cardio, so I'm going to hit the stationary bike for about 30 mins.  Tomorrow will be weights again, presuming that I feel well enough.  Thursday, probably a rest day.  And at some point soon I need to rake my yard which will be a workout in itself!  Tons of fallen leaves in my backyard and it's always a huge task to rake it all up and bag it up and move the bags to the front.  I might do that Thursday or Friday.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/30/14:  I ended up raking leaves yesterday rather than go to the gym.  That was a pretty good workout (we filled 7 huge bags with leaves) and I also chased my dog around the yard a little bit as she was in a playful mood (she's a weird dog, she doesn't usually want to play).  Today is a rest day.  Tomorrow, gym.  Saturday, not sure - I'll probably walk the dog if the weather is halfway decent.  Sunday, hopefully gym again.  That's the tentative plan for now.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/10/14:  I took a week off of work last week.  I had wanted to get back into more serious and more regular exercise... but I found that I felt lazy and depressed pretty much every day and as a result didn't do hardly any exercise.  And I know, exercise can help ease depression.  So I know I need to get more serious and back into regular exercise, like right now!  So I'm headed to the gym tonight.  I also got a balance board which I used a bit last night.  Wow, it's challenging!  I tried doing some sun salutations and nearly fell over about a dozen times, ha ha.

It's getting colder out - it's going to snow and be quite cold this week.  So I need to start planning indoor exercise.  So, tonight it's gym for weights.  Tomorrow, at least 30 mins on the stationary bike.  Wednesday, weights again.  Thursday, probably yoga.  Friday, weights.  I need to plan out my weeks more like I used to do.  I've let a lot of things slide since the vertigo stuff came along and I need to get back to how I used to be.  I feel like my IBD is close to remission finally - I haven't had any blood in months, I rarely even have d these days.  My energy levels still aren't always great but that could be attributed to the IBD or the vertigo, I'm not sure which is the culprit.  At any rate, I'm doing well enough that I should be able to plan a full week's worth of exercise, so that's what I'm trying to do.

Once the weather gets properly snowy and cold, I'm going to use my snowshoes as often as I can to walk the dog, and I'm going to go ice skating outdoors when I can as well.  There's a public outdoor rink 5 minutes from my workplace, and I went there once last year and skated around on my lunch break.  I'd like to do that more often this winter.  Cold and snow sucks, but if I can think of fun things to do in the winter, that'll make it much more tolerable!


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## CrohnsChicago

Sorry to hear you aren't feeling so great. Seasonal depression is upon us...I feel a bit out of sorts myself and I hear a number of others around me talking about depression and malaise hitting them recently. So just know you are not alone. :hug:

Hopefully your birthday was a good one!  

Those balance boards are so hard! The one I bought I have barely used because of the challenge. It's going to take some serious practice and commitment. But now that I'm getting the hang of the planks maybe I can advance back to the board soon 

Sounds like you've got a plan to get back on track and keep the momentum going. I actually read recently that planning out your weeks and having some sort of structure about your day during the winter season really helps keep you on track and can put some of the depression at bay because you always have something to look forward to. 

I personally am not looking forward to winter. I need to go buy some snow boots tomorrow. Good luck and may we both survive Polar Vortex Pt. 2!

Hope you continue to feel better!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks, Chicago!  Oh yeah, I heard on the weather report the term "polar vortex" and that makes me sad.  At least we missed the bulk of the snow (so far).  Northern Wisconsin got over a foot of snow in some places - here we just got a little dusting of snow that didn't stick.  It's supposedly going to get really cold though with the polar vortex coming back, yuck!  I've been prepping for winter as best as I can - I got some fleece lined workout clothes (mainly for things like walking the dog or shoveling snow).  But if it's anything like last winter, it's still going to suck a lot.  

Yes, I think planning workouts a week or so in advance is necessary for me and really helps me stick to my workouts.  And yeah, the balance board is quite challenging - but I really like it, too.  I've never been very coordinated or well-balanced, and the vertigo stuff made me even more klutzy.  I'm looking forward to any progress that I can make with the balance board!  My goal is to use it 5-10 minutes minimum each day.  Even if I just do a few minutes for a handful of squats, lunges, sun salutations, etc - doing it every day will hopefully allow me to improve my balance and klutziness issues.  And then if the vertigo does ever come back full force, I'll have had some experience with working on my balance already and can hopefully beat it faster the next time around (I have a few family members who have had recurrent vertigo every few years, so it's possible that'll be the case for me as well and I want to be as prepared as I can be).

Oh, and thanks, my birthday was nice.  My hubby got me a corset for my birthday gift.  That sounds very odd, and I never thought I'd be a corset-wearer as I figured it'd make my tummy even angrier to be all squished up like that.  But, a couple months ago hubby's boss had me try on a corset at her costume shop, and it actually felt really nice on the tummy - it felt protective, like nothing was going to jostle around in there, and I actually really liked wearing it.  So ever since then, I've wanted a corset of my own, and hubby convinced his boss to sell us one at wholesale cost.  I don't lace it up super tight, and I haven't worn it much, but I really like it.  The odd things you learn with IBD!    So now I need to build an outfit/costume based around a corset, so that I have a reason to wear it more, as it doesn't really go with a t-shirt and jeans!  Ha ha.  Anyway, if you ever have a chance to get a good quality corset for a decent price - don't dismiss it, at least try it on.  It's oddly comforting and nice even though it seems like it'd be awful.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I forgot to give my fitness update for today!  And I should add right now, updating this thread on a daily or near-daily basis also helps me stick to my workouts.  If I skip a workout, I have to come on here and fess up to it, and that's not a good feeling, so it makes me want to not skip workouts.  I've been skipping workouts and skipping updating this thread lately, and I'm going to get out of both of those bad habits!

Anyway!  I did 30 mins on the bike today.  I have a co-worker who has been adamantly anti-exercise, but now she's got diabetes and is realizing that she actually needs to make at least a flimsy effort at taking care of her physical health.  So she's been going to the gym in the basement of our workplace and walking on the treadmill.  I really like this co-worker and consider her a friend, and I'd like for her to be healthier, so I'm happy she's been going to the gym.  She even invited me to the gym today, when usually I invite her!  So that's been a nice change.  She did the treadmill while I did 30 mins on the stationary bike.  I definitely had a more strenuous workout than she did, but I'm happy she's making an effort at all.  I had a good workout on the bike, did a hill program and legs feel pretty tired now!

Tonight I'm going to do a bit of work on the balance board and then eat a nice high-protein dinner (rabbit cooked in the crock pot - apparently rabbit meat is one of the highest quality animal proteins you can get).  Tomorrow, it's back to the gym for weights.  Thursday, it'll be yoga and some balance board work.  Friday, weights again.  Saturday, as long as it's not snowing or horrendously cold then I'll take the dog on a long walk, and I'll do weights again Sunday.  That's the plan for now!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/12/14:  I hit the gym for weights on my lunch break today.  I did all the weight machines, including the abdominals machine.  My guts have been quiet for the most part this week - a couple days ago, hubby made some sort of pre-packaged soup mix for dinner and it didn't sit well with me.  It made me super gassy!  Literally, I had to get up in the middle of the night because I felt like I had to poo, but all that came out was a huge amount of gas.    So that was a bit icky, but it didn't set back my workouts at all (fortunately the gassiness didn't manifest in the gym!).  Other than the soup incident, my guts have been quiet.  The dizziness is almost nonexistent.  I'd say I'm 99% better.  I think the balance board is helping (or at the very least it's not making things any worse).

I had been scheduled for VRT - vestibular rehabilitation therapy - starting next week.  But given how well I've been lately, I decided to cancel my VRT sessions.  If the vertigo comes back or gets worse or anything then I'll of course reschedule and/or go see a specialist, but for now I think I'm okay.

It was really nice staying indoors today and working out without having to leave the building.  It's snowing and really cold out!  Workouts on days like this are wonderful.  I can go to the gym and get nice and warm and forget that the weather is atrocious and freezing.    I'm one of those people who is always cold, and working out is a surefire way to warm myself up!  So I need to remember that - when I'm feeling lazy and cold this winter and just want to bundle up and eat comfort food, I really should do a workout instead.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/13/14:  Well, I've come down with a cold.  I'm coughing and fatigued and congested and just basically feel icky.  Massive brain fog, too.  So, today's an impromptu rest day.  Will have to play it by ear tomorrow and see how I'm feeling, but at this point it's seeming like I will have to rest up quite a bit.  I'm actually at work right now but I should have just stayed in bed - it snowed this morning too and the roads were slick coming in to work.  I'm thinking I might work a half day and then go home sick and rest up.  Hopefully that'll allow me to recover a bit quicker so that I can get back to the gym again soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/17/14:  Not much new to report.  I still have a cold and this polar vortex sure isn't helping any!  I've been coughing and congested and feeling fatigued for something like 5 days now.  Haven't really worked out.  I rested most of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  On Sunday, we got some snow and I thought I'd try to help hubby with the shoveling (there was only a couple inches of snow to shovel).  But breathing in that frigid cold air and exerting myself outside in the cold only seemed to make things worse.  Today I'm coughing more than I was.  So I think that's a sign that I need to rest more.  Ugh!  I'm getting bored and frustrated with resting, but I know it's what my body needs right now.  So I'm drinking a lot of tea and doing my best to rest.  I seriously am getting bored though and I want to exercise!  Hopefully soon!


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## nogutsnoglory

I think these temperature shifts and seasonal changes always trigger colds and allergies. Sigh. Let's make a crohns tropical island and all move. I know there was a thread about this a few years back lol.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Unfortunately I don't think a tropical island would be much better for my health.  Heat & humidity makes my guts cramp up.  Cold & snow makes my joints hurt.  No matter what season it is, I can't win!  Oh well.  NGNG, is your area of the country also experiencing terrible cold and snow from this polar vortex nonsense?  We only got a little bit of snow, thank goodness, but the high temp today is 16 and it's something like -2 right now with the wind chill.  Brr!  That is WAY too cold for this early in the season (especially considering it's still technically autumn)!


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## nogutsnoglory

It isn't too bad here like other parts of the county. No snow yet but the downpour of rain is scary today.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/19/14:  I'm finally starting to feel better from this cold - it took a full week, but I'm not coughing as much nor am I as exhausted as I was feeling.  I'm still not better, but I'm recovering.  I'm thinking I might do a bit of yoga/balance board work tonight.  If that goes okay, and if I'm still feeling okay tomorrow, then I think I'll head to the gym for weights tomorrow.  I was told awhile back not to do cardio when I have something respiratory like a cold, so no cardio is on the agenda for the time being.  I'm just hoping to ease back into some stretching & weights and then go from there.

I was having a lot of hip pain in my "good" hip yesterday.  My GP says I have arthritis in both my hips, but I usually have more pain in my right hip and I consider that to be my "bad" hip.  Yesterday, the left "good" hip felt pretty awful though.  I took a hot bath and then afterwards I laid down with my heating pad for awhile, but those things didn't do much to help.  Today, fortunately, the hip feels much better.  I think it's a winter thing as it snowed overnight again.  So, hopefully my hips stay quiet so that I can get back into regular exercise, again.  As long as I exercise regularly, my hips usually feel okay.  I think it's a one-two punch of me having a cold and not being able to exercise, and the cold snowy weather contributing to my hip pain.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Well, the good hip has stayed quiet today but the bad hip started making itself known about an hour ago.  It's now aching quite a bit.  Ugh!  Still going to attempt yoga tonight, as that usually helps with joint pain.  Not a happy camper though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/20/14:  I finally made it to the gym.  Ahh, that feels so much better!  Work is being insanely stressful lately but the weather cleared up and my hips don't ache so much.  I went to the gym mainly to deal with the stress, and it felt so nice to lift weights again after a week+ away.  I am still under a lot of stress today but I feel significantly better now.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/24/14:  I ended up having a stressful weekend and wasn't able to get to the gym.  Friday morning while I was driving to work, my car started sputtering and acting up.  It was drivable but not good at all.  I ended up spending all day Saturday trying to figure it out, getting parts and having them installed, troubleshooting, seeing what check engine light code meant what (I literally had 12, yes twelve, check engine light codes!).  So that took the entire day and was really stressful.  In the end my car ended up getting fixed properly and runs great now, but it was really a stressful day while I was trying to figure out what was wrong with my car, what parts I needed, how much everything was going to cost, if I should just junk my car and look for a new one, etc.  Fortunately it wasn't too expensive and my car works great now, but I was not able to even think about getting to the gym that day.

Sunday I had to go to my Aunt's house for an early Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family.  That was a bit stressful too - I kind of hate thanksgiving and I refuse to stuff myself, so I only ate a little bit of turkey & potatoes.  My cousin is on some extreme diet where she's weighing all her food and counting every single calorie (she was never overweight to begin with and now she's really skinny).  A lot of my family is gluten-free because they're stupid (they've never had issues with gluten nor have they been diagnosed with anything - but they tell everyone they've been diagnosed with celiac even though they haven't even consulted a doctor at all about it).  So between trying not to make my stomach upset with too much food, listening to my cousin whine about every single calorie that goes into her mouth, and listening to multiple people go on and on about the "evils" of gluten, it was not the most fun.  I'm not looking forward to actual Thanksgiving either, I'll be happy when it's all over and done with.

So.  Getting back on track, since I got my car fixed I can go to the gym again!  I see my GI this afternoon for a follow-up.  We're supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow today so that'll be an interesting drive (REALLY glad my car is fixed so that hopefully I can make it to the appointment!).  Tonight after work, I'm going to do a workout at home.  I don't want to drive in the snow any more than necessary.  I have hand weights, a stationary bike, a hula hoop (a proper adult fitness hoop, not a sparkly kiddy hoop), a balance board, a yoga mat, a yoga ball, etc.  I can knock out a pretty decent workout with that equipment, so that's the plan tonight.

Tomorrow, I have a stressful meeting planned at work.  I'm thinking I'm going to need a workout after that meeting!  Not sure if it'll end up being a lunch meeting or not, so my plan is to do the stationary bike after work.  Wednesday, I'll head to the gym for a weights session.  Thurs will probably be a rest day - I'm sure I'll walk around with my dog outside a bit when I go to the in-laws' for turkey day (they live out in the country so it's nice for my dog to run around outside there).  Friday I plan to do a bit of shopping - nothing crazy, I'm not getting up early or anything like that - and then hit the gym for weights.  That's the plan so far!


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## hawkeye

Cat, how many days do people get off in the states for Thanksgiving?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, it varies but at this rate many people end up having to work on Thanksgiving!  I'm fortunate, I get off work on both Thursday and Friday.  The Friday after Thanksgiving is always a HUGE shopping day, and it's to the point where many stores are opening on Thursday as well.  But that means that their employees have to come in and work on Thanksgiving which is pretty awful.  My husband works in retail and fortunately his shop is closed on Thursday, but he has to work on Friday (and Saturday and Sunday too).  I get a 4-day weekend which I'm really looking forward to.

I should give a fitness update, too.  I ended up not working out yesterday.  My week's plan has already been thrown all off.  Yesterday we got a bunch of snow and my boss sent me home several hours early before the roads got too bad.  A snowy day and some unexpected time off meant that I put on my pajamas, got some hot chocolate, turned on the fireplace, and cuddled up with my crochet project.  I had zero motivation to do anything but get cozy while the snow was falling.

Today, I was supposed to have a meeting but that was cancelled because of the weather and road conditions.  So instead I went out to lunch with my closest work friend and that was really nice.  We went out for Korean food and we ordered a few different dishes and both ate a bit of each, it was really delicious.  But I ate so much that I just feel like hibernating now.  I don't think a workout is in the cards for me tonight.

Tomorrow I *am* going to the gym on my lunch hour.  Many people in my office are taking tomorrow off to prepare for the holiday, so it should be very quiet with no distractions.  I really need to lift some weights and tomorrow is the day.  I've had enough with my plans changing or being thrown out the window altogether!  Tomorrow, nothing is going to throw me off my game and I'm not going to eat too much or get too cozy.

Thursday, I'll go right back to eating too much and getting too cozy.  Ha ha!  Actually, I'm thinking about bringing my snowshoes with me.  Now that we have a few inches of snow on the ground, I could do a bit of snowshoeing while my dog runs around outside.  So that's my tentative plan for Thanksgiving, go snowshoeing and then eat afterwards.


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## hawkeye

Enjoy the 4 day weekend, haven't had one of those since Easter, but I'll have one at Christmas.

Enjoy the snowshoeing, we are expected to get a storm tonight and tomorrow. What was wrong with the car?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

There was sort of a domino effect with my car.  It started sputtering and shaking after I had put gas in, so I figured it was the fuel injectors - with winter gasoline having so many additives and junk in it, that can really clog up the fuel injectors.  So, I put in some fuel injector cleaner, which helped somewhat but not totally.  So I took the car in and got the fuel system cleaned (where they put some sort of weird cleaning chemicals into your fuel system and that burns out all the nasty gunk and carbon and whatever else).  That actually made my car worse!  Sputtering like crazy and the check engine light was flashing off & on.  It turned out that my spark plugs were going bad, and cleaning the fuel system had stripped all the carbon deposits off of them.  I guess it was to the point where the carbon was basically the only thing holding my spark plugs together, ha ha!  So that made the car, for lack of a better term, freak out.    And a coil was also going bad which caused misfires in a cylinder, and that's what caused the check engine light to flash.  New spark plugs and a new coil in cylinder #2 and now my car runs great again, not even a hint of a sputter.  It's an older car, 13 years old with a little over 180,000 miles, so I'm hoping it lasts a bit longer!  That was a frustrating day though, dealing with all those car issues and worrying that my car might be dying.  So yeah, going to the gym was out of the question with all that car stuff going on!

So, I made it to the gym today.  Didn't have a great workout but I made it through.  Did everything but the abdominals machine (I did do a 30 second plank so I got in a bit of an ab workout - guts haven't been stellar today though so I didn't push it too much).  We're supposed to get another inch or so of snow overnight, so hopefully there'll be some lovely fresh snow for snowshoeing tomorrow.


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## hawkeye

Great business model for cars - keep them and drive them into the ground.  That is what I am doing with my 14 year old vehicle although it's "only" got about 244,000 km (about 152000 miles) on it.

Those new plugs may make up for the gas mileage drop with the winter gas. I'll have to ask about the winter to summer gas switch, the next time I have a tour of the local refinery.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/1/14:  I didn't end up snowshoeing on Thanksgiving, it was just too cold and not quite enough snow on the ground.  I didn't over-eat and my tummy was relatively quiet so it was a good day.    Friday, I did go to the gym.  Had a so-so workout.  Felt a bit run-down but managed to make it through my workout and even did the abdominals machine.  Saturday, we had really nice weather (sunny and temps in the 30s Fahrenheit), so I took my dog on a long walk.  Sunday, I hit the gym again for weights and felt really good.  I had a good amount of energy and felt strong.  I did everything including abdominals machine and felt great during & after my workout.

Today, it is really cold out.  We're apparently having a one day cold snap and then tomorrow it's supposed to be back up in the 30s.  So, I'm staying in today and plan to do 30 mins on the stationary bike on my lunch break.  Tomorrow, gym again for weights.  Wednesday will be a rest day.  Thursday weights again, Friday not sure yet.  Maybe yoga.  That's the plan for now!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/2/14:  I did 30 mins on the stationary bike yesterday and that went fine.  But this morning, I woke up and was quite nauseous.  I sometimes have a difficult time packing my lunch in the mornings as I get nauseous to the point where it's hard to look at or touch food, and this was definitely one of those mornings.  I just made myself a simple turkey wrap but even so, it was difficult to put together as my stomach was a mess.  I'm not sure why, the only thing I can think is that I had a little bit of dairy last night with dinner (I put some sour cream on my skinless baked potato) so that might be the cause of me feeling ill today.

So, I'm just going to play it by ear tonight.  If I'm still nauseous then I will postpone going to the gym and rest tonight instead.  If I recover and feel okay  then I'll hit the gym this evening as planned.  For now I'm just trying to take it easy on my stomach so that hopefully it recovers.  (And lesson learned, even a small amount of dairy is still not my friend.)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  It's almost 3 PM and I'm still not doing great.  Was nauseous all morning - it's what I think of as a "2 bites" day.  I can have 2 bites of food and then I have to stop or the nausea gets so bad that I'll vomit.  I had 2 jolly rancher candies earlier and that was fine, but when I tried to have a third one, ohh no, I had to spit it out and do some deep breathing and let the nausea fade a bit.  Same with tea, I had 2 sips of tea and then had to stop.  I was like that all morning.  Finally this afternoon I've been able to eat a little bit more although still not much (I had a rice krispy treat).  I'm also quite chilled, it feels like a mini-flare.  I usually don't get chills except when I'm flaring.  The chills aren't nearly as bad as they are in a flare, though.  I think/hope this is just a one day fluke thing and/or is due to my having eaten dairy yesterday.  It doesn't feel like a full-on flare anyway.  So I'm definitely skipping the gym tonight, may end up going tomorrow depending on how I feel.  Just gotta focus right now on recovering from whatever this is.


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## hawkeye

Cat - 

Rough night on  the lobster front

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...nt-john-bridge-spills-40-000-pounds-1.2860012


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Is it weird that that article makes me hungry?    Yummm, lobster!  I would have offered to help, too, but my help would have been that I would offer to bring some melted butter.    Ha ha.

Fitness update 12/4/14:  I hit the gym today.  Guts were not good on Tuesday (massive nausea most of the day) and were iffy yesterday and this morning.  I felt okay enough today to hit the gym, although I did skip the abdominals machine to be safe.  Workout went pretty well and guts are still doing mostly okay.

I say mostly, because stress is affecting my guts a bit.  I have a really stressful work meeting tomorrow so that's going to suck.  I'm not even sure what time the meeting is - it's literally scheduled for whenever my colleague decides to show up.  So, depending on what time and how long it goes, I am thinking I might hit the stationary bike either on my lunch break (unless it becomes a lunch meeting) or after work.  I'm stressed just thinking about this meeting (it's going to be rough and I'm going to have to call someone out on her unprofessionalism, and she cries easily), so I am thinking I will definitely need a workout to de-stress after that mess!  I wish I could just skip tomorrow altogether!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/5/14:  My stressful meeting today was cancelled by the lady who I was going to have some words with.  I wonder if she's scared of me!    I'm normally a very meek, shy, not at all scary person, but having IBD has made me realize that I need to stand up for myself in certain situations, and apparently that's caused some people to actually be afraid of me.  So, at any rate, that meeting still needs to happen, but the lady made it sound like it won't happen anytime this month.  So I'm not worrying about it until 2015 I guess!  The situation is still causing me some stress (I still basically have to help her do her job and she's hugely disorganized and a massive procrastinator).  But at least now I can plan out better what I want to say and how I should say it whenever we do actually have our meeting.

So, I guess my day is going to be easier than I thought it would be.  I still am going to do some exercise this evening, I'm thinking of doing yoga when I get home from work.  Tomorrow will be a weights day.  Sunday, my parents are coming to town and we're all going to go xmas shopping together, which may end up being a bit stressful too, but should also be fun.  That day will be a rest day although I'm sure I'll be walking around quite a lot through whatever stores we go to.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/8/14:  It's a good day!  That stressful work stuff I've been talking about, my boss told me today that she could see that it was stressing me out too much so she took me off the project.  (That's a good thing, I'm not in trouble or anything.)  Phew!  I'm so happy to be done with that stressful nonsense!  

So, I am celebrating tonight.  Hubby's cooking me a nice dinner and I may have a glass of wine.  (Guts haven't been stellar today so I probably shouldn't, but it sounds really nice.)  I stuck to my workout plan over the weekend - I hit the gym on Saturday and took the dog on a long cold walk on Sunday (thank goodness for fleece-lined workout clothes!).  So today's an impromptu rest day to celebrate.  Tomorrow, right back to the gym for weights.  Wednesday, I think I will have a cardio day and do the stationary bike.  Thursday, gym for weights again.  Friday, maybe yoga.  Saturday, gym.  Sunday, I'm headed to a family gathering so that will likely be a rest day.  That's the plan so far!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/10/14:  I hit the gym last night and did well.  Did everything including the abdominals machine.  I brought my hubby with me to the gym - it's been quite awhile since he's come to the gym with me, apparently too long.  He pushed himself a bit too hard and got quite nauseous at the end and had to cut his cool-down short to rush to the locker room (apparently he didn't barf but got close to it).  So now he knows, he cannot go weeks between workouts and expect to still exercise at the same level of intensity, or it'll end badly.

Today I'm going to hit the stationary bike for 30 mins.  My arms are fairly sore from the gym yesterday but my legs feel pretty fresh still, so bike it is.  Tomorrow will be weights again.  Friday yoga, Saturday weights, and my Sunday has now opened up (family gathering postponed) so I'm going to take my dog on a long walk and then settle in to do some crocheting and watch football, that sounds really nice.  The weather is supposed to be almost 50 degrees F on Sunday - that's seriously warm for December!  It's going to feel like springtime!  So a long walk sounds lovely.


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## EthanPSU

Keep it up! The soreness only means it's working!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Ethan!  How have you been?

Update 12/11/14:  I hit the stationary bike for 30 mins yesterday and that went fine.  Legs still feel pretty good today.  I had been planning to hit the gym on my lunch break today, but I had a meeting at work that ran way longer than it was supposed to, so that screwed up my eating schedule (I need to stop eating at least 2 hours before I go work out, but if it goes longer than 3-4 hours then I get the shakes and just feel weak, so I need to eat 2-3 hours before going to the gym basically).  So I hadn't eaten and I had to figure out what to do.  I think the plan now is that I'm going to eat a couple hours before I go home from work, then do a workout at home.  I have some dumbbells, a balance board, a yoga ball, etc and I can do a decent workout using those things.  I can do things like squats, lunges, etc either with the weights or with the balance board - or both if I can do that (I have terrible balance so that will be a big challenge!).  I have a stationary bike at home I can use to warm up & cool down, too.  So it won't be ideal, I'd prefer to go to the gym and lift weights properly, but it'll do in a pinch.  (When I work out at home, I tend to get distracted by things - oh, my dog needs to go potty, I should start a load of laundry, did I get the mail, maybe I should quick check my email, etc - so I just need to make sure that I do everything I want to do without getting distracted.  It's much easier for me to do a workout at the gym where there are minimal distractions.)

I'm still planning to do yoga tomorrow.  That will be done at home too (I usually do yoga on the Wii Fit).  Maybe one of these days I'll see about going to a yoga class.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/12/14:  Well, I worked out at home last night and that went pretty well.  But after my workout, my hubby made me dinner, and it was pasta with tomato sauce.  With my severe GERD, that's always iffy - tomato sauce is so acidic that sometimes I can get away with it and sometimes I can't.  Last night definitely fell into the "can't" category.  I had a pretty bad attack of acid reflux, nausea, and d.  Felt awful the entire evening and had to sleep propped up.  I never get very good quality of sleep when I am propped up, so I'm exhausted today.  So, because I'm feeling so yucky (I'm still pretty nauseous and guts are not happy in addition to the fatigue), I'm skipping yoga and taking a rest day instead.  Presuming that I'm doing better tomorrow, I hope to get back to the gym tomorrow.  But we'll see, I definitely need to rest and recover today.

I also told my hubby that I can't do tomato sauce anymore, it's just not worth the risk of feeling this awful.  I'm eating low-res today to try to get my guts to calm down.  I'll just see what tomorrow brings and will take it from there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/15/14:  I felt pretty yucky all weekend so I didn't do much.  Saturday, I just rested and didn't leave the house at all.  Sunday, I did walk the dog but that was it.  Today I'm feeling quite a bit better so I'm going to attempt a weights workout tonight.  I probably will skip the abdominals machine and I won't push myself too much.  I think I can do it and I'm looking forward to a workout.

I haven't planned out the rest of the week yet.  Working out on my lunch break isn't going to be feasible Tues thru Thurs as I've got work holiday luncheons (one with the whole building on Tues and one with just my dept on Wed) and then a dentist appt on my lunch break on Thurs.  So I'll have to try to squeeze in some exercise in the evenings.  Friday I plan to hit the gym on my lunch break, so I really just need to figure out what to do Tues - Thurs.

With the holidays coming up, I am also going to have to figure out when I will be able to work out with all that madness going on.  I am pretty sure my gym is open on xmas eve and new year's eve & day, so I should be able to go work out in between the festivities.

Speaking of new year's, I believe I've already seen some new year's resolutioners at the gym.  Last week, I saw a couple of girls who were obviously newbies (they mostly clung to each other and kept looking around at what everybody else was doing).  So, it's that time of year again which is frustrating - not that I'm trying to discourage anyone from exercising, but there's always a huge influx of clueless people in the gym who inevitably quit after a week or a month.  By February, things in the gym are always much quieter than January.  So I just have to deal with some January new year's resolutioner crowds.  And if you're reading this and you are a resolutioner - stick with it!  Don't give up after a short time because it's hard.  Of course it's hard, particularly at first.  (It is called "working" out, after all - if it wasn't hard work then it'd be called something else.)  But keep going and it will get easier and more enjoyable.  If you don't know what you're doing at first, ask a trainer or a member of the gym staff - they'll gladly show you the proper way to use the equipment.  Don't hog machines, and wipe them down when you're finished.  And don't give up!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/17/14:  I ate two lousy little pieces of chocolate last night, which is normally not enough to trigger an episode of acid reflux/gastritis.  But it did indeed trigger my reflux and gastritis, so I spent last night and all day today feeling quite yucky.  My reflux has been on a hair trigger lately.  It used to get triggered by things like, if I ate spaghetti and chocolate on the same day then I'd have an episode.  But now it's either or, as spaghetti triggered me last week and chocolate yesterday,so I apparently need to avoid both tomato sauce and chocolate altogether now.  That makes me very sad, but it's not worth feeling like crap the whole day for two bites of chocolate.

So, because of the gastritis pain & nausea, I'm not working out today.  Just going to rest.  Will see how I'm feeling tomorrow, and might then consider some low-intensity exercise like yoga.  I probably won't get back to the gym until Friday at the earliest.


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## nogutsnoglory

Ugh gerd and reflux stinks! All the yummy foods that as crohnies we can safely eat, nope we can't! I am fighting and don't want to give up coffee, tomato sauce and chocolate. I've accepted defeat on citric juices.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

NGNG, I feel your pain.  I gave up coffee and soda and all caffeine 5 years ago when I first got sick, so I don't really miss those.  But yeah, I love orange juice and I love spaghetti and I LOVE chocolate so I don't really know what I am going to do!  I just received some chocolates as a holiday gift today from a co-worker, they're these fancy truffle chocolates and I realized that I probably shouldn't eat them and that made me so sad.  I don't even know what to do with them, like they're too fancy to put in my candy dish at work.  I'm probably just going to give them to my husband who is so clueless that he'll probably eat them in front of me as I look sad.    Ugh, of all the times to have to give up on chocolate, a week before xmas!  So not fair.  I hate my GERD.


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## nogutsnoglory

It's so frustrating! I am on 3 meds for GERD and it's still not helping. Doctor said I can take all the meds in the world but if I don't alter my eating habits it won't help. So what's the point of the med lol?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm on 3 meds as well - Nexium, Ranitidine, and Tums.  I take so many Tums I should own stock in the company.    Those meds just barely keep things at bay and my GI said I'm not a good surgical candidate for the nissen fundoplication for my hiatal hernia at this time (my hernia is supposedly "small and sliding" anyway so it likely isn't the only culprit causing my GERD issues).  I saw in the news recently though that there's a new non-invasive fix for hiatal hernias - it's called endoluminal fundoplication.  I'm going to ask my GI about it at my next appointment.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002925.htm

I'm feeling somewhat better today.  Able to eat without massive nausea anyway.  I'll take what I can get!  Still feeling iffy enough though that I think I will rest again today.  If I'm mostly okay tomorrow, then I will attempt to hit the gym then.


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## nogutsnoglory

I think i take those 3 too. I take nexium,  tums and pepcid which I think is the brand of the one you said. My pipeline is so inflamed I can barely breathe sometimes. I really got to change my habits like not eat 3 hours before bed. Very guilty.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

This week is just ridiculous.  I finally got my reflux kinda sorta under control again, and then out of nowhere my big toe started hurting yesterday.  I realize that sounds really stupid.  I didn't even bump my toe into anything, I didn't injure it in any way that I can recall, but it feels very similar to the time years ago when I broke my (other) big toe.  So did it just spontaneously break or...??  It's like a sharp pain in the joint which feels worst when I move it.  I looked up the symptoms of gout and it's not that (it said that with gout, you experience redness, swelling, and the joint is warm to the touch - I've got none of that, my foot & toe look totally normal and no warmth).  

So I really have no idea what's going on, it feels like a break but I don't know for sure (and since the ER didn't do anything for me when I broke my other big toe years ago, I don't see much point of going and getting xrays - they literally just told me back then, yep, your toe is broken, go get some athletic tape and tape it to the toe next to it to stabilize it - so that's what I've done with this toe as well).  But I can't exercise while I'm in pain like this - I could do some arm exercises while sitting/lying on the floor I guess, but I have no way of warming up & cooling down and there are very few exercises that don't involve standing or using your feet in some way, so I'm extremely limited at best.  Ugh, so frustrating!  I have so much to do with the holidays coming and I really don't need a maybe-broken toe.  I do need stress relief and I'm not going to get it because I can't exercise.  Some days I just totally hate my stupid broken body and this is one of those days.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Long overdue update 12/31/14:  My big toe still hurts although it's somewhat better-ish, still not sure if I broke it or what.  I haven't been to the gym in a couple weeks now.  And as of 5 days ago, I caught the flu and am still fighting it.  I really, really, REALLY hope to get back to the gym very soon!  I got some workout equipment and accessories (a weight bench and a fitbit) for xmas and I've been eager to use them.  But as of right now, I'm still recovering from the flu and there's no way I'm currently well enough to think about a workout.  Frustrating, but I'm trying to be optimistic and hoping that I'm well enough for the gym soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

1/5/15:  I still have the flu!  I'm recovering, but still congested and coughing and full of mucus, so exercise is not happening just yet.  I was able to do a few things around the house yesterday - I took down the xmas tree and I vacuumed, so at least I was a bit active.  I'd love to go for a walk but it's far too cold (-30 windchills and bitter cold & snow), so doing stuff around the house is about all I can muster right now.  My goal is to recover from the flu enough to at least be able to do a light workout by the end of this week.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

1/8/15:  Well, going to the gym this week is not happening.  Ugh.  I have been trying to do little things here and there to get in a teeny bit of fitness, but even that is not going well.  Like, at work I've been trying to take the stairs rather than use the elevator.  So, earlier today I walked up 2 flights of stairs on the way to my desk.  I was huffing and puffing so hard after just 2 flights of stairs - it's like my lungs or my chest feels full so I can't breathe properly.  Then when I did get to my desk, I had a coughing fit.  So a workout is still definitely off the table for the time being.  This stupid flu is driving me nuts!  We've finally got a decent amount of snow & cold, so I'd like to go snowshoeing and/or ice skating outdoors - but there's just no way I'd be able to right now.  I just have to be patient and continue to recover from this flu.  Getting really frustrated though!


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## hawkeye

The weekend is here.  Rest up and shake the remnants of the flu


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/12/15:  I didn't rest a lot over the weekend.    On Saturday I did a lot of stuff around the house - cleaning, laundry, etc.  Sunday, the weather was finally warming up a bit (it got up to 17 F) so I took the dog to the park.  The park is fairly snow-covered now so I brought my snowshoes with and did a lap (about 1.25 miles) of the park on my snowshoes.  That was really exhausting!  I can tell my lung capacity still isn't nearly what it should be and I think that's because I'm still pretty full of mucus.  This flu still hasn't totally left me.  So, I snowshoed the whole park and that was exhausting, but I'm glad I did it.

Tonight I'm thinking I will try some yoga.  That won't tax my lungs the way that weights or cardio would.  If yoga goes okay then I might try doing weights tomorrow.  I got a weight bench for xmas and I have some dumbbells so I might just do weights at home rather than in the gym.  I'm trying to ease myself back into exercise and I'm also trying to get my lungs back to normal.  Baby steps!  I'm glad I'm able to get back into exercising though.  It seems like ages since I've done a workout!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today - I was thinking about my weight bench, and I realized I wanted some heavier dumbbells to use with it.  The dumbbells I currently have are 8 lbs each.  My brother-in-law is really into weightlifting (he's seriously scary muscular) and he suggested I get some 20 lb dumbbells, but I kind of wanted some of the adjustable kind where you can put on or take off weight from the dumbbell handle as I don't know that I can jump from 8 lbs to 20 without a bit of gradual change in between.  So, I looked around and found a really good deal on some adjustable dumbbells, and they go up to 20 lbs each so that's ideal!    (And I could always buy more weight plates if I want to go even higher than 20.)  I picked them up today and hope to try them out tomorrow.  Yay weights!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/13/14:  I did yoga last night and didn't die.  I didn't do stellar though either.  I was definitely more weak & shaky than usual.  I've got a lot of ground to make up for!  I can tell that I've lost a bit of strength and stamina.  That's okay, I like having goals to work towards, so my goal now is to get back to where I was fitness-wise, and then onwards and upwards from there!

Tonight, I'm going to try a weight session using my new weight bench & dumbbells.  My yoga ball and balance board will likely also make an appearance.  I'm still coughing & congested, so I don't know how long my lungs will let me exercise (even today, walking up 2 flights of stairs at work leaves me gasping for air and coughing).  So I'm just going to play it by ear, not go too intense, and take breaks or cut my workout short if need be.

I guess I'm not alone in suffering for weeks with this flu though.  A co-worker said he's on week 5 of the flu (I'm on week 3) and he's still coughing and congested too.  It's a really miserable flu!  And as far as I know, my co-worker is otherwise healthy and not immuno-compromised, so this flu is even hitting healthy people hard.  So anyway, I'm trying not to be impatient about getting over this flu since I know at least one person who is 5 weeks in and still coughing.  It is a bit frustrating though that it's lasted this long.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/14/15:  I did some weights at home last night and that went well - better than I expected, actually.  I really like my new weight bench, I think it's going to get a lot of use.  My hubby has already used it as well and he likes it too.  The new dumbbells also worked out nicely.  I set them to 15 lbs each (they go up to 20 lbs each) and that was a decent challenge.  I figured my arms would be sore today as I felt like I did more arms than legs, but it's actually my legs that feel the most sore and tired.

Even with my tired legs, I had a specific workout in mind today.  I'm sort of obsessed with ice skating even though I'm not great at it.  Today looked pretty ideal for skating - no precipitation lately (so the ice would be nice and cleared off), little wind and not too terribly cold out (about 20 F).  So, on my lunch break from work, I grabbed my skates and headed to a nearby park to get in a quick ice skating session!    It was really tough especially at first.  It requires so much shin and ankle strength which I clearly don't have enough of just yet.  So for the first 5-10 mins, I felt constantly shaky and unsteady like I was going to fall over, and I also felt burning in my shins & ankles.  Once I got warmed up and got used to the ice, the burning sensation largely went away and the shakiness went away, and then I was much more confident and didn't feel like I was going to fall.  I spent about 30 mins total on the ice.  It was nice, but afterwards, my legs felt totally dead.    I didn't expect this, but my quads felt ice cold and numb!  It was literally more difficult walking back to my car than it was skating on the ice because of how tired my legs were and how cold my quads were.  So now I know, next time I need to keep my quads warmer - I'm thinking I'll wear long underwear under my pants next time (that'll make for extra padding too in the event that I do fall).  I enjoyed my skate, but I was really happy to get back indoors and warm up and have a cup of hot chocolate.

I think the more I skate, the more ankle & shin strength I'm going to build up.  I used to be pretty decent at ice skating like 10+ years ago and I want to get back to that point.  I used to be able to skate backwards, do front & back crossovers, even do a little bit of a spin.  It was so fun and I want to have fun on the ice like that again!

Anyway.  Tomorrow, I think I'm going to try weights in the little gym.  Weights at home went fine yesterday so weights in the little gym seems like the next step up from there.  I'm still coughing although not as much and I don't feel nearly as congested in my chest today.  For the past few weeks with this flu, it's felt like there was "stuff" (probably mucus) in my chest.  Today it doesn't feel like that so much.  So I'm definitely improving and finally getting over the flu.  Time to ramp up my workouts a bit!


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/15/15:  I was expecting my shins to be really sore today, but they feel fine.  My legs feel fresher today than they did yesterday and I feel ready & able to do some weights.  So I'm going to go to the gym today and try to do my usual thing.  I'm barely coughing at all today so I'm nearly flu-free and I'm confident that I can do a weights workout without issue.

Tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'm going to do.  I should probably take a rest day as I've been active every day since Sunday.  I guess it'll all boil down to how I feel - if I'm feeling sore or tired then I will rest.  If not, I might try skating again.  Although I'm not sure.  My skates aren't the best and they kind of pinch my feet & toes a little bit.  I might have a look around and see if I can buy myself some newer, nicer ice skates (I seem to recall that my grandma gave me my current pair of skates, I've had them for at least 15 years and I'm pretty sure she bought them at Goodwill so it's probably time to retire them!).  I had mentioned a few weeks back that I felt like I might have broken my big toe on my right foot.  It had been doing somewhat better lately, but yesterday evening after my skate, that toe was really hurting again.  So for the sake of my feet & toes, I think I need new skates.  My lower back was pretty stiff this morning too but I don't know if that's due to my skates or if I slept funny or what.  But at any rate, new skates are probably needed if I'm going to be ice skating a lot this winter (I'd like to get better at ice skating so that's the goal).


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I ordered some new ice skates online today.    I found a pair that got good reviews and they were a decent price.  I'm supposed to receive them in about a week.  I can't wait to try them out!  I was remembering, an old friend from high school was seriously into ice skating (she could do a half-axel and she may have been able to do a single toe loop as well) and years ago, she bought some really expensive professional $300+ ice skates.  I hadn't gone online until today looking for new skates because I was afraid that the only good skates would be in that price range!  Fortunately that doesn't seem to be the case (my new ones aren't professional quality, but it sounds like they're very good for casual skating enthusiasts and they were only like $60).


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/16/15:  I went to the gym yesterday for weights.  That didn't go as well as I had hoped.  My lung capacity is still definitely compromised by this flu.  I did 5 mins on the stationary bike to warm up, and that felt quite difficult and it really got me coughing.  When I did the first couple weight machines, I felt like I wasn't getting enough air and I got a bit light-headed and was probably at risk of passing out.  It was not fun.  I made myself slow down a bit and then I didn't have any more light-headedness for the rest of my workout.  I did get exhausted pretty quickly though (couldn't do my usual number of reps, and in some cases I had to dial down the weight a bit).  I skipped the abdominals machine just because I ran out of energy and didn't think I could do it.  I'm definitely weaker thanks to this flu.  It was kind of a frustrating workout.  I did what I could, but what I could do didn't feel like enough.  Ugh.

And today, my lungs feel worse again.  My chest feels more congested today and I'm coughing more.  My boss heard me coughing and she said I sound terrible, she thinks I sound much worse than I've been.  So, today is definitely a rest day.  Tomorrow I'll probably dial it back a bit.  I was hoping to do weights again tomorrow, but after how yesterday went, I'm thinking I need to take it easier.  The weather is supposed to be gorgeous tomorrow so I'll probably just walk the dog and then see how I'm doing from there.  If I'm okay after the walk then I might do just a short at-home weight session with my dumbbells.  I want to exercise, but I don't want to get sicker again from this never-ending flu, so I need to walk a fine line between getting some exercise but also getting better from this stupid awful flu.  I'm a bit frustrated, but ultimately I need to do what's best for my health.


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## mccindy

Just remember.... when you have any upper respiratory illness, the best action is to not exercise.  It's very difficult for your body to operate in an oxygen debt, and your lungs have to work very hard to provide enough oxygen when parts of them are compromised.  Then your heart has to work very hard to move the limited oxygen around your body.  It's better just to rest and wait until you get better, as frustrating as that is.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks, Cindy.  Yeah, I know, I'm probably being stubborn by trying to exercise.  I'm not doing a whole lot - it's obvious even to me that cardio is just completely not happening until I get better so I'm mainly doing a bit of weights and some yoga & walking.  (I recently talked with a friend who is a CNA, and he said this flu is lasting about 6 weeks for most patients - I'm just about to start week 5, so the end should be in sight soon!)  I feel like my muscles are going to atrophy and I'll be back to having no muscle mass if I don't do at least a little weight lifting here & there, so I have been doing a bit of weights.  As long as I don't push myself much, and take decent breaks in between sets, I feel okay (when I do push myself or don't take enough of a break, I start to feel like I don't have enough oxygen and that I might pass out).  And I've mainly been doing weights at home, so if I do happen to pass out, at least my hubby will be right there to help me.

Yes, it is VERY frustrating to not be able to do what I want to fitness-wise right now.  It's been nearly 5 weeks (since xmas) that I've had this flu, I can't wait to be rid of it!  I just want to go back to the gym and do a proper workout!  On the plus side, at least I missed going to the gym during the worst time of year, and by the time I'm able to properly work out again, the new year's resolutioners will mostly have already quit.


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## mccindy

That's always the bonus of February!  The end of the resolutioners! Sad in a way, but at least the crowds thin out.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, the gym in February sounds nice!  I hope to get back to properly working out soon!

I've had a bad migraine - today is the 3rd day of it.  It finally seems to be easing up (my migraines can last up to 5 days, so 3 days isn't even super bad, relatively speaking).  I've been off sick from work yesterday & today.  I have done nothing active at all since the migraine hit.  Finally today I was able to do some laundry, and being a little bit active makes me feel a bit better.  I'm hoping this migraine completely goes away soon so that I can enjoy the weekend.  I just got my new ice skates in the mail the other day - they are so nice!  Cushy and fleecy inside and fit me really well.  I really want to try them out soon, so hopefully I'll be able to do that this weekend if my flu and my migraine play nice.  I do feel like I'm finally getting over this flu, I'm not coughing nearly as much (barely at all) and I don't feel all congested in my chest anymore.  So, if I can just shake this migraine, I'll be doing pretty well!  So here's hoping that I'll be able to break in my new skates in the next day or two.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/26/15:  I had a decent day yesterday both health-wise and weather-wise, so I tried out my new ice skates.  They're wonderful!  They feel like very good quality and they glide on the ice like butter.  It's a huge improvement over my old skates.  I spent nearly an hour on the ice yesterday, it was great fun and I hope to skate again soon.

My health is still iffy though.  I thought I was finally getting over this cough, but hubby and I went to a comedy show on Sat night, and I think I coughed more than I laughed.  I'm not sure if it was the musty old theater that the show was in or what.  I had some cough drops in my pocket, which helped me stop coughing for a short time, but the cough drops were mentholated and made me sneeze (mint/menthol always makes me sneeze for some reason).  So I was alternately coughing and sneezing the whole night.  I'm still coughing today although it's getting somewhat better again.

So, I am not sure what to do about my workouts.  I'll probably do yoga tonight again as yoga doesn't make things worse.  I'm getting sick of not being able to do a proper workout but I just have to continue to be patient I guess.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/27/15:  I did yoga on my lunch hour yesterday and that went quite well.  I feel a bit sore today!  But I also feel pretty good.  Last night's dinner didn't sit so well with me so my guts are a bit unhappy, but on the whole I'm okay.  I'm still coughing a little but I feel like I'm improving again.

Today, the weather is fairly nice - overcast, but about 30 degrees F with very little wind.  So I think I'm going to head out to the outdoor ice rink again today for another skating session.  So I'm going to head over there on my lunch break today.  Looking forward to that!

Tomorrow, I think I will do weights at home.  I'll take it fairly easy and not push myself too hard as I'm still coughing and my lungs still aren't 100% just yet.  If I don't feel up to weights then I'll probably do yoga, again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/28/15:  Yesterday was pretty much a bust.  I got out to the outdoor ice rink, got my skates on... and the condition of the ice was terrible.  It was so bumpy!  I had just been at that rink on Sunday and it was quite good ice conditions then, so I'm not sure what happened over the course of 48 hours but it was a significant change for the worse.  I could barely stay upright and couldn't propel myself forward easily, the ice was that bad.  I tried and tried but I only managed to skate around for about 15 mins before I just gave up.  Ugh.

Yesterday was just a day of frustration all around.  Little things have been going wrong, like one of the prongs on my engagement ring broke, my cat & dog both had to go to the vet, work was really stressful, stuff like that.  It was just a rough day all around.  Today I don't feel super well - my sinuses feel clogged and weird and I just feel tired and bleh.  I think today is going to be a rest day.  I just feel like hibernating today, partly because I feel crappy and partly to avoid all the stupid stuff that's been happening.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel more upbeat.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/12/15:  Sorry for not updating sooner, there wasn't much to report.  I'm still coughing although I think I'm finally getting over this flu (it's been close to 7 weeks now).  I'm able to do a bit more weight lifting and still doing yoga, but still not able to do any cardio.  

Work has been absolutely insane the past couple of weeks - we had 4 huge meetings that I had to help out at, and all sorts of things went wrong.  The meetings themselves went mostly fine, but there was a lot of stuff like, my boss crashed her car on her way to one meeting, a co-worker had a meltdown because someone was snippy to her and she cried for an hour and I had to try to help calm her down, someone at one of the meetings has a peanut allergy but we weren't informed so we had candy w/ peanuts at the meeting and we got yelled at anyway, stuff like that.  It's all been very draining both mentally and physically.  Today is the first day after the meetings, so I have a ton of stuff to catch up on, but I'm so drained I am having a hard time doing that.  I'm headachey and exhausted and just feel crappy.  So, in a nutshell, I've been stressed to the gills and not able to exercise properly enough to get rid of some of that stress.  As a result, I feel yucky.  I just want to crawl under a rock and hide from the world for awhile.  But I can't so I'll cry at my desk instead.


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## hawkeye

Cat, they had a 10 pound lobster in the live tank yesterday at the local grocery store


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## Cat-a-Tonic

10 lbs!!  That's crazy, that's about how much my cat weighs.    I don't think I even own a pot large enough to cook a 10 lb lobster!  And it'd take me about 7 meals to eat the whole thing.  Although, it could be a nice alternative to a turkey on Thanksgiving, ha ha!

Update:  I haven't been exercising much since my last update.  I'm *still* coughing.  This morning, I wanted to test my lungs, so I took the stairs (I work on the 3rd floor) instead of the elevator when I got to work.  Sure enough, just as I got to the top, I started coughing.  Ugh.  It's been like 7 weeks now with this respiratory flu thing.  I'm beyond sick of it.  I think I'm going to go lift weights anyway.  Cardio is obviously still not my friend, but if I just do weights with minimal warming up and give myself plenty of time in between sets, I think I can do it.  If I can't then I guess I'll switch to yoga.  Bleh.  I hate having limitations like this!  And this flu is seriously ridiculous!  I had no idea that getting sick at xmas meant I'd still be coughing on President's Day.  Yuck!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/17/15:  Yesterday I decided to just go for it, go to the gym and do a weights workout and try not to cough too much.  That went well although it seemed like everything was working against me!  I went down to the little gym that's in the basement of my workplace, and there were workmen there servicing the treadmills.  They had junk all over the place - the treadmills were half disassembled so treadmill parts were all over the floor, tools and tool bags were all over the gym floor as well, the workmen were leaning on the weight machines, their coats and other personal items were strewn all about - it was a mess!  I just glared at them and stormed towards the weight machines and did my thing even with this chaos and mess all around me.  The other thing was, I picked the wrong playlist on my ipod, so instead of starting my workout with my "get pumped up" music, instead I ended up hearing songs from my "getting ready to go to bed" playlist - oops!    That was just silly, but it didn't exactly inspire me to push myself when there was junk and workmen all over the place and my ipod was playing "Baby Goodnight".  Ha ha!

So, in spite of all that, I did every weight machine (including abdominals) and I didn't cough once.  I consider that a success!  I feel pretty well.  It's amazing how much a workout does for my mental state.  I feel much calmer, less stressed, happier, just able to deal with things better after a workout.  Cardio is still out, but as long as I can do weights, I'm pretty happy with that.  I think I might do yoga tonight and weights again tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/18/15:  I didn't do yoga last night.  It's been so cold out, I just wanted to curl up under my electric blanket, so I did that.  Today I'm heading back to the gym (hopefully no workmen this time!) to do weights again.  I was coughing a fair bit this morning so I hope that I'm okay to work out.  I'm going to try it regardless.  And I will make sure I select the right playlist this time.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/19/15:  I've been trying to get back to a regular pattern of going to the gym, but life has not been making it easy for me!  Vent coming up!

So I decided to try cardio today.  I'm coughing less and I thought I'd just see where I'm at, if I would have a massive coughing fit during a cardio session.  I decided to go down to the little gym on my lunch break and use the stationary bike for 30 mins.  So, I went down, changed into my gym clothes, got into the gym (no workmen this time), got the proper playlist going on my ipod... and found that the stationary bike is broken.  Ugh!  It was turned off which was odd, so I turned it on, and all I got was a blank screen.  I unplugged it, plugged it back in, pressed buttons, fiddled with everything I could fiddle with - no dice, still just a blank screen.  I can pedal it, but it's stuck on the lowest (zero) resistance which is way too low/easy, and I can't manually change anything and I can't get the screen to work.  So basically it's totally unusable.  Not cool!

So, I walked on the treadmill instead.  I figured that'd have to do and I set a brisk pace and upped the incline a bit.  Shortly into my walking, my good hip started aching.  Ugh, really??  I have arthritis in both hips, but I've had arthritis in my right hip for longer and if one hip is going to hurt, it's almost always the right hip, my bad hip.  My hips don't like jogging, it's just too high impact and causes hip pain right away, but walking is usually okay.  Sometimes, yes, walking will give me some hip pain - but again, it's nearly always the bad hip that hurts.  Today, it was my left hip, my (relatively) good hip.  The right hip felt fine but the left hip felt pretty bad!  I only walked on the treadmill for 20 mins and the highest I set the incline was 5 degrees, and I was walking at 3 mph, so it wasn't like I was doing something super hard and my hip shouldn't have hurt that much.  I feel like a failure today.  I couldn't do the workout I wanted, and the workout I did put me in pain.  That's not good.  Frustrating!

I wrote an urgent email to the people who deal with the gym equipment, so I hope they fix the bike soon (I kind of wonder if the workmen who were there on Monday might have done something to break the bike?).  I do have a stationary bike at home, and of course there are also bikes at the big paid membership gym I belong to.  But this bike is so convenient, being in the basement of my workplace, I can just zip down there on my break and use it.  (Biking does not hurt my hips, anything low impact is fine on the hips.)  Anyway, I'm just disappointed.  I'll have to try out cardio on my stationary bike at home another day I guess!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/25/15:  I'm finally getting back on track fitness-wise.  The cough seems to be 99% gone.  Yesterday, I did 40 mins on the stationary bike at home.  Last night I did wake up once in the night to cough, and I coughed up a bit of mucus this morning - but that was all the coughing I've done.  All things considered, though, that's pretty good.  A few weeks ago when I had tried to do the stationary bike, I ended up having a coughing fit not even 5 minutes into my ride and had to stop and felt awful.  So to do 40 mins on the bike and have just two little incidents of coughing, I'll take it!  

But last night after my stationary bike ride, I screwed up.    Hubby and I had gone grocery shopping, and I got inexplicably brave in my choice of cereal purchases.  I decided that frosted mini wheats cereal (high fiber, whole grain) sounded good and that maybe, just maybe, my guts could handle it.  Um, NOPE!  I had a small bowl of that cereal for dinner last night, and shortly afterwards I ended up with painful gut cramps and bathroom trips.  Yeah, I know, it was dumb to even try - that cereal just sounds painful!  So last night and this morning, I was not feeling so great.  The cramps fortunately mostly subsided by this afternoon, so I was able to hit the gym for weights today.  I did avoid the abdominals machine just to be safe, as my guts still don't feel 100% recovered from my little adventure into fiber land.  Weights went fine.  Although, the stationary bike in the little gym is still broken, so I wasn't able to do my usual warm-up.

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with a friend, so I think I'll do yoga in the evening.  Friday, it'll be weights again, and I think hubby and I will be going to the big gym for that.  It's literally been over 2 months since I've stepped foot in the big gym, so I'm a bit nervous.  Still, I think it'll be great to get back and I'm looking forward to it.

Saturday will likely be a rest day although I'm going to do something new that I'm also nervous about.  My hubby and his friends are going to a shooting range to shoot guns at targets, and they've invited me along.  I'm pretty anti-gun, I don't like guns and I don't want them in my house and it makes me uncomfortable being around guns.  But, it does sound like an interesting experience to shoot a gun at a target, and I think I should at least give it a shot (sorry, bad pun).  So, I'm trying to have an open mind, and I'm going to go and learn how to shoot a gun on Saturday.  It's probably not something I'll ever do again, but once it's over with, I'll either be able to say I tried it and didn't like it, or I may surprise myself and have a fun time.  Wish me luck!

Edited to add:  I just had blood in my stool.  Lovely.  It's been just about a year since I last passed blood.  I hope this is just due to the cereal I ate and goes away quickly.  Ugh!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/26/15:  I passed blood again today.  It's weird, after eating the fiber cereal I had a few episodes of loose stool and then one bloody stool.  Then today 3 or 4 more loose stools and another bloody one.  It's weird how the blood kind of comes & goes.  It hasn't been a lot of blood, and I think I feel better today than I did yesterday, so hopefully the blood stops altogether soon.  (It is bright red blood and not a large amount so it's not super worrying, but any blood in the stool is still a bit worrying as I'm not a regular bleeder.)  And of course, my time of the month is due to start any moment now, so once that starts then I will have a really hard time discerning whether it's menstrual blood or rectal blood (or both) in the toilet.  Yay.

I know blood isn't something to mess around with so I'm going to skip yoga and rest tonight instead just to be safe.  I don't want to make things worse by overdoing it.  As long as I'm doing relatively okay tomorrow, I still plan to hit the gym for weights.  I'll re-assess tomorrow and see how I'm doing - if I'm still passing blood then I guess I'll rest again and try to heal.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/2/15:  I didn't go to the gym on Friday as I felt it was better to continue healing.  The good news is, I didn't seem to pass any blood on Friday and I started to feel better.

Saturday we went to the shooting range as planned.  It was definitely an experience.  I got to shoot I think 5 different guns at targets.  I was actually pretty good (thanks, Nintendo's Duck Hunt) and even with the hugest gun, the 44 magnum, I hit 5 out of 6 bullseyes on my first try.  I am just not a gun person though and I probably won't ever go target shooting again.  Guns make me really nervous and the noise is insane.  Even with heavy duty ear protection, I was still flinching at every single gun shot sound.  So, I'm glad I tried that once so I can say I did it, and I likely won't ever do it again.

Sunday, I felt pretty good, so hubby and I hit the big gym.  It had been awhile!  And I'm quite sore today!    That's a good thing though.  I'm happy to finally be getting back into proper workouts.  I did everything except for the abdominals machine - tummy still felt a little bit iffy so I decided to avoid working my abdominals for now.  I didn't cough at all so it seems I'm finally 100% over the flu!  It only took me 2 months, ha ha.

Today it's actually pretty gorgeous outside - we've had one cold spell after another with -20 wind chills being pretty common, so I haven't gotten outside a lot lately.  Today though it's a balmy 25 degrees, sunny, and little/no wind.  Sounds ideal for ice skating, so I'm going to head out for a skate soon.  My legs are still pretty sore from yesterday so I'm not sure how much skating I'll be able to do, but it'll just be nice to get outside without feeling like I'm being tortured from the cold.

Tomorrow, we're supposed to get a bunch of snow.  I'll likely end up helping hubby shovel tomorrow evening once it stops.  If I don't end up shoveling (if he's already shoveled before I get home), then I'll do weights using my dumbbells at home.  I'd like to go to the gym, but I hate driving in snow, so it seems better to skip driving more than I have to and just work out at home instead.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I only managed 25 mins of ice skating (I was hoping for at least 30).  My legs are just too sore & tired after yesterday, and around 25 mins in they apparently had enough and sort of turned into wobbly baby deer legs, so I stopped.  Didn't want to fall so I just couldn't make it to 30 mins.  On the plus side, the ice was in beautiful condition and the weather was super nice, perfect for skating!  Almost too nice in fact - I got quite sweaty!  I guess next time I go skating, I need to wear a lighter jacket if it's sunny & pleasant out.

Also, a weird thing - I have a fitbit and it's been really messing up yesterday & today.  It's the fitbit "one" so it has an altimeter for tracking how many flights of stairs I've walked up.  Yesterday at the gym, I did 10 mins on the arc trainer to warm up.  Afterwards, my fitbit said I had walked up 17 flights of stairs (um, nope!).  I had assumed it was just an issue with the fitbit not liking the arc trainer, so I didn't pursue troubleshooting yesterday.  But today, I looked at my fitbit after I had walked up one flight of stairs - it said zero.  Hmm.  So I looked at it again after I had walked up a 2nd flight of stairs - and then it said I had done 6 flights of stairs!  Again, nope!  I glanced at my fitbit once more after my ice skating session, and now it's saying I've done 21 flights of stairs.  Nope, nope, nope!  I'm going to try rebooting it tonight and see if that fixes the issue.  If not, I'm going to have to contact the fitbit people.  Lovely, it's only a couple months old (I got it for xmas).  Hopefully a reboot will fix the problem - if not, then the altimeter is seriously messed up.  The good thing is, since it's still so new, it's surely got to still be under warranty, so if all else fails hopefully I can get a replacement.


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## UnXmas

Hi, I just thought I'd let you know I've been vicariously enjoying exercise by reading your thread a bit today.  And to ask if the bleeding has stopped. I also don't pass blood that often, except that I have a stoma, and it's normal for stomas to bleed a bit, so I understand the feeling of trying to work out if bleeding is a problem or not.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks UnX!  Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to myself in this thread, so it's nice to know that others are reading it.  (Not that I'd stop posting in here even if I was really just talking to myself - it's nice to have a diary of my ups & downs when it comes to my fitness endeavors, so I'm going to keep updating this thread regardless.)  Yes, the bleeding has fortunately stopped.  I had I think 3 days of intermittent bleeding and crampy pain.  My abdomen is still a bit tender, but I'm on the mend - haven't had bleeding at all this week and I am feeling better day by day.  

Update 3/3/15:  My legs are still pretty sore, although not quite as bad as yesterday.  I do want to lift weights today, but I think it'll just be an arms day as my arms aren't sore.  The big snowstorm we were supposed to get has already sort of fizzled out and the snow seems to already be melting, so I guess I won't be shoveling snow tonight!  So, if I can sneak away during a break at work, I'll hit the gym for a bit of arm work.  If not, then I'll use my dumbbells at home tonight to work my arms.

Tomorrow, I'm just going to play it by ear.  If my legs are feeling better then I might do yoga or the stationary bike.  If I'm still feeling sore, then I'll take a rest day.  I hope to lift weights again on Thursday.  Friday, it's supposed to be really nice weather again so I hope to go ice skating that day.  It's actually supposed to be really nice, like almost 40 degrees F (ice melts at 32 and above) so if the outdoor ice rink is open then I hope to go ice skating again.  If the ice is melting too much then I will have to figure something else out!  It's weird to say I'm hoping the weather doesn't get too warm, but there does seem to be a narrow window of weather where it's warm enough to ice skate outdoors but cool enough that the ice doesn't start melting - so I hope the weather stays within that window.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/5/15:  Well, I spoke too soon.  The bleeding came back with a vengeance.    Tuesday night I had some painful episodes of d.  Wednesday morning I woke up, had another painful bowel movement, and when I looked in the toilet it was just red.  It was probably the most blood I've ever passed.  I took the day off of work and rested.  I'm doing somewhat better today - no blood at least, although all is still not well in tummy land.  Ugh.  Guess I'm going to rest a bit longer just to be safe, so exercise is off the table for a few more days.

I'm fairly depressed about this.  I get depressed when I can't exercise, but I also get depressed when I can't pretend that things are okay.  With a chronic illness things are pretty much never okay, but I can put on an act for the world and for myself.  I tell myself that normal people have diarrhea sometimes, get nauseous sometimes, so it's okay.  But, normal people don't have blood in their stool (especially not copious amounts like yesterday) so I can't lie to myself when that happens.  As a result, I get really sad and weepy.  I cried most of the day yesterday, it was a pathetic pity party of one.  I'm feeling less weepy today, guess I just needed to get that out of my system (it helps that I haven't had any bleeding today).  I called in sick to work today too just to be safe - I didn't want to have a bleeding episode nor a crying episode at the office.  I'll go back to work tomorrow probably, and I'm hoping to get back to exercise next week at some point.  Going to stay out of the gym through the weekend at least to hopefully heal up.  I see my GI on Monday, so I'm hoping he'll give me something (my bleeding is usually due to hemorrhoids and/or fissures - it's always bright red) like suppositories or enemas to help with that.


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## UnXmas

Sorry to hear that, Cat. Though I think people without IBD get bleeding from haemorrhoids too, so perhaps you're not so far away from the "normal" illness experiences people sometimes go through. But it's still hard when you're going through them far more often or severely than everyone around you seems to be.
Hopefully your doctor will know what to do about it.

Do you enjoy light forms of exercise, like walking? Maybe there's something that can help you by keeping your body moving but without stressing it too much.


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## Jim Gonsler

I'm sorry to hear that you're having those episodes!  I think it's a good idea seeing the GI doc though.  Something definitely is not right there and needs to be addressed.  You will be in my prayers.
Jim


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## Cat-a-Tonic

UnX, yes, I sometimes walk with my dog, and I do some gentle yoga as well (I'm not flexible at all so the more complicated/twisty/bendy yoga is beyond my capabilities!).  The weather here is supposed to warm up a bit, so I think I will try to take my dog on a walk this weekend.  We live right near the dog park anyway so it's convenient, although there aren't bathrooms nearby which is the one big drawback, so I will only go for a walk if I'm confident that I won't have an issue while we're out.  But yes, I do walk pretty regularly with my dog.

Jim, thank you.  I see my GI on Monday and I'm definitely going to ask him about the recent bleeding episodes and see if he can do anything to help me in that regard (I'm thinking suppositories or enemas).  It's been one thing after another lately - last year in August, I came down with Labyrinthitis and I spent about 3 months dealing with horrendous vertigo.  Then I got the flu at xmas and the respiratory symptoms lasted about 2 months.  Now the bleeding.  It's like my body is doing everything it can lately to prevent me from exercising.  It gets really frustrating!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I guess I should give a little bit of a positive update because it's not all negative (even though it sometimes feels that way).  At my work, for doing a good job we sometimes get to pick out a prize.  I had helped out at some big meetings that we had recently, and my boss felt that I did a great job with the meetings, so I earned a prize.  I picked a fancy expensive name-brand new blender.  My old blender was something that I had paid like $30 for at the hardware store, and it was not great quality, so that's exciting to get a new & better one.  I make myself a smoothie for breakfast most mornings (crushed ice, almond milk, protein/vitamin powder, cocoa powder, and a banana) but my old blender wasn't that good so as a result I'd usually end up with chunks of un-blended banana still in my smoothie.  I just got my new blender in the mail yesterday and it's way better - I tried it out this morning for the first time, and there were no chunks of banana!  Everything was smooth and nice.  I didn't have much appetite for solid foods this morning, but I was able to drink my smoothie, and it was blended so nicely.  So that's a positive, it's nice to get new things that make life slightly easier.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/9/15:  I see my GI this afternoon and I've been writing my list of questions & concerns for him (it's pretty much just a paragraph explaining that I've been bleeding, I'd like blood tests to check for anemia etc, and I'd like something along the lines of suppositories or enemas to help stop the bleeding).  I'll update again after my appointment with what he says.

It's hard to tell what's setting off the bleeding - if it's food, activity, stress, all of the above, or if it's just random?  I think I overdid things activity-wise on Saturday.  I decided to walk my dog, but the dog park was still pretty snow-covered so I brought along my snowshoes.  Snowshoeing was a bit too much for me, though.  I felt very out of breath and exhausted afterwards, like I did too much.  I rested for the rest of the day but I did have another bleeding episode after the snowshoeing.  Sunday, I made poor food choices (pizza) but no bleeding that day.  The weather on Sunday had warmed up quite a bit and most of the snow melted in the dog park, so I walked my dog again but wore my rubber boots instead because the dog park had changed from mostly snow to mostly mud!  I had an easier time walking rather than snowshoeing, I didn't feel like I overdid things on Sunday.  It was a bit difficult walking in all the mud, and my dog clearly disliked it (she hates water & mud, and she's got very short legs so it's impossible to avoid getting her belly wet & muddy in those conditions).  Still, the sun was shining and the weather was warm-ish (almost 50 degrees F) and I'm glad I got outside for a bit.

Today I'm just waiting to see what my GI says, and I'll take it from there.  Presuming he gives me something to help get the bleeding under control, I'll see how that goes and then I'll hopefully start to ramp up my exercise from there once I start feeling better.  I feel like, if I can just get the bleeding to stop, then I'll be doing pretty well.  It's only when I've had episodes with a lot of bleeding that I feel dizzy & light-headed afterwards.  If I can just get that to stop, then I'll feel safe enough to go to the gym.  I really don't want to push myself to go to the gym, then get dizzy and fall over or pass out while holding a dumbbell or whatever.  If I were in the little gym in the basement of my workplace and if I passed out, I'm usually the only person in that gym so that would be a problem - there's no landline phone down there, and my cell phone doesn't get reception in the basement, so there would be no way to get help.  If I passed out down there and didn't wake up right away, the lights in that gym are motion-sensitive and turn off after a few minutes if they don't detect motion - so, worst-case scenario, if I had an issue in that gym where I fell/passed out and then the lights turned off, I wouldn't be able to call for help and nobody would find me for awhile.  That's a terrifying thought!  So I'm going to first see what my GI says, then see how I do on whatever treatment we agree on for the bleeding, then ease back into weight-lifting.  I do have a weight bench and some dumbbells at home, so I can work out at home with my hubby keeping an eye on me - that sounds like the safest thing to start with until I get over the light-headedness.  I'll start with that and work my way back up to going to the actual gym.  Baby steps!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I just saw my GI and he was a bit concerned about my blood loss.  He did a CBC to see if I'm anemic or not.  He's going to call me this evening when he gets the results.  If I'm anemic then we're going to do a flexi-sig to ascertain the source of the bleeding.  Either way, whether I'm anemic or not, he's going to prescribe suppositories to hopefully help heal things up and stop the bleeding.  This all sounds good to me and was basically exactly what I wanted so I'm quite satisfied with my appointment.  I've never had a flexi-sig before so I'm a bit nervous about the prospect of that (my understanding is, it's just an enema and then they do the scope just to the left colon but it's done in the office with no sedative?  If so, eek), but otherwise I'm happy.  I'll update again once my GI calls with the results of my bloodwork.  In the meantime, I'm going to rest.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/10/15:  My GI called me last night and he said the results of my bloodwork were pretty good.  My CBC results were a bit lower than my usual, but still within the normal range, so I'm not considered to be anemic.  That's good!  My GI has prescribed hydrocortisone suppositories.  I've taken them before and I'm not a huge fan of them - my main issue is, the instructions say to insert the suppository just before you go to bed.  That way, it can work its magic on you all night.  The issue I have with that is, it starts working right away including the side effects - taking a steroid just before bed is a surefire way to lay awake half the night.  Ugh.  It's like a battle between the steroid and the amitriptyline, asleep or awake, who is going to win??  Fortunately I think I only laid awake for about an hour last night, not too bad.  (I had some left over from last time so I just used one of those last night and will pick up my new prescription today.)

So, I'm back on steroids, and I haven't really lost the weight from when I was on Entocort yet.  My usual healthy weight is around 135 lbs, and I'm currently just above 140, so I don't have a lot to lose, but I'm afraid I'm going to gain even more now that I'm on steroid suppositories.  Last time I was on these suppositories, I was on them for 6 weeks, and I gained 6 lbs, so about 1 lb a week.  So, I'm just going to try to keep a super close eye on things and try to cut out as much junk food and extra calories as I can.  I am thinking a semi-liquid diet to start out with isn't a bad idea either, so today I'm trying a smoothie (crushed ice, almond milk, protein/vitamin powder, cocoa powder, and a banana) for both breakfast and lunch.  Dinner will be baked fish (and I'm skipping the tartar sauce).  I don't expect to lose weight while on steroid treatment, but if I could just not gain during this time, that'd be nice.  So that's my goal, to maintain.

I had a bit more blood in my stool last night and things in my tummy still feel pretty unsettled, so I'm still on a short hiatus from going to the gym.  Hopefully once the steroids start healing things up, I'll be able to get back to working out properly.


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## UnXmas

When I'm on prednisone, I just up my amitriptyline dose to cancel out the insomnia. Amitriptyline will knock you out whatever steroids you're on if you take enough of it. Though I do have quite a liberal attitude to medication dosages, so I should probably add to check with your doctor first, but the maximum safe amount of amitriptyline is 300mg, so if you're on less than that it may be possible to have more to help you sleep, if you can tolerate any side effects.

I'm sure you know already that you can gain a bit of weight on steroids from water retention, but that's minor and temporary. Anything else is due to increased appetite, so if you keep eating the same, steroids can't make you gain. But given your current weight and attitude towards exercise, I can't imagine weight gain is something you need to worry much about! It'll all even out when you're feeling better.

It's a while since I had a flexible sigmoidoscopy (it's a while since I had a colon!) but if I remember correctly, there was no enema or prep at all (different doctors may have different preparation requirements, but I think I'd remember if I'd had an enema - I remember every time I _have_ had to have an enema!), they're done in the office with no sedation. They feel pretty much like having a digital rectal exam - if you're used to suppositories, it's probably no more uncomfortable than that, the discomfort just lasts a bit longer, and it *really is better if you relax and breathe.* It might hurt if you've got problems in that part of the bowel so that anything touching is painful, otherwise it shouldn't be too bad.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I unfortunately don't really have the option of upping my amitriptyline dose.  The dose I'm on, 25 mg, is apparently the ideal dose for me for preventing migraines.  At one point my GI tried upping my dose, but even at 40 mg the migraines were back within a week or so.  The primary reason I'm on ami is because of the migraines - it helping me sleep is lovely but is secondary to that.  So I'm pretty much stuck at 25 mg because I'm more miserable with migraines than I am with lack of sleep.  

The good news is, I zonked out to sleep last night in spite of the steroid suppository.  Slept like a log and feel pretty good today.  Guts feel more settled and no blood in the stool so far today (although usually that's been happening in the evenings and it's 4:45 PM here right now so I may still have blood in my stool at some point this evening).  So far so good, I'm feeling better today than I have in a bit.  I think the steroids are helping.

My GI specifically mentioned enemas when he said we might do a flexi-sig - he didn't even say enema, he said "we'll have you do some enemas" as in plural, so I guess that means I'll have to do several enemas beforehand if I go that route.  And honestly, with the bleeding lately I have been having some anal pain (getting the suppository in last night was quite painful, I nearly cried out loud as I was putting it in).  So I am expecting the flexi sig to be painful, but it's not like I haven't had things in my backside (colonoscopy scopes, suppositories, an anuscope) in the past and I'm not super anxious about it.  Not looking forward to the prospect of it, but not losing sleep over the thought of it either.  And hey, a bowel test where I don't have to do prep or drink contrast is a winner in my book!  

Oh, and yeah, I honestly am a bit concerned about weight gain on the suppositories.  I was only ever on pred for very short periods of time (like 5 days at a time) so I never gained weight from that.  Entocort I tend to just gain a little extra weight, I think I ended up with about 6 extra lbs total from being on it for 8ish months.  But these hydrocortisone suppositories, the one other time I was on them I didn't change my eating habits and I kept exercising the whole time, but even so I gained 1 lb each week I was on it (6 lbs in 6 weeks).  True, that weight did come off rather easily and probably was just fluid retention, but still, it seemed extreme compared to gaining less than 1 lb per month on Entocort.  I don't want to head down that 1 lb per week road again so I'm being a bit pre-emptive and trying to cut a few calories just to be sure.  I actually still haven't lost that extra bit of Entocort weight from when I was on it in 2014, so I have a few pairs of pants that fit a bit tight already and I don't want that situation to get worse.  (I was on Entocort from Feb thru Oct 2014 and gained 2 lbs during that time, and I actually gained about 4 lbs right after coming off of Entocort, I was exercising and trying to get back to my usual weight, but then I got the flu at xmas and couldn't exercise for awhile due to the respiratory symptoms, and now the bleeding is largely preventing me from exercising, so weight loss right now is tough with just exercise so I'm seeing a need to cut a few calories.)

I guess I should give an exercise update.  I haven't done any.    On any days where I'm having bleeding and/or just not feeling great, I'm opting to rest.  So far that's been every day this week, although today I'm doing fairly well.  I told myself that if I have a good day with no blood, then I should make the most of it.  So I'm thinking I'm going to do some gentle exercise tonight - I'm leaning towards yoga.  I have a 30 minute yoga program set up in my Wii Fit, it's just the right balance of being a bit challenging but not being crazy or anything.  It shouldn't make things worse at any rate.  It's things like the sun salutation, the warrior pose, etc - nothing that contorts me into a pretzel (not that I could anyway, I'm ridiculously un-flexible).  So I think I'll do some yoga tonight, and assess how I'm feeling tomorrow and go from there.  If tomorrow I'm still feeling okay, then I might just sneak to the gym for some weights (I'll avoid the abdominals machine so that hopefully my guts don't get angry).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/12/15:  I didn't end up doing yoga.  I got home and my guts started grumbling and I felt a bit run-down, so I rested instead.  Had more blood in my stool just before bed.  Slept okay but woke up feeling fairly bad.  Guts are not happy, I feel exhausted, I'm slightly more pale today than I've been and I'm so cold.  I'm wearing a sweater and a scarf, I have a little heater pointed right at me, and I have a mug of hot tea, but I'm still freezing and can't seem to warm up.  I'm not sure if I'm just having an "off" day or if this is a flare thing (I haven't had night sweats or getting up in the night to go or even much nausea so if it's a flare, it's giving me some abnormal symptoms - I do get chills in a flare though so who knows).  

I'm a bit concerned that I'm slipping into anemia.  On Monday when I had my bloodwork done, my CBC was still within the normal range, but it was lower than my normal - lower than what I've typically been at in the past.  And I've had blood in my stool at least once per day since then, so maybe I'm just on a downhill slide towards anemia and the paleness & coldness are due to that?  I'm not sure.  My GI had said to call him about 10 days to 2 weeks after starting the steroid suppositories, so I'll be calling him next week.  At this point I'm guessing we'll do the flexi sig since I'm still bleeding, and today I sure don't feel like I'm getting better - feels like the opposite.  I really need to get this figured out so I will request the flexi sig unless I make a miraculous recovery in the next few days.

So, I guess once again it's a rest day.  Getting really frustrated with my body.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/16/15:  Not much to report.  I had 2 or 3 days with no bleeding, but then the bleeding came back last night.    My anus HURTS today and I seem to now have a few external hemorrhoids to go with the internal ones.  Ugh.  Going to call my GI in a couple days and schedule the flexi sig.  It's definitely yet another rest day and I'm frustrated and depressed.

I'm once again doing a liquid diet for most of today (smoothies for lunch & dinner, something solid but low-res for dinner).  I can lessen the bleeding & pain by doing that, and I have a few lbs to spare anyway so I guess that's a win-win although honestly right now nothing feels like a win.  I'm quite bummed out that this has continued happening in spite of the steroid suppositories.  And of course when I get depressed, my anti-depressant of choice is exercise, but I can't work out right now which depresses me even more.  Sorry, just having a little pity party for myself over here.  I've been throwing myself a lot of pity parties lately.  I feel kind of pathetic.


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## UnXmas

Not pathetic, just sick. I hope things improve for you soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thank you, UnX.    It's been 10 days on the steroid suppositories without much improvement, so I emailed my GI this morning letting him know that and requesting that he schedule the flexi-sig for me.  I also finally broke down and told my boss about the bleeding - it's been a real struggle to get through work some days, so I felt like she needed to know what's going on and why I'm struggling.  Her response?  "You're too young to be going through this!"  Ugh, that old chestnut.  Also, really?  I mean, I told her I'm bleeding and she said I'm too young - does she think there's an appropriate age at which it's acceptable for a person to start rectally bleeding??  

I had to go out yesterday and purchase some items for an upcoming work event, and it seems that even just walking around stores now is not doing good things for me.  I went to 7 or 8 stores, and I think in the 2nd store, my anus started hurting quite a bit.  I just had to walk slowly and carefully through the rest of the stores.  It was fairly miserable.  So now it's even a struggle just to go shopping, great.  Being able to properly exercise again just seems to get further and further out of my grasp.  I'm not happy about that.

So, right now I'm just waiting to hear back from my GI's office about when I can have the flexi-sig.  Hopefully soon.  In the meantime I'm still resting and just trying to do what I can to feel better (got some stronger hemorrhoid cream for my backside, and have been doing Epsom salt baths most evenings).


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## UnXmas

I had an appointment at an osteoporosis clinic this morning - even the posters on the walls and the stacks of patient information leaflets they had everywhere seemed to imply I should be old. But an appropriate age for rectal bleeding? Maybe she just meant you're too young to be dealing with chronic health problems, which is kind of true. Lots of young people do have health problems, but enough of a majority don't for ill health to be considered mainly something that happens with old age. Good luck with the sigmoidoscopy.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I'm pretty sure she meant I'm too young to have so many health problems, but the way she phrased it made it sound like she was saying I'm too young for rectal bleeding.  At any rate, neither one of those is a helpful comment, really.  Okay, I'm young-ish (35) and I have health problems - those are the facts.  Telling me I'm too young for health problems isn't exactly going to make them go away and doesn't really make me feel better, either.  I have an aunt who is a nurse who once also told me "You're too young for this."  I was like, um, you're in the medical field, do you not have a more supportive or less generic thing to say to me than that?  She surely sees people of every age in the hospital where she works.  Plus, her own daughter (my cousin) has fairly bad health too - she's had 4 or 5 miscarriages at this point and all sorts of things like stress fractures, ovarian cysts, possible celiac, etc.  She's in the ER more frequently than I am!  So anyway, I guess I just don't get that comment.  I feel like saying to people, "I'm young and I'm sick, deal with it!"    Maybe I should have that printed on a t-shirt.

Still no exercise happening today.  Had a very painful bowel movement this morning with lots of blood.  That was a depressing way to start the day (the bloody stools tend to happen most often at the end of the day, just before bedtime - I take the steroid suppositories last thing before bed, so theoretically they work their magic while I sleep and my guts should be relatively okay when I wake up, but that was not the case today).  I thought about calling in sick, but most of the office is out at an offsite meeting so they were counting on me to hold down the fort.  So, I went to work even though I wasn't feeling so great.  To cheer myself up, I did some shopping.  I saw that one of my favorite local thrift shops was having a sale today - sometimes they do a $2 pants day, and I absolutely love $2 pants day (if I'm lucky, I can score really nice high-end designer brands for only $2 per pair!).  And today happened to be a $2 pants day, it had been a couple months since the last one and I was very excited about it.  So I went to the thrift store on my lunch break, and they happened to have some really nice workout pants in my size.  I ended up with 3 pairs, all are like new condition.  2 of them are Nike and I forget what the other one was.  They all fit perfectly.  So, whenever I'm able to work out again, I have some very nice new workout pants for a grand total of $6.  That makes me happy, but sad too.  I love buying new workout clothes, but it depresses me when I can't use them right away.  Still, I will be very happy when I do get a chance to finally wear them.  I'm looking forward to that day.


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## UnXmas

I don't find that kind of age comment annoying, the ones that annoy me are ones that fail to recognise that young, ill people exist. E.g. one time when I was at uni a guy was going on about politics and complaining that one party was promising to put more money into the NHS, and he said they were only doing it because most people who vote for them (and who vote in general) are old. I.e. that young people don't get sick and don't need the NHS. That kind of comment annoys me. (The guy who said it later asked me out and got very angry when I refused to be his girlfriend. He asked me to an "all you can eat" restaurant, because obviously eating a massive meal is just the kind of thing I like to do.... how do some people decide they want someone as their partner when they don't know one thing about them?!)

Shopping is one of my mood boosters too, though it's online shopping for me. Even if I was well enough for going to actual shops, I live in the middle of nowhere, so online shopping is far more practical. I hope you get to try out your new things soon. I think I remember a while back reading posts where you said bleeding isn't a symptom you suffer from; is the bleeding new or am I misremembering? Do you think it's haemorrhoids or Crohn's causing the bleeding? Before I had an ileostomy I used to get internal haemorrhoids and they can cause a scary amount of blood for something so relatively harmless, and if it were haemorrhoids it might explain why the steroids aren't working well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That's correct, I'm not usually a bleeder.  I first got sick in 2009 but I only started bleeding in 2013 - I didn't bleed at all for the first 3 or 4 years of my illness.  In spring of 2013, they stopped making regular Asacol (the one where you take 6 tablets a day).  Asacol had been my maintenance med, and I had been in remission and doing fine on it, I had been in remission for 2 years thanks to Asacol.  But when they stopped making it in the US (the patent was up and they could no longer make buckets of money from it), my GI put me on Asacol HD instead as they do still make that here.  But it turned out that I can't digest those two huge pills a day, they were passing through me undigested, so I was essentially getting no medicine and I entered a mild flare at that time.  Shortly after that is when the bleeding started.  It was sporadic - like one episode of bleeding every 3ish weeks, and it often seemed to happen after a bicycle ride for some odd reason.  I had a colonoscopy in Aug 2013 and that determined that the bleeding was caused by internal hemorrhoids.

I was still in a mild flare, and in Feb 2014 I convinced my GI to put me back on Entocort in an effort to achieve remission again.  I was on Entocort from Feb to Oct 2014.  I didn't bleed at all from Feb '14 until Feb '15.  A year of no blood and I felt like I was getting back into remission.  Then, about a month ago I stupidly ate something that was whole grain and really high in fiber.  That just seemed to set everything off and that's when I started bleeding in earnest.  The past few weeks, I've had bleeding like never before - it's almost every single day and sometimes multiple times per day.  I'm still guessing it's hemorrhoids and/or a fissure - the blood is always bright red and my anal/rectal area feels quite painful (it feels like really bad hemorrhoids).  I definitely have external hemmies which are quite painful, and I presume I still have or again have internal ones which are the culprit for the bleeding.  My guts are a bit unsettled too and last night I had a wicked episode of nausea, so it could be a bit of a flare going on as well.  I'm really hoping it's just horrendous hemmies, and maybe my GI could do something about them (band them?) during the flexi-sig (which I'm still waiting for a call back on, I left another message with my GI's office this morning).

So yeah, long story short, I definitely am not typically a bleeder and in the past my sporadic bleeding has been due to hemmies.  This bleeding every day thing is new to me and I really don't like it, so I hope the flexi-sig happens soon so that I can know exactly what's going on and what we can do about it.

I had another bad episode of blood last night - that's 2 bad episodes yesterday.  I'm afraid the bleeding seems to be getting worse rather than better.  I'm also worried about an upcoming event.  A week from tomorrow, I have to help out at a work event that is 2 hours away - I have to help set up, wear a fancy dress, help hand out awards, help with taking photos, basically I have to be on my feet for the whole evening and it's not optional.  At this point, I'm not sure how I'm going to do it.  It sounds exhausting and at times I'm getting light-headed, so there's a risk that I may actually pass out in a fancy dress in front of a lot of my colleagues.  Sheesh, how awful would that be!  My hubby will be there with me at least, so I'll have someone there who knows what's going on.  I'm still really dreading it, though.  I'm dreading the supposedly-fun work event more than I'm dreading the flexi-sig, ha ha!  

I love online shopping too.  I buy most of my jewelry online.  (I tend to buy cheap but pretty costume jewelry from China - I know, it's not the best quality, but it's within my budget and it usually is really pretty and I get a lot of compliments on my jewelry.)  And wow, how awful that some loser asked you out to an all you can eat restaurant!  I'm glad you turned him down, he sounds absolutely clueless.  It would have been kind of funny though to go and eat like 5 pieces of rice and then say you're full.    He'd still have had to pay for your meal even if you had done that!  Ha ha.  Maybe then he'd at least think a bit harder about where to take a date to eat.


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## hawkeye

Keep an eye on the iron levels with the bleeding.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Hawkeye.  I did have bloodwork done 2 weeks ago when I saw my GI, and I can request more bloodwork when I have the flexi-sig.  We're definitely keeping an eye on what my blood is doing.

Speaking of the flexi-sig, my GI got in touch with me on Saturday morning (I swear he's never not working) and he said he will order the flexi-sig.  Of course, it was right after I heard from my GI that I started to feel better.    I don't believe I passed any blood all weekend long.  I feel generally less woozy (less like I'm going to pass out), more energetic, and less crummy.  It's only been 2 days so I'm not sure yet if I'm actually on the mend.  Still, it'd be really nice if this no bleeding thing continues!  If I could have the energy to get through the big fancy work event on Saturday, that would be wonderful.  So, I'm trying to eat safe foods and still rest a lot just to keep this upswing going.

The downside of this, of course, is that if I'm feeling very well and the bleeding stops on its own, then I may as well just cancel the flexi-sig.  I know, that's not a huge downside, but it would be nice to know for sure what caused the bleeding and how to treat it if it happens again.  Maybe this feeling good is due to the steroid suppositories finally kicking in?  I've been on them 2 weeks as of today.  Maybe they just finally started working their magic?

I think, if I'm still feeling reasonably well after the big work event, then I will start exercising again after that.  That's my goal right now.  I need to get through this week first as I'm basically working 7 days straight (my normal Mon-Fri work week, the big event on Saturday, and then cleaning up & going home Sunday).  I'm taking a couple days off next week to recuperate, so I'll be able to properly rest if needed.  But, on Monday if I'm feeling okay, I think I will try a brief workout and see how it goes.  If it goes okay then I'll start to ramp things up to my usual intensity and length of time.  I don't want to push myself too much too soon and start bleeding all over again, but if I can make it through this whole week with minimal/no bleeding, then I think (hope) I'll be in the clear to start doing some workouts again.  I'm already getting excited about it!  Now I just need this week to be over with!


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## UnXmas

Wouldn't it be worth having the flexi sig anyway since it may still show the cause of the bleeding even though the bleeding had stopped?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, it probably still would be worthwhile - well, depending on how soon I can have it.  My GI said he ordered the test but I haven't gotten a call yet to schedule it.  I'm hoping he put me down as urgent so that I can have it in a matter of days/weeks, rather than months.  I had an experience recently with my GP, I had gone to him because of lingering vertigo (I had labyrinthitis for about 3 months from Aug - Nov 2014) and he wrote me a referral for a special type of physical therapy for labyrinthitis.  But the waiting list was so long, I think it was 2 months long, and by the time my appointment came around I just cancelled it because I had recovered on my own and didn't have vertigo anymore.  So I'm kind of worried this will be another one of those situations, but I guess I'm getting ahead of myself and I should just wait for the phone call to schedule it and go from there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/26/15:  I still haven't done a proper workout lately, but yesterday I tried to sneak a bit of fitness into my everyday life.  I moved around some big heavy boxes at work, I walked around a lot, and on my lunch break I did some shopping and bought some heavy things (like 6 lbs of Epsom salt for baths) and carried that all around the store, etc.  By the end of the work day, my stomach was not super happy, so that's quite discouraging.  (Fortunately though an Epsom salt bath in the evening made me feel better, so I guess that's the silver lining - although I still can't tell if that stuff is actually doing me some good or if it's just a placebo effect, or if a hot bath without any salt would have also made me feel better, etc.)  I am feeling okay today, so at least I'm not paying for it the next day.  Still, I had hoped that increasing my activity every so slightly wouldn't be a big deal, but my body clearly didn't like it.  That's not good.  I haven't bled for 5 days and counting so I feel like I must be healing, I guess the process is just going slower than I would like.  I was hoping to try to get back into working out next week after I recover from the big work event on Saturday, but now I am not sure if that's wise.  It's frustrating, but I am healing and that's not nothing, I just have to be more patient I guess.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/27/15:  Finally got my flexi sig scheduled!  It's on April 7th, so about 10 days away.  And a rather interesting turn of events, the nurse on the phone said I could have sedation for it.  My GI hadn't mentioned anything about sedation, so I figured I'd just have to deal with being scoped with no sedation and no pain meds.  Nope, it sounds like I can have my usual colonoscopy combo of versed & fentanyl!  So I'm leaning towards having the sedation.  My hubby is off that day and he can drive me, and it sounds like I can get the full day off of work myself.  (I've been toying with the idea of not having sedation and going back to work after the flexi sig, but I think I'm going to play it safe and probably will take the sedation and have the full day off.)  This is a relief because the rectal pain has been quite bad today.  I'm still not 100% sure I'm going for the sedation, but that's definitely the direction I'm leaning towards.

Still not sure about when I'll be able to return to exercise.  I feel very run-down and yucky today.  Not sure how I'm going to get through the work event tomorrow.  It's going to suck.  At this point, I may just wait until after the flexi-sig to get back into working out.  Or alternatively, maybe I'll go on some bike rides just before the flexi sig and try to really piss off my hemorrhoids and get them bleeding like crazy just before the flexi sig so my GI can see the full effect of what's going on in there.  (I probably won't do that as it sounds kind of awful, but if it gets me a good result from this test...)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/31/15:  I survived the work banquet!  It was stressful and I was on my feet most of the day which was exhausting (I'm used to sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day, my job is typically not very active).  It was also fun though and the food was delicious and I had a good time, it didn't really feel like work, and most importantly my body didn't punish me too much the next day.  (Even though I ate salad with dinner!!)

Sunday was mainly a travel day, we had to go pick up our dog (my mom was watching her while we were out of town) and it was a long drive home so that was also rather exhausting.  On Monday, I had taken the day off of work because I figured I'd need a full rest day to recover.  I actually felt pretty good though on Monday, so we did a lot of stuff around the house.  We had some old cabinets in our basement from our kitchen remodel, so we dragged all those out to the yard and broke them down into boards, removed nails & screws, etc.  That was like 90 mins of physical labor - I was hitting cabinets with a hammer and removing nails from boards, etc.  It was basically a workout in itself, and I feel pretty good today so that's really encouraging!  I have a bit of muscle soreness but my guts are pretty good.

So, I'm going to do a short workout tonight to keep this going.  Since yesterday was so intense, I'm going easier with things tonight.  I have a 30 min Jane Fonda workout DVD and it says it's low-impact, so I'm going to give that a try.  If I'm still feeling okay tomorrow then I'll take it from there!  

I do have a flexi-sig in a week, though.  I haven't bled in something like a week now and I've been feeling better.  But I kind of feel like I have to make things worse again so that I'll get a worthwhile result from the flexi-sig.  So although I'm super jazzed that I'm doing better, I also feel like I need to purposely sabotage myself and make myself bleed again.  Ugh.  I just have to be worse for a week, after the flexi-sig then I can continue feeling better again.  But still, I guess I need to increase my fiber intake for a few days as that's what set of the bleeding in the first place (specifically, frosted mini wheats - I don't want to go there again and set off another month's worth of bleeding, so I am going to make myself eat something slightly less fibrous - still haven't figured out what just yet).  Wish me luck because I feel like either way, I'm going to need it!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/1/15:  I did the Jane Fonda 30 min "beginner" workout last night.  Holy cow, that's maybe not so much for beginners!  The pace was very fast and at times I couldn't keep up.  Also, Jane apparently thinks that beginners are ridiculously flexible.  I am ridiculously un-flexible.  I cannot touch my toes, I cannot do the splits (I can't even get remotely close!).  Some of the exercises required those things, so I sort of sucked at those parts.  She also had a long section on hip exercises, and I had to skip some of those as my arthritis just doesn't allow for a lot of hip exercise.  I did end up in a bit of hip pain last night from what I did do, so I'm glad I skipped some of it.  My hips feel mostly okay this morning, so at least I didn't overdo things too terribly much.  But yeah, I figured the "beginner" workout would be, you know, aimed at beginners.  Not so much!  

I'm thinking of taking it easier today since yesterday's workout ended up being more intense than I had thought it would be.  It's really nice out and I think I will walk my dog this evening.  Tomorrow, if I'm feeling up to it, I'm going to do weights.


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## UnXmas

How often do you walk your dog? Dogs are a great way of making sure you get exercise if motivation is ever a problem. I can't give my dog all she needs, so my parents give her two walks a day between them, and I give her one. Knowing she loves it is good motivation for me to get out, because it's a great way to bond. My dog knows the routine, when each person is likely to take her out, and will come and ask when it's time.

And my dog is actually really not much of a walker as dogs go. One of my previous dogs was high energy, and he usually got about three hours of walks a day (and he'd be charging off into the distance then back again for the whole of each walk), and would still charge round the house and outside most of the time he wasn't out on walks.

I go out for walks with my dog now and we're very well suited as we go the same speed - slow.  As you're much fitter than I am, if you're ever short of exercise ideas, maybe you could consider going out jogging or cycling with your dog, or whatever you enjoy? Or agility classes if your dog is able to do that kind of thing (I used to do dog agility when I was a kid - it gets you very fit!).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My husband is currently under-employed (in a typical week he works only one 7-hour shift - he's been looking for full-time work but so far no luck) so he is usually the one who walks our dog.  I usually walk her on the weekends and he walks her during the week, that's often the way it works out (during the warmer months I try to walk her after work in the evenings sometimes as well).  We're fortunate enough to live very close to a large fenced-in dog park, so we always walk her to the park and then do a lap of the park.  My dog loooooooves the park so she's always up for going for a walk.  She's not super high energy - she's a 6 year old corgi and she's a bit fat and lazy, but on walks she does like to walk fast especially on the way to the park as she's excited to get there.  Once we're in the park, she likes to sniff everything and meet all the other dogs and people, so then the pace of the walk slows down a bit.

Motivation isn't a problem for me - I love working out, it makes me feel healthy and strong, and it's basically the only time I can forget for a bit that I am ill.  It's the best anti-depressant I've come across, it's just the best!  So I don't really have any issues with motivation, I have more issues with my body not being up to exercise because of whatever symptoms are going on.  Like lately with the blood loss, it's made me feel dizzy and light-headed at times, so with that going on it's not wise to risk passing out during a workout - I could injure myself if I fell, especially if I was on the treadmill or holding heavy weights.  So yeah, I get frustrated when I'm not well enough to do a workout, but I never lack motivation.

Oh, and I sadly cannot jog nor cycle with my dog.  I can't jog at all due to hip arthritis, jogging is just too high-impact for my hips and it becomes painful very quickly, and if I push it and try to jog through the pain, that just makes the pain worse and I end up needing my cane for like 4 days afterwards.  I can ride my bike, but my dog wouldn't be able to keep up.  When we got our dog, my brother was living with us at that time.  He's a runner, so one day he tried taking my dog out for a jog.  They returned about 5 mins later - my dog couldn't even run 2 blocks before she got tired out and decided to stop.  She's just not a runner!  She can walk fast, but those short little corgi legs of hers, combined with the fact that she's a bit fat, makes her not really built for running.  We haven't tried any agility classes with her, but that might be something to consider trying.  I have a neighbor who has 2 corgis and hers do classes like that, so I might ask to join her sometime.  My dog is very intelligent and learns new tricks quickly (she'll do anything for a treat!), so I bet she'd do pretty well at agility.  Thanks for the idea!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/2/15:  I did take my dog to the park last night - the weather was beautiful!  And my dog got to play with her friends - my neighbor had her 2 corgis at the park, and there was also another corgi there, so it was 4 corgi friends playing together.    It was seriously cute!  My dog had such a fun time, she loves her friends.  I had a fun time too, it was so nice to get outside for awhile and I didn't even need a jacket!

Walking isn't always the easiest on my hips (walking is a bit too high impact for my joints at times), and sometimes the weather makes my arthritis act up as well.  It's rainy this morning, so I think the combo of walking yesterday and rain today has made my bad hip a little painful today (both my hips have arthritis, but the right has always been worse than the left, and it's the right hip that hurts today).  I'm planning on going to the gym for weights and will be focusing mainly on arms today.  I am going to do some hip stretches as well as that usually helps my hips feel better.  So that's the plan!

Tomorrow I might do yoga or the stationary bike if I feel up to it.  If I'm still feeling reasonably well on Saturday, I think I will do weights again.  Still trying to make myself bleed for my flexi-sig - I had a big salad yesterday but it caused me zero trouble!  Usually a meal-sized salad is a huge no-no for me, so that's a bit odd.  I guess I'm just going to keep on eating iffy/fibrous foods in an effort to bleed by Tuesday.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/6/15:  I did go to the gym on Thursday.  My abs and hip were sore, so I left those areas alone and focused mainly on arms, and that went fine.  The stationary bike in the little gym in my workplace is still broken - in the past I would do 5-10 mins on the bike to warm up, but it's been broken for a couple months now.  So my warmup when I go to the little gym now consists of a variety of mainly bodyweight exercises instead - squats, lunges, jumping jacks, jump rope, pushups, etc.  That's been going okay but I miss the bike.  I've been told that the building owners are going to either fix or replace it, but they are sure taking their sweet time.

Friday I didn't work out - hubby and I did a bunch of things around the house and ran some errands, and by the time that was all done I was pretty wiped out.  Saturday, I had been thinking of going to the gym, but we had really nice weather and ended up doing some strenuous yard work instead.  Our house is older (built in the 1950s) and it came with one of those insanely heavy cast iron and concrete utility sinks in the basement.  It looks like it belongs in a prison and it weighs approximately 10 zillion lbs.    We got a more modern plastic utility sink, so the heavy concrete sink has just been sitting in a corner in our basement for years.  We finally decided on Saturday to try to move it out of our basement!  It took a ton of effort and like 2 hours - we have a walk-out basement so fortunately we only had to get it up 3 stairs, but even so that was a pretty insane amount of effort to move it even that far.  Between hubby and I, we could just barely move the stupid thing.  We eventually got it up the 3 stairs and into the backyard and that's where it's staying - we dug a hole and buried it halfway, and are using it as a planter now.  It actually looks kind of nice as a planter!  And since it's a sink, it's already got drainage built in.  So that will help us with our gardening efforts as we're trying to grow a lot of plants this year (fresh fruits and veggies can be problematic for me as-is, but I can juice just about anything without trouble).  So, I definitely got a workout from moving that huge stupidly heavy thing plus digging the hole to partially bury it.  It took about 3 hours total to move the sink, dig the hole, get the sink into the ground and put the dirt back.  It was worth it, though, it's nice to have a new planter plus that awful heavy thing is out of my basement forever!  

Yesterday I was still a bit sore from moving the sink, plus it was Easter, so I took a rest day.  Today, I'm heading to the gym for weights as the soreness is largely gone.  Tomorrow is my flexi sig - it's not until noon, so I'm thinking I might do some yoga in the morning before heading to the clinic.  I don't want to do anything strenuous as I'm not allowed any food nor water for 4 hours before my scope, so I won't do anything that makes me sweat as I won't be able to drink any water.  Yoga should be fine though.  I'll have to see how I'm feeling after my scope - my GI always likes to take a lot of biopsies, and as a result sometimes I'm in a bit of pain the next day once the fentanyl has worn off.  So, if I'm in pain on Wednesday then I'll rest.  If I'm feeling reasonably okay then I'll do weights again.


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## UnXmas

Good luck with the test. I was going to say something along the lines of hoping it finds nothing wrong, but I think you were hoping it would show up something to explain the bleeding? If I've got that right, then I hope it finds something but that the something is easily treatable.  (And also that the test itself isn't too uncomfortable.)


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## hawkeye

Great idea with the sink, I doubt that I'll be able to plant any vegetables until June this year.  We are thinking of raised bed planters.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks, UnX!  I think I'm hoping that it finds something, but that the something is minor like hemorrhoids.  I don't want the bleeding to have been caused by anything more serious than that.  So think happy hemmie thoughts for me!  

Hawkeye, we're thinking of doing raised garden beds as well.  For now, we can put old windows on top of the sink to use it like a little greenhouse, so we can start seeds in it now.  I have a lot of seeds so that's part of what I'm going to figure out in the next few days, which seeds do I want to start first!  We also have an old wheelbarrow in our basement - it has no wheels, the handles are broken, and it's full of dried cement (a gift from the people who used to live in our house).  My hubby thinks that if he can get the cement out with his sledgehammer, then we can use the wheelbarrow as a planter box as well.  I'll just be happy to get it out of my basement as well as it takes up a lot of space and is currently utterly worthless!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I went to the little gym in the basement of my workplace on my lunch hour today for a fairly quick weights workout.  That went very well!  I am tired, I didn't sleep well last night and I feel mentally foggy.  But apparently physically I feel just fine - it was one of those easy breezy workouts where the weights feel a bit lighter than they usually do, I had energy to spare and found myself wishing that I had more than an hour to spend in the gym!  You know those workouts where your whole body just goes like, "Ahhhh, this is exactly what I needed" - it was one of those.  I just felt fantastic the whole time.  And I must have been working out a bit intensely, as I got my GERD to start acting up (it usually acts up during an intense workout but is fairly quiet during less intense things like yoga).  It's been awhile since I had a workout where I started belching from my GERD getting riled up - not that I enjoy belching and refluxing during a workout, but that said to me that I'm doing something right.  So even though my GERD has been nothing but problematic during workouts many times in the past, it was almost nice for it to act up today.  I finally feel like I'm starting to get back to my old self, the self who works out a lot.

I also got to properly rock out to my favorite workout music which was so nice.  The little gym in the basement of my workplace, for ages it had an ancient box-style TV with a built in DVD player that frequently didn't work.  I used to burn youtube music videos of my favorite songs to DVDs and then watch those while I'm working out, so in the past when the DVD player would actually work, I'd put my music on the TV and it would fill the gym and I'd just rock out while working out.  Then the DVD player died completely and I had to switch to my ipod for music, and it's just not the same.  My ipod is great for the big gym where there are lots of other people around because in that situation I like to put on my headphones and drown out everyone around me and just focus on me and be in my own head, but in the little gym where I'm almost always the only one there, I love having my music blasting out loud from the TV speakers rather than keeping it intimate and in my headphones only.  That little gym is already intimate and it feels downright lonely to be alone in there and have my headphones on - maybe I'm just weird, but I feel like I need the music to be more out in the open than that.  So anyway, we finally got a new flatscreen TV in the little gym, and today I was able to play my music on the TV again!  It was so fun, I was singing along in between sets and dancing from machine to machine.  I think that's another part of why my workout today felt so good, my favorite workout songs were able to be played as they should be and the whole gym was full of music and it just pumped me up!    It was wonderful!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/7/15:  I had my scope today.  I wasn't able to do yoga beforehand - I had been told that I could drink water but had to stop 4 hours before my scope.  My scope was at noon, so I got up at 7:30 and drank water until 8.  I felt parched, so I guzzled a ton of water - probably too much.  That gave me some d and I felt fairly yucky, so I opted to rest until my scope.

The scope itself was a bit eventful.  The enemas that I had to do to clean out my sigmoid, those really sucked!  They caused massive cramping and were just plain awful.  I honestly think I'd rather do prep than enemas again, seriously.  The cramps I get from prep are like 1/5th what the enema cramps were.

The scope itself, apparently the sedation didn't work right.  I don't remember much, fortunately.  And I wasn't in pain.  But I was awake & talking the whole time.  I have bits of memories, mainly I remember opening my eyes and trying to see what was happening on the monitor, but my glasses weren't on and I couldn't see.  My GI said I was loopy and talking nonsense the entire time.  He also said that I'm getting propofol from now on so that I can be knocked out properly, as we don't want this to happen again.  So, that's a good thing!

Another good thing is that my scope found the source of my bleeding, and it is indeed hemorrhoids.  I haven't bled in about 2 weeks now, and my GI said that my internal hemmies are shrinking and healing, which is what I had been hoping.  He took some random biopsies but I don't expect they'll show anything.  He said that besides the hemmies, everything else looks great.  It sounds like I'm probably in remission and all my recent troubles have been hemmie-related.  So that's very good news!  I feel like this is a big green light for me to properly get back into fitness.  I've had so many health hurdles lately with the labyrinthitis and then the flu and then the bleeding - I really hope this is the end of that stuff for awhile and that I can enjoy remission and get back into working out a lot!  I'm feeling really optimistic and hopeful.  So yeah, I had a not great experience but a good outcome.  Presuming that I feel okay tomorrow (not sure exactly how many biopsies my GI took), then I'll be back in the gym.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/8/15:  Well, I'm not in any pain from the scope nor the biopsies, so I'm going to head to the gym shortly.  I do have a headache today, although it's not as bad this afternoon as it was this morning.  And sometimes a workout will help alleviate my headaches, so all the more reason to go to the gym.  My one concern is that within the past couple hours, I suddenly became super gassy.  I did re-start taking psyllium husks today, so I am pretty sure that the gassiness is because of the teaspoon of psyllium I had this morning.  Fortunately I'm going to the little gym in the basement at work, and I'm usually the only one there, so if need be I guess I'll just fart it out during my workout!     If my headache cooperates, I do plan to crank the music up on the TV again, so that will at least cover up any sound, ha ha.

I definitely need a workout today, too.  It's been a stressful day especially with finding out that my grandpa is in the hospital.  I plan to push myself as much as I can - I won't overdo it since things are probably still a bit tender inside from the scope & biopsies yesterday and I don't want to upset things, but I will definitely do what I can.

Tomorrow I'm thinking I'll do the stationary bike at home (the one at work is still broken).  I'm going to try for 45 mins to an hour of that.  I always find myself getting bored when doing more than 30 mins on the stationary bike - pedaling to nowhere with no change in scenery is just dull.  So I need to find a new TV show to watch while I do the bike, I think that could help alleviate the boredom.  I really like Korean dramas - I'm slooooowly trying to teach myself Korean, so I try to pick up on new words, plus reading the subtitles keeps my mind busy.  I'm not sure which one to watch next, though.  I just finished My Love From Another Star and it was so good, I need to find another good one like that.  So I think tonight I'm going to peruse what's available and add some episodes to my Hulu queue for future cardio sessions.

Friday I've made a date night with the hubby to go to the big paid membership gym and do a longer weights session than what I'm usually able to accomplish on my lunch break at work.  We'll do a nice long workout and then have dinner together - probably at a little falafel place near our house.  Saturday the hope is to do more yard work (the wheelbarrow that I mentioned in a previous post) if the weather is nice.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I went to the gym and the gassiness disappeared - no farting it up in the gym!    My headache is getting better as well - it's still there a little bit, but not throbbing and horrible like it was this morning, it's far more tolerable now.  I was able to do everything in the gym including the abdominals machine and I felt pretty good the whole way through.  Oh, and the elevator at work is broken today, so I got a bit of extra exercise walking the stairs from 3rd floor to the basement and back again (I normally do like taking the stairs but not with my heavy gym bag - it wasn't so bad today though so I might take the stairs with my gym bag more often).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/9/15:  Well, my plans have all changed already.  My hip pain is acting up today in response to an impending thunderstorm, so I think I'm going to rest instead of do the bike.  I probably will stretch things out very well tonight but I don't plan to push my hip to do much of anything on a bad pain day.  And Fri-Sat-Sun, hubby now has to work, so I'll be going to the gym by myself on Friday if my hip is feeling better by then.  Really I'm just going to play it by ear due to the hip pain, and I'll do what I can when I can.  Hopefully once this storm blows through then my hip will feel better - that's usually how it goes.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/10/15:  The storms have finally ended and my bad hip is feeling mostly better.  Not 100%, but definitely a solid 85%.  I think that's good enough for me to go to the gym.  Since hubby ended up having to work today, I'm just going to head down to the little gym again and do another lunch hour workout.

Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be 65 and sunny, which sounds wonderful and I think I would like to take a bike ride!  That's just about perfect bike riding weather, not too hot and not too cold so I won't freeze nor sweat to death.  I'd also like to do a bit of yard work but nothing too strenuous, just pruning back some things before they bud out and stuff like that.  So that's the plan!  I haven't really thought as far ahead as Sunday yet, as my parents are coming to town and I have to have lunch with them.  I'm thinking I'll probably do a quickie weights session at home with my dumbbells either before or after lunch, I just have to figure out exactly when I'll be able to do that (usually I plan my meals around my workouts, not the other way around, so I just need to make sure my stomach has been empty for at least 2 hours before doing weights or my GERD will get mad).

Maybe I should talk about my diet a bit as well, as now that I'm getting back into properly working out, I'm also trying to eat a bit healthier.  I'm having my usual smoothie for breakfast - I added a few new ingredients to it which is going well so far.  I got some powdered peanut butter and also some chia seeds and added a teaspoon of each to my usual smoothie (crushed ice, almond milk, cocoa powder, soy-based protein/vitamin powder, and a banana).  I declare it to be delicious!    For my snack I packed a few options into my lunch - string cheese, soy yogurt, and a banana.  Lunch is crab salad with goat cheese on potato bread - I've actually never tried potato bread before (I like to try new foods on Fridays, so that I have the weekend to recover if it goes badly).  So that will be interesting, although I don't think it'll cause me any issues as potatoes are safe for me.  Dinner will be a salmon filet with half an avocado.  I might make couscous as a side dish as well depending on how hungry I am.  

Tomorrow... well, I'm thinking of riding my bike to a little café where they make seriously delicious salads.  It's about 5 miles from my house so it'd be about a 10 mile bike ride round trip, not bad at all for my first ride of the year.  I kind of want to just ride there, order a salad to go, take it home and scarf the whole thing down.    I'm sort of obsessed with salads, sometimes they affect me really badly but other times they don't, it's really always a mystery what a salad is going to do to me.  These salads at this café, they're so yummy and the last 2 times I didn't experience any repercussions from them.  So I'm thinking about being sort of bad and getting a salad!  Wish me luck!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Ugh, change of plans yet again.  I went to the gym today for weights, and during my warm-up, I noticed some pain in my left quad.  I think I pulled it?  I went easy on my legs and just focused on arms.  I walked a bit on the treadmill to cool down but the quad pain is still there.   So, I am now thinking it's best to not go on a bike ride tomorrow as I should probably rest this and let it heal.  Not happy about that!  (And I may still go out and get a salad anyway even if I don't bike there.)  Bleh!  Hopefully this is just another blip on the radar and nothing big.  Still, frustrated.  I hate when my body forces me to rest.  Not cool, body!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/13/15:  I didn't go to the gym all weekend.  Saturday I mostly rested, although I did about 90 mins of yard work (massively trimming back some bushes and planting some seeds in my new planter).  That was moderately strenuous - one of the bushes I was trimming is a very pokey bush so there was a lot of bending and moving involved in order to trim it without poking myself (I still got poked a lot!).  My quad fortunately felt okay the whole time.  Sunday, my parents came for a visit so we ate way too much food and then took a long walk afterwards.  It was sort of an adventure walk with climbing over logs and things down a nature trail.  Again, my quad felt fine the whole time, so that's encouraging!

Today I'm planning on going down to the little gym.  I'll probably take it easy on my legs and mainly focus on arms as I don't want to re-injure my quad.  I will test it out a little bit but won't push it at all.  If that goes okay then I might try a short bike ride tomorrow.  I won't do any crazy hills or anything like that, I'll keep it around 5-6 miles max as I still won't want to push my quad too too much at that point.

I did go and get myself some salad over the weekend.  I decided to just make my own at home, so I went to the store and bought lettuce, tomatoes, etc.  Had a delicious salad on Friday evening and it didn't bother my guts.  Had another one on Sunday night and the guts were a tiny bit crampy afterwards, but it was totally tolerable and the guts are fine today.  I guess I must really be in remission if I can reliably eat salad without issues!  I'm still hoping someday soon to be able to ride my bike to that little café and pick up a salad.  The café isn't far from my gym, so I could incorporate it with a bike ride to the gym, a weights session at the gym, then ride to the café afterwards and get a to-go salad and bring it home in my bike basket.  That's sounding like a good plan, now I just need to find a nice weekend day to do it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/14/15:  I went to the gym yesterday and that went well.  I played it very safe with my quad and I didn't experience any pain from it.  The only thing I even did leg-wise was a few very cautious and slow lunges during my warm-up to test it out.  That went fine fortunately.  The rest of the time I focused on arms, back, and a bit of abs.  Now that I'm doing better, I can do a bit more ab work.  I still can't do much ab work as it tends to anger my GERD pretty quickly, so any ab work is considered a success.  I did some crunches and a plank.

The weather is really nice this week, so after work I took my dog to the park.  She met up with her corgi friends and they played around for awhile.  It was really nice to get outside.  Springtime is finally properly here!

Today my legs feel a bit tired, I think from the walking that I've done lately.  I think I'm going to rest today rather than ride my bike - I still want to play it safe with my quad.  Tomorrow, I am going back to the gym for weights and I will try to ease back into working my legs a bit more.  I probably still won't push it too much, but I will likely do more cautious lunges and maybe squats too (not with weights, just bodyweight squats).  If things continue to go well, then maybe I'll ride my bike on Thursday.  Friday is the re-scheduled date night with hubby - going to the big paid membership gym for a longer weights session, then going out for a nice dinner afterwards.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/15/15:  It's been SUCH a rough week at work.  In a nutshell, I got yelled at by someone (who isn't my boss), and the reason I got yelled at was because I did my job the way my boss told me to.  Seriously.  I did everything right but somehow still got yelled at for it and made to feel that I'm stupid and do everything wrong.  That's not cool.  I ended up crying at my desk yesterday.  I have a super nice boss though and she brought me flowers and donuts this morning because she knew I was upset.  She's so sweet.

So, with the crazy stress and emotions, I *so* need to do a workout today!  I wish we had something like a punching bag in the gym because I really just want to hit something!    But lifting weights is usually just fine when I need to work out some emotions, so I'm going to go and lift as heavy as I can.  My quad feels fine and I kinda just want to push my body to physical exhaustion, so I will (cautiously at first) go for a whole body weights workout today.  I think I'm going to walk my dog tonight after work, too.  If I manage not to re-injure my quad today, then I'm going to do a bike ride tomorrow.  Friday, going to the big gym with hubby.  This weekend, we're hoping to do more yard work and I'll surely go to the gym at some point and walk the dog too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I pushed myself in the gym and I feel good!  My quad didn't hurt at all, even though I did lunges, squats, and probably other leg exercises that I'm forgetting.  I did every weight machine including the abdominals machine.  I pushed myself as much as I could - my reflux got pretty riled up by the end of my workout.  I feel pretty tired now and my abs feel a bit sore, but I feel quite good too.  I should still have enough energy left to walk my dog tonight, so that's the plan.  Tomorrow, presuming I'm still feeling good, I'm going for a bike ride.    I can't wait!


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## UnXmas

I expect some people would say that yoga is the right type of activity for dealing with anger and frustration.... but punch bags are so much more satisfying.  It's a long time since I've played it, but I remember squash as a good game to play when someone's made you want to hit them.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Squash is tennis, correct?  If so, tennis is a bit problematic for me.  I've tried but it just doesn't end up so well.  The running around on the tennis court makes my arthritis a bit angry, and the repeated bending over to pick up the tennis ball can make my GERD get riled up.  Last time I played tennis, I ended up with hip pain and a reflux attack - it wasn't fun.    So yeah, I've tried, but tennis just isn't my sport.

Yoga, I think you have to have the right personality type or at least be in the right mindset to be able to relieve stress and emotion.  Personally I need a much more intense workout to get my stress out - that's why I love lifting weights so much, as that's the best stress-relief and anti-depressant for me.  I tend to bottle things up (I'm trying to be better about that, but that's my natural inclination) so in an intense workout, it's like the bottle opens up and releases all the pressure - the actual issue doesn't necessarily go away, but it becomes far easier to deal with.  I don't really get that from yoga - don't get me wrong, I feel good after a yoga workout, but I don't get that "Ahhhhhh" feeling of leaving my emotions and stress in the gym like I do when I lift weights.

I had a co-worker ask me if I meditate, and I laughed and said no.  I'm way too antsy, I can't sit still and do nothing like that.  My mind is always going, I don't think I could shut it up even if I tried just by sitting still.  But with weight lifting, my mind does kind of shut up.  Or at least it quiets down enough because it has to use its full energy to concentrate on what I'm doing.  I need to count reps, focus on my form and my breathing, talk myself into doing another rep or couple of reps when I start to feel like I maybe can't do another, etc.  That to me is the closest I get to meditation.  I guess with meditation and with yoga, there's not enough going on for my mind to be able to focus.  With weights, though, I can focus - my workout takes up all my brain capacity and there's no room for noise or outside stuff.  Maybe that's weird, I don't know.  It's like a body workout and a mind workout.  I think that's what other people get out of yoga, and I get it from weights.

Anyway, I'm rambling again.  I should give an update.  I feel a bit sore today from my workout yesterday, but I don't feel pain - the quad still feels good.  My guts are a bit upset, I've had some d and my guts just generally feel a bit unhappy.  My hemorrhoids aren't super happy either (because of the d, I'm sure).  I was thinking of riding my bike tonight, but now I'm not sure if that's such a good idea.  I'll probably play it by ear and see how I'm feeling later today.  I could always just go for a short ride to see how that goes.  Or I could decide that I'm just not up for a bike ride tonight and I can always walk my dog instead.  Once again we're having a really nice day weather-wise, so I will get outside and do something, I just have to listen to my body and figure out what would be best.


----------



## UnXmas

No, squash is far more violent than tennis:  http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squash_(sport)

Or at least it was when we played it at school and used to hit the ball through the ceiling of the squash court.

Edit: According to Wikipedia, it provides a good workout:



> Squash provides an excellent cardiovascular workout. In one hour of squash, a player may expend approximately 600 to 1000 food calories (3,000 to 4,000 kJ).[1] The sport also provides a good upper and lower body workout by utilising both the legs to run around the court and the arms and torso to swing the racquet. In 2003, Forbes rated squash as the number one healthiest sport to play.[1] However, some studies have implicated squash as a cause of possible fatal cardiac arrhythmia and argued that squash is an inappropriate form of exercise for older men with heart disease.[13]


But it would probably have the same problems for you as tennis.

I can't meditate either. Maybe because I have had so many times of extreme boredom (e.g. weeks in hospital) sitting still and doing nothing is very unappealing to me.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, squash is racquetball!  I have only played that once, years ago when we belonged to a fancy expensive gym for a  short time (I now belong to a cheaper, more bare-bones gym that doesn't have a racquetball court).  I do recall it being very tiring so I'm sure it is a good workout.  But yeah, with my issues with tennis, I'm presuming I'd have the same issues with racquetball, and I don't even have access to a racquetball court anymore so I can't try it out regardless.

Doing nothing is unappealing to me, too.  Even when I'm just sitting and watching TV, I need to be doing *something*.  So I crochet - it keeps my hands and my mind busy enough that I'm not antsy, but I can still watch TV while I'm crocheting, and I end up with a usable item when I'm finished, so it's a win all around.  I'm working on a dog blanket right now to donate to a corgi group - it'll be raffled off at a local corgi picnic in September.  Last year they didn't have a lot of great stuff to raffle off, and they donate all the money from the raffle to a corgi rescue, so I volunteered to contribute something to the raffle to help them out.  I also sometimes crochet scarves and hats, and there's a woman at work who donates that type of thing to a local cancer center, so I will make a bunch of stuff and then give it all to her to donate.  It feels nice to make things for a good cause.  And it keeps me busy and stops me from getting bored and antsy when I'm watching TV.  The only problem is that I'm practically a yarn addict at this point!    Whenever I buy more yarn, my husband is like, really?  You needed more yarn even though you have like a metric ton of it already?  Ha ha.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Have I mentioned yet that I'm a bit addicted to buying workout clothes?    I bought myself another sports bra today.  Because apparently 3 black ones were not enough and I needed a 4th, ha ha.  

My guts have settled - I haven't had any d since first thing this morning and things feel far less grumbly.  I think that's my body giving me the green light to do a bicycle ride tonight.  I'm downloading Map My Ride as it was recommended to me by brooklyn23, so I'm going to give that app a try.  It looks like it tracks where you ride, what distance you ride, your speed, etc.  All very useful stuff so hopefully that will work well for me - when I log my exercise into my fitbit dashboard, it wants to know that sort of information, particularly distance when it comes to bike rides, and I hate to guesstimate.  I used to have an odometer/speedometer thing on my bike, but it was never very accurate and then it broke altogether, so an app seems like the way to go.  My hubby had the day off work today so I asked him to get my bike road-ready - put air in the tires, lube up the gears, etc.  So I should be all set to go for a ride!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/17/15:  I did go for a bike ride last night.  On a spur of the moment, I asked the hubby if he wanted to come with me, and he actually said sure!  (I've asked him numerous times in the past if he wants to go on a bike ride with me and he always laughs and says no like it's the most preposterous idea ever - how ridiculous, going on a bike ride!)  So I was shocked to the core when he actually said he'd go for a ride with me!  He has a bike that he's never ridden ever.    It's not a new bike, it's something used that a friend gave to us years ago and it's just sat in our basement ever since.  Hubby dusted it off, put air in the tires, greased up the gears, and it seemed good to go.

I was hoping to do 6-8 miles, but we didn't make it that far.  We got a couple miles out and had to turn around.  I had been pedaling slowly and leisurely but hubby was still having a hard time keeping up with me (he clearly needs to work on his cardio!).  After a couple miles, he turned into such a whiny whiner - he said, "My legs are tired and my butt hurts and I want to go home!"  Such a baby.  Ugh, fine, so we went home.  When we got home, the app on my phone said that we rode a total of 3.37 miles.  That's a much shorter distance than I had wanted to go.  I told hubby to make his bike more ride-able - his bike seat is apparently very uncomfortable (hence the butt pain) so he'll be looking at other bike seats and I may just buy him a gel seat like the one I have if he's serious about going for more bike rides with me (I suspect he won't go for many or any more rides with me).  So, I had a short ride but it wasn't because of my health!  My guts felt okay (abs felt a bit sore but I didn't have any d or cramping or anything) and my hemmies were pain-free - my gel seat is indeed awesome.  

Tonight hubby and I are going to the big gym - I looooove going there on Friday nights as it's usually dead quiet, for some reason the gym is not a popular Friday night hot spot (personally I'd way rather go to the gym than a bar or a club!).  Tomorrow I think I'm going to take my dog out to a different park for some hiking through the woods - the weather is supposed to be lovely tomorrow and a hike sounds really nice.  Sunday hubby has to work so I'll hit the big gym by myself.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/20/15:  I went to the big gym Friday night with hubby.  It's been awhile since we both went there together (last time was before I started bleeding out my backside, so it had been well over a month).  I felt very good, very strong and a lot of energy, and was able to push myself to do everything - my quad didn't make a peep so I'm presuming it's fully healed now.  I did feel very refluxy at the end of weights/beginning of stretching - I had to make sure I was upright and drinking water to coax my stomach contents back down my throat.  That's never pleasant but it is a sign of a good workout.    We went out to dinner after our workout and we both had salads.  I scarfed mine down, and I did feel a tad bit crampy afterwards, but other than the very mild crampiness I didn't have any repercussions.  I must really be in remission if I can eat salads with relatively no problem!  

Saturday, I woke up feeling kind of awful.  Head was pounding with pain and I was fairly nauseous - I'm thinking it was a migraine.  In spite of that, I had stuff I wanted to do so I pushed through it.  I went around and hit some garage sales Saturday morning.  Then I took my dog on a hike.  I felt okay while walking around - I felt the worst when I was driving in the car, oddly enough.  It was like, the vibration of being in the car did really bad things to my head, but walking around somehow made it feel a bit better.  Weird.

Sunday I felt a fair bit better - the headache was still there but was far less bad than it had been on Saturday.  So I hit the big gym for weights again.  I felt less energetic than I had on Friday, but I was still able to do everything I had wanted to.  And, I still had enough energy afterwards to be able to walk my dog, too.  So all in all I had a very active weekend in spite of having a migraine for a good chunk of it.  I was pretty pleased with my ability to push through the pain and accomplish what I had wanted to.

Today I think is going to be a rest day - I feel a bit sore, particularly my back is sore, so I'm not going to push things today.  Tomorrow I'll go to the little gym for weights - I put some new songs in my playlist and am very excited to rock out in the gym.    Wednesday, not sure - maybe a bike ride or a walk with my dog if it's nice outside.  Thursday, going to the big gym for weights after work with hubby.  Friday not sure, and Saturday I have to work at an event (overtime pay, woo hoo) but I'm hoping to squeeze in a weights workout on Saturday after work - I only have to work for a few hours in the morning, thank goodness, so hopefully I'll have enough energy left over for a workout that afternoon.  I may get a massage at some point this week for my aching back - just have to see if/when my massage therapist is available.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/21/15:  I did rest yesterday and that helped quite a bit.  My back feels much better today (which is good because we still can't get ahold of my massage therapist, hah).  I'm heading to the little gym soon for a weights workout.

It's been a day of good things happening which is a bit weird since good things don't usually happen to me!    My hubby had a job interview this morning (he really really really really needs a decent full-time job), and apparently they liked him, because they already asked him to come back for a 2nd interview!  This job is even in his field (graphic design/animation) so it would be incredibly wonderful if he gets the job.  I'm really trying not to get my hopes up too much or even think about it.  I just need to be distracted until the 2nd interview is over with.

The other good thing is, I got something to distract me with!  My boss wanted to give me something nice to thank me for helping out at the work banquet the other weekend.  So we have this system at work where you get points and get to pick out a prize with your points, and my boss gave me a bunch of points today.  I got enough points to get a road bike!  I've been really wanting a road bike lately.  Don't get me wrong, I love my current bike that I bought a couple years ago - it's a comfort bike style (similar to a cruiser) and it's made more for casual, shorter rides.  Road bikes are lighter and faster and made for longer rides.  So now I'll have multiple bikes for multiple purposes - if I want to take a longer ride then I can head out on my road bike, or if I'm just doing a short ride like riding to the gym then I'll take my comfort bike.  Win-win!

For reference, here are the two bikes I'm talking about.  This is the comfort bike that I currently have:
http://www.amazon.com/Schwinn-Prest...p/B00279A0NE/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8

This is the road bike that I'm getting:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BD45U8E/ref=twister_B004W8LG1S

Green with blue tires!  It's so flashy, I love it!  It seems to get good reviews, too.  Yes, it's a men's bike, but I don't particularly care.  It's made to fit a human of my height which is the more important part.  I'll likely add on a couple of things - a water bottle cage and a gel seat cover, I'm thinking (or maybe get some padded bike pants?).  I'll want to keep it light though when I'm riding so I won't add too much on.  My comfort bike has a fair amount of add-ons including a basket - I'll skip the basket when it comes to the road bike.    I'm so excited though!  From the reviews, it sounds like it's a good road bike for a novice/non-pro, and I'm definitely solidly in the novice category.  I can't wait to ride it!  My one concern is that it's a single gear bike, but hopefully it's fast enough that it doesn't matter too much.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/22/15:  I went to the gym yesterday and pushed myself and had a good workout.  Today I feel a bit sore.  I am also exhausted and my back is a bit painful again - maybe painful is the wrong word, but it's a bit stiff & sore and not super happy.  I think I'm going to do a fairly easy short ride on the stationary bike tonight.  I'd love to go for a bike ride outside, but it's so cold!  In the past couple days it went from 70 degrees and sunny, down to 30s and snowing.  Brrr!  So an indoor workout is definitely going to be best today.  And I won't push myself too much tonight since I pushed myself yesterday and I plan to push myself in the gym tomorrow too.

I hope it's just the change in the weather, but I sort of feel like I'm coming down with a cold.  I hope I'm not and it's just my body being grumpy about the weather.  At any rate, I'm having tea and I'm going to have some soup later.  Trying to keep warm and be nice to my body.  If I feel worse tonight then I'll probably skip the bike, but as it stands now I think I could do an easy 30 mins on the bike without trouble.  I'm not coughing or anything, I just feel a bit chilled and run-down.  So between my back and feeling sick-ish, I'm not having a great day.  I'll probably do the bike tonight and then have a hot bath and go to bed early.  Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  My guts have been a bit unsettled today (not uncommon for me when I'm under the weather), and a little while ago when I wiped my backside, I noticed a tiny bit of blood on the TP.  It's probably nothing/hemmies/fissure, but still - with the run-down "I'm maybe coming down with something" feeling and now a bit of blood, I've re-assessed and I think I should rest rather than do the stationary bike tonight.  It's so cold out, I'm going to rest & hibernate.  I'm thinking chicken soup is on the agenda in addition to the hot bath and going to bed early.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/23/15:  I'm still feeling somewhat run-down and exhausted today.  Not quite as bad as yesterday, but not great either.  Also my joints are a bit achey, not sure what's going on with that as it's no longer raining/snowing.  My hips are just a little bit achey, my lower back is still sore and my knees are now acting up too.  I feel pretty blah.

I was hoping to go to the gym tonight, but I just don't see that happening with how I feel.  So I'm going to do a scaled-back weights workout at home with my dumbbells.  I also have a weight bench, a balance board, and a yoga ball, so with all those things I can still do a fairly decent workout.  But it won't be as long or as intense as it would be in the gym.  I'll just do what I can manage to do.

I can't be this exhausted, it's only Thursday and I have to work on Saturday too (another 6-day work week, but at least I get overtime pay for Saturday).  Saturday is going to be absolutely miserable.  There's a local running/walking race that morning, and my company is going to have a booth set up near the finish line.  But the weather is supposed to be bad, with temps in the low 40s and quite a bit of rain so that's going to suck.  I'm going to freeze and be miserable.  My joints hurt (more) just thinking about it.  And no, they don't cancel this event if it rains, so I have to go no matter what.  Ugh.  At least the event is only in the morning, so I can spend Saturday afternoon bundled in a blanket with a mug of hot tea.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/24/15:  I was able to do a pretty decent workout last night at home with my dumbbells.  I also on a whim went out and bought a kettlebell, so I did a few things with that too.  My back still feels a bit sore today although the soreness is higher (more upper back, where it's been my lower back feeling sore the past few days).  Finally got ahold of my massage therapist but of course he's not free anytime soon, so no massage for Cat.  Ugh, oh well.

Tomorrow is the work event where I have to go stand outside in the rain and wind and cold and be miserable for a few hours.    If the rain and cold don't utterly kill my joints then I will see about doing a workout Saturday afternoon/evening, but I'll just be playing it by ear until then.  If I can't manage a workout on Saturday, then the goal is to go to the gym Sunday.  Monday, I have an ultrasound of my liver (I have some benign tumors on it that have taken a backseat to my other health issues, so it's been a few years since we checked on my liver and it really needs to be looked at again to see if the tumors have grown/changed any).  I can't plan my workouts much in advance since I'm waiting to see what tomorrow does to my joints.  

Oh, but some good news - my new road bike has shipped and is arriving on Monday!  I'm so excited!  If I can get hubby to assemble it right away then I'll hopefully be able to go for a ride early next week.  I bought myself a few accessories for it already - new lock, gel seat cover, and a water bottle cage.  I've also got one of those small under the seat storage bags on my comfort/cruiser bike, and I'm going to transfer that to the road bike for a bit of storage (my comfort bike has a basket so it doesn't really need the under seat bag too).  Super excited for my new bike!  I can't wait to try it out!


----------



## hawkeye

Dress warm and dry


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yep, definitely!  We do have ponchos and umbrellas, but I have a feeling I'm still going to get soaked by the rain tomorrow.  I'm going to dress in layers for sure - I have a moisture-wicking long-sleeve workout top that I can wear as my base layer, so hopefully that'll keep me mostly warm and dry, and I have a raincoat that I can put on top of that.  For pants, I'm not sure yet.  Probably workout pants as jeans are just going to get soaked and heavy.  I have some jogging leggings that might be somewhat rain-resistant.  At any rate, I'm really not excited about tomorrow.  I'm getting overtime pay and I can't back out so I'm just going to have to grin and bear it and think happy thoughts about a slightly larger paycheck!


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/27/15:  I survived the work event on Saturday!  And the best part, it didn't even rain!  It was very cold and windy though.  I had to keep moving the whole time to keep warm, so I was very active that day just because of that.  As a result, I ended up not going to the gym.  But I did get my 10,000 steps in just by dancing/bouncing/walking in place to keep warm!  

Sunday the weather was much nicer and we ended up doing a lot of yard work.  I cleared out a lot of dead leaves & plants from the yard and again was very active but didn't go to the gym.  We also did a lot of walking as we had to run some errands.  So I stayed active the whole weekend without actually setting foot in the gym or lifting a weight.

Today I am headed to the gym for weights.  Tonight I think I will walk my dog, too.  The weather looks really nice this week, sunny and warmer, so I hope to get outside as much as possible.  My new road bike should arrive today, and if my hubby can put it together today/tonight then I am definitely taking it out for a ride tomorrow!    So excited that I finally am going to have a road bike.

The plan for the week:  Monday weights and walk with dog, Tues bike if it's been assembled (if not then I'll probably walk my dog), Weds weights and maybe walk with dog, Thurs bike ride if I didn't get to take one on Tues (otherwise maybe a rest day or walk with dog), Fri weights.  Sat not sure and Sun I have a family thing to go to so I'll have to figure out how to fit in some workouts somewhere in there.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I hit the weights and felt very good.  Like an "Ahh, I needed that" feeling.    Also, my new bike arrived!!  I'm going to make hubby assemble it so that I can go on a ride tomorrow evening.  Now I just have to decide where to ride on my inaugural road bike excursion!  By the lake?  By the other lake?  Through the arboretum?  Ooh, maybe the arboretum.  It's a bit hilly in there and that will be a good test of how I do on a single speed road bike - the hills might kill me or they might be okay, I'm really not sure!  It will be an interesting test ride!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/28/15:  Got my new bike put together so I'm going for a ride tonight!    Very excited.  I had ordered a few accessories for it - lock, gel seat cover, and water bottle cage - and I'm still waiting on the water bottle cage.  So I'm not sure how I'm going to transport a bottle of water with me on my ride - I might just throw on a lightweight backpack and put a water bottle in there, although that's not super ideal.  I do need water on a ride so I guess it'll have to do for now.

The weather is looking so nice, they're saying it's going to be 75 degrees and sunny on Saturday!  I'm thinking about taking the kayak out that day.  Hubby's not so sure about that idea (it's a 2-person kayak so I need him, I can't paddle that behemoth by myself).  He thinks the water in the local creeks will still be way too cold and that we'll freeze every time we get splashed.  I think it'll be okay - yes, the water will be cold but it's not like we're going to die of hypothermia when it's 75 and sunny.  The water will probably just feel refreshing or at worst a little uncomfortable.  So I'm trying to argue my case to him that we should go kayaking.  Hopefully I can convince him by Saturday.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I forgot to mention, I did walk my dog last night.  It was only about 60 degrees out at the most, so not overly warm at all but even so she got a bit overheated (my dog looooves cold weather and hates anything even remotely warm, she just cannot deal with warm weather).  I gave her some water to drink and that seemed to help her cool down, but she drank the water so fast that it gave her some diarrhea.  Other than that, it was a nice walk.  We met up with her corgi friends and they played around a bit.  I was proud of my dog - her friends were rolling around in something gross.  So my dog went over to sniff and investigate it.  But instead of also rolling in whatever it was, she just peed on it and moved on.  I was like, Good dog!  Thank you for not making me give you a bath!  

Oh, and I'm not going kayaking on Saturday after all.  Hubby got asked to work this weekend, and we need the money so he'll be working.  I'll probably take a bike ride or a walk with my dog instead on Saturday then (I'll have to walk her early or late in the day when it's not as warm out!).  I want to get a rowing machine so that I can get my arms into kayaking shape (my arms do a lot of weights but far less cardio, so they're strong but are a bit lacking in the stamina department).  So maybe I'll look around for a cheap/used rowing machine this weekend.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/29/15:  I took the road bike out for a ride yesterday.  Didn't go too far, about 7 miles.  It's definitely a much different bike than my cruiser!  My cruiser has 7 gears, the road bike is a fixed gear (single gear) bike.  So hills were a bit difficult.  Not crazy bad, but I'm definitely going to have to build up my stamina more if I want to take it out on longer/hillier rides.  The brakes on the road bike are also a bit of an issue.  I can sit more upright or more hunched forward depending on where my hands are on the handles.  If I'm sitting more upright then my hands aren't near the brakes.  If I lean forward more then my hands are near the brakes but then I feel not totally comfortable (it feels like it puts some strain on my back).  So I ended up opting to sit sort of in the middle, with hands relatively near the brakes but also not straining my back too much.  And the brakes aren't super tight (I've asked the hubby to tighten them up if he can) - as it is right now, I have to squeeze the brakes quite a lot to get the bike to slow/stop.  That's not ideal and I actually had one incident during my ride where I couldn't reach the brakes in time and then couldn't squeeze them hard enough in time, I nearly ended up being hit by a car!  (Fortunately the car saw me coming and he stopped, but it was scary for a second.)  I definitely need to do a few tweaks on this bike, namely tightening up the brakes, and I also need to get myself more used to where the brakes are and practice stopping more quickly.

I obviously need to build up my core strength more, too.  After my ride, both my back and my lower abdomen were both not super happy, and my abs are SORE today.  I ended up having a couple episodes of d last night and another this morning.  Not sure if that is due to the bike ride, or the fact that it's my "time of the month" (the d was accompanied by cramping that felt like period cramps).  I'm guessing it's probably a bit of both.  If I can go on regular rides and get my core stronger, I think that'll help a lot.  Right now I'm thinking my next ride might be a ride to the gym on Friday evening - I'll do one of my favorite things which is ride to the gym fast (that serves as my warm-up), then do weights and stretching at the gym, and then ride home slowly and leisurely (that's my cool-down).  I can't decide if I want to take my cruiser bike or my road bike to the gym.  I'm leaning towards the cruiser bike - the gym isn't far, it's 3 or 4 miles each way and that's a good distance for a cruiser.  And there are a few hills - after yesterday's ride, I'm not in a big rush to ride on hills with a fixed gear bike again!  I know I should keep doing that as it'll get easier the more I do it, but with how my abs feel right now, I just need a short break from the road bike.   

Today I'm going to the little gym for weights.  I'm going to skip the abdominals machine and try to be really nice to my abs.  No planks, no crunches either.  Tomorrow is likely is going to be a rest day - I feel like I need a bit of a rest.  Friday as I mentioned will be a bike to the gym day.  Saturday, not sure yet.  I'll have to see how my abs are feeling after my bike-gym-bike on Friday.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I decided against going to the gym today after all.  My guts are not happy - I had another episode of d and my abs are sore and my legs are tired and my back isn't great.  I'm going to rest today and go to the gym tomorrow instead.  So now I'm not sure about Friday, but Saturday I'll do bike-gym-bike.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/30/15:  Frustrated!  Yet another setback.  Last night I was reaching for something, and I don't know what I did but I must have moved just a bit wrong, and now my left bicep & shoulder area have some pain.  I somehow tweaked something.  It's more in the shoulder but a bit in the bicep too.  It's not super painful but it's clear that something isn't right.  So, I'm skipping the gym today as well.    Feeling rather depressed about having to miss 2 workouts in a row.  I was having such a good streak there for awhile.  At any rate, hopefully whatever this is heals up as quickly as my quad did.  And hopefully after this I can manage to avoid injuring myself for awhile!  Ugh.  

This pain actually isn't unfamiliar to me - I seem to recall similarly tweaking my shoulder (not even sure if it was the left or the right) a few years ago.  I only have a vague recollection of it, but it seems to me that it healed quickly back then.  So maybe I just re-injured an old injury, but at any rate, if this is something I've had happen before then hopefully it heals as fast as it did last time.

And the good news is, I don't have to skip exercise altogether.  It's just my shoulder, so I could still walk with my dog or ride the stationary bike (I don't trust my shoulder's ability to keep me stable enough on my actual bike right now, so the stationary bike will have to suffice for a bit).  And I can do lunges, squats, anything to do with the lower half of my body.  Just going to take it easy on my shoulder for a bit.  My abs are actually feeling mostly fine - I'm still having some d though - so I'll be taking things easy for a bit longer on my abdominals as well.  Long story short, I think today will be another rest day just to be on the safe side, and if the shoulder is still iffy tomorrow then I'll probably do the stationary bike to at least get in some form of a workout.  Will play it by ear and see how I'm feeling.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/1/15:  The shoulder is slowly improving - there's much less pain today than yesterday.  It's still definitely not 100% yet so the gym is still not happening, but the weather is super nice so I feel like taking my dog for a long walk should happen tonight (I'll hold her leash with my good arm of course!).  I still don't trust the shoulder enough to go on a bike ride, so walking it is.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/4/15:  My shoulder gradually started feeling better day by day.  Saturday, we did a lot of yard work and my shoulder was fine with that - we did a lot of digging (digging up plants and moving them to other areas of the yard, plus digging up a lot of weeds) and the shoulder was quiet.  

Sunday hubby had to work and I went to lunch with my grandparents.  I got home early enough though that I felt like I had time to do a workout before hubby got home, and my shoulder felt good enough to lift weights.  So I rode my new bike to the gym, lifted, and rode home.  That was a great workout!  I was concerned as my abdominal muscles don't always like bike rides, but I had ordered online this thing that I was hoping would help.  It's a neoprene waist support thing.  It's made for working out - it's intention is that you wear it during exercise, and the neoprene doesn't breathe which makes your abdominal area sweat a ton, so in theory you lose some water weight around your midsection and it helps you trim down.  Although I do have a bit of a jiggle belly thanks to corticosteroids, I wanted it more for abdominal support.  I thought, if I could just have my abs supported more during a bike ride, maybe they wouldn't be so sore and I wouldn't have d afterwards.

So I tried out the new waist support thing during my entire workout - I wore it on my bike on the way to the gym, I wore it in the gym while lifting, and I wore it on the bike ride home.  It made my GERD a little unhappy (I definitely had some reflux but nothing I couldn't handle) and my belly area was definitely super sweaty afterwards!  But most important, I think it really did help with the ab soreness issue.  I had a little bit of cramping, but not bad at all and my abs feel fine today.  So I consider that a success and I'll definitely be wearing that thing during bike rides in the future!    Oh, and so that I remember it for future reference - it's exactly 3.26 miles from my house to the gym via bicycle (it's more like 4 miles via car, but it's a more direct route on my bike), so I rode a total of 6.52 miles yesterday.

My shoulder does feel a little bit painful today - not bad but just enough to be noticeable.  Maybe I pushed it a tad too much yesterday with both bike and weights.  Today's going to be much less intense, I'm just planning to walk my dog.  Tomorrow if the shoulder is okay then I'll head down to the little gym on my lunch break for weights.  Wednesday, I haven't decided yet - if it's not raining then I might take a bike ride.  Thursday will likely be weights at the big gym with hubby.  That's all tentative plans for now, it all of course depends on how my shoulder (and guts and arthritis and GERD and everything else) is doing.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Well, I guess my guts were a bit unhappy about the bike ride after all.  I just went to the bathroom, and my poo was green.  Like, St. Patrick's Day green.    I did have a salad yesterday so I'm guessing that's the culprit.  I've had a few salads lately and none of them have turned my poo green, so I'm guessing it's just a combo of salad & bike ride that did it.  I will make a note of that, I shouldn't eat salad a few hours before a bike ride!  But hey, if my rectal bleeding starts up again maybe I can coordinate the red with the green - it'll be like xmas in my toilet!


----------



## UnXmas

I still haven't tried beetroot with my ileostomy. Apparently it turns the output red so you can go to hospital and claim you're passing blood.


----------



## UnXmas

This site has an explanation for you:



> Green stools
> 
> If stool passes through the intestine too quickly, there might not be enough time for bile to be digested and broken down to provide the normal brownish stool color. Bile is a greenish brown fluid that is manufactured in the liver and stored in the gallbladder. Bile helps digest fats in food. It takes time for the bile to degrade and turn brown in the intestine and if the transit time is short, the stool remains green colored. This is why diarrhea is often greenish in color.
> 
> Green stools may be a normal variant. It can also be caused by a diet rich in green vegetables, especially spinach. Iron supplements also may be a cause, though it often turns stool black.


http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/mobileart.asp?articlekey=87898


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks for the link, that's interesting - maybe it's a combo of my body wanting to have d (I had taken some Zofran yesterday which tends to firm things up quite a bit for me, so I didn't have d, but the bit of cramps indicated that my body was probably wanting to go in that direction) and the salad.  I did have a lot of d after my first time out on the road bike, so maybe Zofran plus the waist support thing prevented that from happening?  There wasn't spinach in the salad, I think it was mostly romaine lettuce - and my poo was almost exactly the color of romaine lettuce, so I think that's the main culprit.  I definitely have had green poos a few times in the past and I think spinach has usually been the culprit there.  Hah, maybe I'll try a spinach and beet salad to get red & green - or would those two colors just cancel each other out if I ate them at the same time?  I know I can also sometimes get bits of red in my stool by eating strawberries or tomatoes, so I could have those with my spinach for some festive poos, ha ha.  At some point maybe I'll just poo rainbows.


----------



## UnXmas

If you mix red and green together you end up with brown anyway. At least you do if it's paints that you're mixing, not sure about fruits and salad!


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

You know what, I just remembered what else I ate yesterday and I think it's the real culprit - I figured it was the salad because I was only thinking of green foods I ate, but I think I'm wrong.  My hubby was given some cupcakes at his work yesterday and he brought a few home with him.  They had bright blue frosting and I ate like 3 of them (they were small) - maybe that blue frosting somehow came out as green in my poo?  That's seeming likely as the frosting was VERY blue and my poo was VERY green so I think somehow blue just turned into green as it digested or something along those lines.  So it wasn't the salad at all nor was it related to my bike ride, since I ate the cupcakes after my ride.  That's actually a bit of relief to realize it was probably the cupcakes - I've been enjoying being able to eat salad lately with few/no repercussions (at most, I've had a bit of cramping after a salad) so now I feel like I'm totally okay to continue eating salads.

(Update - I just got confirmation from my hubby, it was definitely the cupcakes.  I texted him to see if his poo is also green and he said yes.  He didn't eat a salad yesterday and he has no digestive issues whatsoever, but he did eat some cupcakes too.  So that seems to be it for sure.  Phew!  Salad has been exonerated!)


----------



## UnXmas

Makes you wonder what on earth was in the cupcake icing!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I think it was just a lot of food coloring.  And that seems to be a common thing with cupcakes - I seem to recall having read somewhere that red velvet cupcakes (which contain a lot of red food coloring) can turn the stool red and make people think they're passing blood.  So, I guess I'm glad they weren't red velvet cupcakes!    Having green poo wasn't nearly as worrying as having red poo would have been.

I should give a fitness update.  Yesterday was mainly a rest day although I did walk my dog.  Today I'm feeling okay - a bit tired but only because I haven't slept well the past couple of nights.  I'm feeling well to do a workout, and sometimes working out gives me energy, so I'm looking forward to that.  I'm going to hit the little gym in my workplace on my lunch break for weights.  My shoulder gave me a bit of achiness yesterday but it feels okay today, so I think it's okay to lift weights.

It's raining today and it's supposed to rain most of the week.  I'd love to do a bike ride tomorrow, but if it's raining then I'll stay in and either do yoga or the stationary bike.  I'm leaning towards yoga as I just find the stationary bike so boring!  Pedaling to nowhere with no change in scenery, it gets really dull.  Watching TV while riding the stationary bike is a poor substitute for riding outside and seeing the actual world around me.  So yeah, if it's raining tomorrow then it'll probably be a yoga day.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I hit the gym just now and it mostly went fine.  My abdominal area was grumbling the whole time though - I think it was more my abs than my guts, but it could have been a bit of both.  My abdominal area often gets sore and grumpy after a bike ride, and I had just done a ride on Sunday, so I'm presuming that's why.

So, I avoided abdominal exercises today and I've decided that regardless of tomorrow's weather, I'm not going on a bike ride tomorrow.  I think I need to give that area a bit more time to recover before my next bike ride.  So, I'm thinking yoga tomorrow.  I might do yoga on my lunch break and then walk my dog after work if the weather allows.  If it's raining then just yoga.  (And obviously I'll avoid yoga poses which work the abdominal muscles too much!)


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/7/15:  Yesterday ended up being a rest day.  I woke up yesterday morning feeling exhausted, the guts were just a bit iffy, and I sort of broke down a bit mentally.  I had been exhausted all week and feeling burned out at work, and I just decided I couldn't do it that day.  So I called in sick and rested all day.  

But then last night I couldn't sleep and I got up feeling even more exhausted today.  So I called in sick again (my boss knows I have IBD and I just told her I was having issues related to that, which is mostly true - I didn't tell her about feeling burned-out though).  I guess I'm just going to rest again today and try to feel less exhausted tomorrow.  I don't want to use up all my sick days so I am planning to go to work tomorrow and then maybe do more resting on the weekend.  I managed to nap a bit this morning but I still feel exhausted.  Not really sure what's going on, but my body is telling me to rest so I'm going to rest.  I don't think it's a flare - I'm having some odd LLQ pain (my usual pain is in the LRQ).  I think it's just one of those odd days where I don't feel quite right and it ended up spilling over into 2 days?  Something is just a bit off and it's hard to pinpoint what.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/8/15:  Still exhausted.  Back at work today because I can't stand being at home doing nothing for more than a couple days at a time.  Probably going to rest up most of the weekend.  Gym plans are on hold until the exhaustion ebbs.  I told my boss I might end up taking a nap at my desk at some point today, and she was cool with it (she's a pretty great boss and she has health issues herself so she understands).

I might do some gentle exercise like walk the dog tonight.  I'm hoping that if I tire myself out enough, that maybe I'll actually be able to sleep (I haven't been sleeping well at all which I'm sure isn't helping the exhaustion any).  Even the amitriptyline isn't knocking me out like it usually does.  And lately when I do fall asleep, I wake up a zillion times during the night.  It's not a restful nor deep sleep.  If I could just SLEEP, I think that'd help a lot.  I don't know why I can't sleep.  I'm going to try eating a very light, mild dinner tonight in the hopes that that helps too.  And if all else fails then I'll take a bunch of naps this weekend.  Ugh.


----------



## hawkeye

Nothing wrong with a weekend nap.  I find if I read before I go to bed it helps.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

I tried reading before bed last night and I could definitely feel my eyelids getting heavy, but when I turned off the light and settled in, I just couldn't sleep.  I'm definitely tired, just can't seem to make the leap from tired to sleep right now for some weird reason.  My guts aren't too happy today, either.  I've only had some rice cakes, some rice, and a handful of Jolly Ranchers, but I still felt nauseous after eating.  Bleh.  I'm not having d nor any other flare symptoms (no chills, night sweats, etc) so I don't think this is a flare, but I don't really know what it is.


----------



## UnXmas

How much amitriptyline do you take? It always knocks me out, but I take a high dose (150mg). When I'm recovering from surgery and in pain, I take more so I can sleep through the pain.

I nap a lot too, but only in the morning or afternoon, not in the evening too close to bedtime, and I limit my daytime naps to about an hour (which is how long they naturally seem to last). I also get up early in the morning, which I think helps me sleep easily at night.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

I take 25 mg of Ami because that's the dose that seems to work best for preventing most of my migraines (I tried 40 mg and the migraines came back, so I can't really go any higher than 25 it seems).  Fortunately I was able to sleep fairly well last night.  I still feel somewhat exhausted, but much better than I've been.  Still a little bit of nausea too after eating.  But I was able to do some yard work and some grocery shopping today, so I'm at least functional and okay today.  Leaps and bounds better than I was the past few days.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/11/15:  I think I'm slowly recovering.  Saturday I did a fair amount of activity - yard work, grocery shopping, and other errands.  Sunday though I ran out of steam again.  The hubby took me to the zoo and I was fine walking around at the zoo.  But then afterwards he wanted to run a couple more errands, and at the hardware store I felt seriously exhausted.  I took a long nap when we got home.  I slept so-so last night - had a hard time falling asleep, but I apparently zonked out once I did finally fall asleep.  I'm feeling functional today, but after yesterday's energy crash I'm thinking I should still skip the gym today so that I can make it through work.  If I feel very well this evening then I could always do a quickie workout with my dumbbells at home.  Obviously any future gym plans will just be a play it by ear situation for now!


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/12/15:  I went to bed early last night and managed to sleep fairly well!  There was still some tossing & turning and I woke up a handful of times, but even so it was better quality sleep than I've had lately.  I'm still feeling somewhat fatigued today, but better than I've felt in at least a week.  I think I can make it through a workout today!  I'm going to head to the little gym in a bit.  I won't push myself too much, as I can still feel the fatigue behind my eyes, but I can also feel my arms wanting to lift something heavy.  So a quickie weights workout it is!  Hopefully it won't add to the fatigue, I'm hoping it'll do more positive things for me than negative.

Today's also the first day in at least a week that I haven't had nausea in the morning, so that's another good sign.  Being overtired tends to make me nauseous, particularly in the mornings, so I've been having to take Zofran lately if I eat anything in the mornings.  Today I haven't needed any Zofran and I was able to eat a fair bit (a donut, a soy yogurt, and a small bowl of oatmeal).  That's promising!  I feel like I'm not out of the woods yet since I'm still definitely somewhat fatigued, but I feel like every day I've taken baby steps towards getting better.  Small progress is still progress.  And not needing Zofran to eat is definitely progress!


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I just got back from the gym.  And I feel SO much better!  I feel like I have more energy, and my joints hurt less (they were aching a bit, now they're pretty much not).  A workout was definitely the right thing to do (it is almost never the wrong thing to do!).  I feel so much more human and less like a tired robot on autopilot now.  I guess I just need to do more workouts when I'm dealing with stubborn fatigue!  We'll see how I feel tonight/tomorrow, and if I'm able to sleep okay.  If I'm still improving tomorrow then I'm going to do another workout - can't do weights 2 days in a row, so I'm thinking cardio (bike or stationary bike depending on the weather).


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/13/15:  I'm still feeling pretty well today.  Once again I had a hard time falling asleep, but I think I slept pretty well once I finally did get to sleep.  I don't feel super fatigued today - I'm still a bit more fatigued than normal, but I'm also okay if that makes sense.  My workout yesterday didn't seem to make the fatigue today worse so I'm going to do cardio tonight.  It's a bit chilly out today, so I'm thinking I'll do the stationary bike at home tonight.

Today's a bit of a weird day - had a stressful morning as hubby's car wouldn't start (couldn't jump start it, either, so it seems to be more than just a dead battery).  That's never fun and I'm stressing about how much it's going to cost to fix - even simple fixes always seem to be way more expensive than they should be.  For now all we did was push it out to the street so that we could get my car out (his car was blocking mine - we only have a single car width driveway).  Going to have to get it towed and looked at, ugh.  So yeah, a nice cardio workout to burn off some of this stress sounds like just the thing I need.  Looking forward to it!


----------



## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Today's a bit of a weird day - had a stressful morning as hubby's car wouldn't start (couldn't jump start it, either, so it seems to be more than just a dead battery).  That's never fun and I'm stressing about how much it's going to cost to fix -



Break out the hammer....and crawl under and tap the starter

http://community.cartalk.com/discussion/2162497/stuck-starter-fixed-with-a-hammer

Learned this from a tow truck driver, but it doesn't always work - luckily the auto club covered my hour and a half tow.  It's worth a try.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Hubby seems to think it's the battery - starter seems okay but battery was apparently just totally dead (which is why jumping it failed to work) - alternator is okay too.  He's doing more work on his car today and he's working on my car too for good measure.    Nothing major on my car, just a burned out headlight.  His car needed a few more parts though and that will hopefully get it running again (the bracket thing that secures the battery into the car, and the red thingy that attaches to the red battery post - sorry, I don't know the official names of car things! - both of those are corroded and rusted and neither is usable so he's getting new ones).  Ah, the joys of having older cars (his car is 16 years old and mine is 14).

Fitness update:  I tried doing the stationary bike after work yesterday, but I wasn't able to do as much as I wanted to.  I felt a headache/migraine coming on and that definitely put a damper on my workout.  I managed to do a 35 min ride (I had been hoping for longer than that).  Not great but at least I did something.  Today the migraine is still here and was quite awful when I first woke up, but as the morning has gone on it's gotten a bit better.  I'm going to attempt a weights workout today in the little gym.  

Tomorrow's a rest day and I need this migraine to be gone by tomorrow evening.  We have tickets to a comedy show (Kids in the Hall!!) and I'm super excited about that.  I definitely need some laughter!  And I love KITH!

Saturday, presuming I'm feeling well enough, will be another weights day and I'll likely go to the big gym with hubby.  Sunday, not sure yet.  It's supposed to rain all weekend so I'll have to find something indoors to do.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/15/15:  I did hit the little gym yesterday.  I wasn't feeling super energetic, and my legs felt a bit sore & tired from doing the stationary bike the previous day.  So I mainly focused on arms and that went fine.  I stretched out my legs quite a bit too.  I've still got this migraine, but it's more like background noise at this point so it's not too troublesome.

Hubby managed to fix his car finally (battery plus a few other parts) so that's very good.  And, he got me a rowing machine!    I've been wanting one, and we found a decent used one online for cheap so we picked it up last night.  I had been wanting a way to do cardio with more than just my legs - the stationary bike is fine for cardio but my arms don't get a workout with it.  A rowing machine seemed like a good solution.  I had been wanting one that folds up pretty flat so that you can shove it under a bed or whatever, and the one I got seems like it flattens down quite nicely.  It's a bit older but clearly hasn't been used much.  I tried it out briefly last night while watching TV and it seems pretty good.  Oh, and it'll be great for winter too - now I can keep my arms in kayaking shape year-round!  

Today's a rest day.  I'm pretty wiped out, it's been a long week.  I'm going to that show tonight and then I'm probably going to rest a bunch over the weekend.  It's supposed to rain/thunderstorm the entire weekend, so staying in with a book and a mug of tea sounds wonderful.  I'm sure I'll go to the gym at some point, probably Saturday.  For now though I just want to rest!


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/18/15:  Friday was supposed to be a rest day but we walked around quite a lot.  We had tickets for a comedy show (Kids in the Hall!) on Friday night and it was in another city, so we got there early as we weren't sure how traffic, parking etc would be.  Traffic did suck but parking was a breeze.  So we had a few hours to kill before the show, and we ended up walking around Milwaukee quite a bit.  The show was hilarious, it was a great time, and I got some much-needed laughter and stress-relief.  It was a really fun time!  

Saturday it didn't rain, the weather was really nice, so we did yard work for several hours.  That was exhausting and I didn't end up going to the gym because the yard work was basically a workout in itself.  We cut down some dead branches from a tree and then we chopped up the wood and used some of it to make a fire in our fire pit.  I had 2 smores for lunch that day.    Did a bunch of other stuff around the house too, laundry and taking out the garbage and cleaning and so on, so I was active for a  good chunk of the day.

Sunday it did rain, and I went to the gym.  Was still a bit sore from the yard work, so I didn't push myself too much.  I did everything though including the abdominals machine and my reflux didn't punish me, so all in all it was a good workout.  I feel a bit sore today but not too bad.  Going to walk the dog tonight, otherwise it's a rest day.  Tomorrow I'll head to the little gym for weights.  Still figuring out what I'd like to do fitness-wise the rest of the week.  If the weather is nice then I'd love to take the kayak out this weekend - fingers crossed!  It's a 3-day weekend coming up so hopefully the weather is nice at least one of the 3 days.  A bike ride would also be lovely.


----------



## hawkeye

Here's hoping your 3 day weekend was as good as ours.  We had one day of rain (Sunday) but we needed it.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, your 3-day weekend was this past weekend for Victoria Day?  Ours is this coming weekend, for Memorial Day.    There is currently some rain in the forecast for the upcoming long weekend but I'm hoping for at least one rain-free day so that we can take the kayak out.  There is a little creek near our house, and just recently the city dredged the creek and shored up the sides with rocks and landscaping, it looks really nice now.  So I'm excited to paddle the new & improved creek!  We have a 2-person kayak and we always make a day of it - pack a picnic lunch and bring our dog with us, have a nice long paddle and a picnic.

Fitness update 5/19/15:  I did walk my dog last night.  It was cold though!  The temperature dropped down into the low 50s and it was really windy.  I was freezing and my nose was dripping!  I didn't expect it to be so cold.  So I suffered a bit although my dog loved it (she loves cold weather and hates hot weather).  I sniffled and shivered while she ran all around with joy.    She's ridiculous.

Today I'm hitting the little gym for weights.  I feel a bit tired and fatigued, but I'm okay to work out.  Speaking of fatigue, I think I figured out what caused my recent bout of massive fatigue.  I had a co-worker tell me that he had a cold for like 10 days recently and he was exhausted and his ear was plugged up.  I didn't have any noticeable cold symptoms, but I was also fatigued for a similar period of time - and my right ear was also plugged up during that time!  So I'm presuming I caught the same cold and just didn't notice.    The joys of chronic illness.  I tend to just chalk up any & every symptom to the IBD so I legitimately didn't realize I had a cold!  Hah, how funny.  At any rate, that seems to be the reason for the fatigue.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/20/15:  I didn't make it to the little gym on my lunch break yesterday.  The fatigue worsened by mid-day and it was all I could do to stay awake.  Fortunately though it ebbed and I was feeling more awake yesterday evening, so I worked out at home when I got home from work.  I mostly did weights using my dumbbells and my kettlebell.  I have a balance board so I did some weighted squats on that - that's tough!  I did a bunch of weights and I also did about 10 mins on my new rowing machine.  I managed to cobble together a pretty good workout using my equipment at home, so I'm satisfied with that.  I'm glad I was able to work out even if the fatigue did temporarily sideline me.

Today is a rest day.  I have dinner plans tonight, so that should be fun - going to have dinner with my aunt & uncle who I only get to see every couple of years.  Tomorrow I'm hoping to go to the big gym with hubby, and if I get really ambitious then we'll go grocery shopping too (or I may go to the little gym on my lunch and then go shopping w/ hubby after work).  Haven't decided what to do Friday yet.  Saturday, really hoping to go kayaking!  That's the tentative plan for now.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Blood in my stool just now.  Not a ton, but definitely enough to be noticeable (visible blood on the TP as well as in the toilet bowl).  Bright red as always.  I've been having d the past couple days and I've been going to the bathroom a fair amount so I presume that things are just a bit irritated back there and that's the cause.  I'm definitely going to keep an eye on it, though.  If I'm still bleeding tomorrow then I may dial back my workouts a bit.  I definitely do not want to have another month-long bleeding episode.  I do still have some of the steroid suppositories and I think I will do one tonight just to encourage the area to heal up.  Ugh though.  Not happy about this development.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/21/15:  More blood in my stool last night and a little bit this morning.  It hasn't been very much so far but I'd like to stop it before it gets any worse.  I still have some of the steroid suppositories left over from a couple months ago, so I used one of those last night and I'll probably continue to use them for the next few days at least.

I had dinner last night with some family members including my aunt (related by marriage) who has Crohn's.  We were able to discuss some IBD related things and I told her I had just started bleeding again that day.  She's had a lot of issues with bleeding in the past (she's also got internal hemmies, it turns out) and she's even had to have blood transfusions in the past.  It sounds like she's doing well these days though, she hasn't had to have a transfusion in 2 years.  She mainly self-treats with diet, yoga, and pred as needed, and that's been going okay for her.  She's sort of my IBD role model - yes, I know I can't treat myself with diet and yoga alone, I need maintenance meds at least.  But she's got such humor and snark and doesn't let this stuff get her down, she's so fun and awesome.  I want to be more like her in that regard.  I do sometimes let stuff get me down, I need to try to be more positive and not let it get to me so much.

So, I'm coming at this with renewed optimism.  I know what I need to do to get the bleeding under control since I just went through this not long ago.  I'm going to treat the bleeding but also keep going to the gym every day I'm able to - I won't let the bleeding get me to stop exercising if I can help it.  I'm planning on going to the little gym today on my lunch break.  I'm not making plans for tomorrow just yet (I'm realistically optimistic, ha ha) as I really don't know what my body is going to throw at me.  I'm going to go in with the hopes that I can exercise but I won't firm up plans until I see what I feel like tomorrow.

I am still hoping to kayak on Saturday though, that's plans that I do want to keep.  I don't think a little rectal bleeding should stop me from getting out on the water, so as long as I don't feel like I'm dying, I'm going to give it a try.  I really, really am looking forward to it.  Saturday is the one weekend day it isn't supposed to rain, so it's my one chance for a little while to go paddling.  My arms can do it, they feel strong, and I've been able to paddle on iffy guts days in the past so I am fairly confident that it'll all be okay.  (Fortunately we tend to paddle urban creeks, and I know there are bathrooms along the creek we'll be paddling on Saturday, so if worse comes to worse I can hop out and run to a public bathroom).


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I just got back from the gym.  I didn't feel super energetic, and I couldn't do much of anything with my abs/core (abdominal area got grumpy very quickly when I tried), but I was able to do arms & legs and I feel pretty good now.  I'm definitely glad I went.  I think, if I take it relatively easy tomorrow (rest day or walking), I should be good to kayak on Saturday.


----------



## Hattie95

Hey! I'm so glad I found this! I was diagnosed with Crohn's this week after 7 weeks of feeling rubbish and this really cheers me up. I used to work out 5/6 days a week lifting weights and being a Zumba instructor and I haven't been able to do a thing in 7 weeks! I was starting to get worried that I'd never really be able to workout again after seeing some things posted on this site but you've given me hope that I'll be able to get back in the gym soon. I really miss it! Any tips you've found, especially with things like crunches that stress the abdomen? Or just any advice about getting back into it? Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Hi Hattie95, welcome to the forum!  I can certainly give you some advice and let you know what works for me - keep in mind that we're all different so what works for me may not work for you.

First of all, I wasn't able to start exercising regularly until I got into remission.  It's difficult/impossible to exercise during a flare-up.  It sounds like you were just diagnosed - are you on any medication yet?  Definitely focus on that first - get on medication that works for you and let your insides heal up first, before you try doing any serious exercise.  That was an absolute must for me.

I would also recommend that when you do start exercising, start slowly and listen to your body.  Certain types of exercise may hurt or cause symptoms.  You mentioned abdominal exercises like crunches, and it's true for me that those types of exercises can be really difficult when you have digestive issues.  I have severe GERD in addition to the IBD, so when I work my abdominal muscles, I pretty quickly end up having reflux symptoms.  As a result, I can't work my abdomen very much.  Also, I have arthritis in both of my hips, so running/jogging becomes painful for me very quickly (I cannot run even half a mile without a lot of pain), so I cannot run at all anymore - I do bicycling instead for cardio.  I can also lift weights without pain, and that's my favorite type of exercise to do.  I started slowly - light weights 2x per week.  Once I was confident that I was able to do that without making my body angry, I moved up to 3x per week and gradually increased the amount of weight that I was lifting.  Now I lift every other day as heavy as I can go.  It took awhile to get to that point, but I think my body would have been too physically stressed if I went right from doing no exercise to lifting as much and as intensely as I do now.  So yes, start slowly, and if something hurts or causes a lot of symptoms then try another form of exercise.  Maybe start with gentle yoga or short walks, and if that goes okay then move up to a short/easy Zumba class or lifting some light weights.

Another thing I should tell you - don't compare yourself to anyone else.  You have new health challenges now that most people don't face, so when you're in the gym try to stop yourself from comparing what others are doing to what you're doing.  I realize that's not always easy to do!  And, also don't compare what you're able to do now to what you used to be able to do before you got sick, because there will likely be some differences there as well - you may have much less stamina, not be able to lift as heavy as you used to, etc.  Just focus on what you can do now.  You'll have to learn what your "new normal" is on a lot of levels, including fitness-wise (and that may change from day to day - some days I'm able to kick ass in the gym but other days I'm just barely able to push through what should be an easy workout).  Try not to let that sort of thing discourage you - do what you can do on the good days, and there's no shame in resting on the bad days.  

I hope that helps a bit?  Please let me know if you have other questions, I'd be happy to try to answer them!


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## Hattie95

Wow, thank you so much! I have just taken my third day of budesonide so early days still. That is definely great advice about starting slowly, I really love the idea of yoga, something I can do at home and start with day 5 minutes and see what happens. I think just sitting on the sofa all day is draining even more of my energy away! 
That's great that you've found ways of doing cardio that don't aggravate your arthritis so much. How do you find lifting weights? Do you also have it in your hands, and if so does this make it more difficult/ painful to lift? What about your hips while lifting, are you able to do things like squats? I am already having pain in a few of my fingers and I'm wondering how this will be with lifting! 
Thank you for the comment about a new normal! I'm sure it's easy to get discouraged if I can't do what I was able to do before so I will keep your words in mind when I do get back in the gym. I'm so happy to hear you can still kick ass in the gym, and it's great to read all the differnt things you do for exercise! 
I was wondering if you took any protein shakes for example? I'm scared to try one again but I think it will help when I really dont want to eat to get some more calories and protein in, as loosing so much weight is eating away at my muscles! Have you found ways that help your diet fit your active lifestyle? 
Thank you so much again for all of your help, you're an inspiration and have really given me hope! Good luck with kayaking today!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hattie, yes, I do seem to have mild arthritis in my hands.  They don't seem to be affected by weightlifting, though.  I have never noticed any issues with my hands when I'm working out.  My hips are also fine with it, I never have pain with things like squats.  It seems that my hips mostly hate high-impact exercise, so things like jogging are the worst for me.  Squats, though, aren't high-impact (there isn't a jolt to my joints with squats like there is with jogging) so no issues there for me.  

I do make myself protein shakes.  I can't have whey (I'm lactose intolerant and whey products seem to affect me even if they say they're lactose-free) so I do a soy-based protein/vitamin powder as soy doesn't upset my stomach.  I usually have a smoothie for breakfast as my stomach isn't usually too happy about having solid foods in the mornings.  I make them myself with these ingredients - some crushed ice, some almond milk, the soy protein powder, a teaspoon of chia seeds, some powdered peanut butter, some cocoa powder for chocolately flavor, and a banana.  I blend that all up and have it for breakfast - it's yummy and hopefully pretty healthy.  Play around with shakes/smoothies and see what works best for you - it took me awhile to figure out what ingredients work best for me.

Good luck with the budesonide!  I've taken that twice in the past, and both times it got me into remission.    It does take a little while to kick in, anywhere from a week to a month, so hopefully it starts working for you soon and helps you feel better.


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## Hattie95

You're an angel! Best news I've heard in a while! And I'm so happy to hear that squats are still in my future! And no jogging doesn't bother me, I hate running anyway! 
That sounds like a delicious recipe! I have some soya protein at home so I'm going to try this soon, especially for breakfast as I like you find solid food difficult first thing. 
And that's amazing to hear about budesonide, no one had told me how long it would take to work so I was getting a little worried but you've put my mind at rest. About everything actually, I'm so glad I found your thread! I hope you had a great weekend and managed to kayak!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh yeah, I should give a fitness update.  Well, I had a very weird weekend!  Bad stuff followed by good stuff.  I ended up basically not exercising at all because of how weird the weekend was.

The bad stuff happened on Saturday morning.  We were going to go kayaking.  I packed us a picnic lunch, hubby got all the gear in the car and on top of the car, we got our dog ready to go.  We got to the creek and loaded up the kayak and everything seemed good.  I had a little Polaroid Cube camera (sorta similar to a GoPro) which I put in its waterproof case and mounted to the front of the kayak.  But, just as we were about to launch the kayak, the mount failed!  Just as I pushed the button to turn on the camera, it fell off the mount and into the water.  It was in a waterproof case, so you would have thought that it would float - but nope, it sank right away.  Eek!  The creek was very murky, so even though it's only a couple feet deep, we couldn't see the bottom.  Hubby waded into the creek to try to find the camera.  He was blindly feeling around on the creek bottom with both hands.  He couldn't find it.  Then, all of a sudden he got upset and said, "Oh, hell!"  I was like, what??  He pulled his hands up to show me that his wedding ring had come off while he was feeling around for the camera.  It was also lost in the creek!  Oh FFS!  

So, kayaking didn't happen.  We took everything home and grabbed some rakes, went back to the creek and started manually dredging it in an effort to find my camera and hubby's wedding ring (that may count as a workout, raking muck out of the creek).  When we had no luck with blindly dredging, we went and rented a metal detector (apparently you can use metal detectors in water as long as you don't get the electrical components at the top wet).  We used the metal detector in the creek for over 2 hours but still no luck.  So long story short, we didn't go kayaking and we lost a camera and hubby's wedding ring.  It was not a good day.  It really sucked.

So on Sunday, I took a pity party rest day.  I stayed in my pajamas and played the Sims and ate ice cream.    Did not exercise at all because I was so bummed about the camera and the ring.  Then, that evening my mother called me.  She had bought me the camera for my birthday, so I thought she just wanted to talk about that or whatever.  Nope, she wanted to talk about something else.  This is the good part of the weekend.  So my mom is a marathon runner, she has run one marathon in each of the 50 US states and now she's working on running one marathon on each continent.  She hasn't done Asia yet, so she called to say that she's decided to run a marathon in Japan next spring.  And, she's taking me with her and she's paying for everything!  I get a free trip to Japan!!  It's not until next year, but I'm already SO excited.  I don't have a lot of money and can't really afford to travel.  Getting a free trip is amazing, particularly to somewhere as cool as Japan!  And my mom is usually fun to travel with, so it should be a really awesome time.  Now I need to study so that I know how to say some things in Japanese - at the very least, I need to be able to ask where the bathroom is, ha ha.  (I know a few words in Japanese, like konichiwa is hello and domo arigato is thanks, but I want to learn as much as I can as I don't think I can get by in a foreign country with only hello and thanks in my vocabulary.)

So yeah, it was a weekend of ups and downs for sure!  Today I'm just hoping for normalcy.  I'm refocusing and going to the gym and eating healthier (no more ice cream for dinner, ha ha).  I still feel a lot of anxiety about the events of the weekend so a workout should hopefully help me feel mentally better (it usually does).  I haven't thought about my workout plans for the rest of the week yet.  One day at a time right now!

Edited:  Hattie, I was writing my post as you were posting yours!    I'm so glad I could help, that makes me happy.  Good luck with the soy protein!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/27/15:  Not feeling so great today.  The weather has been rainy for days now and when that happens I usually get a headache.  I've felt on the verge of a headache for the past couple days, and this morning when I woke up I had a nasty headache.  Also, I had salad for dinner last night, and although salad has been going fine for me lately, last night my guts decided they didn't want salad.  I ended up having awful cramps and a lot of d!  Ugh, so much for trying to eat healthy.  So between the guts and the headache, I'm feeling rather bleh.

On the plus side, I learned how to say bathroom/toilet in Japanese:  otearai / toire.    I'm going to try to learn at least one word/phrase per day until my trip.  I need to download some learning Japanese podcasts - maybe then I can pick up some vocab during my workouts and/or when I'm in the car.  I know I'll never be able to read/write Japanese (stupid Kanji!) but I should be able to learn to at least speak a bit and understand some basic spoken Japanese.  I have a little over 10 months to learn.  Currently trying to incorporate more J-pop into my workout playlist too, as right now it's mainly K-pop (I looove Korea and am actually slightly disappointed that the trip is to Japan and not to South Korea - unlike Japanese, I can read and write in Korean!).  Anyway, so yeah, trying to infuse the Japanese language into my daily life & workouts.

If the weather is nice this evening and I'm feeling up to it, I'm going to walk my dog tonight.  If the weather isn't so nice then I will probably do yoga instead.  Tomorrow will be weights.  Haven't decided on what to do on Friday yet.  Saturday, if it's nice out and if I'm feeling okay, I may ride my bike to the gym.  We'll see.  With how I'm feeling right now, I'm not going to be overly ambitious in my plans.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  My guts and head have both somewhat quieted down, and so did the weather.  It went from rainy this morning, to sunny and gorgeous this afternoon.  So, I'll be taking my dog to the park shortly!    I'm looking forward to getting out in the sunshine.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/28/15:  I walked my dog yesterday and that was fine for the most part (she got a bit aggressive with some other dogs in the park - sometimes she gets in a snippy mood with other dogs, not sure why).  The weather was gorgeous and I felt pretty well on our walk.  Slept so-so last night and feel a bit tired today.  Head and guts are doing okay though and I'm going to go to the gym for some weights today.  If I have enough energy and if the weather stays nice, then I'll walk my dog again tonight.

I still haven't decided what to do tomorrow.  It's supposed to rain (again, ugh) tomorrow, so I'm leaning towards yoga.  Saturday I'm hoping the weather is nice enough to ride my bike to the gym - if it's bad weather, I'll still go to the gym but not on my bicycle.  Sunday is probably going to be a rest day, although I'm sure I'll do yard work and probably walk the dog too if it's nice outside.  So much of what I do seems to depend on the weather!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/29/15:  I did weights yesterday and that went mostly okay.  I had a few abdominal pains during my workout, so I avoided the abdominals machine.  Other than that, it went fine, and no further pains since then.  I also walked my dog yesterday evening, we met up with her usual "pack" (2 corgis, 2 blue heeler mixes, and a beagle).  As I mentioned in my last post, she sometimes gets a bit aggressive with other dogs - she gets in a bad mood or something, I'm not sure why exactly but she'll growl rather than play sometimes.  But with her "pack", she is never aggressive.  She gets along well with all those dogs, they're her buddies.  So I love it when we can hang out with those particular dogs and their people!  

I was thinking yoga tonight, but I'm utterly exhausted.  I nearly fell asleep on my lunch break, it's been a long day and I am going to take a rest day instead of doing yoga.  Still planning on hitting the gym for weights tomorrow - it looks like rain in the forecast yet again though so I likely won't be bicycling there after all.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/2/15:  I had an okay weekend.  Made it to the gym on Saturday - it was rainy and cold so no bike ride there but I did go to the gym nonetheless.  Did a nice long workout and afterwards kept busy doing some stuff around the house.  Sunday, it was sunny so I walked the dog and did a few more things around the house.

Yesterday I hit the little gym for weights.  I felt fine during my workout.  Later that day, though, in the evening, my guts got pretty upset.  I had a bunch of d and cramps.  I still feel pretty yucky this morning, not sure exactly why as I ate safe foods and can't think of anything I did to trigger this.  Just a fun random bad gut day!  Yuck.  So I'm pretty sure today is a rest day - if I feel decent in the evening then I might do yoga, but if I'm not up to it then it's a rest day.  Tomorrow I'm hoping to go to the gym for weights, hopefully this bad day won't extend into multiple days.  Just going to do what I can.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/3/15:  I ended up walking my dog last night, so it wasn't a total rest day.  We met up with her usual "pack" and had a nice long walk.  The weather was gorgeous and I felt okay.

Still feeling okay today.  Not stellar, but not bad either.  I am feeling okay enough to work out, so I'll be heading to the big gym with hubby this evening.  The tentative plan for the rest of the week:  If I'm feeling okay tomorrow, I'll do 30 mins on the stationary bike.  We *finally* got a new stationary bike in the little gym (the old one had been broken for months).  The new one is pretty nice so I'm hoping to give it a test ride on my lunch break tomorrow.  Friday, weights in the little gym.  Saturday, probably a rest day - my mother is coming for a visit and we're going to discuss our upcoming Japan trip.  Once my mother leaves, I might walk the dog, but otherwise it's going to be a rest day.  Sunday, weights and I might ride my bike to the gym.  That's the tentative plan!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/4/15:  I went to the gym last night and did a pretty intense workout, including abdominals.  I felt okay until just before bedtime, then I had a bunch of diarrhea.  And again this morning, more d.  Not so much cramping this time, I definitely feel less bleh than the last bout of d.  So, an improvement of sorts.  I don't know if it's my stomach just not wanting to do exercise at all or what, the episodes of d lately seem to be happening after workouts.  But it's not immediately after workouts, it's always just before bedtime that it starts.  So even if I worked out at noon that day, at like 9 or 10 PM it's d time.  I don't know why, it's weird.  At any rate, it's not enough to deter me from working out.  If this is the price I'm paying lately for going to the gym, that's something I accept and can deal with.

I'm going to do 30 mins on the new stationary bike in the little gym on my lunch break today.  Looking forward to it, I feel like I've been somewhat lacking in cardio lately.  Tomorrow will be weights, probably in the little gym on my lunch break.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/5/15:  I went to the gym yesterday and did 30 mins on the new stationary bike.  Wow, the seat on that bike is extremely uncomfortable!  And I don't know if I was leaning a bit to the side because of the seat or what, but my right hip (the bad hip) ended up feeling a little bit painful by the end of my workout - it's usually fine after a bike ride so I'm not really sure what happened there.  It's still a bit sore today although not bad at all (I'm not limping, I don't need my cane today, it's just barely noticeable and I've had much worse pain from that hip).  So I guess I will be sitting on a towel or something the next time I use that stationary bike, in an effort to keep my backside and hips pain-free!

Last night I had more d and cramps.  Getting sick of this.  This morning I just passed a ton of gas.  I feel okay, I don't feel too fatigued or anything.  Just getting frustrated by the cycle of having d and cramps every single night before bedtime.

I should mention this - so I work a desk job, I basically sit for 8 hours a day.  I decided to get a yoga ball to sit on, as I've heard that can help with posture and core strength - it's supposedly much better to sit on a yoga ball than to sit in a chair all day.  So I've been doing that for about a week now.  So far so good, I think it is helping with my posture (I tend to slouch a lot!).  It's not upsetting my guts or anything like that, and it's quite comfortable on my backside and hips.  So, hopefully it's helping, and it's definitely not hurting (unless it's the cause of the bedtime d & cramps, but I don't think it is).

Today the plan is to hit the little gym for weights.  I'll probably walk my dog after work, too.  I also need to clean up my house a bit since my mother is coming over tomorrow, and if I have time I also need to squeeze in some grocery shopping!  So I'll have a busy evening if I manage to do all that!  Tomorrow I'll probably walk the dog in the morning before my mother gets to my house, and other than that it's likely going to be a rest day.  Sunday I'll go to the gym - once again it's supposed to rain (90% chance of thunderstorms according to the forecast), so I won't be able to ride my bike there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I got hit with some waves of nausea a little while ago.  Took some Zofran and that's just kicking in now.  I'm still planning on going to the gym shortly, but I am going to go easy and refrain from any abdominal exercises (yet again).  Is there any wonder why I have toned arms and legs but a flabby midsection??  Ugh.    Slightly frustrating but yet another thing I can work around and deal with.  I'm just going to focus on arms and legs and let my belly rest for the ten millionth time.  I sound like such a broken record at this point!  And I know I shouldn't complain, I'm still able to exercise, just with frustrating limitations that really make me grumpy sometimes.  Stupid broken body.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/8/15:  I had a fairly rough weekend.  Did manage to go to the gym on Friday afternoon, and walked my dog on Friday evening.  Walked the dog again on Saturday morning.  Had lunch with my mom and brother on Saturday and that's when a migraine began.  My brother is crazy - he's apparently warped his brain from drug use and as a result he's just sort of nuts.  He's fixated on a certain 2016 presidential candidate (someone I'd never vote for) and my brother just goes on and on and on forever about how wonderful his candidate is.  I've had at least 3 lectures from my brother on the subject of this candidate, and each time my brother talks for at least an hour, sometimes two.  

So anyway, I felt a migraine start to come on as soon as my brother started in about how great his candidate is.  Ughhh.  I need to lay down the law next time, if my brother doesn't stop talking about this candidate then I just need to leave immediately.  I can't deal with this anymore and there's still a year and a half to go until the stupid election.  So I ended up with a migraine for the rest of the weekend, it was quite bad yesterday and I didn't do anything - didn't walk the dog, didn't make it to the gym.  Sat on the couch and crocheted a scarf and played the Sims for a bit.    Today I'm still feeling somewhat migrainey although better than I was, I think it's easing up.

Don't have a fitness plan in mind yet for this week since I need to get more over this migraine first.  I'd love to go to the gym tomorrow, so that's what I'm aiming for.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I forgot to mention, I had a GI appointment today!    It was a good appointment.  I wasn't feeling stellar this morning - nausea, bathroom trips, and I just felt sort of weak and shakey.  So my GI decided to check my fecal calprotectin to see if we can pin down why I'm feeling kind of crummy - I haven't actually had that test done before (my GI's clinic apparently just started doing fecal cal tests regularly), so I'll do that tonight and send it to the lab tomorrow.  I'm interested to see what the result is - knowing me, it'll surely be normal since my IBD really, really loves to hide on test results.  But anyway, having a new non-invasive test is always interesting.  And if it does show that I'm inflamed, then I guess that will explain why I've been having more d and nausea the past couple of weeks.  So win win I guess?  Either I'm still in remission or I have an explanation for feeling a bit crappy.

And I'm feeling somewhat less crappy this afternoon.  I had zero appetite all morning, but I was just able to eat a late lunch and am still feeling reasonably okay (I'm not going to barf, at any rate - I had a small cup of soup for my mid-morning snack and did feel rather barfy after that, so this is an improvement).  The migraine seems to be on its way out, too.  Still going to rest today and re-assess how I feel tomorrow.  Hoping to go to the gym tomorrow but will continue to rest if I have to.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/9/15:  I turned in my stool sample to the lab this morning, so hopefully I'll know my fecal cal result soon.  I also had some bloodwork done yesterday (checking on my iron levels mainly) so it'll be interesting to see the results of all of this.

I'm feeling okay today - I do have an appetite, I don't feel nauseous, migraine is about 95% gone.  I did have a wicked gut cramp earlier this morning, but the guts have been quiet since then and hopefully will stay quiet.  At any rate, I think I'm okay to do a workout today.  So hubby and I are planning to hit the big gym tonight.

It's possible (not probable though) that I may be able to get a massage tomorrow.  My massage therapist is a friend of ours and his life is basically a train wreck (in the past couple years he's gotten divorced, his dad died, his car got repossessed, and just last month he got evicted from his apartment).  So it's been difficult to pin him down and get a massage!    My back hasn't been feeling too bad lately, but when I get migraines I often get pain that radiates around from my sinuses to the back of my head and down through my neck, so getting a massage can help with that.  Anyway, so there's a small chance I'll get to have a massage tomorrow.

I still haven't planned out the rest of the week fitness-wise as I just don't know how I'm going to feel on a day to day basis these days.  So I'm just taking it one day at a time right now.  Hopefully either a massage or some form of exercise tomorrow but I won't know until I get to tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/10/15:  I didn't make it to the gym yesterday.    By the time I was done with work, I had completely run out of energy.  Also, my lower abdomen was giving me some prickly pains.  I opted to rest instead.  Had another couple episodes of d & cramping before bed.  Today I still feel exhausted and somewhat nauseous, guts are pretty unsettled.  Having a very bleh time lately.  So I guess I'm going to continue to rest, which is frustrating but it's what my body needs right now.  Ugh.

I am trying an experiment.  The weather has been warmer lately so the air conditioning has been on at both home & work.  My allergies have gone crazy because of this - I think the air conditioning must kick up a bunch of junk in the air that my sinuses really do not like.  Up until today I've just been dealing with it without any medication.  But then I remembered hearing that there are a lot of histamine receptors in the gut - maybe that's why my guts have been weird lately?  So, I took a Claritin today to see if that helps my guts at all.  I'm doubtful but it can't hurt, and it should at least make my sinuses behave if nothing else.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/11/15:  What a difference - I'm feeling much better today!    I made two changes recently and I'm not sure which one (or both?) made the difference.  I started taking Claritin daily for allergies (been sniffling & sneezing a bit less, not sure if it helped my guts or not), and I have stopped using a yoga ball for a desk chair and went back to sitting in a regular chair at my desk at work.  I think swapping the ball for my chair did make a difference.  Yesterday morning I felt pretty awful, and sitting on the yoga ball was clearly not improving my guts - my abdomen muscles felt so tight and kind of angry.  So I switched to the chair at about noon, and then lo and behold I started improving.  I guess sitting on the ball just put too much pressure on my core muscles.  So I'm glad to have (I think) found what was causing me some issues, but I am frustrated that I can't even do that little bit to work on my core.

Anyway, so I'm feeling well enough today (no nausea, appetite is back, didn't have d last night nor this morning, just the normal amount of tired and not totally exhausted) - so I'm planning to hit the little gym on my lunch break today for weights.  Since my abdominal area hasn't been well lately, I'm going to skip doing any ab work for awhile.  Maybe if I let things heal up, then in a week or two maybe I can go back to doing some ab exercises and/or sitting on the yoga ball part of the day.  Even though it never ever goes well, I stubbornly refuse to give up on working my abdominal muscles!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/12/15:  I'm still doing pretty well today.  I haven't had any d in 2 days now so I guess the stupid yoga ball chair was indeed the problem.  I went to the gym yesterday and didn't do any ab work at all, not even a plank.  It felt good - everything felt slightly more difficult, probably because I hadn't been to the gym in a few days.  I feel a bit sore today too although not bad.  I guess that's what I get for missing some workouts.

Since I'm a bit sore, today's probably a rest day.  At most I might walk the dog tonight.  Tomorrow, I'd really love to ride my bike to the gym.  We'll see if my body and the weather cooperate and let me do a bike ride.  If not, I hope to go to the gym regardless.  I'll probably also do a bit of yard work if the weather is decent.  Sunday it's supposed to rain all day, so I will stay in and maybe do some cardio on my rowing machine if I'm still feeling okay.  Plans are still tentative as I really have no idea how I'm going to feel from day to day!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  It's been stubbornly trying to rain all day (the forecast said only rain in the morning, but it's 3 PM and still mist-raining outside) so I guess I'm not walking the dog.  I will stay in and rest.  Still planning to go to the gym tomorrow - there's currently no rain in the forecast for tomorrow so hopefully I can ride my bike there!


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## UnXmas

It rained a lot here today, I made my dog come out in the rain.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It's been raining a ton here and the stupid weather forecasters never get it quite right.    Saturday was supposed to be nice weather and Sunday was supposed to be very rainy.  Instead, Saturday was very rainy and Sunday was nice weather.  It makes it difficult for me to plan bike rides and dog walks when they get the forecast absolutely wrong!  Ugh, oh well.

My dog hates the rain too, I also have to make her go out in the rain when it's time for her to potty or whatever.  She hates anything to do with water.  Swimming, baths, rain, she hates it all.  Snow, though, she loves.  It's like her favorite thing ever - the first snow of the season, her eyes get big and she starts running all around in it as fast as she can!  It's hilarious, she'll zoom this way and that.  Within 10 minutes, my entire yard is nothing but dog tracks in the snow.  

Anyway, I should give a fitness update.  I felt pretty good all weekend long.  I wasn't super energetic on Saturday but I did get to the gym.  Obviously didn't ride my bike there with all the rain that we weren't supposed to get!  Once again I left my abdominal muscles alone, didn't so much as do a plank.  Sunday it was sunny and hot outside so I did some yard work and also walked the dog.  It was quite hot and humid out so we didn't walk much - we actually met up with my dog's friends, everyone was hanging out in a shady area under some trees, so we got to cool down there for a while.  That was nice.

Today, I'm heading to the big gym after work with hubby.  He works 6 days this week and today is his only day off, so I was figuring he wouldn't want to work out, but just the opposite - he recognized that today is his only chance to go to the gym, so he jumped at the chance.  This is good, usually I have to drag him along to the gym with me (even with this change in attitude, he still won't go to the gym by himself or without me, which is why today is his only chance as our schedules don't line up on days when he's working).  The big gym is sometimes really crowded on Monday evenings, so I'm anticipating some frustration and having to wait for certain machines, etc.  Hopefully it won't be too bad, though - the big gym does tend to be more empty during the summer, so hopefully it's not too crowded tonight.

Tomorrow and Wednesday, I have to take a class so I'll be doing that instead of going to work.  The place where the class will be held is only a few miles away (2.7 miles according to google maps) from my house, it's downtown so the parking situation is iffy so I'm not keen on driving my car there - so I am planning to ride my bike to and from the class.  As long as it doesn't rain again!  The forecast is currently saying sunny tomorrow and 50% chance of rain Wednesday, so we'll see what actually happens weather-wise.  As inaccurate as the weather report has been lately, it's anybody's guess.  

So yes, the tentative plan is to do short easy bike rides to class Tues & Wed - I'll ride my cruiser bike (not my road bike), since the cruiser has a basket and I can throw my purse and stuff in there - the cruiser is ideal for shorter rides anyway so that's perfect - I'll cruise slowly and leisurely so as not to get too sweaty!  Probably also will walk my dog after class on Tues, and will go to the gym for weights after class on Wed.  Haven't decided yet what to do past Wednesday - will assess after my class how I'm doing and what I'm up for.


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## Hattie95

Awww your dog sounds so cute! What breed is he/she? 
I'm glad to hear you're feeling a bit better, I hope it stays that way. Can I ask what your class is for? I hope it goes well for you [emoji5]️ and have fun in the gym!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My dog is a corgi.    Her name is Lily.  Here's my dog and my cat (sorry, this photo is kind of big!).







My class is for spreadsheets (Microsoft Excel) - I already know Excel pretty well, but this class is supposedly going to teach some advanced Excel tricks.  Hopefully I learn some new things but I think mostly this class is going to involve me trying to stay awake.


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## Hattie95

Awww she's so adorable! And your cat is cute too, looks so sleepy in the picture. [emoji5]️ My boyfriend and I are seriously considering getting a pug, I love them so much and the company would be nice since I'm home a lot at the moment. Plus a dog forces you to go out and walk so that's definitely a good thing too! 
Oh that's great, fingers crossed you actually learn something haha. And that you stay awake, good luck!


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## UnXmas

I know I've seen pics of your dog before, but I'll say she's gorgeous again anyway.  And your cat. What's the cat's name? My dog loves snow also, but we don't get very much here. Plenty of rain though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My cat's name is Lydia and my dog is Lily - and no, we didn't plan for them to have similar names!    I got my cat in 2003, she was a stray kitten.  She had been ill with worms, mites, and an upper respiratory infection so she was in kind of a sad state at first.  At one point when nursing her back to health, I gave her a bath, and when she got out of the bath her black fur was all spiky and looked like Lydia's hair in Beetlejuice, ha ha.  So that's how she got her name.  

Then in 2010 I got my dog - we had bought a house near a dog park and were looking for a corgi-mix.  Then at work one day I heard through the grapevine that a co-worker had a purebred corgi to give away, and I jumped at the chance.  She was 2 years old, fully trained including crate trained, no health issues, super smart and friendly, just a perfect dog!  Her previous owners had named her Lily so we kept the name since it's a fine name and it would be confusing for her to suddenly have a new name.  So yeah, my pets just happen to have similar names by chance!

I'm back from my class and I've got some good fitness updates.    Monday evening I went to the big gym with hubby.  It was pretty busy there but not crazy busy, and I was able to accomplish everything I wanted to (still avoiding any sort of abdominal exercises).  I didn't sleep well Monday night though and on Tuesday I felt pretty rough - d and nausea and just plain exhausted.  I had decided to bicycle to my class as it was something like 2.7 miles from my house which isn't far at all, so even though I felt yucky, I made myself ride my bike (I did ride quite slowly, and I took my cruiser bike which is easier on my stomach than my road bike is).  Took a bunch of Zofran and was able to eat a little bit of lunch (some toast and scrambled eggs), and started feeling better after lunch.  Rode home and felt fairly okay.  I even felt okay enough that evening to go grocery shopping and do laundry, so I stayed fairly active that day.

Yesterday I felt quite good - rode my bike to class and felt fine.  Had an appetite and ate a big lunch, and had a nice bike ride home.  I had wanted to lift weights, but didn't feel like driving to the gym, so I just used my dumbbells and weight bench at home to do a weights workout.  After that, I walked my dog too - I was extremely active yesterday!  Today I'm a bit sore but not too bad.  I think today is a rest day for the most part - I might walk my dog this evening but that'll be it.

Tomorrow I'll hit the little gym for weights.  Saturday, haven't decided yet - probably yard work and walking my dog.  The weather is supposed to be sunny and warm all weekend so I'll definitely take advantage of that and go outdoors a lot.  Sunday, I'm thinking I'll ride my bike to the big gym, do weights at the gym and then ride home.  That's always a fun workout and I'm looking forward to it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/22/15:  I had a pretty active weekend.  Friday I hit the little gym on my lunch break and did a quickie weights workout.  Once again, I avoided doing anything with my abdominal muscles.  That's been going okay so far.  I think I'm going to give it a couple more weeks, then start re-introducing just a few ab exercises here and there, namely planks, and see how that goes.

Saturday ended up being mostly a rest day.  I had wanted to do yard work as it wasn't supposed to rain until after 6 PM on Saturday.  But once again, the idiot weather forecasters got it completely wrong.  It rained all day morning and afternoon and then stopped raining at 6 PM!    Ugh.  So I didn't get to do any yard work.  I mostly did stuff around the house, ventured out and did a bit of grocery shopping, etc.  Wasn't able to walk the dog or anything outside though.

Sunday I was far more active - it was very warm (85 Fahrenheit) and quite humid, which is weather that my guts tend to really dislike.  But I decided anyway that I was going to ride my bike to the gym, so I did.  I took the road bike this time since I had ridden my cruiser bike earlier in the week.  It was quite hot riding to the gym so I got pretty sweaty before I even got there!  I did weights (again no abdominals), and stretching and then rode home.  The ride home felt pretty difficult - I think it was the heat, it sapped my strength.  Plus I was riding into the wind on the way home so that didn't help.

When I got home, I realized I still had to do yard work.  I've got this horrible unidentified large shrub in my yard - it's not a rose bush, it has no flowers, but it's got a ton of thorns/spikes like a rose bush has.  Even with wearing gloves, you can't even lightly touch the stupid thing without pricking yourself, it's really a horrible shrub and not even pretty.  So I had decided that I wanted to cut it down, dig up the stump, and plant something nicer in its place (I'm thinking either an apple tree or a cherry tree - I can put the fruit in my juicer).  So after my workout & bike ride on Sunday, even though I was already too warm and risking making my guts angry, I went back outside and started chopping down my awful spike shrub.  I spent something like 2 hours chopping and very carefully taking the chopped off bits up to the front curb to dispose of them (even though I was careful, I got poked a zillion times and had to dig out one really badly embedded splinter).  I knew I was overdoing it and the heat and humidity were starting to affect my guts.  I did manage to chop the entire stupid thing down which felt like a great achievement!  Didn't have the energy to dig up the stump, that will have to wait for another day.  And I'm glad I didn't try, I had already done too much in the heat.  Literally the second I got inside my house and sat down, my guts went into a wicked cramp and I had to run for the bathroom.  Fortunately I only had 2 bad episodes of cramps and 1 episode of d - it could have been a lot worse considering how long I had been out in the heat & humidity.

Here's how significantly the heat affected me - I got a new bathroom scale and I weighed myself on Sunday morning - 144 lbs.  I weighed myself again right after the cramps and d - I had sweated a ton during both my workout and my yard work, and even though I had drank a lot of water & sports drinks I still had lost a lot of fluids, and my weight after all was said and done was 140.  I lost 4 lbs in a single day just from sweating and d!  (And not even that much d.)  Yikes!  

Today I'm feeling pretty sore, probably the result of overdoing things yesterday.  We're having a really bad rainstorm today (torrential downpours, lots of thunder, a possibility of large hail and high winds and even tornadoes) so I'm staying indoors!  I still need something to do on my lunch break though (I hate just sitting in the lunch room, I either need to get out and run errands or I need to work out on my lunch break) so since going out isn't an option today, I'm going to head down to the gym for some gentle yoga on my lunch break.  I won't overdo things at all since I overdid things so much yesterday, I'm just planning on taking it very easy and being nice to my body today.  And hey, if there's a tornado then I'll already be in the basement so it's a win-win.  

Tomorrow I'm doing weights - possibly with hubby in the big gym.  Wednesday, haven't decided yet - maybe will just walk the dog after work if the weather is nice.  Thursday I'm doing weights - can't go on my lunch hour as I have a dentist appointment, so I'll either go to the big gym after work or just work out from home using my weight bench & dumbbells.  Friday, haven't decided yet.  Saturday, hoping to ride my bike to the big gym again for weights (I will try not to do hours of strenuous yard work afterwards this time!).  Sunday is likely a rest day as I have to go have lunch with my family and it's my turn to pick up and drive my grandparents to the restaurant.  So yeah, that's the tentative plan for now.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today - there was a nice break in between thunderstorms, the sun came out for a couple of hours in the middle of the day so I ended up going outside on my lunch break after all (I just went to the park and read a book for an hour which was nice and relaxing).  So yoga didn't happen but that's fine, I'm sore enough that today can be a rest day.  We're due for more storms shortly so I'm going to cuddle up on my sofa with my crocheting and a good movie.  Tomorrow hopefully I'll be recharged and ready to hit the weights again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/23/15:  I'm glad I rested yesterday.  Still feeling a teeny bit sore, and a little tired today.  Hubby doesn't work this evening though so we are going to the big gym together tonight for weights.  I'm not feeling super energetic but I'll muddle through.  A workout usually makes me feel better, anyway, so I know it'll be good to do even if I don't feel particularly enthusiastic today.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/24/15:  Lately I seem to be having about one bad day per week.  And today seems to be my bad day for this week!  I brought it on myself by eating poorly yesterday.  I made some really bad food choices.  Firstly, yesterday afternoon I was searching through my purse for something, and I came across a bag of candy that I had forgotten was in there.  So of course I was like, ooh candy!  And I ate the whole bag.  Ugh, I should not have done that.  It triggered a bit of reflux and nausea, my tummy was not pleased that I ate so much candy.

In spite of the candy, I went to the gym last night and I got through a workout - didn't feel particularly energetic but I made it through and felt okay.  Then after working out, hubby and I decided to pick up some dinner.  I was so good in that regard - we went to the falafel place, and I had the option of rice or french fries with my meal, and I opted for rice (usually I get fries).  My dinner was pretty healthy - lamb shawarma with hummus.  But after dinner I was still a bit hungry, so I told myself I'd just have a teeny bit of ice cream.  Yeah, so it didn't end up being a teeny bit - I ate a lot.  And of course I'm lactose intolerant so that made my guts more upset.  I ended up having crampy d before bed, and slept really poorly last night.  Then, to top it all off, I woke up with a really stiff & sore back - not sure if I tweaked my back during my workout, or if I slept on it funny, or both?  So, today I'm feeling unwell guts-wise and my back is not good, plus I'm exhausted.  Bleh.

I'm obviously going to make an effort to get my eating habits back on track today.  If my stomach and back both start feeling better, then I'll attempt to walk the dog tonight.  If not, then it's a rest day.  I don't want things to become worse particularly with my back, so I would wager that I'll probably end up resting and not walking.  Still aiming to do a weights workout tomorrow, so that's my main focus right now - getting myself feeling well enough to accomplish that tomorrow.  If today ends up being a rest day then so be it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/25/15:  I did mostly rest yesterday.  A co-worker had given me some plants for my garden, so we needed to plant those - that was the most activity I did all day.  Hubby did most of the work to plant the plants - bending and kneeling was not pleasant with a sore back so I wasn't able to help a lot, but I did what I could.  I slept a bit better last night and I feel less awful today - guts are improving, back is less sore (still pretty stiff though) and I'm not as exhausted.  Still not great but on the upswing.

I think I'm going to do weights from home tonight with my weight bench & dumbbells.  I won't push myself too much and I plan to do a lot of stretching in an effort to not be so stiff and sore.  Tomorrow I am thinking I'll just walk the dog after work if it's not raining and that will probably be it.  Hubby is working at an event out of town all weekend, so it'll just be me and the pets this weekend (which is kind of nice, I'm a huge introvert so getting a whole weekend of "me time" is something I look forward to).  So I'll be the sole person on dog walking duty from Friday thru Sunday since hubby won't be around.  Still planning on going to the gym on Saturday, and will walk the dog afterwards if I have the energy to do so and if the weather cooperates.  Sunday I'll probably walk her in the evening after I get back from my family lunch - my grandparents tire out easily so I should be home by early afternoon and will have ample time for walking (again, if the weather cooperates - it looks like a lot of rain in the forecast unfortunately).  Oh, and speaking of my dog, it's almost Independence Day here in the US, and my dog is terrified of fireworks (even little firecrackers that make a small "pop" sound freak her out) so she's going to have a rough time.  On Saturday night there are going to be fireworks not far from my house, so I'll have to comfort my poor dog.  The upside of it being so rainy is that it discourages people from going outside and lighting fireworks/firecrackers!


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## UnXmas

My dog's the same, she's scared of everything. She's always under some furniture on New Year's Eve and Bonfire Night.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm not familiar with what Bonfire Night is so I had to google it.  Looks like it's something to do with Guy Fawkes day?  I am only slightly familiar with Guy Fawkes day (and only because it's the day before my birthday, it's Nov 5 and my birthday is Nov 6), we don't really celebrate that one here in the US.

Yeah, my poor dog doesn't like fireworks nor thunder, and she's not even fond of the sound of rain at this point (I think because she's associated rain with thunder, not because she's afraid of rain by itself).  Independence Day is a week from Saturday, but for some reason in my city there are going to be fireworks over one of the lakes this coming Saturday, a week early.  I live about a mile from that particular lake so we'll surely be able to hear the fireworks from my house even with all the doors & windows shut.  I am going to have extra treats on hand and some cuddles for poor scared Lily.

It's funny, my cat has never been afraid of any noises like that, and when she sees that the dog is downright terrified and literally shaking, it's almost as if the cat starts teasing the dog.  The cat will act even more relaxed than usual, as if to show that the noise is so not a big deal to her and that she can be just soooo relaaaaxed.  She'll make sure to be doing her extra relaxing right where the dog can see her, too.    Sometimes I swear my pets are just like kids, ha ha.

So another quick update on the diet/fitness front:  I once again ate something I shouldn't have.  (That should be the title of my autobiography, hah.)  My boss decided to order pizza for our department (there are only 4 of us total including the boss right now, and 1 co-worker never eats with us so that means pizza for 3 people).  It looked and smelled so good, so I had some pizza.  I didn't feel like I ate a ton, but afterwards I was SO bloated.  Bleh!  I had to go to the dentist for a cleaning right after that, so I was sitting in the dentist chair bloated and uncomfortable and trying not to belch pizza breath at the poor hygienist.    My body hasn't punished me too much besides the bloating, though.  So I guess I got off pretty easily.  Still planning on doing weights in a little bit.  I may attempt to walk the dog after weights - hubby's out of town work trip got extended, so he and his boss left today and won't be back until Monday afternoon now.  Sheesh!  I don't know if I have enough energy to both lift weights and walk the dog, so I'll just assess how I'm doing after weights.  If I'm wiped out then we won't walk, Lily will just have to wait for Friday for walkies.


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## UnXmas

Sorry, yes, Bonfire Night is just another name for Guy Fawkes Night, which I know you don't have. It's a strange thing to celebrate. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night

Is pizza hard on your stomach? I guess it depends what's on it too. It's always ok for me, my dad makes pizzas from scratch. Dough, pureed tomato and cheese are fine for me, then as long as I'm careful of the toppings, I have ham or tuna or something, it's ok.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, pizza can be quite hard on my stomach - I should really avoid it but it's delicious and sometimes I can't resist.  The cheese bothers me as I'm lactose intolerant.  The tomato sauce also is problematic - the high acidity of it sometimes riles up my GERD (if the pizza is really greasy then that can also upset my GERD).  Like you said, sometimes I'll make homemade "safe" pizza, using goat cheese (for some reason goat dairy doesn't bother me the way that cow dairy does) and a very small amount of sauce, and that's okay.  But I often get into trouble when I try eating "real" pizza with regular cheese from cow dairy and a normal amount of tomato sauce.

Fitness update 6/26/15:  I was feeling a bit tired yesterday evening but I did weights at home with my dumbbells.  My left hamstring had a twinge of pain so I mainly focused on arms and did only a couple of leg exercises.  Then, my left elbow started aching, ugh.  So I didn't do a ton of weights, just a quickie workout.  Since it was so quick, I decided that I would walk the dog after all as my hamstring was okay to walk on.  We had a nice long walk although Lily got a bit aggressive with another dog at first.  Then we met up with her "pack" of friends and she was fine... up until another dog unfamiliar to her approached the pack, then both Lily and this other dog decided to display a bit of aggression.  Sigh!  I don't know why, there are certain dogs she just doesn't get along with.  As long as she's with her pack and just her pack, then she's fine.  Her previous owners (who had her from puppyhood through age 2) didn't socialize her very well when she was a puppy, so I wonder if that has something to do with it.  My dog just doesn't quite know how to "talk" to certain unfamiliar dogs or something like that.

Tonight I think I'll walk Lily again and hope for less aggression - usually, the more exercise she gets, the less aggressive she is (it's like she gets too tired to be aggressive, but if she doesn't walk enough then her emotions start getting pent up or something).  We're supposed to get scattered rain showers today but hopefully they'll be done by evening.  After our walk, I'm going to do a bit of grocery shopping.  I've been crazy about peaches lately - I've discovered that I can eat peaches with zero trouble as long as I peel the skin off first, so I've been having a peeled peach almost every day lately.  It's so delicious!  But I ran out of peaches so I need to go buy more!

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be nice (hopefully they're not wrong about the weather forecast yet again, ha ha) so the plan is still to ride my bike to the gym.  Afterwards I hope to walk Lily again - I really hope I have enough energy to take her on a really long walk, so that she's very tired out and therefore hopefully won't be quite as bothered by the fireworks on Saturday night.  I'm not sure if I can manage a bike ride, weights workout, another bike ride, and then a long walk - but I'm going to try.  If I'm feeling like I might not be able to do it, I will opt to drive to the gym instead of bike there.  Anyway, that's the plan for now!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/29/15:  I had a pretty active weekend.  Hubby was out of town, and when I'm alone I tend to be very proactive about keeping busy.  Friday evening it was raining so I didn't walk the dog, but I did go grocery shopping.  

Saturday was my busiest day of the weekend - I woke up early and went out to shop at some garage sales.  Got myself some good bargains including a seriously gorgeous brand new (with tags!) lace skirt for $3 (I think the tags said the skirt cost $68 originally).  It fits me perfectly, too.  Score!  After the garage sales, I went home and got myself ready to hit the gym.  Rode my road bike there - it was quite a hot day and I got pretty sweaty before I even got to the gym.  Did weights (still avoiding working my ab muscles), stretched and then rode home.  Once I got home, I rested for a short bit, then took Lily on a really long walk in an effort to tire her out before the fireworks that night.  It was still super warm out and I was afraid that my guts were going to get mad.  Guts were mostly fine, however, my arthritic hips (particularly the right hip, the bad one) were not happy.  I guess I overdid things with bike, weights, bike, and then walk - my hips were pretty much done and didn't want to walk, so I was getting a fair bit of hip pain.  Still, it was within the realm of tolerable pain and I just pushed through and we managed to do a long walk.  I didn't slow down once we got home, either.  I did 2 loads of laundry, a load of dishes, and a lot of general straightening up.  Oh, and I dyed my hair Saturday night!    I didn't turn the TV on once the whole weekend because I just kept so busy the whole time.

Sunday was a rest day although I still kept busy - I had lunch with my grandparents which took up a big chunk of the day.  Couldn't walk Lily because it was raining most of the afternoon & evening.  So I did another load of dishes and tackled a lot of my sewing pile, and baked banana bread.

Today the hips are feeling okay - guts are a bit iffy but only because it's my "time of the month".  I slept fairly well and am feeling pretty good overall.  So, I'm going to hit the little gym on my lunch break today for weights.  Hubby should get home at some point this afternoon/evening.  If he's not home when I get home from work, then I might walk Lily.  If he is home then I'm sure we'll just settle in and have a nice dinner.  I haven't firmly planned out the rest of the week fitness-wise just yet.  I'm sure I'll do weights again on Wednesday.  Friday I have off for Independence Day, so I get a nice long weekend.  I think hubby is working all weekend so I'll likely just head to the gym by myself on Fri & Sun, probably will ride my bike there if the weather cooperates.  I'll try not to overdo things like I did on Saturday so as not to anger my hips and/or guts.  Oh, and at some point this week I'd like to dig up the stump from the spiky shrub so that I can start looking for a fruit tree to put in that spot, maybe that'll be a project I can do over the long weekend.  That'll be a workout in itself, digging up stumps is never easy!  Maybe I'll do that on Saturday since I'm thinking gym on Fri & Sun.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/30/15:  I made it through my workout yesterday.  I wasn't particularly energetic, but I made it through.  Today the plan is to walk the dog after work if the weather is nice, but other than that it's a rest day.  Hips and guts are doing so-so.  The bad hip is a bit achey and the guts are unsettled due to my time of the month, but it's all totally tolerable.  Tomorrow I will hit the gym for weights - not sure yet if hubby is coming with me, so still unsure if I'll be hitting the little gym on my lunch hour or if we'll be going together to the big gym after work.  I'll definitely do weights tomorrow at any rate.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/1/15:  I walked Lily yesterday and that went well.  We didn't meet up with her pack, but fortunately she was nice with the other dogs she met on our walk and didn't get too aggressive.  It wasn't too warm nor too cool outside and it didn't rain - very nice walking weather!    My bad hip was a bit achey last night though when I laid down to go to bed, and it's still not super happy today.  Not sure what's up with that, if it's the rainy weather or the walk or what.

My hip isn't terrible and I'm still planning to hit the gym today.  Hubby is off of work, but it's his one and only day off this week (he's been working a LOT lately which is a good thing as we need the money), so he could go to the gym with me, but he's opted not to.  So, I'm heading to the little gym on my lunch break for weights.  I've got some new music in my workout playlist and I'm excited to hit the gym!  

Tomorrow is my Friday, since I have Friday off for the holiday (long weekend, yay!).  Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow.  If my hip is still feeling iffy then I'll probably either rest or do yoga - walking isn't always the best when my hip is feeling less than stellar (anything high-impact is not hip-friendly, and walking is higher-impact than you'd think).  So I likely will not walk the dog tomorrow, and possibly will take a rest day.  Am just going to wait and see what the hip is feeling like tomorrow and then go from there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/2/15:  I hit the gym yesterday and felt pretty good.  The bad hip was still giving me a little bit of pain, but it seems okay today.  I did stretch it out quite a bit yesterday so maybe that helped.  My "time of the month" is fortunately over so I'm less bloated and my guts are happier.  Today I'm feeling pretty well and I think I'm up for doing some yoga.  Going to focus on stretching everything out and being nice to my body.

Tomorrow I'm going to sleep in!    Ha ha, looking forward to having an extra day off.  I will probably eat a nice breakfast mid-morning and then ride my bike to the gym around noon - the weather is supposed to be nice (although the weather forecasters have been terrible with their accuracy lately so who knows).  I'm very excited to have a 3-day weekend.


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## hawkeye

Enjoy the long weekend


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Hawkeye!  I had a pretty nice weekend overall.  Here's the recap:

Friday I did sleep in and it was lovely.    I stuck to my plan to eat around 10 and bike to the gym around noon.  It was a hot day, already a bit too hot for me by noon, so my guts weren't thrilled that I was out biking in the heat and humidity.  Still, I managed to do everything I wanted - I made it to the gym, lifted weights & stretched, then biked home.  I stayed indoors the rest of the day, catching up on chores like dishes & laundry.

Saturday I took the dog on a nice long walk in an effort to tire her out, since I knew there would be a lot of firecrackers and fireworks going off that night.  That worked out okay - she definitely got tired, and once again it was a bit too hot.  She still got pretty scared that evening once everyone started lighting off fireworks.

Sunday, I had been thinking of going to the gym again, but I just wasn't feeling it.  I decided to have a lazy day and do absolutely nothing - I need that once in awhile, it seems.  So I stayed in my pajamas all day, worked on some crafts, watched TV and played video games.  I did nothing as far as exercise goes.  I felt a bit guilty but I did what I needed to do.  Usually on my "rest" days (non-weightlifting days) I still tend to walk the dog or whatever so I don't totally rest, and sometimes I just need a day of complete rest and doing nothing.  So Sunday was that, a rare lazy day.

Today my guts aren't very good.  Last night I had trouble falling asleep because my guts were so gurgly.  I had a couple episodes of d before bed, pretty sure it's because I didn't eat well yesterday (ice cream for dinner, oops).  Still, my guts are tolerable and not terrible, so I think I can do a workout today.  Particularly since I'm still avoiding abdominal exercises, I can just focus on arms & legs and let my guts rest.  So I'm going to head down to the little gym and do weights today.  I feel like I can do it in spite of the d and gut gurgles.  And after such a lazy day yesterday, I kind of miss the gym!

Speaking of the gym, so I have probably talked about this multiple times before but I *need* music to power my workouts.  My favorite singer ever is Utada Hikaru, but she more or less walked away from her music career in 2010 and has only released one new song in the last 5 years.  Her older music is still awesome and can still power my workouts, but I've been wistfully wishing for new music from her for years now.  Well, over the weekend she announced that she's coming out with a new album very soon!  I'm so excited, I love getting new music to listen to in the gym and I'm really happy that my favorite singer is finally coming out with a whole new album after she was basically off the radar for a long time.    That just made me so happy!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I just got back from the gym.  To my surprise, another co-worker was actually in the gym!  (It's usually empty except for me.)  She was just there to ride the new stationary bike so I still had the weight machines all to myself.  And fortunately she was fine with me putting my music on and we chatted a little bit while I warmed up, but she didn't cramp my gym style at all (since the bike in the little gym was broken for so long, I got very good at warming up without using the bike, ha ha).  This is one of my current favorite co-workers (the co-workers that I befriend all inevitably seem to quit so I have an ever changing roster of friends at work!).  So that was an unexpected nice surprise, to be able to chat with my friend a bit.  She's overweight and has some health issues, but she's been working lately at getting healthier, hence her going to the gym.  I just love when people do that, it's like I get so excited for them that they're starting out on their fitness journey!    I'm usually a loner when I'm in the gym, like when I go work out with hubby we each do our own things and just meet up when we're both done.  But it is admittedly nice to have someone in the gym to say hi to, I don't really have any friends who are into fitness, but I love fitness and I love to talk about it, so I'm always excited when someone I know starts exercising.  I'm probably just a huge dork, ha ha.  

So I did my workout and I feel quite good.  I've been eating safe, low-res foods all day (currently eating rice and salmon).  My guts have recovered and feel pretty well, although I'm playing it safe just to be sure.  My hip also feels good, like suspiciously good.  I usually do my cool-down on the treadmill after I've lifted and stretched, and sometimes my hip(s) will click or sort of "stick" or just generally give me some mild pains when I walk.  Today, my hips both felt really good - they felt nice and loose when I stretched them (lately the left hip has been quite tight) and not even a niggle of a pain when I was walking to cool down, and I felt like I was walking really "smoothly" like nothing was sticking.  Maybe my lazy day yesterday helped my hips?  I'm honestly not sure.  I'll see what things are like after my next lazy day, I guess!  It'll be interesting to see what happens.  Maybe my hips need more rest than I've been giving them?  Perhaps walking the dog on many of my rest days has been a bit detrimental and I need to just properly rest more?  I'm not sure.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/7/15:  I slept really poorly last night - not sure why.  So I'm fairly exhausted today.  I'm somewhat sore from my workout yesterday as well.  I'm thinking a rest day might be in order.  If I rest and sleep well tonight, then I should be set to lift weights tomorrow.  So that's the plan.  Hubby is back to working 1 day per week for the next couple weeks, so I'm dragging him to the big gym with me tomorrow.  He's one of those people who hates exercise and won't willingly go to the gym by himself, but he likes how he feels after a workout and he likes having muscles.  He's weird.    He wants the benefits without the work.  I feel like the work is the benefit and all that other stuff is just a bonus!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/8/15:  I was so exhausted last night, I actually fell asleep right away when I got into bed (usually I'm awake for at least 20-30 mins before I'm able to finally fall asleep, I'm hardly ever able to just fall asleep right away).  I zonked out and slept quite well for awhile... but it seems that my hubby wasn't able to sleep, so he got up at about 4 AM, and of course he banged into something in the hallway which made a lot of noise and jolted me awake.  Ughhhh.  I went from sound asleep to wide awake and adrenaline pumping due to the amount of noise he made, I was so mad!  Couldn't successfully zonk back out again after that.  I managed to doze here and there, but couldn't get back into deep sleep.  So I got some good sleep up until about 4, but clearly not enough sleep, and I'm once again exhausted today and in a bad mood too.  Seriously grumpy.

At any rate, I'm still planning on hitting the big gym tonight and I'm dragging my frustrating hubby with me.    I am sure I won't be particularly energetic, and my muscles are still a bit sore from my workout on Monday, but I'm going to do what I can.  A workout should make me less grumpy if nothing else.  And hopefully tonight I'll finally get a good, uninterrupted night's sleep.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/9/15:  Well, I'm kind of mad at myself.  Hubby apparently misunderstood what I had told him about going to the gym after work.  I got home and he had a hot dinner ready to go.  I was like, wait, I thought we were going to the gym?  He was like, I thought you wanted dinner first?  Um, no.  He knows I can't eat right before a workout so I don't know what he was thinking.  But, I was exhausted and the food smelled really good and it would have been cold & icky if we waited until after a workout to eat.  So I made the decision to skip the gym and just eat and rest instead.  I know, I should have just done a workout - I'm taking too many rest days lately.  I've just been so exhausted the past few days, eating dinner gave me an easy out. 

I did manage to get some decent sleep last night and I feel a bit more rested today (still somewhat exhausted but not as bad as it's been).  I told hubby we *are* definitely going to the gym tonight, no excuses and don't have dinner ready!    I need to do a workout!

So this whole week has been weird and I haven't planned anything out in advance.  Not really sure what I'm doing for fitness beyond today.  I'm kind of thinking maybe a bike ride tomorrow evening, if I can drag hubby along that would be good.  He's so out of shape when it comes to cardio.  The one and only other time we took a bike ride together, we made it less than 2 miles when he started complaining that his legs were tired and his butt hurt and he wanted to go home.  Ugh.  I gave him some tips (he hadn't had his bike seat set to the proper height for his leg length which can make a big difference, so I told him how to adjust that properly) and I also bought him a gel seat cover.  So hopefully our next ride together will involve less whining from him, ha ha.

Not sure about Saturday yet - I'd love to do weights again, but I'm having lunch with my mother and that always sort of sucks me into a vortex of eating too much and eating things I shouldn't, so I don't know how I'll be feeling after lunch but I'd wager I'll be overfull and uncomfortable since that's how it usually goes.  Not sure if I can manage a workout after a lunch like that, at the very least I'll have to wait more than my usual 2 hours after eating.  So I guess Saturday is a wait and see situation.  If I can't hit the gym on Saturday, then I'll go on Sunday.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/10/15:  Well, I managed to skip the gym again yesterday.    I think it's a combination of feeling a bit lazy, being utterly exhausted, and running out of steam by the time I get home from work.  I got home last night, was feeling very un-energetic, and hubby said he had to do yard work.  So I offered to help him rather than go to the gym.  I didn't do much, though - watered some plants, brushed the dog outside, and helped hubby remove some chicken-wire fence around our mint plants.  Hubby did the more labor-intensive stuff like mow the lawn.

I think the issue is that my exhaustion just sort of snowballs throughout the day - particularly if I don't sleep well (and I haven't slept well this week), then I can at least power through work, but by the time work is over, I'm just done.  So I've realized that during times like this, I really need to do a lunchtime workout, rather than an after work trip to the gym.  I need to get my fitness fix earlier in the day while I still have enough energy to do so, before I'm completely wiped out.

So with that theory, I worked out on my lunch hour today, and it felt good.  I'm still pretty exhausted and am looking forward to sleeping in on the weekend!  Hubby and I are planning on going to the gym together on Sunday around lunchtime since he's finally got a weekend off.  It's supposed to rain most of the weekend, so any outdoor exercise such as walking the dog or taking a bike ride are up in the air and completely dependent on what the weather does.


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I'm having lunch with my mother


I love it when my parents come to town and we go out to lunch.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/13/15:  I did have lunch with my mother and brother on Saturday.  We also did a bit of shopping and went to the zoo, so I was fairly active and walked around quite a bit especially at the zoo.  Still, it was technically a rest day.

Sunday, the weather was nice and I actually convinced hubby to take a bike ride to the gym with me.  This is pretty monumental because normally I have to drag him to the gym with me, and I've only ever been able to convince him to go on one bike ride with me in the past and he had a bad time on that ride (we did barely 3 miles total and he was complaining that his legs were tired and his butt was sore).  So to get him to both go on a bike ride AND go to the gym is pretty incredible!  To address his issues from the previous bike ride, I got him a gel seat cover to alleviate butt soreness, and I showed him how to adjust his seat height properly to alleviate leg tiredness.  (He previously had his seat really low so that his legs were bent at all times while riding, which is incorrect form and will tire out your legs fast.  Correct seat height is where your leg straightens out at the bottom of the crank, so that your legs alternate between being bent and straight - that is best for pedaling, your legs won't become painful or too tired too quickly that way.)  He also figured out how to use the gears on his bike.  

So we had a bike ride to the gym together - it's 3.26 miles each way according to an app on my phone, so a total of 6.52 miles of cycling altogether.  Fortunately hubby did great and kept up with me, he even passed me a couple times!  (To be fair, his bike has gears and I was riding my fixed-gear road bike.)  I was afraid that he wasn't in good enough shape to do a ride to the gym, lift weights, and then ride home - but he kept pace with me on everything and he said he enjoyed it (!!!).  This is fantastic, hopefully I can get him to do this with me again.  It's one of my favorite workouts, riding my bike to the gym as a warm-up, lifting weights and doing some good stretching at the gym, then riding home more slowly as a cool-down.  It feels like I'm doing everything, I get good cardio and of course weights and I do some stretching too - it just feels like it's so well-rounded and I'm hitting every area that I need to hit.  So I'm glad that hubby actually enjoyed it!  Particularly since he was such a whiner on our previous bike ride, ha ha (he said the gel seat cover and adjusting the seat height and learning how to work the gears properly all made a huge difference, hence no whining and actual enjoyment this time around).  Oh, and speaking of monumental things - he previously was anti-helmet because he thinks bike helmets look stupid.  But after our bike-gym-bike on Sunday, he actually said he wants a bike helmet now!  So I bought him one and he likes it!  I'm flabbergasted, my hubby went from someone who hates bike riding and helmets, to someone who enjoys bike riding and wanted a helmet.  Such a big change for the better, I love it!  

Oh, and after our bike-gym-bike workout, we didn't stop there.  I have been wanting to put a fruit tree in our yard for a few weeks now, and we had a bit of money, so we went to a garden center to look at our options.  We found a pear tree that should be able to survive our winters just fine.  It's a young tree, probably won't give fruit for a few years at least, but even so it smells like pears!  I'm not sure if it's the leaves or what, but it smells amazing.  So we decided to get it, and we did some hole-digging and planted our tree yesterday.  We didn't do much yard work as it got quite hot out as the day went on (it was reasonably okay weather when we were on our bikes fortunately) so that was all the yard work we did.  But I'm excited for my new tree, I can't wait to get pears from it and put them in my juicer!  I kind of want to get some other fruit trees as well - maybe I can just turn my yard into a mini-orchard, ha ha.

Anyway.  So I'm planning out my fitness goals for this week - getting back on track after the mess that was last week.  Today it's supposedly going to be super warm outside (forecast says high temp of 91 Fahrenheit which is just going to be super miserable!) and also very humid, and that type of weather does not agree with my guts.  So, I'm going to stay inside on my lunch break and head down to the little gym instead of venturing outdoors.  Since I did weights and cardio yesterday, today I'm just going to do some gentle yoga.  Tomorrow, I'll head down to the little gym again for some weights.  Wednesday, I might walk the dog after work if the weather allows, or I may take a rest day depending on how tired I'm feeling.  Thursday, I'm hoping to go to the big gym after work with hubby (we likely won't ride bikes there as we'll have limited time before it gets dark out, and I don't like riding my bike in the dark).  Friday, haven't decided yet - probably another one of those days where it's maybe a rest day or maybe a dog-walking day.  Saturday, I'm hoping to ride bikes to the gym with hubby if the weather cooperates.  If the weather is bad, we'll still go to the gym, just not via bicycles.  And Sunday, I'm going to have lunch with my grandparents, so that's likely a rest day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/14/15:  Getting back on track.  I did yoga yesterday on my lunch break - stretched everything out as best as I could.  I feel okay today.  I made decent food choices up until dinner yesterday, but then I over-ate at dinner and my guts punished me a bit for it so I felt pretty bleh last night (regardless of what food it is, if I over-eat then my guts generally punish me, they hate when I eat too much).  Doing okay today, I seem to have bounced back quickly from over-eating, so I'm going to hit the gym for weights this afternoon.  Going to try to make better food choices today too!

My week is getting busier.  I got invited to go to a different office on Friday to help out at a work event, so I'll be travelling which means my eating & drinking schedule is going to be messed up.  I'm used to eating similar things at the same time each day and drinking my tea, smoothie, etc at the same time each day, so I'm hoping my body doesn't get too mad about my usual food & drink schedule being interrupted.  I'll be on my feet all day on Friday as well, when I'm used to sitting at work all day, so that's going to be interesting.  In a nutshell, there will be multiple things going on at this event, and one of them is a photo booth - I've been elected to be the photographer since I know how to use the camera that we have at work.    (I'm not a professional photographer by any means, but I know how to work the camera and the photos I take are usually in focus so that's apparently good enough for me to be designated a photographer when we need one at work.)  So that's what I'll be doing on Friday, on my feet taking photos of people all day.  It's going to be a long, crazy day.  I'm hoping that my body doesn't get too mad about all of that, because I still want to go to the gym on Saturday and not have to spend Saturday recovering from Friday!

So yeah, long story short, I'm thinking Friday is technically a rest day but I'll definitely be active all day!  I won't do anything fitness-wise but I will be on my feet all day and I'm exhausted just thinking about it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/15/15:  I'm doing a bit less okay today.  Still within the realm of "okay", just a bit less okay than yesterday.    (The definitions you have to come up with when you have a chronic illness!)  I got mildly coconut-ed yesterday.  Coconut is my #1 trigger food, even a small amount of it can put me in pain and cause me all sorts of symptoms for days.  Obviously I avoid it like crazy, but sometimes it's hidden in foods.  So, my brother had given me a box of fancy chocolates - I've had chocolates from this place before and never had an issue with them.  And they always include a guide showing which chocolate has which ingredients.  Well, there was one which must be a new or seasonal flavor, it wasn't on the guide - and it turned out to have coconut in it.  I realized as the chocolate was in my mouth that the flavor and texture both rang alarm bells - eek!  I spit it out but I had already swallowed a little of it.  My guts were definitely unsettled last night and this morning - but the good news is, I must have ingested barely any coconut, because I'm pretty much okay now.  Considering how sick I got the last time I inadvertently ate coconut - that time I experienced almost immediate wicked nausea, stomach pains, sweating palms, shakiness, bathroom trips, and just generally felt horrendous and it lasted for about 4 days.  So I'm really glad I was at least able to avoid that and just have really minor symptoms by comparison this time around!  Phew!  

So, I managed to avoid major catastrophe but I did have minor symptoms - multiple bouts of d last night and again this morning.  It seems to have stopped now, fortunately.  Guts aren't feeling stellar but they're not too bad either.  Today was probably going to be a rest day anyway, so that's just as well.  I'll rest today and will hit the gym tomorrow as planned.


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## UnXmas

That's quite an extreme reaction to have to such a small amount. It sounds more like an allergy - i.e. you're so sensitive that even tiny amounts must be avoided - rather than just difficulty digesting a food, which seems to depend on the quantity consumed, needing more than just a bite to result in symptoms. How soon after eating coconut does the reaction happen?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It could be an allergy although it's weird because I never had any issues at all with coconut before IBD - after my first couple of flare-ups, I already suspected IBD and was looking into supplements and someone at a health food store recommended coconut oil capsules.  So I tried one and had terrible stomach pain within 15-20 minutes of taking it.  Something about IBD made me suddenly not able to handle coconut at all.  I used to loooove coconut, I would sometimes buy a whole coconut and just snack on chunks!  I would probably die now if I tried that.  

So yeah, I don't know if it's an allergy or not.  But the reaction I have to coconut is usually very fast.  At Thanksgiving a couple years ago, I went to my aunt's house for dinner and she's gluten-free.  I had some gravy with my mashed potatoes and I didn't even think to ask what was in it - later I found out it was gluten-free gravy that had been thickened with coconut flour.  I started feeling really ill as I was still eating, that's how quickly it affected me.  I didn't know what was going on, I thought I was eating only safe foods (turkey and mashed potatoes are both safe for me) and it didn't dawn on me until later that it was the gravy that was the culprit.  I was so mad at myself once I realized what I had done, and I was sick for the whole long weekend (Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday here, and I always get off of work on that Friday as well, so from Thurs - Sun I was ill thanks to the coconut in the gravy).

Speaking of feeling ill, I feel rather awful today.    Not sure why!  I did eat a bit risky yesterday, had some pizza & salad for lunch, but I felt okay the rest of the day yesterday aside from some gas so I don't think that's it.  I also felt like I slept like a rock last night, but I woke up exhausted and my fitbit says I only actually slept for 3 hours 50 minutes, so it must have been a rough night and I just don't remember.  My guts are not happy today - particularly for the first couple hours of the morning, I felt like there was hot lava in my stomach.  I'm more pale than usual and a bit chilled too which is worrying as those are flare symptoms for me.  I dragged myself into work in the foolish hopes that I will be able to work out this evening (my rule for myself is, if I'm okay to work then I'm okay to work out - obviously I doesn't always happen that way though).  I'm probably just being stupid, I know that when I feel this rough that I clearly need rest and not exercise.  But hubby and I had planned to go to the gym when I get home from work, so I'm stupidly wishing for a miraculous recovery before then.  I truly feel awful today and I'm sure I won't be able to go to the gym, I'm not even sure that I'm going to make it through the work day.

I'm really, REALLY just hoping this is a fluke and a bad day and not the start of a flare.  I'm definitely not nearly as pale as I've been in previous flares (in past flares, sometimes it was like all the blood in my body would go to my guts and there was nothing left for my face - I would turn completely white, I looked like a corpse and I actually scared myself in the mirror at least once because for a second I did not recognize that the paper-white ghost in the mirror was actually me).  I still have some color in my face so it's not as bad as it could be, and the chills are really mild compared to what they've been in previous flares, too (the worst was when I was so chilled that sitting in a scalding hot bath failed to halt the chills).  I'm super nauseous right now, waiting for my Zofran to kick in (I tried eating a little bit of safe food to see if that would calm down my stomach at all - nope!).  I haven't even been at work for an hour yet and I'm already thinking about going home sick.  Ugh ugh ugh.  Yeah, okay, so I will admit that the gym is not happening today.  I think I need to go rest so that I can make it through being on my feet all day at the work event tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/20/15:  I'm still feeling somewhat crappy.  Ugh.  I made it through the work event on Friday by eating very little (I had a banana and a small snowcone and that was it).  I was on my feet all day and it was exhausting but I made it through.

Saturday hubby and I ran a few errands, but it was too warm and humid out to do much.  So we mostly stayed indoors and played video games.  I rested the whole day, didn't do much of anything.

Sunday, I went to lunch with my grandparents.  I was feeling HUNGRY that day and I ordered a lot of food.  (Chocolate chip pancakes, yum!)  I was feeling okay and the weather wasn't as crazy warm as it's been, so Sunday evening we walked the dog.  I also did a few minutes of cardio on my rowing machine.  The rowing machine makes me use my abdominal muscles and that puts a lot of pressure on my guts, though.  So...

Today I feel kind of rough again, probably because of the rowing machine.  Woke up exhausted and nauseous.  I've been able to eat, though (I've had several rice krispy treats without any issue).  I had wanted to go to the gym today, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea.  My body is telling me to rest.  I'm so bored with resting, I want to work out!  Bleh.  I'm not sure what to do.  I think I'm just going to wait a bit and see if things improve any.  I might be able to get through a workout if I don't push myself too much and if I avoid using my abdominal muscles.  I had tried incorporating planks into a couple workouts last week, but I guess I'm going to have to go back to not using my abs for awhile longer.  Ugh.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another update for today:  Still exhausted, so no gym today.  Nausea has gone away fortunately but the fatigue hasn't.  I'm in a bad mood, too.  I've been a bit snippy with people today.  On my lunch break, I went to run a couple errands (which was exhausting) and at a store a guy tried to talk to me.  He was like, "Miss?  Excuse me?"  And I was like, "WHAT." in the grumpiest voice ever.    That "WHAT" basically conveyed "Do not talk to me and also go away!"

At work we have a ping pong table and sometimes we do tournaments as a "fun" team-building thing.  I'm terrible at ping pong and don't find it particularly fun so I avoid playing it as much as I can.  There's another tournament tomorrow and my boss noticed that my name wasn't on the sign-up sheet, and she emailed me to ask why.  Not only do I have zero interest in ping pong, but I'm obviously not feeling so well lately (she knows that, too), so I just told her that I am not feeling well enough to play.  

I'm not in a mood for playing ping pong nor being talked to in a store.    Feeling like garbage for multiple days in a row (and not being able to work out for multiple days in a row) really makes my mood and BS tolerance drop considerably.  I just have no patience for anything today and I'm really grumpy.  I need to sleeeep and then I need to hit the gym.  Hopefully that can happen soon.


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## teeny5

Sorry to hear you feel so crappy Cat. Hope you start to feel better soon. My husband doesn't play video games with me too often, probably because i will beat him  

I hate those kinds of things at work too. At mine they like to do games, sometimes skits, activities...all silly, dumb stuff but all stuff I don't like to participate in.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Teeny, yeah, the hubby and I don't often play video games together - I should have specified, he was playing a game on the PS3 while I was playing a game on my DS.    So we were both playing video games in the same room while hanging out together, but we were playing separate games on separate systems and not competing against each other or anything like that.  When we do play video games together, we like co-op 2-player games such as Mario Kart Double Dash.  We don't do so well competing against each other, but playing together cooperatively works out pretty well for us.

Eww, skits!  That sounds much worse than ping pong!  At my work, there's a big yearly meeting and the managers all have to do a skit for that, but fortunately they've never made anyone else besides the managers do a skit.  I would hate to have to do skits at work, it sounds awful.

Fitness update:  I'm feeling somewhat better today!    I slept fairly well last night, I feel FAR less grumpy today, the fatigue is still there but it's not nearly as bad as it was and the nausea is still gone.  I did have a bad episode of d last night before bed (possibly because there was some dairy in my dinner), but so far today seems to be okay.

So, tentatively, I *think* I'm okay to hit the gym today.  I'll of course not push myself too hard, and will continue avoiding abdominal exercises since my guts can't even handle one plank anymore.  (I'm seriously starting to question whether this is really remission, I feel like I should have fewer symptoms and be able to do more "normal" things if it were really remission - I am still anemic though so maybe that's the culprit?  I don't know.  My fecal calprotectin from about a month ago was at 49 and it said the normal range was from 0 to 50, so I'm juuuust barely within the normal range.  Maybe I'm just teetering on the edge of remission or something like that.)

Anyway, the plan is to hit the little gym on my lunch break today for weights.  I'll have to sneak down to the gym so that my boss doesn't see me, since today is that ping pong tournament that I'm avoiding.  (I guess if she asks, I'll just tell her the truth - that working on my fitness and health is a priority for me but playing ping pong is just totally not, so I'm focusing what energy I have on my top priorities.)

I'm going to play it by ear for the rest of the week - see how I'm doing after today's gym session and take it from there.  Hubby's going out of town from Thurs thru Sunday, so I'll be on my own all weekend which is nice.  I'll have some "me time" and can work out when I feel like it.  I'd love to get my bike out this weekend and I'll probably do some yard work too if I have enough energy.  Not planning anything yet though as I need to see how I'm feeling and whether I continue to improve and how today goes.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I made it to the gym!  Had a bit of joint pains - my hips are clearly unhappy about not getting any exercise for the past week or so.  I tried doing a "warrior" yoga pose in between sets at one point, and my right hip cramped up badly and was just generally angry with me.  I did some hip stretches and some leg lifts to work my hips, and they seem much happier now.  I also feel more energetic now and my mood is lifted.  

I'm hoping I can do something tomorrow - maybe I can get hubby to go on a bike ride with me before he goes out of town.  Thursday I'm hoping to do weights again.  Starting to form a fitness plan for the week but don't want to get ahead of myself in case I end up feeling awful again tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/22/15:  After work yesterday, I still felt fairly energetic, so I walked my dog.  That went well, the weather was nice.  We didn't meet up with her pack and we did see her enemies (there are 2 dogs she hates, they always bite her in the butt which is probably her least favorite thing ever) but she just barked at them once and then we all moved on in opposite directions.  So everything went pretty well.

After our walk, my right hip was still feeling pretty messed up and my left calf for some reason started hurting too.  I took a bath with Epsom salt - I don't think the stuff actually works for joint or muscle pain, but it also can't really hurt and it makes my bath smell nice.  And at any rate, my hip and calf feel somewhat better today!  Not sure if it was just the hot bath, or if the Epsom salt actually helped somehow.

I'm going to play it by ear today - if I'm feeling up to it this evening, I will probably walk the dog again.  If not, I'll just rest.  My left knee is bothering me a little bit right now (it does that sometimes) so I'll see how my knee and calf and hip are all feeling later in the day.  Guts seem to be okay.  I'm still having diarrhea almost every night before bed, but all in all it's not too bad.  I'm not having d all day long, I really only go once first thing in the morning (usually at least somewhat formed/solid) and then 1-2 times at night before bed (usually d, hardly ever formed/solid).  So I'm still having d, but it's predictable d.  There's not urgency or frequency or anything like that and it's always at the same time of day, just as I'm winding down and getting ready to go to bed.  (I usually take a shower before bed, so sometimes I'll have d both before and after my shower, but at most it's 2 episodes per night).  I'm not getting up in the night to go, no night sweats or anything like that either.  I'm still not sure if I'm in remission or not, but I guess this predictability is good.  Now if I can just get my nighttime stools to be more formed...

The tentative fitness plan for the week is coming together.  Tonight either rest or dog walk.  Tomorrow, weights at the little gym on my lunch break.  Friday, hubby will be out of town so I'll likely walk the dog after work.  Saturday, I'm hoping to ride my bike to the gym - currently they're saying 60% chance of thunderstorms on Saturday so that may not happen, but I plan to lift weights that day regardless of the weather.  Sunday, maybe a rest day - will have to see how I'm feeling.  Oh, I'll probably have to walk the dog each weekend day - if I'm not feeling energetic then we might just take short walks!  I'll do what I can.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/23/15:  I walked the dog last night.  Felt pretty good, the weather was nice.  My dog met up with her pack and we didn't see her enemies so she had a good time.

Because of the walk, I didn't end up eating dinner until late.  It was nearly 8 PM when I got home and looked around the kitchen for something to eat.  I decided, screw it, have a hot fudge sundae.    Hubby was like, you're having that for dinner?  And I said, "May as well have whatever I want, since I'm just going to poop it out in an hour anyway."  (Because of the nightly pre-bedtime diarrhea I've been having.)  Hubby just gave me a look, and then he said, "Jeez, you can even make a hot fudge sundae sound depressing."  Ouch, that was not a nice thing to hear.  I thought I was being charmingly self-deprecating but hubby just thought I was being a downer.  Hmph.  Well, so what.  It was true anyway.

So that put a bit of a damper on my mood.  At any rate, hubby's going out of town for work today, so I have from now through Sunday to have some me time and I'm excited about it - I'm a massive introvert and I loooove alone time.  I'm going to do some relaxing and some exercising of course.  Today's plan is to hit the little gym on my lunch break for weights.  I'm feeling pretty decent today (my hips still aren't stellar, but hopefully a workout will help them feel better).  Looking forward to today's workout.


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## hawkeye

How did the little gym go?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

The little gym on Thursday went fine - I did everything but abdominals and felt good.  Thurs evening though everything went downhill.    I started feeling headachey on Thurs evening just before bedtime.  I slept okay, but Friday morning I woke up with a nasty migraine.  Head was throbbing and I was nauseous.  Called in sick to work and just rested all day Friday.  Saturday I wasn't much better so I rested most of that day, too.  Bleh.  So much for "me time" - it was all spent on the couch doing nothing.

Finally Sunday I was feeling mostly okay, so I decided to push myself to go to the gym.  Right before hitting the gym, however, I passed some blood in my stool.  Ugh!  I think I figured out why - the migraine had given me some nausea, so I had taken some Zofran.  Sometimes Zofran will constipate me, and it did for sure this time.  So I passed a rather hard/large constipated stool on Sunday and it felt like it ripped open a fissure, so I think that's the source of the blood (it was not a lot of blood, just a small amount of bright red blood, and it sure feels like a fissure).  Things obviously didn't feel stellar back there after ripping myself a new fissure, but I decided to go to the gym anyway.

So I went to the big gym.  I felt iffy at first, but it's like I transform when I put on my gym clothes.  When I put on my gym clothes, it's almost like putting on a superhero outfit.  That sounds dumb but it's true - it has a mental effect on me.  It's like, I put on these gym clothes and I can do amazing things and I can be strong and get through anything.  So I put on my gym clothes and it was like an immediate feeling of, I am strong and I can do this.

I had a great workout.  I felt stronger as the workout went on - at first I wasn't quite sure if I was going to get through it, but as it went on I just felt better and better.  I pushed myself and even did some extra sets on top of my usual gym routine - I did extra leg presses, tricep dips, and squats with the bar.  It was fantastic!

After the gym I also walked the dog (we didn't go as far as usual, her dog park is closed so we went to a smaller adjacent park).  It was very warm and humid out but fortunately my guts didn't get upset.  During the walk, I noticed I still had some head pain.  My migraine decided to stick around I guess.  I feel okay today head-wise.  I am quite sore from the gym yesterday - adding extra sets is something I'm feeling today, my legs in particular are quite sore.  It's also just about my time of the month, so I'm expecting the cramping and fun to start any minute now.  Aside from the soreness and the anticipation of cramping, I'm doing okay today.  Going to take a rest day as I'm too sore to exercise.  Hoping to be feeling okay enough tomorrow to hit the little gym on my lunch break.  Haven't planned out the rest of the week yet, it seems like my health is just too iffy lately to make solid plans.  Just going to continue playing things by ear.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/28/15:  I'm still feeling pretty sore from Sunday's workout!  Glutes and hamstrings particularly.  Those extra sets of squats and leg presses did a number on me.  I'm less sore than yesterday, so I am recovering, but still definitely sore.  So, I'm thinking a workout is not a good idea, I'd like to let my body heal more before going back to the gym.  I'll take another rest day today and plan on hitting the gym tomorrow.

I didn't completely rest yesterday - I did end up walking the dog after work.  I figured walking might help break up the soreness a bit, and I think it did help.  Tonight I probably won't walk her, it'll be a true rest day as I need to pick up some stuff at the store and then make dinner, so no time for walking tonight.

So, the hope is that tomorrow I'll be recovered enough to do a workout.  Not planning anything beyond tomorrow just yet.  Although this weekend will be a workout of sorts - we're hoping to paint the outside of our house!  The previous owner of our house looooved pink, most of the rooms were painted pink and the outside is an ugly salmon pink.  Over the past few years, we've gotten rid of much of the pink on the inside of the house, and now it's time to get rid of the pink on the outside.  So hubby's looking into borrowing a power washer and paint sprayer, hopefully that will make the job easier.  Our house has some brick on the front, so I'm thinking of painting the house colors that will complement the red bricks.  So the main color will be a creamy light brown (think coffee with creamer in it), with darker chocolate brown for accents, and our front door will be painted a deep burgundy red.  I think it'll look really nice, and at any rate, it'll be a zillion times better than salmon pink!


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## hawkeye

Painting a house, can't say that I envy how you will be spending your weekend.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I know, it's not going to be super fun.  But it's definitely needed.  My house isn't huge, either (one story, about 1,000 square feet) so it won't be too bad.  I did a bit of reading about painting vinyl siding, and it sounds like it should be an easy job (no primer required, just power-washing before painting).  It'll still definitely be a workout in itself and we'll have to get up on a ladder to paint the higher parts and stuff like that, but I think we can at least do the bulk of it (maybe not the trim or the door) in a weekend.  The weather is supposed to be nice for the most part, possible thunderstorms on Sunday but it sounds like mainly in the evening, so hopefully we can complete our painting while avoiding the rain.  I'm really looking forward to having a house that is no longer pink!    So I'm very motivated to knock this paint job out of the park.

Oh, and my father-in-law does have a power washer and a power paint sprayer that he's loaning us, so that will make the job go quicker too.  So that'll be good.  

Fitness update:  I'm feeling pretty well today - soreness seems to be gone, finally.  So I'm heading to the little gym on my lunch break today.  Don't know about tomorrow.  Tentatively thinking of going to the big gym on Friday evening.  Probably won't do any proper workouts this weekend since we'll be painting, but obviously I'll be active all weekend.


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## hawkeye

Lobster makes the news again....
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...r-week-with-la-fête-du-lobster-roll-1.3172286


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Lobster!  *drools*  Hawkeye, are you going to that lobster roll festival?  If so, you must let me know how it goes!  It sounds like it'd be delicious but dangerous - like, if I were there, I'd stuff myself silly.  Also, I'd probably throw the bread away and just eat the lobster!  But I'd probably attempt to eat my own body weight in lobster.  

Fitness update:  I went to the little gym yesterday and had a good workout.  Guts are a bit crampy & painful (it's that time of the month so crampy pain is not unexpected) but otherwise I felt pretty well.  Not sore today thankfully (didn't do extra sets this time though!).  I did walk the dog last night as well, just a quick walk as it was pretty warm out.  Guts gave me some LLQ pain and a pretty bad bout of d last night before bed - hopefully just a menstruation thing.

We're getting everything ready to paint our house.  Hubby's going to pick up the sprayer and power washer today, and tonight we're going to the store to buy the paint (because of that, today's a rest day).  Tomorrow I think I'm just going to hit the little gym on my lunch hour, because tomorrow after work we're planning to power wash the house so that it's dry and ready to be painted on Saturday.  We'll start painting on Saturday morning and keep working until we're done.  I have no idea how long it'll take, probably all weekend, so I highly doubt I'll make it to the gym either day.  (Painting in itself will be pretty active, so it's not like I'll be having a lazy weekend!)  I'm hoping to hit the gym again on Monday.  That's the tentative plan for now!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/31/15:  Ugh.  Last night I felt headachey and today I think I have another migraine.  It's not nearly as bad as the last one was, but I'm still having head pain (not throbbing this time) and some nausea (not as bad as last time).  I'm thinking this indicates that I have to rest today, so no gym.  I need to be feeling okay enough to paint tomorrow, so that means rest today is the wisest choice.  I'm frustrated though, I don't know why I am getting so many migraines.  I haven't had 2 migraines 2 weeks in a row since I came off of Entocort (that stuff gives me wicked headaches and migraines frequently).  Bleh.

At any rate, we're pretty well set to start painting.  Hubby's been washing the house to prepare it (we have vinyl siding, and the internet research I've done says to wash the siding before painting but that's it, no primer needed).  So we can start painting tomorrow or even tonight if we feel like it.  (I'll have to see how I'm feeling tonight, I suspect I'll just be resting.)  It's going to be an active weekend, I hope my body and head can keep up with the challenge.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/3/15:  Fortunately my head didn't get as bad as last time, so I was able to paint on Saturday.  I started at about 10 AM and painted until about 3 or 4 PM, then I was just done.  It was pretty warm out and the heat just sapped my energy and strength.  Very fortunately, hubby had started painting on Friday, so we were able to (mostly) finish by Saturday afternoon.  There are still a few spots to touch up, but overall it's done!  My house is no longer pink, I'm super happy about that!  It looks a million times better.  It was a lot of work for sure, but it was worth it.

I ended up resting on Sunday to recover from Saturday.  It was even warmer (like 96 F!) on Sunday, so we stayed in the air conditioning most of the day.  It was just miserably warm out.  Too warm to do anything like touch up our house's new paint job, so we just stayed in instead.

I'm feeling okay today.  Going to hit the little gym for weights shortly.  Hoping to do weights Mon, Wed, and Fri.  Not sure about Tues & Thurs just yet.  The weather is supposed to be a bit cooler this week, so I'd love to do a bike ride at some point.  And I'll likely walk the dog at least a couple nights this week.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I'm exhausted.  Didn't sleep well last night - I usually don't sleep well on Sunday nights.  I didn't think it'd affect me this much as I'm usually okay to work out on Mondays regardless of how I slept, but today I definitely did feel more sluggish and a bit more weak in the gym today.  I usually try for 12 reps per set, and today I was feeling like making it to 10 reps was a big achievement.  Bleh.

So I'm going to rest and try to sleep better tonight.  If I do sleep better tonight and feel okay tomorrow, then I think I'll either do cardio (stationary bike) or yoga on my lunch break, whatever I feel like doing.  If I don't sleep well or still feel exhausted or whatever, then I'll take a rest day tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/4/15:  I'm SO TIRED.  Slept terribly last night, a lot of tossing & turning and wakefulness.  Just exhausted today.  I'm thinking it's a rest day because I just don't have the energy to do much of anything.  Presuming I finally get some sleep tonight, I'm still planning on hitting the gym tomorrow.  I really just need some sleeeeep.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/5/15:  I'm still fairly tired although I did finally sleep halfway decent last night.  (Hubby woke me up once with his snoring and I nearly smacked him!  I was so mad!)  My right knee is aching today which is new - I'm presuming I just slept on it wrong.  I've had a few issues with my knees in the past, but it's almost always my left knee that aches, not the right.  So, I think it's probably fine.  Still planning to hit the gym today.

My stomach and guts are a bit messed up today though.  Yesterday and today, I've had pretty bad reflux all day - literally from the time I wake up, I'm noticeably refluxing, and it continues the entire day.  Last night I had a bit of a hard time finding a comfortable sleeping position that was friendly to my refluxing stomach & esophagus (maybe that's why my knee hurts today, I probably slept in an unnatural position due to the reflux).  I'm not sure why I'm suddenly refluxing more than usual - I haven't had any trigger foods lately, and I am not doing anything differently (haven't re-added abdominal exercises into my regimen or anything like that).  So that's a bit frustrating.  Yesterday I had to take extra ranitidine, and today I took an extra Nexium.  Hopefully things calm down soon - my reflux has been relatively calm for awhile now and I'd really like it to go back to being calm!

Oh, and because the reflux caused some nausea, I took some Zofran yesterday.  Zofran sometimes constipates me, so I'm constipated today which is just adding to my abdominal unhappiness.  Bleh.  Going to hit the gym regardless of all this stupid stuff going on.  I'm not feeling great but I think I'm okay enough to go to the gym.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I hit the little gym on my lunch break, and I feel SO much better now.  Joints feel better, I feel less stressed and have more energy, guts feel a bit better, and my mood has lifted.  Reflux seems to have eased up too, although that may just be because I pre-medicate with a bunch of antacids (300 mg ranitidine and a handful of Tums) before every workout.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/7/15:  Yesterday I walked the dog after work.  The weather has been hot but it cooled down a bit by the evening, so we had a nice walk.  Tonight, I'm heading to the big gym after work with hubby.  Going to do a nice long workout.  I've been feeling pretty well yesterday and today (knock on wood!).  Haven't had much in the way of diarrhea or cramps, feeling more energetic, just generally feeling like a human being again.    So I'm excited to have the energy to go have a nice, long workout at the big gym!  I'm going to rock it.

Tomorrow, I'm thinking I might take a bike ride.  It's supposed to be nice weather although a bit warm, so I'll have to see how warm it gets.  The botanical garden is something like 5 or 6 miles from my house, and I haven't been yet this year.  So I'm tentatively thinking, ride my bike to the botanical garden, have a walk around the garden, then ride home.

Sunday, hoping to hit the big gym again for weights.  I'm really hoping this feeling good and having energy lasts through the weekend!  I am planning to be pretty active with both a bike ride and a couple gym sessions, I just hope my body can keep up with me.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/10/15:  I went to the big gym Friday night and felt good.  I felt strong and was able to keep up with the added sets that I did last time I was at the big gym.  I did get pretty refluxy by the end, I was burping and I had one episode of feeling acid/stomach contents shooting up my throat into my mouth - yuck.  Fortunately though that was the worst of it.  

Saturday I woke up feeling headachey, so I scrapped my plans for a bike ride.  Hubby had a few of his friends over and we all ended up playing board games for much of the day.  That was fun although I was quite headachey and so was the other girl who came over.

Sunday, I was still headachey, and I just had no motivation to do anything.  So I ended up resting a lot, watching TV and working on crocheting a blanket.

So, I didn't work out all weekend due to not feeling great.  Today I'm feeling better - I actually slept fairly well last night.  I usually do not sleep well at all on Sunday nights, but I guess I was tired - I zonked out hard.  I actually woke up a couple times, and I was so disoriented when I did wake up - I was like, where am I, what time is it, where is hubby?  And then I zonked back out again.  It was weird (and hubby was in bed with me where he always is), it was kind of like still being in a dream as I briefly woke up.  Then, my lovely cat decided to come into the bedroom and meow at me 10 minutes before my alarm went off.    She wanted to be fed, of course.  So I slept well aside from the waking up and my hungry, spoiled cat.

Anyway, so overall I'm pretty well rested today and my head is feeling better.  Guts are a bit iffy but only because I gorged on pizza yesterday.  I'm feeling well enough to hit the gym, so that's the plan.  Going to the little gym on my lunch hour today.  The tentative plan is to hit the little gym on Mon, Wed, and Fri.  Hopefully will walk the dog after work at least a couple days this week, and maybe will fit in some yoga and/or bicycling too.


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Lobster!  *drools*  Hawkeye, are you going to that lobster roll festival?


Not a big lobster fan, although my little guy had 4 claws last month at 1 sitting.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yummmm, lobster claws.  That's my favorite part of the lobster!  Everyone else seems to love the tails, but I find the tails to be stringy and chewy.  Give me the claws any day!

Fitness update 8/11/15:  I'm achey today, particularly my right hip and knee.  I did sleep in a weird position so that's probably why.  My upper-right abdomen was giving me some prickly pains last night (not sure why, perhaps because I ate mushrooms with dinner) so I had to figure out a sleeping position that would not put pressure on that part of my abdomen and would allow the pains to ease up.

The abdo pains are gone now so I'm just dealing with the achey joints.  I might try yoga today to see if I can get those joints to quiet down.  And I may also walk the dog after work - sometimes just moving around can help my joints.  We'll see what I'm feeling up to.

Tomorrow the plan is still to hit the little gym on my lunch break.  Thursday, I might rest.  The weather is supposed to get hot again on Thurs (close to 90 degrees, from at least Thurs thru Sun).  I just don't deal well with weather that hot, so my dog isn't going to get walked when it's that warm out (my dog doesn't deal well with hot weather, either - she loves cold and snow).  So I'm hoping to walk my dog tonight and tomorrow night before it gets too hot.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/12/15:  I didn't do yoga yesterday but I did walk the dog after work.  Ohh, she was super naughty at the dog park.  She sometimes gets a little aggressive with other dogs, particularly dogs that are bigger than she is.  I don't know why she does this and I've been trying to discourage that behavior.  Last night it got out of hand - she walked up to a lab and growled at it.  This lab apparently also had some issues with aggression, so they started fighting!  The lab was of course much larger than my corgi, so it immediately got her pinned on her back, belly-up, and was trying to bite at her neck.  I was terrified, I thought this dog was going to seriously injure my dog.  Thankfully, fortunately, we got the dogs separated quickly and none of the bites to my dog seemed to break the skin.

I think I'm just going to have hubby be the dog-walker for the time being.  He said she usually doesn't get aggressive when he walks her (she does get aggressive fairly often when I walk her - from what I was reading, this may be because she doesn't view me as the "alpha" so she thinks she's the alpha when it's me and her and therefore she tries to assert her dominance to other dogs - so I guess hubby is the alpha?).  I don't really know what to do and I'm frustrated and upset.  When it is my turn to walk her, like when hubby is working weekends, then I guess I'm just going to take her on regular, on-leash walks and not take her to the off-leash dog park, at least not for awhile.  And I'll have to figure out how to be more dominant and show her that I indeed am also an alpha like hubby (if there can even be two alphas?  I don't know!).  I really hope all of this helps.  Just, ugh.  Seriously, is there any wonder I'm a cat person?  I love my dog, but I do not really understand dogs!  Cats are so much easier!

So yeah, I'm stressed because my dog is crazy and very nearly got hurt.  (For the record, she's only aggressive with certain other dogs - never with people nor children - it's just certain dogs that bring up this reaction in her, and it's not even all dogs as she's got plenty of dog friends that she plays nicely with, so it's not like she's a dangerous dog - she's just got this one unfortunate quirk.)  Anyway, I'm going to the little gym today on my lunch break.  I hope to work off some of this stress!  You wouldn't think that going for a walk with your dog could be stressful, ugh.  So yeah, I'm going to push myself in the gym today as I need it.  I'm seriously looking forward to it.  It's one of those days where I wish that I had more than an hour to devote to working out.


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## teeny5

That's so weird with your dog. My dogs are overly protective of me and bark more when I am home and are less friendly towards anyone when I am around. My husband could be home all day with them and no barking...I come home and they bark at every noise, weird! I have always wondered why they do that. 

I find that time is a common deterrent for me with exercise. If anything will take me more than 30 minutes to do I simply won't do it. Just seems so much more tedious of a task if it is longer than 30 minutes.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Teeny, that's weird - my dog only barks at certain select things, she tends not to be barky at all (which is apparently rare, as most corgis are very barky).  If another dog walks past our house and she hears it (like if the windows are open and she hears their collar jingling, or if she hears another dog bark) then she'll freak out and bark.  Or if there's a loud commotion outside like children playing.  She won't bark if someone comes into the house, like if hubby comes home from work or if a friend comes over and lets themself in, my dog will not make a peep.  So I guess she'll protect us from neighborhood dogs and children but not someone actually coming into our house, ugh.  

I have a new theory as to why she gets aggressive when I walk her.  Hubby tends to walk her in the mornings (he works part-time, and on the days he does work, he goes in at noon, so he has mornings free).  I work a standard Mon-Fri office job so I get home in the evenings and sometimes walk her then, or at whatever time on the weekends.  When I walk her in the evenings, if hubby's been at work all day, that means she's been in her crate from noon until about 6 PM when I get home.  So maybe she's just got some pent up energy/anxiety/boredom or whatever and that comes out as aggression as soon as she meets another dog at the park - this could explain why she gets aggressive when I walk her but not when hubby walks her.  So, I'm still thinking that on-leash walks are best for me for now, particularly in the evenings when she's been crated for awhile.  I'm also thinking that I might try putting her in doggy day care every so often on days that hubby and I both work, as that might help her in multiple ways.  She wouldn't be crated all day, she'd have a lot of interaction with other dogs (and would hopefully not be aggressive although I've read that doggy day cares tend to deal with that kind of thing a lot so they just separate dogs that don't like each other).  She'd get socialization and stimulation and wouldn't be bored all day.  I just need to research dog day care places in my city and figure out which one would work best for us and what we can afford, etc.

Oh, and I looove having a long workout.  30 mins is okay for things like a yoga session or a quick cardio session (like 30 mins on the stationary bike), but when I'm doing weights, I like to have as much time as possible.  It's not like I'm just lifting weights and that's it - there are multiple components to my workouts.  My favorite workout is, I like to ride my bike to the gym - it's 3.26 miles each way according to an app on my phone.  It takes maybe 20 mins to ride there and I try to go fast on my way to the gym so that's an excellent warm-up.  Once I get to the gym, I do a bunch of weights, mainly using weight machines.  I do a bit with the bar and weight bench and I do a few bodyweight exercises as well (tricep dips).  Once I've done all the weights in my usual routine and I'm properly exhausted, I go and stretch for a good 10 mins or so.  I take particular care to stretch out my hips since they are the joints with confirmed arthritis.  Once I'm done stretching, I ride my bike home at a slower, more leisurely pace for my cool-down.  All of this takes close to 2 hours from start to finish.  Last time I did a bike-weights-bike workout, I left my house shortly after noon and got home shortly before 2 PM.  And I loved it!  It didn't feel tedious at all, it felt like 2 fun bike rides and a kickass weightlifting session.  

Fitness update 8/13/15:  I hit the little gym for weights yesterday.  I pushed myself as much as I could which felt great at the time.  But it turns out, I pushed myself just a bit too hard.  I ended up tweaking my left shoulder, there's a bit of pain when I move my left arm in certain ways.  I've had this pain before and it's always gone away within a couple days, so I'm not too concerned.  But, I obviously don't want to make it worse either.  So I'm thinking that tomorrow's weight session should probably be a rest day instead.  Not super happy about that, but I can work around it I think.  My legs are fine, so today I'm going to do a cardio session (stationary bike) in the little gym on my lunch break.  Tomorrow I still want to do something fitness-wise, so I'm thinking yoga.  As long as I stick to poses that won't put too much pressure on my shoulder, I think it'll be okay.  Slow, deliberate movements seem fine - it's when I move my left arm suddenly like to reach for something, that's when the pain is worst.  So, hopefully yoga will be okay and won't exacerbate my shoulder.

Saturday, I'm hoping to make the most of the remainder of summer - hubby and I are thinking of taking a mini-road trip (staying within the state) and having an adventure day.  We still haven't quite decided on where to go but we have a couple ideas.  So I'll have some sort of little adventure on Saturday!    Sunday, I hope by then my shoulder is recovered enough for me to do a weights workout.  That's the tentative plan.  If my shoulder is still bad on Sunday then I'll either rest or figure something else out.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, I forgot to add - speaking of my dog, we're in a mini heat wave with temps above 90 from today thru Sunday.  Yuck.  This means my dog will only be walked in the mornings by hubby when it's still relatively cool.  I am *not* walking her in the evenings when it's still close to 90.  She and I both do poorly in the heat.  So, the aggression issues won't come into play for the remainder of this week and weekend, as we'll both be inside in the air conditioning.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I ended up feeling a bit nauseous around the time to go to the gym, so I opted to rest instead.  My shoulder was also feeling fairly bad and I wasn't sure I'd be able to change into and back out of my gym clothes!  At least not without a bunch of pain.  Shoulder is feeling somewhat better now, so I'm hoping to go to the gym for a cardio session tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/14/15:  Shoulder is continuing to improve.  There's still some mild pain if I move it the wrong way, but for the most part it's doing a lot better.  I think I'm able to change into my gym clothes without much pain today!  So, I'm heading for the little gym in a bit.  Going to do about 30 mins on the stationary bike.  Not going to push the shoulder at all just yet, I'm going to continue letting the shoulder rest.  

Tomorrow is a rest day (taking a mini road trip up north for the day).  Sunday, I'll just play it by ear.  If the shoulder is at all iffy then I'll do something just involving legs and will continue to rest the shoulder.  If it feels better then I'll tentatively do a regular weights workout but won't push my shoulder, I will do a bit lighter weights than I'm used to and of course if anything hurts then I'll stop.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/17/15:  Did the stationary bike for 30 mins on Friday and that went fine.  I used the new bike in the little gym.  That bike has the world's most uncomfortable seat.    It has like zero padding and it's a weird, uncomfortable shape.  I sat on a towel to try to minimize the discomfort, but even so, it was not very easy on my backside.

I had a fun weekend - we hit the road for a day trip on Saturday.  Went and saw a historical site I've been wanting to tour, so that's a bucket list item checked off.  Sunday we did stuff around the house like laundry and dishes, and also did grocery shopping and took the dog to get her nails trimmed.  Just a bunch of chores and errands.  Didn't do any workouts all weekend long as the shoulder was still a bit tender, but it was fine with me doing things like carrying laundry basket.  The weather was so hot (over 90 degrees F) that we didn't walk the dog at all.

Today the shoulder is still just a tiny bit tender.  I had been thinking that I could do the stationary bike again today if my shoulder was at all iffy, but now the bike isn't happening either.  I woke up totally exhausted and my guts are angry.  I've been dripping bright red blood out my butt (I think it's from a new fissure?).  Stomach is sending me little shooting pains and I just generally feel run-down and unwell.  Soooo.  Not happy but it's another rest day.  As soon as my shoulder AND my stupid guts recover, then I'll go back to the gym.  Hopefully that day is tomorrow, we'll see.  I'm just not at all impressed with the crap my body has thrown at me lately.  Seriously grumpy and upset and having a little pity party today.


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## hawkeye

Hot here as well


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/19/15:  I went from dripping blood to gushing.  Had 5 bloody bowel movements in one day, that's a new record for me.  Ended up feeling light-headed and just completely unwell.  Went home sick Monday, stayed home sick Tues.  Today I went back to work but still feeling light-headed, so went to urgent care to get checked out.  It's a very nasty hemmie causing the bleeding so I'm back on steroid suppositories (yuck).  My bloodwork is oddly pretty good though so no explanation for the light-headedness.  Hmph.

So, just going to wait for the steroids to heal things up and also wait for the light-headedness to go away.  After all that, hopefully my body will give me a break and allow me to go to the gym!  I haven't lifted weights for a week now, since my shoulder got tweaked.  Looks like it's going to be a bit longer until I go back as I don't want to have another episode of crazy bleeding.  Bleh!


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/20/15:  I'm feeling slightly more human today.  Haven't passed any blood in about 48 hours now, although my rectum is still pretty painful and I'm still more exhausted than usual.  Still not ready to go back to the gym just yet, I feel like I need to rest and heal up more first.  I'm hoping that next week I'll be recovered enough to work out again.  For the rest of this week and weekend, I plan to just rest and heal.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/24/15:  I haven't passed any more blood, that's the good news.  I am still feeling not great, though.  Abdo pains, rectal pain, exhaustion are all making me feel rather bleh.  I rested most of the weekend but still don't feel great.

I'm sick of not going to the gym, though.  My hip was giving me pains on Friday and over the weekend, probably because it's been awhile since I worked out.  So I think I'm just going to give it a try today and see what I can do in the gym.  If weights turn out to not be my friend then I'll switch to yoga.  I feel like I need to do _something_, though.  My joints are not happy and I'm not happy, so gym it is.  Hopefully my body will allow me to lift a few weights at least.  I'll obviously stretch out my hips quite a lot as well.

I think the gym will help with my stress level, too.  I'm stressed lately because I might be buying a new car - that's exciting, but also stressful (why do cars cost so much, ugh).  My current car is nearly 15 years old and getting close to 200,000 miles, and I vacillate back and forth between wanting to keep my current car until it dies, or wanting to get a new car before my car dies (before it becomes an urgent need that I need a new car now).  I found a newer used car that looks decent online, so we'll see what it looks like in person and if they're willing to lower the price any and how much they'll give me for my trade-in and what kind of a loan rate can I get and all that fun stuff.  So my mind is racing thinking of all the car stuff I have to do.  I keep telling myself that if the car isn't wonderful or if things turn out to be too expensive then I can just walk away - but if things look great and are affordable then it's going to be a stressful time for me!  Which sounds weird to say but hopefully that makes sense.  So either I'll have a new car soon and a bunch of stress over it, or I'll stick with my trusty yet quirky older car for awhile longer.  For the time being there's definitely stress as I at least have to deal with a car salesman long enough to take a test drive and get some more information.  Ugh.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update:  Stress gone.    I'm not buying that car, already talked myself out of it.  I just got a carfax for it which shows it was in an accident - says it hit a pole, moderate damage.  It's been repaired, but even so, it'll never be quite the same and I totally don't want it now knowing that it was in an accident.  (My brother crashed my mother's car into a curb in a snowstorm years ago, and they had it repaired, but it's never been the same since even with repairs and my mother complains about it sometimes - so hitting a pole I think would be even worse.)  

So, sticking with my current older car for awhile longer which is fine.  I've been telling myself I should stick with my car through at least 200,000 miles if not 250,000.  (It's a Toyota so it'll go that long, but the older it gets the quirkier it gets and the more care it needs, so it starts to become a question of:  Do I continue to pour care and money into an older car, or do I divert that money into a newer car?)  Anyway, so yeah, no new car for Cat but not necessarily a bad thing, and that stress is off my shoulders for the time being.


----------



## hawkeye

Good call, depreciation is a killer


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, definitely.  It wasn't a brand new car, it was a 4 year old used car that I was looking at.  I have never and will never buy a brand new car as I completely agree, it's a huge waste of money when you can get the same car for much cheaper when it's a couple years old.  My current car is a 2001 and I bought it in 2004 for about half of what it would have cost new.  It had about 55,000 miles on it when I bought it and I've got it up to 188,000 miles now.  I have definitely gotten my money's worth out of my car!    It's been a great car, so I don't really need a new one yet, but when I see a car that piques my interest then I start to have conflicting thoughts about, should I keep my car longer or should I invest in a new one before my car dies?  I haven't really figured out the answer yet obviously, ha ha.

My other idea is that I might get a moped/scooter.  That way I'd have something to zip around town on in the warmer months and can use my car in the winter but give my car some time off in the summer to help my car last longer.  Since summer is almost over now, though, and I haven't yet found an acceptable used scooter (not buying that brand new either, ha ha), I'm going to wait until the spring to start looking again since it seems silly to buy a moped right before winter.  (And yes, I'm really picky about my vehicles!)

Fitness update:  I went to the gym and felt pretty well.  I lifted weights and did some bodyweight exercises (lunges, squats, pushups, etc) and of course some stretching too.  My guts weren't super happy afterwards and I've been belching ever since.  But, I was able to do a pretty good workout and I felt good while I was exercising, so I consider that a definite victory.  We'll see how I feel tomorrow and go from there, not going to plan any gym sessions in advance, just going to take it day by day.


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## hawkeye

Do you use a fitbit?


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

I do use a fitbit, yes.  I have a fitbit "One" which is the clip on kind (not the wristband).  It's okay, not stellar but not bad either.  My main complaint about it is that it can't detect things like when I'm riding a bike or lifting weights or basically doing anything other than walking.    So I have to input all of that data manually which is kind of annoying.  To track calories, I have to also manually input all of my food as well (I usually don't even bother with that).  Hopefully in the near future there will be better fitness trackers available that track those sorts of things automatically without me needing to input so much data myself.

Fitness update 8/25/15:  I feel about the same today.  Going to the gym didn't make me feel any worse nor any better.  Still exhausted, and guts are still feeling quite unsettled.  Today is probably a rest day.  I will probably go to the gym again tomorrow even if I still feel like this - I could do it yesterday, so I can do it tomorrow too.  I just hope I start feeling less crummy soon, this is really getting old.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Pretty sure I'm coming down with a cold.  That's just perfect, right as soon as I get back to the gym, something else happens to keep me out of the gym.  Ugh!  The weather here went from very hot to quite cool (from 90s to 50s) pretty rapidly, and I was hoping that the weather shift was just affecting my sinuses a bit.  But the symptoms have progressed to the point that I'm pretty sure it is indeed a proper cold and not just wonky sinuses - my throat is hurting a bit and I feel run down and my head is a little fuzzy, it sure feels like a cold.  Plus a bunch of people at work seem to have active colds right now as well which means it's been going around, and I usually tend to catch whatever's going around.

Soo, this means I'll have to skip working out for the next couple days at least.  I can't work out with a cold, I've tried in the past but it just makes me cough and makes my lungs hurt (even if I stick to weights only and don't do cardio) and generally makes me feel worse.  So no gym until this cold is on its way out if not completely gone.  Boo.  Not happy but not a lot I can do about it.  I see a lot of tea, soup, cough medicine and rest in my near future.  Bleh.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/26/15:  Guts are a mess today.  I still have this cold, and whenever I catch a cold it seems to make my guts a bit angrier - maybe something to do with my immune system turning on to fight the cold?  Whatever it is, my guts aren't happy about that.  Also, I'm due to get my period any minute now, and that also gives me more d and cramps.  So yeah, my guts are a big fun mess right now.  

I'm still coughing and run-down and bleh so definitely no gym today.  Just going to play it by ear and see how I'm feeling day by day.  I did sleep pretty well last night - I zonked out like a rock for most of the night, and I hadn't even taken any cold or sleeping medication (aside from my usual amitriptyline which helps me sleep).  I feel like getting some good sleep did help a bit.  So for now I'm still focusing on rest and recovering from this cold.  Hoping to get back to the gym soon!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/28/15:  I still haven't been to the gym.  Cold is getting better, almost gone.  Hemmmie/anal region still unhappy though.  I thought things were improving so I tried stopping the steroid suppositories, but right away I wound up having a LOT of discomfort and swelling in that area, so I am back on the supps for a few more days at least.  Not super happy about that but I need to heal.  Bleh, just wish I could get off of steroids and feel well for awhile.  I'm in a grumpy, bleh mood today.

My boss wants to take our department to a football arena today to watch the home team practice.  That sounds awful to me, it's concrete bleachers in the football arena which sounds like the worst thing I could sit on when having anal pain and swelling.    Ouch.  Fortunately it's supposed to rain and I am supposed to cover the receptionist desk at work this afternoon while the receptionist goes to a funeral.  So hopefully between the weather and having to stay at the front desk, I can get out of it.  Don't get me wrong, I like professional football - but this is college football which I don't follow and sitting in the cold rain on concrete for 2 hours watching a football team I don't care about practice (not even a game, just practice) sounds really miserable.  I'd rather just stay at work!  At least that way I'm indoors out of the rain and sitting on a reasonably comfy chair, not concrete.

Anyway.  So I'm keeping myself on the supps for the next couple days at least.  Going to try to come off of them again soon-ish.  Still not feeling up to working out so I probably will just rest all weekend, again.  Getting sick of resting but I'll just have to deal with it.  On the plus side, all this resting means that I'm getting a lot of crocheting done.    I'm starting work on making xmas presents - I just finished making a blanket and next I'm going to make hubby and I a couple of xmas stockings.  Crochet is what I do when I am resting as I can't just sit there and watch TV or whatever, I have to do something, so I usually crochet to keep my hands occupied and my brain somewhat occupied (sometimes I have to count stitches or rows, etc).  It staves off the boredom and I end up with a nice finished product, and it makes me feel like I'm still worthwhile even when I can't do much of anything.  So yeah, that's what's been keeping me sane lately.  The only downside is that I have too much yarn and I need to figure out more storage for it!  Hah!


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## Om3ga1

And the car thing is on hold?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

The car thing is ongoing, I guess.  I looked at another car on Saturday but it wasn't satisfactory to me either.  I currently own a Toyota Echo, and I've been looking at possibly replacing it with a used Yaris with low-ish miles (Yaris and Echo are the same basic car and my Echo has been great, hence why I would like a Yaris - super reliable and fantastic gas mileage).  The thing with Yarises (what's the plural of Yaris?), is that people will for the most part hold onto their Yaris until it's got a lot of miles - they're so reliable and can go for hundreds of thousands of miles, so most people just hang onto them until they're well above 100,000 or even 200,000 miles.  The only used Yarises on the market that have low-ish (under 100,000 miles) seem to be ones that have a rough history & have been in accidents.  I've now looked at 2 used Yarises with low mileage but I see that they have bad history when I am finally given the carfax.  So I will keep on looking I guess as I think it's going to take some searching to find a car I'm actually satisfied with!  I got my Echo at 3 years old with 55,000 miles and no accidents - I was told the original owner of my car just wanted something bigger (they traded in the Echo and bought a Dodge truck, so they went MUCH bigger, ha ha).  So I need to find someone like that who treats their Yaris well and doesn't drive it a lot and then decides that they want something bigger.

Fitness update 8/31/15:  I didn't work out all weekend.  I felt decent on Saturday, but I didn't have time to work out that day.  Hubby and I had a lot of stuff planned.  We went to look at that car that ended up not being satisfactory, then we did a bunch of shopping out of town.  Went down to Ikea and also went to a couple specialty grocery stores that we like.  Bought a bunch of groceries (stocking up our freezer for winter) and had sushi - yum!

It was rainy all day Saturday though and that seemed to have triggered a sinus migraine which lasted all day Sunday and is still lingering today.  Yuck.  It feels like it's on its way out, I don't feel as awful as I did yesterday.  I had really been hoping to be well enough to work out yesterday - I had wanted to ride my bike to the gym.  With my head pain, though, I was only able to lie on the couch and crochet.  My hubby had some friends over and one of his friends was talking rather loudly, which hurt my head, and then the friend asked me how I'm doing.  I said I have a migraine, and the friend was like, "I've been talking so loud!  Why didn't you just throw something at me?"  I was like, all I have to throw is some yarn.    That wouldn't have even made a dent, ha ha.  I know I'm doing okay when I still have a sense of humor through the pain, so that was a good sign.

Today I still have some head pain but I think it's getting better and I just took some Tylenol - when I get these migraines, during the worst of it Tylenol does absolutely nothing, but it sometimes does help if I take it once the pain starts to ebb.  So I'm hoping that will help get rid of the migraine.  My goal is to be feeling well enough by lunchtime that I can hit the gym.  I'm doing okay aside from the migraine, so if I can just get this under control, I should be good to go lift weights.

If things work out wonderfully this week and my health is actually quiet for a change, this would be the plan - little gym today and Wednesday for weights at lunchtime.  Big gym Friday evening for weights, and ride my bike to the big gym on Sunday, do weights there and ride home.  On the days that I'm not lifting, still do something active - walk the dog, yoga, bike ride, rowing machine, yard work, whatever.  The weather is supposed to be hot again this week (90s pretty much every day) so I probably will opt to do more indoor workouts than outdoors.  I really just want to get back into the swing of things, though.  I haven't been well enough lately to do a lot of workouts and I really want to change that pattern!  So my goal is just, be active every day, and if I can't be active on a particular day, just try to get myself well enough to keep pushing forward with being active the following day.  That's my plan.


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## hawkeye

Saturday was errand and mow the lawn day here too.  Keeping with the car theme, I was washing the cars Sunday morning and had someone pull up and want to sell me an SUV.  He had the same model that I have, oily a year newer.  His transmission was toast and he wanted to sell if for parts.  I had to pass because I didn't have the time or space to strip it and I don't know if I will keep mine that much longer - it depends how the motor vehicle inspection goes next year.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That's funny, Hawkeye - the hubby and I were just discussing something similar.  In my car search, I found online hubby's same exact car for sale, same make & model, same year and even same color, but with far fewer miles, so we joked that we'd buy it and use his current car for parts.  Hubby drives a Subaru though and there's a Subaru junkyard not far from here where parts are both plentiful and super cheap, so we don't actually need to keep parts on hand as we can easily get them from the junkyard.

Fitness update 9/1/15:  I'm doing better.    Head pain is dissipating, still slightly there but almost gone and I'm feeling mostly good.  Guts are a bit rumbly, I've been belching and having some gas today, but I can totally deal with that (not sure if my coworkers can though, hah!).  I did hit the gym yesterday.  I didn't push myself very much as the head pain was not very pleased.  Oddly enough, my head was mostly fine doing things like jumping jacks during my warm-up.  But after lifting weights, when I got down on the mat to stretch, and then got back up after stretching, that's when my head really let me know it was unhappy.  Weird.  At any rate, it's doing better today so I guess I didn't make it too angry.

Today it's going to be super warm out, so I'm staying indoors.  I'm thinking I'll do yoga in the little gym today - I queued up a couple yoga playlists on youtube and I'm going to try one, do something a bit different from my usual routine (my normal routine is to do yoga on the Wii Fit and I usually do the same poses in the same order on that).  So we'll see how that goes.  Tomorrow, presuming I'm still doing well, going to do weights again.  Not sure yet about Thursday - going to be super warm then as well so we'll see.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/2/15:  I did yoga yesterday.  I wish I could say it went well, but, I suck at yoga.    I've tried, I really did, but I think I need to give up on yoga.  It just never goes well.  I'm not flexible at all - can't touch my toes, some days I can't even get close.  Also my balance is terrible and I'm just generally awkward and uncoordinated.  So I was trying to do what the girl on the yoga video was doing, but I did yoga in front of a mirror in the little gym while watching this yoga video, and the mirror was eye-opening.  As in, I didn't realize I was *that* bad!  But it turns out I really, really suck at yoga.  I can't seem to do any of the poses right.

Another thing about yoga is, it doesn't give me that happy-amazing feeling that more intense workouts give me.  Bicycling or lifting weights makes me feel like, ahhh!  Like I'm powerful and amazing and normal and healthy and awesome.  Yoga just makes me feel like I suck.  So, I'm going to do less yoga, and on my non-weight days, just focus more on cardio.  Working out, for me, is so much about how I feel inside.  I don't really like how I feel during yoga, but I love how I feel when lifting weights or riding my bike.  Or kayaking, or ice skating, or snowshoeing.  I love all those things, but I don't love yoga.  So I'm breaking up with yoga, ha ha.

Onward and upward!  Going to put yesterday behind me and move forward with better workouts.  Today I'm feeling a bit sore in my abs - I didn't realize the "hips and hamstrings" yoga routine that I attempted yesterday would make my abs feel sore, not sure quite what's up with that but I presume it's because I am so terrible at yoga that I was using the wrong muscle groups yesterday, hah.    I'm feeling okay though, I'm actually back to having a little bit of head pain today but nowhere near as bad as it was the other day, so I'm okay to work out.  Going to hit the little gym for weights today.  Tomorrow, well I try to never miss watching a Green Bay Packers football game, but I can do my rowing machine while I watch the game, so that's the plan - have a cardio rowing session while cheering for my team.  Still hoping to hit the big gym for a longer weights session on Friday evening - if the weather isn't crazy warm, I might ride my bike there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I hit the gym and did well.  No pain, good energy, and I was able to push myself a bit and increase the weight on a couple things.  I had a pretty healthy lunch afterwards, a wrap with turkey bacon, scrambled eggs, and kimchi (yum!).  I used to not be able to do spicy foods, but kimchi is surprisingly easy on me.  Maybe because it's a fermented food?  I have no idea.

After my healthy lunch, things took a downhill turn diet-wise.  My co-worker gifted me with a dozen cookies as a thank-you for my helping out on some recent projects.  And oh dear, they are delicious.  I've eaten two so far and I kind of want to just scarf the others, eek.  They're soft and chewy and I'm having a hard time not eating them all.  I could make my guts super unhappy if I do scarf them all so I'm trying to tell myself not to eat them.  The deliciousness seems to be winning though!  Eek!  This is why I try to not buy foods like this, for snacks I try to have things like rice cakes and safe fruits (usually bananas or peaches with the skins peeled off) on hand.  I'm definitely a snacker, and if there's junk food around I will eat it, so I try not to have it around.  Having a dozen cookies on my desk is such a recipe for disaster, ugh.  I'm so good exercise-wise but clearly I still need to work on some diet stuff!

Update:  Eating cookie #3.  Ugh and  yum and ugh.  Kind of hate myself but SO TASTY.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/4/15:  I did about 20 mins of rowing machine last night while watching TV.  That felt pretty good - sometimes the rowing machine seems to put a lot of pressure on my abdominals, which can in turn cause me some symptoms, but I'm feeling pretty well and even had fairly solid stool last night and this morning.

My weight is up a bit though which is not the direction I want it to go - I'm off of steroids now (finally, and hopefully for awhile) so I'd like to lose a few lbs of steroid flab.  I think adding more cardio in can only help.  Today's a weightlifting day, and it turns out hubby got called into work today, which means I won't be hitting the big gym after all.  I will hit the little gym instead.  Tomorrow, if the weather is nice, I'd love to go for a bike ride.  And/or walk my dog.  If the weather is still way too crazy hot then maybe I'll do the stationary bike or the rowing machine in my air conditioned house.  Sunday, I'd love to ride my bike to the big gym.  Again, if the weather is over 90 degrees like it's been, then that's not going to happen.  But if the weather stays in the mid 80s or so then I think I can manage it.  We'll see what happens.  I also need to fit some yard work in there at some point, perhaps on Saturday.

Monday is a holiday here so no work.  I haven't yet decided what to do.  I've been doing a lot lately, so I might take a rest day.  Monday also happens to be my wedding anniversary, 13 years, so I'll probably do something with hubby like have a nice dinner.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/8/15:  Friday I didn't end up going to the little gym.  I was having a super stressful day at work - there was a big important spreadsheet that needed urgent attention, and I'm the spreadsheet person, and people kept sending me updates and additions for this spreadsheet, so it was a challenging day.  Usually I like to go to the gym on stressful days, but I was feeling burned out and just wanted to leave the building.  So I did, I went and had a picnic in the park.  It was a hot day but not too bad in the shade.  I sat and ate my lunch and breathed the fresh air and read a book and decompressed.  I told myself I'd lift weights with my dumbbells at home after work, but by the time I got home, I was just exhausted and not feeling it.  I tried but stopped pretty quickly.  My heart wasn't in it and my body was telling me to rest, not lift.  So I rested.

Saturday I didn't work out, but I was quite active.  I went around to a bunch of garage sales in the morning, and then for the rest of the day I did some rather intense cleaning.  I washed things that don't often get washed, like table cloths.  I cleaned and organized and cleaned some more.  I was on my feet for hours doing dishes, laundry, straightening up, wiping off counters, etc.  So I didn't have a proper workout, but I was definitely active.

Sunday I did do a proper gym workout.  I had wanted to ride my bike to the big gym, but it was just way too hot out (like 93 degrees F) so there was no way I could ride my bike in that kind of heat.  So I drove to the big gym to lift.  It was so hot outside that the air conditioning in the gym was having trouble keeping up - the big gym is a large space with high ceilings, and it's tough in extreme weather to keep it a good temperature in there.  So it ended up being pretty hot in the gym as well and my guts weren't so happy.  My whole body wasn't happy.  I felt like I might either puke or pass out, and I wasn't sure I could make it through the whole workout.  For about the first half of my workout, all I was thinking about was how bad I felt and how I couldn't do it.  I was starting to think I should just stop and go home.

Then, a former co-worker of mine spotted me in the gym and she came over to say hi and to ask how work is going (she retired about a year ago and she's been going to the big gym regularly ever since she retired).  I'm such an introvert anyway, and in the gym I get so much inside my own head and just focus on me and my workout and my music and my thoughts, so it was difficult for me to go from being inside my own head to suddenly having to converse with another person.  I kind of temporarily forgot how to socially interact.  I was like, Sorry?  Work?  Huh?  Work is good, I guess, I think?  I don't really know how work is?  I really have no idea right now?    I was seriously awkward and just couldn't put together a coherent thought.  But, that turned out to be a good thing - I was so awkward that, for the rest of my workout, all I could think about is how stupid and awkward and weird and embarrassing I am.  As a result, I didn't think any more about how ill I felt or how hot it was, and so I made it through my workout just fine.  Hah!  Social ineptitude for the win, ha ha.

So that was Sunday.  Yesterday was a holiday here so no work.  I did basically nothing - I did some crafts and watched some TV, but I didn't leave the house and I stayed in pajamas all day.  It was nice to have a lazy day.  Today, I'm right back at it - heading to the little gym on my lunch break today.  Tomorrow, haven't decided what to do yet.  Thursday will be weights again, hopefully at the big gym with hubby after work.


----------



## hawkeye

Had a yard sale here on Saturday and managed to get rid of a few things.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I love yard sales!  I am very thrifty and I love finding good stuff for cheap.  Last Saturday I went garage sale shopping and I was able to buy enough yarn to crochet a blanket, for a grand total of $3.  Score!  So as soon as I finish up some other crochet projects, I'll be making a blanket and somebody (haven't decided who just yet) will be getting a blanket for xmas.

Fitness update 9/9/15:  I'm not feeling great today.  I stupidly had salad for lunch yesterday and that did not go well.  Sometimes I can get away with salad, but yesterday turned out to not be one of those times, and I wound up on the toilet with chunks of undigested lettuce coming out of me.  Fun times, ugh.  So the guts aren't super happy with me.  Also, I woke up this morning with my bad hip hurting.  I am not sure why - usually it hurts when I do high-impact exercise or if it's going to rain or snow heavily.  I did work out yesterday but didn't do anything high-impact aside from a few jumping jacks during my warm-up, but those don't usually cause me any hip pain.  And weirdly enough, it rained heavily yesterday and my hip felt fine then.  Today it's sunny out and today the hip hurts.  I'm not sure if I slept on it wrong or what.

So anyway, I've decided that today is a rest day to give the guts and hip a chance to hopefully recover.  Tomorrow I'm still planning to hit the big gym for weights with hubby.  Haven't decided on Friday yet but am tentatively thinking of having a cardio day - probably stationary bike in the little gym on my lunch break.  Saturday we're going out of town for a day trip, so no exercise that day.  Sunday, I'd love to ride my bike to the gym - it looks like the weather will be pretty nice and not too hot (upper 60s/low 70s).  That's the tentative plan for now.  Hopefully my hip and guts are up to doing all this.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/10/15:  Well, the hip is somewhat better and the guts are recovering too I think.  I'm exhausted today - felt like I didn't sleep well last night.  But, if exhaustion is my biggest complaint, then I should still be okay to go to the big gym tonight.  It's tough to get through a workout when I'm exhausted, but everything else is feeling reasonably okay so I think that's enough of a green light for me.  I'll just take my time during my workout, probably take things a bit slower than usual and not push myself too much.  Sometimes working out gives me a nice bump up in my energy levels, so I'm hoping that'll be the case tonight.  And if not, well, I'm just hoping to get through it without issue.

Tomorrow I'm planning to hit the little gym on my lunch break, for a cardio session on the stationary bike.  And tomorrow evening, I'm going to do my second favorite thing after working out - grocery shopping!    Ha ha.  It's weird but it really is something I enjoy.  Anytime I get a bit of extra spending money, I start writing a grocery list.  So I've been writing a list for like a week now and today is finally payday, which means I get to go buy groceries.  Am I the most boring person ever?  My two favorite activities are working out and grocery shopping?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I'm still exhausted and a little while ago some nausea and reflux came on, too.  That's it, I don't think I can work out tonight.  I was really trying to convince myself that I could hit the gym in spite of this exhaustion, but with other stuff also knocking me down, I need to be realistic and admit that it's just not happening.  I'm so tired and just feel unwell.  I am thinking about going home sick from work so that I can rest.  Bleh.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/14/15:  I am still rather exhausted.  I went home sick on Thursday and took a 3 hour nap, and still woke up feeling exhausted.  I've improved somewhat since then, but still not feeling energetic.  I mostly rested all weekend.  I did walk the dog on Saturday & Sunday, but didn't do anything other than that.

My hubby isn't helping my exhaustion (not his fault though).  He's got kidney stones again, so he's been getting up 5-6 times per night to urinate.  He sometimes wakes me when he gets up.  So I haven't been sleeping well because my hubby is constantly up and down all through the night.  We're both feeling exhausted and a bit miserable, yuck.

Today I'm exhausted once again.  I'd love to work out but I just don't know if I have it in me.  I'm presuming today is another rest day.  My goal is just to get back to the gym at some point this week.  That's as lofty a goal as I'm able to muster right now.


----------



## hawkeye

One easy fix - separate beds for the sickies...


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes and no.  On one hand I know I'd get more and better quality of sleep if I kicked hubby out to the guest bedroom.  But, it's only got an uncomfortable futon in there and I'd feel bad about him sleeping on that awful thing (or on the couch).  Plus, during the worst of my flares, with me getting up multiple times in the night to use the bathroom, he never kicked me out of the bedroom (a few times I voluntarily slept on the couch because I knew I wasn't going to get much sleep anyway, but that was my decision).  So I feel like I can't kick him out of the bed because he wouldn't do that to me when I was really ill and suffering.  Now he's ill and suffering and he deserves to sleep as much as he can in his comfy bed.

He said he was going to call the doctor today so hopefully he did.  Last time he had kidney stones (about 3 years ago), he had a 7 mm stone.  The ER doctor told us that anything over 5 mm tends to be too large to pass on its own.  But then that same doctor said they were going to take a "wait and see" approach to see if hubby's 7 mm stone would pass on its own.  I was like, um, I'm not a doctor nor a mathematician, but 7 is larger than 5 so why would you think it's going to pass?...  At any rate, they made hubby "wait and see" for 6 months and he spent that whole time in pain and sometimes vomiting.  When they finally went in with the laser to blast it out, they found the stone was impacted - so it never would have passed on its own.  Ugh.  So this time around we're trying to be much more proactive because obviously neither of us wants hubby to go through another 6 month torture.  So anyway, hopefully we can get this new stone taken care of quick so that we can both get some sleep.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/15/15:  I ended up having something of an unintentional workout yesterday.  A guy came to my workplace to pick up our old printers (we just got new ones at work).  Of course he came at like 5:02 PM and the building closes at 5:30, so we had to scramble to get the old printers out of there.  They were all big & heavy and there were like 13 printers and all were on the 3rd floor and a fair distance away from the elevator.  So I helped this guy lug and shove and move these heavy pieces of equipment to the elevator (most had wheels but they were still ridiculously heavy and cumbersome to move).  I ended up getting rather sweaty and definitely used my muscles - and I felt quite good afterwards!  

After I got home from work, I was feeling like I wanted to still be a bit active, and hubby was feeling okay, so hubby and I walked the dog.  We met up with our neighbor and her dog and we all walked together, that was nice.  The weather was just about perfect and the dogs were well-behaved (for the most part - my dog hates german shepherds and she tried to get a bit aggressive with a german shepherd that we met in the park, but we quickly separated our dog from that dog and then everything was fine).

The best news of all - after our walk, that evening, hubby went to the bathroom and came out looking very relieved.  It turns out he had passed a kidney stone!  We're not sure if that's the only stone he had or if there are still more in there, but I'm hopeful that it was the only one - because last night he didn't get up at all to use the bathroom!  This is very good news and I'm glad it passed so quickly.  And, he fished the stone out of the toilet, so hopefully his doctor can analyze it and figure out why hubby got stones again and what he can do differently to prevent future stones.

Today I'm encouraged by my ability to move a bunch of heavy printers and still feel okay, so I'm going to hit the gym.  I'm less exhausted, probably because hubby didn't keep waking me up with bathroom trips last night.  I am confident that today I can do a weights workout and I'm excited about it & looking forward to it.  Haven't planned any workouts beyond today, just going to see how I feel and go from there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/16/15:  I hit the gym yesterday and that went well, I felt strong and good.  I was able to do everything I wanted to and I even did a 30 second plank.  I'm not sure if the plank affected me - my guts are so wonky these days, I can't always tell what sets them off anymore.  At any rate, last night just before bed, I had a pretty bad episode of "hot lava" diarrhea.  That was unpleasant.  This morning, when I woke up, I expected to have more hot lava, but instead I had a nice firm perfectly formed poo.  (How weird is it that nice formed poo is more unexpected than hot lava diarrhea!)  Since then, I've had a couple soft-solid bowel movements today.  My guts are feeling a bit off today, like there's a little pit of pain inside but it's not bad at all.

So, since I'm doing overall okay, I decided to go to the gym again today.  Since I did weights yesterday, I did cardio today - 25 mins on the stationary bike followed by stretching.  That went okay although my guts feel tired, it's like I did an abs workout but I didn't.  Meh, like I said, can't figure out what's going on with my guts these days!  So I just try to ignore the more minor gut stuff.

The next couple days I'm on the road for work.  Definitely no working out tomorrow.  I'm hoping to finish things up early enough on Friday that I could hit the big gym Friday evening.  I'm also hoping to ride my bike to the big gym on Sunday - the weather is supposed to be nice (low 70s and sunny) so a bike ride and weights workout should be feasible as long as I'm still feeling reasonably well.  Saturday I have a corgi picnic to attend, so I'll be walking around and squeeing at all the adorable stumpy dogs, but I won't do a proper workout that day other than a lot of walking around.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/21/15:  I had a pleasantly active and mostly uneventful (guts-wise) weekend.  Thursday I headed out of town for work.  I had to do some work in the city where my parents live, so I stayed with them overnight on Thurs.  I did my work on Thursday and had a nice lunch and dinner with my parents, and in the evening my mom and I took a long walk like we used to when I was much younger.  That was nice, and with the walk I was able to be more active that day than I had anticipated.

Friday I finished things up and was able to get home by mid-afternoon.  It was supposed to rain that day, but not until evening, so hubby and I figured we could squeeze in a workout.  We rode our bikes to the gym, lifted weights, and rode home.  On our ride home, it started sprinkling rain.  It wasn't too bad, we didn't get soaked or anything.  We were warm so the cool rain actually felt nice and refreshing.

I sort of messed up after that workout, though.  I know I should eat after a workout, but I didn't eat right away when we got home.  We were sweaty so we showered first and then I sort of sat around for awhile as hubby slowly cooked dinner.  My guts didn't like that, they wanted to have food right away.  So I got hit with some nausea and d.  I got the nausea under control with Zofran, and I was able to eat a little bit when dinner finally was ready, and after that I felt somewhat better.

Saturday I felt pretty well, the episode of nausea & did fortunately didn't stick around.  We went to the corgi picnic and had a nice time.  There was a lot of food (everyone brought a dish to pass) so I sort of stuffed my face!  Didn't pay for it, fortunately.  Sometimes my body doesn't like it when I eat too much, but I did okay on Saturday.  Didn't do anything active aside from walk around with my dog at the picnic.

Sunday hubby had to work, so I decided to ride my bike to the gym by myself.  I did much better on Sunday than I did on Friday.  I did feel a little bit tired, like things were still slightly sore from Friday, but I managed to do everything I wanted to do.  And didn't get rained on this time!    Also, I made sure to eat right away once I got home.  I had very little energy left once I got home, so I had an English muffin and a little bit of chocolate just to get something in my belly.  That gave me enough energy to shower, and I made sure to have more substantial food for my dinner (homemade tummy-friendly pizza with a cauliflower crust, goat cheese, and avocado - super yum!).

I stayed up too late last night watching the football (Packers) game, so I'm pretty tired today.  That tiredness, combined with me being sore and tired from yesterday's workout, means that today is a rest day.  Tomorrow I'm planning to hit the little gym for weights.  Haven't planned anything beyond that just yet.  I'm feeling pretty well right now but don't want to jinx it!


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## hawkeye

Lobster in the news again...
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/shediac-pei-lobster-roll-record-row-1.3236601


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Honestly, Hawkeye, lobster rolls just don't make sense to me.  You take this delicious lobster meat... and put it on a crappy sandwich.    Just give me the lobster, leave the bread out of it!

Fitness update 9/22/15:  I walked the dog last night, so it ended up not quite being a rest day.  Today I'm still planning to hit the little gym for weights on my lunch break.  For some reason I'm just freezing cold today - it was supposed to be mid 70s and sunny, but it's very overcast and it feels cold.  I'm wearing a sweater and shivering!  So I'm looking forward to going to the gym, because at least then I can get warmed up.  It's starting to feel and look like autumn here for sure.  I don't know how many more bike rides I'll be able to get in before the weather prevents me from riding.  I'm really glad I was able to do two bike-gym-bike sessions last week.  I'd love to do at least one more before I have to put my bikes away for winter.

Oddly though, I'm excited for winter as well.  I look forward to getting out my ice skates and my snowshoes!    I also want to try downhill skiing this year - I've never been skiing, so I'm surely going to fall a lot, but it sounds like something new and fun to try.  And I feel like fitness should always be fun.  That's one of the secrets to staying motivated, to always have fun with your workouts and do something you enjoy.  If it feels like drudgery and you just can't wait for it to be over with, of course you're not going to stick with it.  Fortunately for me, I find lifting weights to be fun, but I'm probably weird, ha ha.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/23/15:  I hit the little gym yesterday.  Wasn't feeling particularly energetic but I muddled through.  It was one of those "fake it till you make it" type of workouts.  And there's nothing wrong with that, I still did everything that I usually do in the gym, and not every workout is going to be amazing and wonderful.  It was fine, just didn't feel overly enthusiastic or energetic.

Today my bad hip is aching, not sure why.  I stretched it out quite well after weights yesterday.  Sometimes it aches when it rains but it's not raining today, didn't rain yesterday, no rain in the forecast, so that's clearly not it.  I might have just slept on it wrong?  Not sure.

I'm feeling tired today.  Lately I'm finding it harder to get through a full work week.  I get exhausted by the end of it.  It's only Wednesday and I'm already starting to feel that exhaustion.  Not good.  I think I'm going to rest today, probably will go to bed early and just try to tackle some of the exhaustion.  Tomorrow I hope to go to the gym again and lift weights - not sure which gym I'll end up at.  If hubby isn't working and wants to go, then we'll likely hit the big gym.  If he can't go for some reason then I'll hit the little gym on my lunch break.  Not planning anything beyond tomorrow just yet.  I have to conjure more energy first!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I feel more energetic this afternoon which is good news.  However, the bad news is, my bad hip has been aching more and more as the day has gone on.  I find myself limping and wishing I had brought my cane with me this afternoon!    Not good.  I snuck down to the little gym for just a few minutes, didn't change into my gym clothes or anything, just went to use the mat down there for some hip stretching.  That seemed to help a bit, temporarily, but the pain is back and worse again.  Ugh, frustrating.

If my hip is feeling like this tomorrow, I should actually still be okay.  I think I can still work out, I know that I've done weights in the past where I was fine with the weights themselves but them limping from machine to machine.  My hip is fine with me doing weights, and most weights exercises don't tend to involve my hips anyway (and if my hips do balk at me doing leg exercises then I'll just stick to arms, but I honestly think I'll be okay to do everything).  It's the walking in between sets that really gets me.    There's a lady who I see at the big gym sometimes, she uses a walker so I presume she has some sort of injury or disability, and she uses her walker to get from machine to machine.  I'm going to use her as an inspiration, as I'll likely be limping from machine to machine tomorrow.  In the meantime, tonight I'm going to put my heating pad on the hip and I might also soak it in some Epsom salt (I'm not sure that Epsom salt actually does anything for me, but I guess it can't hurt either).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/24/15:  The bad hip is still aching today.  Not as bad as it was yesterday afternoon, but then again the hip pain yesterday started off not too bad in the morning and then gradually got worse as the day went on, so that could very well happen again today.  I did put the heating pad on it for a couple hours and also soaked it in some Epsom salts yesterday evening.  I think the heating pad helped a bit, not sure about the salts.  Today I brought my cane with me - yesterday I found myself wishing that I had my cane, so today I just bit the bullet and brought it to work with me.  It's always annoying because certain people always have to comment - "Oh, you have a cane!  Did you hurt your leg?"  Um, no, it's for my arthritis, you know, for the same reason I needed a cane the last time and the time before that.  Yes, I'm a young-ish (35) person with arthritis so then the next comment is always about how I'm "too young for this" - gee thanks, I'll inform my hips of this.  Also please tell me - what is the appropriate age for arthritis?    At least I can keep a snarky sense of humor about it.

Sooo.  I could probably do a workout today, but since the hip is still having some pain and I'm using a cane to walk, I think it's probably wisest to rest another day rather than go to the gym.  I'm aiming to get to the gym tomorrow, that's the goal.  Will just have to see how it's feeling tomorrow though, if it's still bad then I may rest again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/25/15:  The hip is still achy.  Getting better but pain still definitely there.  Not walking with a cane today but still walking more slowly than usual and limping a little bit, the hip just feels tight and uncomfortable rather than pain, so it's improving but not great just yet.  I'm going to listen to my body and rest again today, and through the weekend as well just to be safe.  The current plan is to rest and recover and then hit the gym on Monday.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/28/15:  I mostly rested all weekend.  We did do a fair bit of walking around on Saturday, going to garage sales.  I even got some new fitness equipment - at one garage sale, there was a huge pile of free stuff, and in that pile I found a really nice weighted bar and some weight plates.  So now I have a nice barbell set which cost me $0.  Score!  I already had dumbbells at home but not a barbell.  I don't use the bar for much when I'm at the gym, mostly just squats with the bar, but it's still nice to have one at home.  And the price was sure nice.    I always love getting new fitness equipment and I'm pretty excited about my new barbell set.

The hip has given me a few niggles of pain here and there, but it's much better than it was and it's just about back to normal (my normal).  I'm no longer walking with a cane nor with a limp so that's a definite improvement.  I am fighting off a migraine today, but I'm functional and not feeling horrendous so I think I'm good to go to the gym.  Just going to hit the little gym on my lunch break, won't push myself too hard and will ease back into things since I've been away from the gym for nearly a week.  Don't want to make the hip angry all over again and don't want to aggravate the migraine either!  So I'll do a workout while trying to keep all my various health issues in balance.  Anybody else ever feel like you're walking a tightrope while juggling all your health issues?  One false move and everything topples over and then you have to climb back up and start all over again.  That's basically how I feel a lot of the time.

I haven't planned out my week yet.  I do know that tomorrow I have lunch plans with a friend, so no lunchtime workout.  I may use my rowing machine at home tomorrow evening though.  Wednesday tentatively little gym again, if today and tomorrow go well.  Haven't given much thought beyond that.  Just working on getting and keeping myself well enough to work out and that's definitely a day by day endeavor.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 9/29/15:  I hit the little gym on my lunch yesterday and felt really good.  I felt strong and energetic and was able to accomplish everything I wanted to.  You know it's a good workout when you exhaust yourself to the point of being shaky by the end of the workout, and I ended up shaky.

Today I'm mostly going to rest.  I'm on my "time of the month" so I'm a bit crampy although my guts have been surprisingly quiet (formed stools!).  I think I might do a quickie rowing machine session at home tonight while watching TV, maybe just like 15-20 minutes on the rowing machine in order to get in some physical activity.  I can't walk the dog tonight because it's quite rainy today, and even if the rain stops soon the park will still be muddy and yucky.  So the rowing machine sounds like my best bet.  Tomorrow I'm planning to lift weights, likely in the little gym on my lunch break.  Haven't made workout plans beyond tomorrow just yet.  Although I will say, the weekend looks nice - temps in the upper 50s/low 60s and sunny, sounds wonderful for a bike ride.  I'd love to get my road bike out at least once more before I have to put it away for the winter, so I'm tentatively thinking about going on a bike ride.  A leisurely ride through the arboretum to see the trees changing colors might be just the thing.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/1/15:  I did do the rowing machine on Tues evening for about 20 minutes.  I also tried doing a bit of hula hooping, but I couldn't for whatever reason get the hoop to stay up and moving - usually I have no trouble, but this time I had nothing but trouble.  Hmph.  So I only tried and failed at that for a few minutes.  Hooping never makes my stomach feel good - the hoop I have is a professional adult sized hoop, but it's got these little bumpy parts on it that are supposed to massage the stomach & back but instead they just sort of hurt and irritate.  So I guess I'll never be a very good hula hooper.

Yesterday I hit the little gym for weights.  It started out well - warm-up and the weights went fine.  But during my stretches after weights, I got hit with the vurps.  My GERD hasn't been angry for awhile, but when I get the vurps I know my GERD is seriously not messing around.  So I had to stop, leave the gym, drink some water, have a bunch of reflux meds, and then force myself to eat something (by that time, the nausea had set in so eating wasn't easy).  The vurps (vomity burps) are always a warning sign for me, that things are about to go crazy with my reflux.  But as long as I take those steps to get things under control immediately, I can usually avoid the really bad symptoms (gastritis).  The reason I need to eat right away is, I need to give my stomach acid something to work on.  If there's nothing for it to work on, no food, then it goes to work on the lining of my stomach and that's what causes the gastritis which is pretty painful and not a fun time.  So yeah, I had to take a bunch of ranitidine, an extra nexium, and a couple zofrans for the nausea, but I got it under control.  I still didn't feel stellar after all that, and I ended up with my heating pad on my stomach the entire evening.

Fortunately, I feel okay today.  I'm not going to push things as I don't want a repeat of yesterday, and I was thinking today would be a rest day anyway, so it's just as well.  I'm going to eat bland, low-acid foods and not do anything that would anger my GERD.  I have some food triggers, but my main GERD triggers are lying down/sleeping, and exercising.  Those are the two times that my symptoms tend to be worst - and for exercise, abdominal exercises in particular are the worst (I didn't do any ab exercises yesterday though so it's still a bit of a mystery why the GERD got so angry).  So I won't exercise today.  Can't really avoid sleep and will avoid GERD food triggers.  Not much more I can do other than that!  

Tomorrow I'll assess how I'm feeling and go from there.  I'd love to do weights again but I don't want another bad GERD attack so we'll just see what happens.  I think I might just skip the little gym and use my home gym tomorrow evening if I'm feeling up to a workout - I can use my weights at home to have a pretty decent workout (I have a weight bench, dumbbells and a barbell, plus a kettle bell and a balance board and various other fitness equipment), and if things go south then my heating pad and bathroom are right there.  I usually tend to dislike working out at home because of all the distractions - my pets always try to come by me and see what I'm doing and beg for cuddles and attention when I'm working out, and with being at home I am reminded that I have to do laundry or dishes or vacuuming, stuff like that.  Being in a gym, there's obviously none of those distractions.  But at home it's very convenient so there's a trade off.  On days that I'm feeling less than great and know that I might need to run for meds, run to the bathroom, etc then I feel like being at home is the safer and better option.  So, that's the tentative plan.  I haven't planned anything for the weekend just yet, am going to take it day by day and see how I'm feeling.  Lately it's been one thing after another - last week it was my arthritis and this week my GERD - really not looking forward to whatever's next!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/5/15:  I had a pretty good weekend for the most part.  Friday, I didn't end up exercising.  I ran some errands on my lunch break, and after work hubby and I sat by our fire pit and grilled kebabs which was yummy and relatively tummy-friendly.  So no exercise on Friday but I did eat fairly well (chicken and veggies on the kebabs).

Saturday was a day of getting stuff done.  I didn't do a proper workout per se, but I was active pretty much the whole day.  I did laundry, dishes, a lot of straightening up and cleaning, some baking, took out the garbage, walked the dog, did yard work, and went grocery shopping.  I did a lot!  So I felt satisfied that I moved around enough on Saturday even without setting foot inside a gym.

Sunday, I knew I should do a proper weights workout, but I didn't feel like leaving the house.  So I worked out with my equipment at home.  Got to use my new barbell which was quite nice.  Also used my dumbbells and kettlebell.  Had a good workout and then rested for much of the day - mainly worked on crafts and watched the football game on TV.

Sunday night is where things went downhill.  I asked hubby to make us some fried fish for dinner.  Terrible I know, but it sounded delicious at the time.  It did not do such good things to me though.  It riled up my GERD and my guts.  I took a Zofran for the nausea which took me from diarrhea to constipation.  Today I still feel stopped up, but it feels like diarrhea is building up behind it.  After several attempts, I was able to pass some stool this morning, and there was a bit of blood in it.  Great.

So I'm once again trying to be super mindful of my diet and not eat stupid things that I know I shouldn't.  I bought some fresh broccoli and cauliflower this morning, which I'm going to steam in the microwave at work and have with a packet of ready-to-eat salmon for lunch.  That sounds like a fairly decent and healthy work lunch.  I also have a healthy breakfast/morning snack - I made myself some overnight oats with chia seeds and cashew milk and fruit.  I'm also determined not to let this episode keep me out of the gym.  So, since yesterday was weights, today I'm going to have a cardio day and do 30 mins on the stationary bike in the little gym.  I'm also trying to walk more.  In the little gym, someone else (not quite sure who) uses the gym at a different time of day than I do, and they tend to crank the thermostat to be warmer.  I like it cold in the gym when I work out, I find it miserable to exercise when it's at all warm.  So I have decided, I'm going to take the stairs to the basement more often during the day.  I just went down there now and turned down the thermostat in the gym.  My desk at work is on the 3rd floor and the gym is in the basement, so that was a nice bit of stair walking.  I'm going to try to walk up and down the stairs as often as I can.  Whenever I'm feeling cold or tired or just need to get away from my desk, I'm planning to just walk down to the basement and back up again to get my blood moving.

I haven't done much planning for my workouts this week, but I'd like to work out as much as possible.  I'm hoping to do weights Tues & Thurs & Sat.  Sunday, the weather looks like it'll be really nice and the fall foliage might be at peak by then, so a bike ride through the arboretum could be amazing.  That's what I'm thinking for now.  Need to see how I'm feeling of course, hopefully this bleeding episode was a one-time thing so that I can move on and keep up with my workouts.  I'm feeling optimistic though and am really going to make an effort this time (I feel like I've said this before) to eat better and focus on my diet more and not eat crap that makes me feel awful.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/6/15:  I feel okay today.  Guts are improving although all that broccoli and cauliflower did give me some gas!    The cramps and grumbliness are mostly gone though and my stools have somewhat normalized so that's good.  I'm having a fair bit of nausea this morning but that's normal for me (I have some degree of nausea most mornings) so I'm not worried about that.

I did cardio yesterday - 30 mins on the stationary bike in the little gym.  That went well, I felt energetic and I did some intervals of faster riding and played around with the resistance too.  Today I'm planning to hit the little gym again for weights.  Depending on how energetic I feel this evening, I might also walk the dog after work.  The weather is quite nice today, sunny and low 70s, so it'd be nice to get outside and enjoy it for a bit.

I haven't planned anything yet for tomorrow.  It might end up being a rest day or dog walking day.  I'm starting to plan out my weekend fitness - hubby works all weekend, so I'll be on my own (which is fine, I prefer working out alone).  So, I'm tentatively thinking that I might ride my bike to the gym on Saturday.  The weather looks like it'll still be pretty nice.  One last bike-gym-bike session would be great before I have to put my bikes away for winter.  And on Sunday, I'm thinking that might be the day that I take a bike ride through the arboretum to enjoy the fall foliage.  I may as well get as many bike rides in as I can before the weather gets too cold!  That's the tentative plan for now.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/7/15:  Doing okay today although had pizza last night.  It didn't seem to affect me too badly, I thought I was slightly constipated but nope, I'm not.  Not having d either, actually having formed stools.  I've been trying to eat better and less lately so maybe that has something to do with it?  (Pizza is obviously not part of my plan to eat better though!)  I've also been having more fiber, I'm making sure to eat oatmeal every day as well as take my psyllium husks.  It sounds weird to say but fiber might actually be helping me for once!  I think because I'm only having soluble fiber - I know that insoluble fiber does awful things to me, but soluble is okay.

I didn't end up walking the dog yesterday, but I did go to the little gym so I got in a workout.  I did weights and bodyweight exercises (lunges, squats, wall sit, pushups, etc) and my stretches.  My hips have felt a bit tight lately but not painful, so that's good.  I've been trying to exercise and stretch my hips as much as I can to keep them loose and feeling okay.  That's been working pretty well.

Tonight I'm going to walk the dog.  Not doing anything fitness-wise other than that today.  Tomorrow will be weights again - might end up going to the big gym with hubby after work.  If not, I'll hit the little gym on my lunch break.  Friday, I haven't decided yet what to do.  Hubby has to work all evening long so I'll be on my own.  I may just walk the dog again.  I don't want to do a cardio bike day on Friday, because I'm hoping to do bike rides both Sat & Sun.  3 days in a row of biking is too much, I think.  So tentatively will walk the dog on Friday unless I can think of something else fitness-wise I'd like to do.  Saturday I'm planning to ride my bike to the big gym - will lift weights at the gym and then ride home.  That's always such a nice workout, with the ride there being my warm-up and the ride home being my cool-down, and with the cold weather rapidly approaching this may be my last bike-gym-bike session of the season so I'm going to enjoy and appreciate it.  It's always sad when I can't ride my bike anymore because of winter.  I have to do the stationary bike indoors all winter long for cardio, and that gets to be so incredibly boring.  I love riding my bike outside, seeing the sights and having the scenery change and actually propelling myself forward.  Staying in one place and pedaling to nowhere with no change of scenery, no sun on my face nor wind in my hair, it's just so dull.  I know I need cardio, so I still do it, but sometimes I really have to force myself to do a session on the stationary bike.  Bleh.

Anyway.  Sunday will possibly be my last bike ride of the season.  I'm hoping to take a mid-morning ride through the arboretum.  The leaves are changing colors, and to ride through a place that is like 99% trees should be wonderful.  I'm not going to push myself (the arboretum is surprisingly hilly and I can really tire myself out if I push myself to ride too fast through there), I'm just going to take a leisurely slow ride and soak in the beautiful fall scenery and the still reasonably warm weather.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/8/15:  I walked the dog last night.  We had a good walk - met up with my neighbor who has corgis and walked with her.  She only had one corgi with her as her other dog is recovering from a back injury (bulging disc they think, but fortunately it sounds like the dog will be okay and is healing well).  It was nice weather and nice to talk with my neighbor and nice for our dogs to play and walk together - it was just a good time all around.  

Today I'm heading to the little gym for weights.  Hubby is off of work today and he's decided to go visit a friend, so he's not able to go to the big gym with me after all.  So, little gym it is, which is just fine.  I'm still feeling pretty well today.  I'm getting a little exhausted, but that often happens.  I work a full-time Mon-Fri office job, and lately I've started getting exhausted on or around Wednesdays, and have to really push myself to get through Thursdays and Fridays.  Today I'm not nearly as exhausted as I've been on other Thursdays, so I'm still reasonably okay.  Not sure how I'll be feeling tomorrow, but I'm okay to work out today.  Not running on fumes just yet but the tank is starting to run low on gas.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Well, crap.  I'm coming down with a (yet another) cold, I think.  There's been a nasty cold going around and at least one of my co-workers seems to have it.  I felt sniffly and congested and slightly exhausted this morning but figured it was just allergies as I felt otherwise okay (exhaustion is common for me especially later in the week, the work week tends to exhaust me towards the end of it).  But walking up the stairs at work gave me a few short coughing fits.  Then I did go to the gym today, and I felt quite sluggish and just "off" during my workout.  Since I've gotten back from the gym, I've been coughing a lot and I sure feel like a cold is coming on.  Yuck!

I didn't have solid workout plans for tomorrow anyway, aside from maybe walking the dog, so I think I'm just going to rest tonight and tomorrow.  Chicken soup is definitely happening for dinner tonight, but I don't feel energetic enough to cook, so I'm going to pick up some ginseng chicken soup from a Korean restaurant in town.  Will likely take a hot bath tonight after my soup to try to get my sinuses to open up since they just feel stuffy.  Tomorrow I likely won't do any exercise, not even walking the dog.  I have to work, I'm almost out of sick days and I need to save what few days I have in the event of a flare or something really bad, can't waste a sick day on a cold at this point.  So I will work, but after work I'm going to rest and won't exercise.  Then, I'll just play it by ear on the weekend.  I'm not hopeful at this point that I'll be able to do my bike rides, because recently I've seen otherwise healthy friends on facebook saying that this cold has lasted them several weeks.  Me with my crappy health and crummy immune system, that doesn't bode well.  So at this point I'm assuming I'll probably just end up resting all weekend, ugh.  I know it's necessary to rest when I have a cold, but it just frustrates me to have to cancel workout plans.  Resting seems so unproductive (although I'm sure I'll be doing things like crafts - I can still crochet even when I'm too ill to do much of anything).  So yeah, workout plans for the next few days are likely cancelled and I'll be resting and coughing and bleh.


----------



## hawkeye

Is it a long weekend down there?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

No, not for most of us - I still have to work on Columbus Day.  The post office is one of the few places here that actually closes on Columbus Day, and my parents are/were postal workers (my dad still is but my mom is now retired) so they always got a day off work, but basically nobody else outside of postal workers gets a long weekend.  So I just get a regular weekend, I still have to work my usual schedule.  Oh well!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm definitely not working out today.  I've been coughing up a storm and feeling quite exhausted.  Just trying to get through my work day so that I can go home and rest tonight.  I did have chicken soup last night but not sure if it helped any.  Today I'm eating mostly bland foods because my guts are a little bit upset (my guts always get worse when I get a cold or virus).  Yesterday I mostly just sat on the couch with my crocheting (finished the blanket I was working on, woo hoo) and watched TV.  I'm thinking tonight will be exactly the same except that I'll be working on a scarf and not a blanket.  Wow, exciting fun plans.    That may end up being my entire weekend.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/12/15:  I didn't do any exercise all weekend.  No weights, no bike rides, didn't even walk the dog.  Stayed at home for the most part (I did go out grocery shopping but that was about it).  I watched a bunch of TV and movies, crocheted 3 scarves, did a bit of stuff around the house like cleaning, dishes, laundry, etc but for the most part I rested.  Today I'm still coughing a bit so I think I'm going to have to rest again.  I find that I can't work out with a cough, heavy breathing just makes me feel 10 times worse.  It's frustrating, but I'll continue resting and just hope to get back to the gym soon.

I do see my GI today.  Not even really sure what to ask him.  I've been up and down lately, not great but not terrible.  My bloodwork is always good so I don't seem to be flaring, but I'm not sure this is proper remission either.  I really don't know.  I'm just going to tell him how I've been doing lately and ask if he has any suggestions.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I saw my GI and it went better than I expected.  We're re-checking my anemia, and if I'm still anemic then I'm likely going to get some iron injections.  I hope I do get to have the injections - I've had some issues with fatigue & exhaustion lately, and I'm hoping that iron injections will help with those issues.  I've had some issues with rectal bleeding going back to March which caused my anemia in the first place - I can usually stop the bleeding with steroid suppositories fairly quickly these days, but the damage is still done.  The last episode of bleeding I had, back in August, I had 5 bad episodes of bleeding in one day and ended up dizzy & light-headed.  I went to urgent care where they checked my blood and said I was fine, but it turned out they didn't check my iron (!!) and although they did check my CBC, it wasn't actually fine like they said it was.  Worthless, ugh.  So my GI is re-checking things properly, we did bloodwork today to look at my iron & ferritin and we will go from there once the results are back.

On the downside, the phlebotomist gave me a huge painful bruise when she took my blood!  It is legit painful, probably the worst blood draw I've ever had.  And, I get my flu shot on Wednesday, so that's going to give me some arm pain then too.  Ugh, I'm starting to wonder when I'll be able to get back to the gym!  I'm still trying to kick this cold, and now with arm pain on top of arm pain, lifting weights isn't going to be pleasant for a few days.  Bleh.  So in this order, I need to get better, get back in the gym, get my blood results, and get some iron injections.  Now to start checking items off of that list...


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/13/15:  I'm still coughing today so the gym isn't happening.  My arm is also still somewhat painful from my blood draw yesterday.  I'm getting grumpy about my lack of exercise!  I'm thinking about maybe just walking the dog tonight - a quick walk might be okay, if I dress warm.  It's a bit chilly and windy out today, but if I wear some reasonably warm clothes I think I'd be okay.  Just going to see how I feel when I get home tonight and go from there.  Hoping to get back into the gym properly at some point this week.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/14/15:  Didn't end up walking the dog yesterday, the weather turned colder and I was still coughing.  Still coughing today too, so I guess it's yet another rest day, ugh.  Had my flu shot today so now my other arm is sore.    I can deal with that, though.  Just have to get over this cough and then I should be okay to work out.  Still waiting on my bloodwork from my GI.  Just kind of waiting for everything right now!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/16/15:  I still haven't been to the gym this week.  The arm pain is gone but I'm *still* coughing and congested.  Also I'm exhausted.  I at least have a reason for the exhaustion, finally!  I'm still anemic, not sure how significantly anemic but both my iron and ferritin are definitely low according to the bloodwork results that I just got back this morning (iron is at 30 when it should be at least 50, and ferritin is at a 4 when it should be at least a 5).  The good news is, there's relief in sight.  My GI said that I could have some iron injections or infusions if my bloodwork showed that I'm still anemic.  So I've emailed him this morning asking how to get the ball rolling on those injections or whatever.  He did say that those should give me more energy and take away some of the fatigue, so I'm really looking forward to that.  

I'm honestly not sure when I'm going to make it back to the gym.  With how exhausted I feel right now, I just want to rest as much as I can during the weekend.  My parents are coming down for a bit on Saturday to do some shopping and have lunch, but they never stay the whole day so that'll just be a few hours fortunately.  I can rest the rest of the time.  Hopefully by next week I'll stop coughing and have a bit of energy and can make something happen in the gym.  For now, I'm just feeling very bleh.


----------



## hawkeye

Do you need the injections or can you take oral ferrous gluconate?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, I can't take oral iron - even the so-called "gentle" iron really upsets my stomach.  So infusions it is.  I heard back from my GI this morning and he said my GP has to order the infusions, so he's sending all the information over to my GP so he can do that.  So, I'm still waiting, but hopefully not for much longer.  I want to start the infusions ASAP as the fatigue has been terrible lately.  Today I'm so exhausted even though I slept for like 10 hours.  I really need the infusions so that I can get rid of this fatigue already!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/19/15:  I'm still exhausted today, but I seem to finally have stopped coughing.  It's only been 10 days, ugh.    So, I think I'm going to give the gym a try today.  I won't push myself too hard, but I want to do *something*.  It's been 10 days since I last worked out and that drives me crazy.  I hate missing that many workouts, so I'm just going to go for it today and see what happens and how I feel afterwards.  I have low expectations but I need to try.  I'll be happy with anything that I'm able to do.

I obviously haven't planned out any further workouts just yet, as I'm just going to play it by ear and see how today goes and then take it day by day from here.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Well, I made it through my workout.  It was extremely tough, though.  I did not have a lot of energy and I found myself out of breath regularly, and a few times I just had to stop, breathe, and talk myself out of passing out or puking.  I didn't push myself but I did do everything I usually do in the gym, just at a slower pace, so I probably overdid it just by doing my usual routine.  I am apparently not well enough yet to make it through my usual weights workout, which is discouraging.  I think it's partly this lingering cold - it must still be affecting my lungs a bit even though I haven't been coughing today.  And I think the anemia is the other culprit, it's been sapping my energy which obviously doesn't help me get through a workout.  Between having no energy and not having my normal amount of lung capacity, that really hindered my ability to have a good workout.  My reflux decided to act up a bit too (that's the part where I had to try not to puke) - I definitely got the burps and I could feel stuff coming up my throat a bit as I was stretching.  It fortunately didn't get any worse than that.

At any rate, I'm proud that I made it through in spite of the fairly massive hurdles that my body put in my way (and that I didn't pass out nor puke).  I'm thinking that tomorrow is a rest day though!  And that I'm going to do less and go more slowly in my next workout so as not to have a repeat of today.  I feel utterly wiped out now and I'm definitely resting for the remainder of the day and tomorrow too.  I'll revisit how I'm feeling on Wednesday and go from there.  I may have a slower, more gentle workout on Wednesday if I'm feeling reasonably well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/20/15:  The cough is back today.    Ugh!  Not sure if it's because of my workout yesterday or what.  Clearly I'm not yet totally over this cold/cough.  Very annoying!  So, my to-do list is, 1. get over this stupid cough already, 2. start iron infusions to get rid of the iron deficiency and get some energy back.  Once I tackle those two things, I think I'll be able to work out regularly again.  Right now I'm still waiting on my GP to figure out what he needs to do to order the iron infusions (he said he needs to check with hematology, I'm not sure why that is).  Hopefully soon I can start the infusions.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

10/23/15:  Nothing new to report unfortunately.  I'm *still* coughing - yesterday things seemed to be even worse, breathing hurt a bit.  It's been over 2 weeks now with this cold/cough and I'm seriously frustrated.  Haven't been to the gym since my failed attempt on Monday.  I'm also *still* waiting to hear back from my GP about getting iron infusions.  I'm getting so impatient and grumpy!  I just want to feel better!  Ugh.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 10/26/15:  It's been a week since I last went to the gym and I'm getting impatient, plus my hips aren't happy (when I'm idle, my arthritis starts to ache more) so I think I'm just going to give it a shot today.  Yesterday I felt quite good, I managed to walk the dog and didn't cough at all and had a decent amount of energy.  Today though I'm back to coughing (had a massive coughing fit this morning) and I'm feeling pretty exhausted.  So I don't really know how the gym is going to go, but I'm going to give it a try.  I guess I'd rather try and fail than not try!  So little gym on my lunch break today, going in with very low expectations, and if I can manage to have a halfway decent weights workout then I'll be satisfied.

Hopefully my days of low energy are coming to an end - I should be getting a call today to schedule my first iron infusion!  I called my GP's office first thing this morning to see what the status was, and they said they had contacted the infusion center on Friday and the infusion center should be calling me today.  Finally!  I hope I can get in soon, hopefully I won't have to wait too long for my appointment.  I just want to feel better already and I feel like this could be huge for me in terms of my energy levels and being able to work out more.

Edit:  I've decided against going to the gym today after all.  I'm still coughing and my lungs still kind of hurt - a gym session is just going to make that worse.  Beyond frustrated, but I'll rest yet again.  The good news is, I got my iron infusions scheduled, so I get my first one a week from today.  REALLY hoping that helps a lot.  So, I may end up resting another week - just going to take it day by day.  Really hoping that once the infusions start, then things will dramatically improve.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

10/29/15:  I feel like a broken record, but still no gym for Cat.  I think I'm finally over this cough (knock on wood) but I'm still dealing with fatigue.  Monday is my first iron infusion so hopefully after that the fatigue will start to dissipate.  Ideally I'd love to hit the gym on Tuesday!  Will just have to see how I'm feeling and play it by ear.  Lately it seems like I barely have enough energy to make it through work and that's about it.  My boss is concerned, she keeps asking how I am.  The only answer I seem to be able to give her is, "I'm alive and functional but not much more than that".  When I told her how long it's been since I last went to the gym, she was shocked and said, "That's not like you!"  I know it.  I hope to get back, soon.  I am really hoping the iron infusions are the answer to this fatigue!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/3/15:  I went to the gym today!!!!     

I should back up.  So for anyone who follows this thread, you may recall that my iron and ferritin levels have been really low lately (iron at 30 and ferritin at 4) so my GI said I need iron infusions.  And I had my first iron infusion yesterday afternoon.  It mostly went well.  The only issue was that my stomach got pretty upset yesterday evening after the infusion.  I had some pretty wicked d, gurgliness, cramps, etc.  The nurse had warned me that might happen - she said that some people react the same way to the infusion that they'd react to the iron tablets - nausea, etc.  So I definitely had that starting yesterday evening.  Took some Zofran this morning and started feeling somewhat better.  Didn't sleep well last night so I woke up tired, and wasn't really sure where my energy levels were at.  As today has gone on, however, it's become clear that my energy levels are indeed noticeably improved from where they've been, so I've had some good results from the infusion along with the tummy symptoms.

Because of the increase in energy and because the Zofran seemed to help calm my stomach somewhat, I decided to just try a workout today.  It's been weeks and I just wanted to work out already!  So I went to the gym.  Didn't have a stellar workout, my stomach was pretty unhappy the whole time.  But I made it through (didn't do anything involving my abs obviously!).  I was okay the whole time energy-wise which is very encouraging, so I think once these infusions are done and my stomach properly calms down, then I'll be okay to work out like I want to and to push myself in the gym.  I'm really looking forward to that!  

So yeah, a bit of a mixed bag, but all in all it's a definite improvement.  I have two more infusions to go (one next week and one the week after), so just a couple weeks to go and then things should settle down.  I am very encouraged that my energy has improved so noticeably after just one infusion and I'll be interested to see how much more energy I have after my next two infusions are done.  For the time being I'm just going to play it by ear, will work out if my stomach is feeling well enough but will rest if my stomach feels like it does today.  My next infusion is this coming Monday, so maybe later this week or on the weekend I'll work out again - hopefully my stomach will have more fully calmed down by then.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/4/15:  I probably shouldn't have gone to the gym yesterday.  My stomach felt really rough for the rest of the day, I ended up lying on the couch with my heating pad on all evening and feeling sorry for myself.  Doing somewhat better today although I haven't had any solid food yet so we'll see how that goes.

If I'm feeling reasonably well tomorrow, I want to go back to the gym.    I'm probably insane.  Next week I promise I will not hit the gym the day after my infusion, I will give it a few days next time.  For the time being, I need to make my focus just getting through the infusions.  After the infusion on Nov 16th, I'm done, so after I recover from that one then I should be able to get back into the gym as often as I want to and push myself.  But for now, it's infusions first and gym second.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/5/15:  I was feeling reasonably well today - decent energy and stomach only slightly upset, so I decided to try going to the gym again.  It went okay-ish.  Since my stomach was feeling not completely wonderful (although when is it ever?), I knew I should once again (as always, really) avoid abdominal exercises.  But, I did a set of push-ups, and I guess that was juuuust enough pressure on my abdomen to set things in motion.  As soon as I finished the push-ups, I felt a mild-ish acid reflux attack start up.  Not good, because it happened as I was doing my warm-up!  I still had a whole workout left to do.  And I did make it through my workout, but I had to be extremely mindful of my abdomen and keep myself upright (meaning, no glute bridge) to try to keep my stomach acid from coming up my throat.  Not a super pleasant time, but I did make it through the workout and I feel pretty proud of that.  It was tough but I pushed through - that seems to be a theme with me this week.  

I'm tentatively hoping to do another workout on Saturday.  Tomorrow is my birthday so no gym, I'm going to stuff myself with sushi and other delicious foods.    Saturday though I'm thinking I am going to have to work off some of the calories that I eat tomorrow!  Ha ha.  Sunday I'm having a birthday lunch with my parents so again I'll probably be stuffing myself with food and likely won't be working out.  And Monday is my next iron infusion, so I'm planning to rest up afterwards.  Will likely rest Tuesday as well - my previous iron infusion did a number on my stomach, with nausea and gurgling and crampy pain and diarrhea, the works.  So I'm planning on having a few days to recover from this infusion, will re-assess on Wednesday or so and see if I can do a workout then.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/9/15:  I didn't do a proper workout on Saturday, but I was quite active.  Hubby and I walked the dog, and then we raked the yard.  We definitely worked up a sweat doing that!  So I was satisfied with that amount of activity.

I'm feeling well, suspiciously well.  My guts are so quiet, I can't help but think that they're up to something.  You know how when little kids are very quiet, that usually means that they're getting into some sort of trouble?  That's basically what I'm thinking my guts are up to right now.    It's hard to enjoy the good days when you know they won't last and are just waiting for whatever's coming next.

Today I have my 2nd iron infusion.  I have learned from the forum that although the first infusion is usually pretty rough, subsequent infusions tend to not be nearly as bad, so hopefully I won't get the nausea, d, etc that I had the first time.  So, hopefully I'll do well and will be able to get back into the gym pretty quickly.  Will just have to play it by ear and see how things go!  If I'm able to, I'd love to work out again tomorrow!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/11/15:  I did experience a bit of d and stomach upset (mostly acid reflux symptoms like belching and vurping) after my 2nd iron infusion, but the forum advice I got was correct - it wasn't nearly as bad as the aftermath of the first infusion.  I probably could have worked out yesterday, but I wanted to give myself a full day to recover just to be on the safe side.

Today I feel fine - solid stools and stomach feels fine.  Slightly tired as I didn't sleep great but that's really my only complaint and it's a minor one.  So I'm definitely good to go to the gym today.  The tentative plan for the next few days is this:  Today, weights in the little gym.  Tomorrow, stationary bike in the little gym.  Friday, weights in the little gym.  Saturday maybe a rest day, Sunday I'm thinking we'll rake the yard again.  There's a large maple tree in my neighbor's backyard but a bunch of it hangs over my yard, and it always waits until the last minute to drop its leaves.  So hubby and I raked what little bit had fallen last weekend, and the tree has dropped some more leaves and we'll probably rake again this coming weekend.  The last of the leaves won't fall off of the stupid tree until just before it snows, though (that's what always seems to happen) so we find that it's best to just rake periodically to get most of the leaves out of the yard.  That way if it does snow before we can rake, at least we got most of it raked up already.  So yeah, that'll be a workout in the form of yard work.  Two birds with one stone.

One more iron infusion (next week Monday) and then I'm done!  So next week I'll probably rest again Mon & Tues, and hopefully will get back to the gym on that Wednesday.  And from there, I hope to be back in the gym regularly with few breaks in between workouts.  The iron infusions have given me the energy I need to work out, so as long as I can hold onto my iron and keep myself feeling reasonably well, I should be okay!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I hit the gym a little while ago and felt really good.  Reflux was mostly quiet (I had a couple belches but that was it, no vurping nor anything coming up).  I was able to properly work up a sweat and do everything I wanted to do - including a short (20 second) plank!  My guts didn't even get mad about that which was very encouraging.  Can't remember the last time I was able to do any type of abdominal exercise without repercussions.  I feel really good now, too.  My whole body is just like, Ahhhhh!    It's great to be feeling well and to be able to exercise properly again.  It feels like it's been a very long time since I've had a workout this good!

One of my issues is, when I'm feeling this well, sometimes I get lazy or cocky and eat something I shouldn't.  That's when I run into problems - particularly back in March, I was feeling really well and got cocky about it, so I decided to eat some frosted mini wheats cereal.  That turned out to be an extremely terrible idea, it set off a month's worth of bleeding which started off this iron deficiency anemia to begin with.  So yeah, I'm endeavoring to behave and continue eating reasonably safe foods and not get lazy nor cocky about things.  I really want to continue to feel well and to be able to exercise with some intensity.  I feel like I should also pay a lot more attention to the iron content of the foods I'm eating, particularly with my last iron infusion coming up - I feel like once that's done with, I'll need to maintain a good level of iron in my system.  So I'm making an effort to pay better attention to my diet.  I don't want to make my body unhappy again if I can avoid it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/12/15:  I hit the little gym for 30 minutes on the stationary bike and that felt great.  My legs felt so fresh!  Which seems odd because I just did a workout yesterday, and I was doing a lot of bodyweight stuff with my legs like calf raises, lunges, squats, wall sits, etc.  I figured my legs would be tired today but they felt great.  Maybe it's because I'm still just getting back into the swing of things in the gym.  After all, today was actually my first cardio workout in over a month - I've done a few weights workouts but no cardio for quite awhile.  

At any rate, I had good energy and felt good all the way through.  I'm just amazed at how well I've been feeling since starting the iron infusions!  So much energy and oddly enough my guts seem calmer now that they've adjusted to the infusions.  It's been wonderful.

I mentioned diet in my last update, and so far so good on that front.  I'm still doing a protein/vitamin smoothie for breakfast (I don't really do solid foods so well first thing in the morning so a smoothie has been my go-to for awhile now) and overnight oats for my mid-morning snack (mid-morning is usually when my body is ready for solid foods so I guess in a way it's breakfast).  I add chia seeds and frozen fruit to my oats, and soak them overnight in cashew milk.  Very yummy and healthy!  Today's lunch was sort of a fancy breakfast-ish type sandwich.  I have this English muffin bread, which I toasted and then spread some cream cheese on.  Then added a fried egg and some smoked salmon.  Yum!  The salmon and egg gave me good protein for after my workout (I always eat lunch right after hitting the gym, since I can't have any solid food in my system for a few hours before working out, thanks to my GERD).  Dinner will be spaghetti squash prepared like pasta, with a light cream sauce.  I know cream sauce isn't the healthiest but my GERD prevents me from doing tomato sauce, so my options are limited.  We have some frozen chicken meatballs and will also throw in some mushrooms and onions, so that'll be a nice pasta-ish veggie dish.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/13/15:  Change of plans, unfortunately.  Gym is not happening today after all.  There's been yet another nasty cold going around and I seem to have caught it.  For those keeping score, this is the 3rd cold I've had this autumn.  Lovely.  I'm not feeling too bad, but I can tell I'm a bit run-down and my sinuses are definitely messed up and congested and I can't smell things today.  Somebody at work made microwave popcorn and that disgusting smell always seems to permeate the whole building - but I couldn't smell it even when I was near the microwave.

So, today's an impromptu rest day.  Going to just play it by ear and see how I'm feeling day by day.  We are supposed to have nice, warmer than average and sunny weather this weekend, so I'd love to get out and enjoy it.  My dog needs walking and the leaves need raking.  But it'll all depend on how I'm feeling.  Right now I'd really just like to take a nap and have some tea (maybe not in that order).  I'm just hoping this cold doesn't last too long.  I don't want to be out of the gym for weeks again like last time.


----------



## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  My body has decided to throw some random waves of nausea and stomach pain at me this afternoon, so I'm glad I didn't go to the gym.  Tummy issues are common for me when I have a cold - it seems to me that it's like, my immune system turns on to fight the cold, but it also decides that while it's on that it might as well attack my digestive system as well, because that's just what it does.  I don't know if that's what's really happening, but I always do get an increase (usually slight and temporary, thankfully) in tummy symptoms when I catch any type of cold or virus.  So yeah, at any rate, I was pretty much expecting this to happen and I'm glad I wasn't in the gym when the pains and nausea hit me.  I was out shopping at the time but I held it together and I had some Zofran with me which helped.  

Also, oddly enough, shopping seems to help.  I'm sure it's just mental.  The first year that I was ill, I wasn't eating so much and I was losing weight because I was flaring basically that whole year, so I would often comfort myself by buying tiny, cute clothes.  Today, once again, I was feeling nauseated and not up to eating so what did I do?  Went out and bought myself some (medium sized, not tiny anymore) cute clothes.  And that helped me forget about the nausea until the Zofran kicked in (it usually takes 20-30 mins to start working for me).

I'm still not feeling great though - slightly dizzy because the sinus congestion is messing with my ears, and I'm feeling pretty tired and run down too.  With how I'm feeling now, I'm definitely resting tonight & tomorrow.  Will re-assess on Sunday but I'm mentally prepared to rest all weekend plus Monday & Tuesday too - my final iron infusion is on Monday, so I'll need to rest that day and likely the next day as well.  So, at this point, I may not get back to the gym until Wednesday.  Not ideal, but if it's what my body needs then so be it.  I still plan to keep somewhat busy this weekend - I have some sewing and crocheting to do, so that'll keep me occupied.  I can rest and do crafts, that'll be a cozy weekend.  I may need to have my hubby deal with the raking and dog walking.


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## teeny5

Best to rest and let your body fight the cold. I hope you feel better soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I seem to be mostly over the cold.  Still a little sniffly, but it's raining a lot today which always tends to affect my sinuses, so I think today it's more allergies than the cold.  I feel okay other than that.  Guts are a bit unsettled because of my iron infusion yesterday, but not too bad at all - I can eat and I haven't had to take any Zofran, so I'm not bad.  I'll be resting today since my body seems to need about 24 hours to recover from the infusions.  The plan is to hit the gym tomorrow for weights.  I'm tentatively thinking, if I'm doing well, I'll do weights tomorrow, cardio (stationary bike) on Thurs, and weights again on Friday.  Saturday, I am going to a college football game so it'll be a rest day but I'll be outdoors in a freezing stadium and shivering, so I'll be burning a few calories just from shivering.    Seriously, the high temp that day is like 33 degrees F, which is pretty cold to be sitting outdoors for hours.  I hope my hips don't get too mad.  Sometimes, if I'm out in the cold for too long, my arthritis flares up and my hips become quite painful.  So I'll have to play it by ear - if the hips are painful after the football game then I'll rest on Sunday to let them recover, but if they're okay then I'll do weights again on Sunday.  That's the tentative plan anyway.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/18/15:  I hit the little gym on my lunch break today.  Felt great, no issues whatsoever.  I was mildly sniffly but that didn't really affect me and could have been allergies rather than the cold - sometimes my nose does just get drippy in the gym due to allergies anyway, so I do think I'm fully over the cold.  So yeah, workout was good.  I had a lot of energy, guts were quiet, reflux was quiet, arthritis was quiet - I felt very good the whole way through!    I did everything except I meant to do a plank but forgot, ha ha.  So I inadvertently avoided abdominal exercises, even though I probably could have done a plank easily.  Next time!

Still sticking to my plan - tomorrow planning to do the stationary bike, Friday will do weights again.  Saturday football game, and Sunday, who knows.    Sunday I'll either rest to recover from the football game, or I'll rake the yard, and/or walk the dog, or I'll do weights... some combination of that.  The yard really needs raking, and the dog needs walking, and hubby works all weekend long so it all falls to me.  If I'm able to, I'll do everything I can.  Will just have to see how I'm feeling after I get through Saturday.  Oh, and the weather report is now saying that we're getting snow Friday night and Saturday, so that's just great.  I'll be sitting outside in not only the cold, but the snow too!  Eek!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/19/15:  Hit the little gym for 30 mins of cardio today - did hills on the stationary bike and I feel good.  It's still amazing to me what a difference the iron infusions have made!  My energy levels are way up, my guts seem calmer, I can make it through a work week without needing to rest the entire weekend, and I can make it through a work day without collapsing on the couch for the entire evening.  I can actually do things and it's no longer a monumental struggle just to get through something which requires my effort and attention.  Is this how normal people feel all the time?

It's been so good to get back to working out properly again.  I feel good, going strong.  I could have done more than 30 minutes on the bike, but that's all I had time for since I was working out on my lunch break.  30 minutes was great, though, I feel tired but in a good way now.  Still planning to do weights tomorrow and then will see how Saturday affects my joints and go from there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

11/20/15:  Slight change in today's plans.  I need to run an errand on my lunch break today, so I've decided that I'll work out at home after work instead.  So it's still all good, I have good energy today so I'm sure I can do it.  And working out at home will be a nice change of pace from working out in the little gym.  I've got enough equipment at home to do a really good workout - I have a barbell, some dumbbells, weight bench, balance board, yoga ball, kettlebell, etc.

My only issue is that there are so many distractions when it comes to working out at home.  Like, I get home and I can't just work out right away.  First I need to feed my dog and give my cat her medicine.  Then I get distracted by chores, like laundry and dishes - "I'll just pop in a quick load of laundry before I start working out" but it's never just a quick load of laundry, it turns into me cleaning my house or reorganizing all the closets because I'm distracted.  So, once I take care of my dog and cat, I need to focus on working out and only on working out.  All the other chores can wait.

Really wish I had a room that was just a dedicated home gym and that's it.  My house is small though, so the guest bedroom doubles as the workout room at home.  If it were just a gym, I think it'd be distraction-free.  But as it is, I can see that the rug needs vacuuming and maybe I should reorganize that closet.    It's still distracting.  This is why going to an actual gym, whether it's the little gym at work or the big paid membership gym, is much preferred.  There are no chores for me to do at either of those gyms!  So I can just focus on working out without being OCD and the distractions are kept to a minimum.  But I can't go to the big paid membership gym tonight - wish I could, but we have a winter storm warning (there's some heavy snow headed this way tonight) starting at 6 PM, so after work I have to zoom home so I can get home before the snow hits.  I hate driving in snow.  So yeah, working out at home it is.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/23/15:  I had a good workout at home on Friday.  I got home just as the snow was starting to fall.  Did mostly weights and some good stretching.  Felt very well the whole time.

Saturday, I ended up not going to the football game.  That's a relief.  We got a fair bit of snow and the roads were bad enough that nobody in my group ended up going.  And then I had a friend who got stranded - not even due to the snow, just coincidentally the starter on his car went out and he was stuck at my house for a good chunk of the day on Saturday.  Hubby had to go in to work but I didn't have any plans since the football outing was cancelled, so it was nice to hang out at home with a friend for awhile.  Didn't do any exercise on Saturday, it was a rest day.

Sunday, the roads were cleared off so I headed out to the big gym.  It's been awhile since I was there!  I had a nice long workout.  I did get fairly burpy when I was about 2/3rds done with my workout.  When the burps come on, it's my reflux warning me to hurry up and finish.  And these burps were slightly acidic so I was afraid of bringing on a bad reflux attack.  Still, I managed to finish my workout without skipping anything except the plank - it's never wise for me to do abdominal exercises when I've already got the burps.  All in all, it was a pretty good workout.  I recovered from the burps with no reflux attack so it was a success.  

I'm fairly sore today!  I must have pushed myself harder than I thought in the big gym yesterday.  Today's another rest day because of the soreness.  Planning to go to the little gym tomorrow for weights.  Wednesday, probably a cardio day (stationary bike) in the little gym.  Thursday is thanksgiving so that'll be a rest day.  Hubby and I are cooking this year so that's going to be interesting.    Friday, I'll hit the big gym again for weights.  I have off of work on both Thurs & Fri, so it'll be a nice long 4-day weekend.  Sat I have a family get-together so no working out then, but I'll hit the big gym again on Sunday.  That's the tentative plan for now.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

11/24/15:  Bleurgh.  My guts decided yesterday evening that they were not happy.  I got hit with a lot of d - one of those episodes where you just basically hang on while your guts violently try to completely empty themselves.  I've heard it referred to as "barfing out your butt" which sounds about right.  I slept okay, but today I'm quite nauseous and having a bit more d (not much since I did get mostly emptied yesterday and haven't eaten anything since).  I'm crampy and a bit chilled and nauseous and just feel quite unwell.  I don't know why, really, since I didn't eat anything unsafe and I've been taking all my meds & supplements, I haven't even skipped a day of psyllium, and I've just generally been doing everything right and feeling good.  Really not sure why my guts decided to go a bit crazy out of nowhere like this.  Don't think I'm flaring since I didn't have any of my flare symptoms - no joint pains, no night sweats, no getting up in the night to go, etc.  Just a really bad guts day I guess!

So, at any rate, a workout is not happening today.  Will have to see how I'm doing tomorrow and play it by ear.  Gym isn't happening on Thursday obviously because of the holiday, so if I end up resting today and tomorrow too, then the goal is to get back into the gym on Friday.  For now, I'm resting and staying hydrated, and if I feel like eating later today (currently have ZERO appetite), then I will have something low-residue and very safe.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

11/25/15:  Doing better today but things are still somewhat iffy, so I'm skipping the gym again today.  The chills and nausea are gone.  I can tell I'm a bit crampy but other than that I can't really tell what my guts are currently doing, since I took like 4 Zofrans yesterday which has constipated me somewhat.  I do have a bit of an appetite back.  All in all, I'm not great but I'm not bad either.  I'll survive the holiday tomorrow although I won't be eating a ton of food.  

The goal is to do a workout on Friday.  I'm actually slightly concerned - it might be super crowded at the gym.  A lot of people have off of work on Friday (myself included), and I'm guessing a lot of those people will want to go and work off some of the calories that they consumed on Thursday.  So, I'm tentatively thinking that I might just work out at home with my barbell & dumbbells.  I hate it when the gym is crowded - like, usually I skip going to the gym and just work out at home the first few weeks of January to let the New Year resolution people try and fail and quit and go away.  So I'm thinking I'll also skip going to the gym and just work out at home the day after thanksgiving.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 11/30/15:  I didn't do much over the long holiday weekend.  Didn't do anything on thanksgiving - hubby and I hosted, so we cooked and then hung out with my parents and brother for awhile.  Friday, there was so much to do around the house (tons of dishes to wash) so I didn't end up doing any exercise.  I felt wiped out from thanksgiving, I'm a big introvert and I felt like I just needed a day at home by myself to do nothing.  So I did some dishes and laundry but otherwise I stayed in, watched Netflix, and played the Sims.  Saturday, I went to my aunt's house for a bonus thanksgiving meal with my mom's side of the family.  That was fun - we played bingo.  But again, no exercise happened that day either.

Sunday I finally did something.  My dog needed a walk, so I took her to the dog park.  That was not super fun, the park was very muddy and it was fairly cold out (low/mid 30s F with a brisk wind).  Still, I'm glad my dog was able to get a walk, so it's good that I went.  I also did a lot of grocery shopping and other errands for most of the afternoon, so I walked around quite a lot.

So yeah, I had a pretty lazy long weekend.  I got lazy in other areas besides fitness, too.  I forgot to take my psyllium all 4 days.  That's not good.  So now I'm getting back into the swing of things.  My guts are doing okay and I'm going to head to the little gym today for a weights workout.  Tomorrow, I'm thinking of doing cardio on the stationary bike.  Wed & Fri, weights again.  Thurs will probably be a rest day.  That's my tentative plan.  I'm also going to make sure I take my psyllium every day!  And I'm going to eat healthy meals, I bought a bunch of good food at the grocery store and I have some good meals planned out.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/1/15:  I did weights yesterday and felt good.  I did have one episode of d last night just before bed, but it wasn't too bad and only one episode.  I am presuming it was maybe due to me upping my fiber intake - I had both psyllium and oatmeal yesterday - after the long weekend of not really having much fiber at all.

Today still planning to hit the little gym (in just a few minutes, actually, just about to start taking my ranitidine and tums to prep my stomach for a workout).  Cardio today - planning for 30 mins on the stationary bike.  I feel pretty well.  Guts might be a tad bit crampy but again I'm hoping that's just me still re-adjusting to the fiber (I've also had psyllium and oatmeal today).  Overall though I feel fine, certainly can't complain, and I have a good amount of energy.  So cardio it is!

On the diet front - I haven't had a huge appetite lately, not sure why that is.  I have a theory that, when my iron was super low, my appetite was bigger because my body was trying to get some energy from food.  My energy was so low when my iron was low so maybe there's something to that, I don't know.  Now that I have an adequate amount of iron in my system and (so far) haven't bled out my ass lately, my energy levels are very good.  So maybe my body is realizing that it no longer needs as much food?  At any rate, I've lost 2 lbs without really trying, which is a bit odd especially considering that we just had thanksgiving (although I did not stuff myself on turkey day, I ate a reasonable amount of food).  I'm going to keep an eye on it and make sure that this is me losing weight in a healthy way and that it's not a sign of an impending flare or anything like that.  Hopefully it is something along the lines of my theory - I'm just doing so well energy-wise and iron-wise that I don't need as many calories now.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/2/15:  I did 30 mins on the bike yesterday.  It was honestly a bit tough!  But that is mainly because I felt a bad headache coming on about halfway through.  I'm not sure if it was due to mild dehydration or the music being too loud in the gym - I drank some water and turned the volume down on the TV, and then I felt better.  It was slightly rough, though.  I'm always worried when I get headaches, because I'm prone to migrianes, so whenever I feel head pain I get worried that a migraine is going to ruin my day.  Fortunately that was not the case yesterday.

I'm heading to the little gym shortly to do some weights.  My head feels okay today but I'll make sure to drink plenty of water and will keep the TV volume low just to be safe!  Guts are so-so.  I had one episode of d last night and another this morning.  At least my guts are predictable?  I usually have 1 bowel movement in the morning and 1-2 at night before bed.  They vary anywhere from normal to diarrhea.  But even if it is d, it usually still only happens at those times.  It's when I start having d at other times of day as well, that's when I tend to form new hemorrhoids and bleed out my butt.  So I'm just keeping an eye on things for now.  If I start to have more d than just at my usual times, then I'll take some medication to slow things down.  I don't really like doing that, but sometimes it's necessary.  And at this point, constipating myself with meds is a better option than having another bleeding episode.  Bleeding means I lose iron and I don't want to have to go through more infusions.

Tomorrow is a rest day.  Friday weights in the little gym.  Saturday, I'll probably walk the dog.  It's supposed to be unseasonably warm on Saturday, like 50 F and sunny, so I might even go on a bike ride if it's really that warm out!  Like, maybe I could ride my bike downtown (downtown is something like 2 or 3 miles from my house) and do a bit of xmas shopping - that sounds like a really cool idea.  Sunday, I'll do weights in the big gym and possibly dog walking again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/3/15:  My guts got pretty angry with me last night, I had a bad episode of d which was quite watery.  I ended up taking a Zofran to calm my stomach and slow down my guts, and I also did a steroid suppository last night to try to prevent a new bleeding hemmie from forming (my hemmies tend to form whenever I have bad d, either a lot of d or just one really bad episode).  I don't like to take steroids if it's not necessary, but I also know that I can't risk having another bleeding hemmie and start losing iron all over again.  So, taking a steroid supp seems to be the lesser of two evils in a not-great situation.  That fortunately seems to have worked, my guts are calmer and slower (one formed bowel movement this morning but nothing further, no more d) and my rectum seems to have come away from the incident without forming a new hemmie.  All good things.

Tomorrow I'm still planning to hit the gym.  My guts are feeling okay right now, so as long as things don't deteriorate again then I should be fine to work out.  My next rest day is tentatively going to be Monday - I'm hoping for gym tomorrow, bike ride Saturday, gym Sunday.  It's so far been working out really well to do weights, cardio, weights, rest, repeat.  That seems for me like a really good ratio of exercise to rest, and of weights to cardio.  Basically, that way I'm doing weights every other day no matter what.  And on the non weights days, I do alternating cardio or rest.  It's been working well for me so far, I'm not not overdoing anything and I'm still getting in a lot of good workouts.  And I don't have to think too hard about what I'm going to be doing on any given day.  Easy, fun, and totally do-able as long as my guts and joints and stomach all agree.    (That's always the tricky part, isn't it?)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Duh, I forgot that I'm supposed to have lunch with my grandparents on Sunday.  No big deal though, I can work out from home (or go to the big gym) that evening.  In my head I had been envisioning a lunchtime workout at the big gym but that's changed slightly now due to my lunch date.  So it'll be a late afternoon/early evening workout on Sunday instead now.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/4/15:  Well, I'm a bit torn as to what to do today.  I do seem to have a new internal hemmie that formed the other day.  I passed a bit of blood this morning and it sure feels like a hemmie.  Fortunately I didn't pass a lot of blood, and I've taken some steps to hopefully ensure that I don't pass any more.  I'm putting myself back on steroid suppositories for a few days.  My guts are a bit unsettled but not terrible.

So, still I want to work out today, but I'm not sure if that's the wisest decision.  I think I can do a workout as long as I avoid anything to do with my abdominal muscles - ab work always seems to make things worse.  But I should still, in theory at least, be able to work out my arms and legs.  I haven't decided for sure yet.  I guess it depends on how I'm feeling as the day goes on.  I'm somewhat iffy right now but I think I'm okay enough to work out.  Maybe I'm just being foolish.  I am sort of vacillating between wanting to work out and knowing that rest is probably better today.  Hmm.

Edited to add:  I've thought about it more, and it is indeed wisest to skip the gym and rest today.  It's just frustrating and I hate to miss a workout, but I know I have to let things heal and not push it.  So I will rest even though I hate that, and it seems extra wrong to skip a workout when I have enough energy an am otherwise fine.  But that's life with a chronic illness, I need to not bleed out my ass more than I need a gym session.  Will re-assess tomorrow and see how I am.  Bleh.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/7/15:  I did skip the gym on Friday.  I had a good day on Saturday so I took advantage of it.  Had good energy and was not passing any blood for a bit, so I worked out at home.  Did some sets with my barbell and dumbbells.  Still had good energy afterwards and the weather wasn't too bad (about 45 degrees and sunny, although windy so a bit of a cold briskness to the air).  So I walked the dog as well.  I might have overdone it?  It didn't feel like I overdid things, but that evening I passed a bit more blood.  I rested on Sunday and re-started steroid suppositories, but I still passed more blood on Sunday evening.  Not happy at all about the blood.

So, I'm going to do the steroid suppositories for a few days at least to get properly healed up and stop bleeding.  I'm a bit frustrated.  I have good energy today, but the guts are slightly grumbly and I know it's the wiser thing to skip working out today.  Just going to play it by ear for a bit - healing and no more bleeding are the priorities, getting back to the gym has to be secondary for a bit.  So, tentatively hoping to work out at some point this week but need to heal first.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/10/15:  I didn't update in a few days because there was nothing new to report.  I bled out my ass every day, once per day (in the evenings) up until yesterday.  Apparently the steroid suppositories finally fully kicked in, and I didn't bleed at all yesterday.  I'm feeling better and I think I'm okay to do a workout today - I had been skipping the gym all this week in an attempt to heal up.  Today, though, I think I can work out as long as I don't push myself too much.

I've come to the realization recently that I need to be more proactive about certain things.  I know that I bleed out my ass pretty regularly due to recurrent hemorrhoids, and I know that the bleeding causes me to lose iron and I will eventually develop another deficiency if this continues.  So I need to take steps to both prevent hemorrhoids, and to keep my iron levels up.  To prevent hemmies, my hubby built me a homemade version of the "squatty potty."  It's like a little stool that goes around the base of the toilet and allows me to sit on the toilet in more of a squatting position than a sitting position.  This supposedly allows the bowels to empty better and also supposedly helps prevent hemorrhoids.  I'm giving it a try, it's only been 2 days so far so I can't say yet whether or not it's working.  I will say, the squatting position isn't super comfortable on my hips or knees, so in a way that's good - it's been preventing me from lingering on the toilet too long, which probably puts too much pressure on the areas where my hemmies tend to form.  Less toilet time is a good thing.

To keep my iron up, I'm going to get an "iron fish" to use in cooking (it's a fish-shaped piece of iron that you put in your cooking pot or you can even just boil water with it and drink the water - the idea is that a bit of iron comes out of the fish and goes into your food/water, so you get a bit of iron with each thing you cook and over time it helps keep your iron levels up).  And, I'm going to have a spoonful of molasses every day because it's very high in iron.  I've been doing that all week so far.  I absolutely hate molasses, it's got a disgusting taste (I imagine it's what raisin soup would taste like if there were such a thing), but I'm actually getting used to having a spoonful of it in the evenings.  At first I was just making myself have a spoonful for every day that I bled, but now I think I can keep it up and just have a spoonful every day regardless of whether I'm bleeding or not.

So anyway, that's the plan to be proactive and to try to prevent future hemmies and iron deficiency from happening.  Back to fitness, I'm just going to play it by ear.  See how I do today in the gym and go from there.  I have nothing planned beyond today.

Edit:  Aaaaaand nope.    Now the gym is not happening.  The good news is, I am not back to bleeding.  The bad news is, I seem to be coming down with a cold now.  Ridiculous!  I am super glad that I'm not bleeding, honestly a cold keeping me out of the gym is much preferred to blood loss/iron deficiency keeping me out of the gym, so in a way this isn't so bad.  I can't be too upset.  Hopefully a few days of rest and soup will have me back in the gym.


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## hawkeye

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> To keep my iron up, I'm going to get an "iron fish" to use in cooking (it's a fish-shaped piece of iron that you put in your cooking pot or you can even just boil water with it and drink the water - the idea is that a bit of iron comes out of the fish and goes into your food/water, so you get a bit of iron with each thing you cook and over time it helps keep your iron levels up).  And, I'm going to have a spoonful of molasses every day because it's very high in iron.


The "old school" cast iron frying pans work well too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, we have some cast iron pans.  They're never convenient to use, though, and we've just gotten lazy about using them.  I think the iron fish might be more convenient (less heavy, easier to clean, etc).  Particularly when my iron is low, I'm fatigued and weak - lifting and cleaning a super heavy cast iron pan is the last thing I want to do in that condition.  But the fish is small and should be far less of a hassle.  That's my hope anyway.

Update 12/11/15:  I definitely have a cold, and it's a head cold.  I felt pretty loopy last night.  I had wanted to make myself some orange juice in order to get some vitamin C, so I started peeling an orange.  As I was halfway through with peeling, I was like, "Why am I peeling an orange?  Am I going to eat this?"  Then I remembered that I was going to make juice.  Duh.    And then I couldn't figure out how to put my juicer together so I had to wait for hubby to get home from work so that he could do it (apparently I almost had it, things just weren't fitting together quite right).  I went to bed early and zonked out, and I feel slightly less loopy today.  I'm still not great though, and I coughed a bunch this morning.  Sinuses and throat aren't great either.

So, it's definitely rest for me today.  Tomorrow, if I'm feeling halfway decent, I'm going to walk the dog - the weather is supposed to be lovely (mid 50s F and sunny - they're talking record high temperatures for December this weekend for my area).  It's supposed to be equally warm but rainy all day Sunday, so Saturday is the day to walk the dog.  Because I'm a crazy person, I've come up with I think 3 more crocheting projects that I need to finish soon because they're going to be xmas gifts.  So this is good in a way, crocheting keeps me resting on the couch.  I have a feeling I'll be spending most of the weekend on the couch working on those projects, which is okay.  Besides walking the dog and running a couple errands and doing a few chores around the house, I plan to sit on the couch and crochet.  Hah, even when I'm resting I'm over-ambitious.  

The hope now is to be feeling better by Monday.  I think the weekend is going to be devoted to kicking this cold.  I have lunch appointments on Tues & Thurs next week, so if I could swing it, working out Mon-Wed-Fri would be perfect.  I'm not sure how I'll be feeling on Monday though so that's a very tentative plan right now, but I do like to have a goal to work towards.  So that's the goal right now, to hopefully be back in the gym on Monday.


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## hawkeye

I am still trying to shake my cough.

Lots of good molasses recipes  on this site (they are a local company that processes molasses - they bring it in by boat load) -  http://www.crosbys.com/molasses-and-soy-glazed-salmon/


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I think my cold is finally mostly over!  I've been sort of sniffly today, but then again I'm often sniffly due to allergies anyway, so at this point it may just be allergies rather than a lingering cold.  I no longer feel loopy and am not coughing and my throat feels fine, so aside from the sniffliness I'm okay cold-wise.

My guts have been slightly riled up - I stupidly had some nachos on Sunday night and that didn't sit so well, so yesterday was a bit rough.  I had a few extra bathroom trips, and I think that caused me an external hemorrhoid.  Those are easy, though.  Those I can treat with creams and those don't bleed nearly as much as the internal hemmies do (there was just the teensiest bit of blood on the TP from the external hemmie), so that wasn't a big deal at all and already seems to be well on the way to healing.  My guts are improved today although not wonderful, but not horrible either.

So, if things continue to improve then I plan to hit the gym tomorrow - finally!    I did walk the dog on Saturday, but I haven't done anything else fitness-wise in a bit.  I'm looking forward to getting back to the gym - between the rectal bleeding and the cold, it's been well over a week since I last worked out (maybe closer to 2 weeks at this point?  I've lost track of time).  The holidays are proving to be pretty stressful already, so any stress-relief I can get will be wonderful, and a workout is always the best stress reliever for me.  So, that's the plan.  I haven't planned anything further than tomorrow at this point, just going to see how I'm feeling tomorrow and how things go.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/16/15:  My guts feel pretty good today.  Sinuses are still a bit sniffly but what else is new.  I'm slightly headachey because the weather is rainy & overcast - I tend to get headaches due to weather shifts, I think it's because of the barometric pressure or something along those lines.  But it's not bad at all and I'm feeling pretty much fine otherwise.

So, I'm definitely still planning to hit the gym in a few hours.  I have decent energy today and I think I can do a pretty good workout.  If today goes well then tomorrow might be a cardio day, we'll see.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another update for today:  Just got back from the gym a little while ago, and I feel SO GOOD!  I had a good workout, felt good the whole way through with only 2 minor issues.  The first issue was that the burps started up relatively early on in my workout.  I tend to get the burps as an early warning sign that my reflux is going to start going crazy in short order.  Fortunately though it just stayed as burps, it didn't get any worse and fortunately didn't turn into a reflux attack.  It was just a bit disconcerting to get the burps that early in my workout!  I was a bit cautious because of that, but it ended up being fine.

The other issue I had was, I fell off the treadmill.    So a typical workout for me consists of warm-up, weights interspersed with bodyweight exercises (lunges, squats, etc), then stretching and finally cool-down.  I usually walk on the treadmill for 5-10 minutes for my cool-down.  So I was walking on the treadmill at the end of my workout, but trying to get a few more stretches in at the same time because I'm a multi-tasker.  I'm naturally very clumsy though and I should not multi-task on the treadmill!  I was stretching my arms and shoulders but I guess I wasn't looking at where my feet were and I stumbled.  I sort of caught myself but I smashed my left pinkie finger in the process.  That seems to be the only injury I got from falling off the treadmill, so it's not too bad.  I'm right-handed so I don't use my left pinkie for a whole lot, and I don't think it's broken or anything.  It's just sort of bruised and angry, and the nail is messed up.  It's kind of painful but not too bad.  Like, I'll definitely survive.    But yeah, that's my gym injury, ha ha.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/18/15:  I woke up yesterday morning with a nasty migraine which lasted all day.  So, I didn't do any cardio.  The migraine is still hanging around today, although it's much less painful and the nausea is gone.  I feel exhausted though, I don't sleep well when my head hurts and I really have only slept well one night this week.  So I'm feeling like rest is still going to be more beneficial to me today than a workout.  Don't want to make the migraine angry all over again since it is still hanging around, and I just feel like I want to take about 10 naps.

Tomorrow I have a family xmas gathering to attend - the first of several that are happening within the next week.  I'm hoping that I can get home from that reasonably early and, depending on how I'm feeling, I might do a workout tomorrow evening from home.  I will just have to play it by ear.  Sunday, I was supposed to see a friend but I cancelled my plans with her.  I feel like I need at least one weekend day to just be by myself and recharge and not do anything.  Well, I will be doing things, because I need to buy food to cook for xmas dinner and I need to wrap a lot of presents, but mostly I just need to not be around people.  I'm a massive introvert and it just sounded exhausting to me to have to have social engagements on both Saturday and Sunday.  So, Sunday will be my day of being by myself (hubby works so it'll just be me and my pets at home which is perfect for me).  I'll rest as much as I can, I do have to wrap and buy food but I can still get in a good chunk of "me time".  And, if I don't work out Saturday, I might work out from home on Sunday.  It all depends on how I'm feeling.


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## Georgeforaday

This is interesting to read, I have been diagnosed with Crohn's for 2 years now. As a Keen cyclist I like to get out at least twice a week for a ride, but some weeks I don't get out because I'm so tired from work and life in general. I don't think my job is the most taxing or stressful, so I'm presuming my fatigue is from the Crohn's.

Do you guys find some days you can't gym because you are too tired? I always feel guilty for not riding, and when I do ride regularly I do feel better, but I'm not sure if thats because of the riding or i'm riding more because I feel better! ha

Do you guys have any advice on what foods to eat to give you a energy boost for the gym, or to eat throughout the week to keep your energy levels up genrally?

thanks


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hi Georgeforaday, the biggest thing that has helped my energy levels has been addressing my deficiencies.  Specifically, my iron dropped really low (thanks to recurrent rectal bleeding) and I was definitely too exhausted to exercise when it was at its lowest.  I had some iron infusions done to correct the iron deficiency, and I am feeling a lot more energetic now.  If you haven't had bloodwork done recently, I'd encourage you to get your vitamin levels checked and see if there might be any deficiencies that are causing your episodes of low energy.  If you're low in things like iron, vit B12 or vit D, that could all cause you to experience a noticeable drop in energy.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Fitness update 12/21/15:  I rested on Friday and had a family get-together on Saturday, so no exercise either of those days.  Sunday I ended up getting more of a workout than I had bargained for, and not really in a good way.  I did a weights session at home, then the plan was to take the dog out on a quick walk and I was planning to stretch after that.  Well, halfway through our walk, my dog somehow injured her leg.  I think it's sprained, it seems extremely similar to the time a few years ago when she sprained the same leg.  I'm not sure how she did it, she seems to have just stepped wrong or something.  I carried her partway home (she's quite heavy at 43 lbs so that was exhausting by itself), then we were offered a ride home by a nice lady at the dog park and I accepted, so I didn't have to carry her the entire way.  Still, by the time we got home, my arms felt absolutely dead from the combo of weight lifting and dog carrying.  Instead of stretching, I just rested because I was exhausted.

It turns out it was a mistake not to stretch.  My hips really benefit from a good stretch, and it's raining today - the combination of those two things means that my hips are quite achey today.  Arms just feel tired but hips feel painful.  So, I think I'm going to do a nice long stretching/yoga session this afternoon in the little gym.  I have a half hour "hips and hamstrings" gentle yoga video queued up which I will try.  I normally am not a yoga fan as I'm very un-flexible, but I know that my hips need some TLC today so I'll give them some overdue attention.

If I'm feeling okay tomorrow then I'll do weights again (no dog walking nor dog carrying involved this time!  In fact I'm presuming my dog won't be going for walks for a little while, not until she's healed).  Wednesday either cardio or rest, depending on how I'm feeling.  Thursday is xmas eve so I don't have to work, and I think the big gym might actually be open.  So I might go to the big gym, or if they're closed I'll lift weights at home.  Friday is xmas so I won't be doing any exercise then!  Saturday I have another family get-together for xmas so once again I don't think I'll be exercising then.  Likely will be back at the big gym on Sunday for weights.  That's the tentative plan for now.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  So I did my 30 mins of yoga in the gym today.  I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again - I just do not enjoy yoga.    It's never quite what I think it will be.  I always think it'll be some amazing stretches that make me feel really limber and good, but it's never actually that.  It's always more like, I'm super un-flexible so I get into what I think the position is supposed to be but I never can do it right so I am both uncomfortable and doing it wrong.  And then I just have to sit there being wrong and uncomfortable for an uncomfortable amount of time.  Oh, and I'm supposed to think about breathing.    That's about it in a nutshell.  I don't get much out of yoga.  And I don't enjoy it.  

I do really enjoy other forms of exercise.  Weight lifting to me is like, I'm lifting heavy things and feeling really strong and awesome like I can do anything!  Muscles, yeah!  And bicycling is like, I'm going on an adventure and I'm going really fast and I'm seeing interesting scenery and breathing fresh air and feeling great!  But yoga is more like, I'm uncomfortable and unflexible and I am not strong nor awesome nor having an adventure, and I just want this to be over with.    And I can't even think about fun or awesome things because I'm supposed to be thinking about breathing.  Basically, I don't have fun with yoga and I do have fun with weights and with my bike.  So yeah, this just reinforces to me that I need to stick with the types of fitness that I find to be fun, because fitness *should* be fun.  I shouldn't feel uncomfortable or like I hate it, but I do kind of hate yoga.  So I'm going to stick with weights and bike as my main forms of exercise because I do enjoy those a lot.  I fail at yoga, but it's okay.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/22/15:  I have the start of what feels like another migraine.  The weather is rainy and foggy and I think the weather is triggering these.  It seems to start in my sinuses, so I took some sinus meds a little while ago in the hopes of stopping this before it gets bad.  I also took a Zofran because I could feel the nausea starting up already, fun.

It's still early in the day, so I'm just going to do what I can to try to flush my sinuses and get rid of the headache/migraine.  I'm going to drink lots of water, etc.  If I'm doing okay-ish by early afternoon then I'll still hit the gym as planned.  I only know of two headache triggers that are gym-related - if I have a tight headband on, or if the music is too loud.  So I'll do barrettes in my hair instead of a headband, and I'll keep the music at a low volume.  Hopefully that way I can indeed do a workout without making things worse.  For now though just playing it by ear.  If I can't manage a workout today then I'll try for tomorrow instead.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Nope, head is throbbing and I didn't make it to the gym today.  Going to try for tomorrow.  This super weird warm rainy winter that we're having seems to be playing havoc with my head, stupid barometric pressure.  Today it was upper 30s and misty/foggy - tomorrow it's supposed to be 50 degrees F and rain all day so I'm sure my head will just explode then.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/28/15:  I was so busy Thurs-Fri-Sat that I didn't end up working out any of those days.  Thurs I had to clean my house and prepare everything, Friday I hosted my parents and brother at my house for xmas, and Saturday we went to my in-laws' house for xmas with hubby's family.  So those were a crazy few days.  Sunday, I finally had a quiet day to myself!  So on Sunday I finally worked out.  I just did a weights and stretching session from home.  That went fine.  I had a tiny bit of reflux near the end, but nothing bad and nothing out of the ordinary for me.  I'm a bit sore today but that's probably because I didn't work out for a few days.

Today, the weather is horrendous.  It's just started snowing heavily and blowing snow, and possibly freezing rain/sleet/ice.  Yuck!  We're going to get anywhere from 2 to 12 inches of snow depending on how the storm tracks, and up to a quarter inch of ice.  I'm at work but hoping that the weather is bad enough to warrant closing early.  But, if we don't close early, then I'm definitely not leaving the building on my lunch break.  So, if we close early then it's probably a rest day.  If we stay open then I'll do a cardio session (stationary bike) and some stretching in the little gym in the basement during my lunch break.

Either way, tomorrow I'll do weights, probably in the little gym.  If I don't do cardio today, then I'll likely do cardio on Wednesday.  Thursday I'm off work for the holiday, and I don't want to venture out, so I'll do a weights session at home.  Friday, probably a rest day.  That's the tentative plan so far.  Right now I'm just waiting to see how bad this winter storm gets...


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/19/15:  Bit of a stressful time lately.  We had a nasty snow & ice storm yesterday and you could literally see the roads getting bad, but at work they decided we should stay open.  They finally did let us close at 4 PM, but by then the roads were super bad.  I had to drive like 15 mph the whole way home and even then I was fishtailing a bit, it was not good.  This morning, the city had done some plowing (but a rather crappy job of it) so work decided to open as usual.  So it was another not great drive, and some of our people got stuck in their driveways or on residential streets that hadn't been plowed.  It's just a weird week.  There's hardly anybody at work anyway because it's a holiday week, and the people who made the decision to keep the office open weren't actually here anyway... ugh.  That stuff drives me nuts, I'd rather be safe than have scary drives to and from work like that.  But I'm basically out of vacation days (our vacation & sick days are pooled together and mine have been used up as sick days for the most part this year), so I had to come in to work, I didn't have a choice.  So yeah, just some stress due to the weather and crappy road conditions and dumb decisions to keep the office open.

Fortunately, exercise is my stress-relief, so I'm definitely hitting the gym today.  Heading to the little gym in the basement on my lunch break for some weights.  I did hit the little gym yesterday, as sort of a maintenance/recovery day.  I did 15 mins on the stationary bike and didn't push myself too much at all.  My legs were already sore from doing weights the previous day, so I just wanted to loosen them up a bit.  So I did the bike for a bit and then I did a bunch of stretching and about 10 minutes of walking on the treadmill.  That felt pretty good, I think I'll do more days like that where I'm being active but not pushing myself.

Today, however, I do plan to push myself.  I like to push myself on weights days.    Tomorrow will probably be a rest day.  I am off of work Thurs & Fri which is good.  Thurs is New Year's Eve and I hate leaving the house on days like that, so I'll stay in and do weights from home and then have a nice dinner and spend a relaxing evening at home with hubby.  I don't drink much but I'll have a small bit of champagne, hopefully that won't rile up my guts.  Friday, I might walk the dog - possibly with my snowshoes.  Now that we actually have some snow on the ground, I can start doing some winter outdoor fitness activities like snowshoeing.  I'm hoping some of the outdoor ice skating rinks open soon, too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I went to the gym and I did push myself.  I ended up quite burpy and a bit refluxy and with a hint of heartburn even (I don't usually get heartburn).  Once my workout was done, the reflux symptoms themselves went away, but now I'm super bloated.  I do get bloated with my reflux sometimes so this is not abnormal.  The bloat usually goes away overnight, so hopefully by tomorrow morning I'll be back to normal (well, my version of normal!).

At any rate, probably a good thing that tomorrow's a rest day.  That will give my reflux a day to be calm and quiet.  Then on Thursday I might rile it back up again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 12/30/15:  Today's a rest day.  I feel mostly okay - reflux is quiet, bloat has gone down.  I'm a bit tired and somewhat headachey, but nothing bad.

I recently realized that my workouts are going to have to take place mainly in the little gym or at home for the next few weeks.  I absolutely hate going to the big gym during New Year's resolution season.    For most of January, the big gym is absolutely packed with people, I can't stand it.  And a lot of the newbies have unfortunate and annoying habits, like hogging equipment, or not wiping down equipment, or just plain not knowing how to use and even breaking the gym equipment.  Fortunately most of the resolutioners are gone by February.  But in the meantime, to save myself a lot of aggravation, I'll be working out away from the masses.

I don't mean to dissuade anyone who is reading this and thinking of starting a fitness journey in January.  Exercise is wonderful, but please make sure that you have some idea of what you're doing so that you don't injure yourself, and please be courteous of others in the gym.  And don't give up!  Yes, exercise is hard work - that's why another name for it is "working out".    It wouldn't have the word "work" in there if it was easy.  But the benefits of it are wonderful, so don't quit and don't get discouraged if you don't see results right away.  For me, it's been much more about how I feel inside rather than how I look or what the scale shows.  Anyway, I'm rambling.  Just, don't be an annoying resolutioner who quits right away like most do - be someone who is making a positive change and sticking with it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/4/16:  I had a decent long holiday weekend overall.  I had off of work on Thurs & Fri.  I had the start of a headache on Wednesday, and by Thursday it was quite bad.  So I didn't do much of anything - stayed in my pajamas all day and stayed on the couch.  Fortunately, by Friday the headache was mostly gone.  Hubby had to work Fri - Sun, so I had a lot of time to myself which was nice (massive introvert alert, ha ha).  I did a weights & bodyweight workout at home on Friday.  Saturday, it was sunny although cold outside, so I bundled up and took the dog on a nice long walk.  Sunday, another weights workout at home.

Today's a rest day.  Tomorrow, I'm hoping to hit the little gym for weights on my lunch break.  I'm a bit iffy about that because I can see that there are a handful of New Year's resolutioners at work, so the little gym might actually have people in it (usually it's just me and I can crank my music and nobody's using the machine I want, nobody's trying to make conversation with me, etc).  I think, though, that it'll be okay.  My one co-worker mentioned that she wants to walk 10 minutes or so every day (she just had knee surgery so she can't walk more than that right now) and I saw another co-worker bring in workout clothes, but he seems to be going outside to walk rather than to the gym.  So hopefully I'll still have the little gym all to myself!

Wednesday, I'm thinking that will be a cardio day in the little gym (stationary bike).  Thursday I have a dentist appointment during my lunch hour so I can't hit the little gym that day.  I am planning to do a weights workout at home after work on Thurs.  Friday, probably another rest day.  I see my GP on Friday and I have many questions for him, mainly in regards to my upcoming trip to Japan (I think I need him to write a letter that I can show customs, saying that it's okay that I'm travelling with medicines and that I need these medicines and please don't confiscate them).

Speaking of Japan, I don't know if I've mentioned this previously, but I will be going on bike rides through the sakura (cherry blossoms)!      So excited for that.  I'm going with my mother in late March/early April, which is peak cherry blossom season for the Tokyo & Kyoto areas, which is where we'll mainly be.  My mom has been booking hotel rooms for us, and she's said that multiple places that we'll be staying at include free bicycle rental during our stay.  Um, fun!  I love going on bike rides anyway, I love seeing beautiful scenery on my bicycle, I obviously want to see the sakura anyway, and it sounds absolutely amazing to have the opportunity to ride bikes amongst the sakura.  I cannot wait!  I'm going to be in Japan for 3 weeks and I likely won't be doing any weights workouts while I'm there, but I will be walking all over the place (including walking in a 5K) and now I'll be riding a bicycle as well.  Going to get my fitness in while I'm on the vacation of a lifetime.  It's going to be amazing, I just can't wait.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/6/15:  I had a rough day yesterday.  I apparently formed a new bleeding hemmie, and I found out they don't make my favorite hemmie cream anymore!  (Why, Tucks, why??)  I was all sorts of emotions and some pain and just meh.  I bled a LOT into the toilet last night before bed which was particularly upsetting.  And then, once again, I had a really hard time sleeping.  So long story short, I didn't work out yesterday.  Was not exactly feeling up for it.

Today, despite the continued lack of sleep, I am feeling significantly better.  Less pain in the anal/rectal region (I put myself back on the steroid suppositories, again).  And mentally I'm feeling a lot less emotional.  Yesterday I was angry and sad and just didn't want to do this anymore.  Today I'm much more ready to face the day and feeling far less despondent.  I think I can do a workout today.  The steroids are giving me a bit of extra energy, and I know I always gain weight on the steroids anyway, so a workout seems like a good idea.  I won't do any abdominal work as that seems unwise, but I'll do my normal weights & bodyweight routine minus planks.

Oh, I'm getting a massage today as well.  My massage therapist is also a friend and he makes house calls which is lovely.  He's giving me a free massage as my xmas gift - score!  I'm looking forward to that.

Fitness-wise, just going to play it by ear.  My body often feels quite sore after a massage, like I've been gently beat up.    So I'm presuming that tomorrow is probably a rest day to recover from the massage.  Friday I see my GP and then I might exercise at home after work.  Will just have to see how I'm feeling.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/7/15:  Still bleeding bright red blood, but there was less of it last night/this morning than there was on Tuesday, so hopefully this trend continues and it stops soon.  Sometimes the steroid supps take a little while to kick in.

I had a good workout yesterday - I felt really good.  And it seems that working out didn't make the bleeding any worse, so that's encouraging.  The massage went well, too.  I don't feel super sore today - sometimes I'm SO sore after a massage, but today I feel okay.  Some slight soreness but I'm not stiff or feeling beat-up or anything like that.

I think I will use the stationary bike at home this evening.  Even if I just do 20 or 30 mins, I think that will be do-able.  I want to keep exercising every day that I'm feeling okay, even if I have symptoms like rectal bleeding.  My workout yesterday didn't worsen the bleeding, so a fairly quick cardio session hopefully won't either.  I just kinda feel helpless when I do nothing, so doing something fitness-wise gives me some sense of control over the situation.  Plus, exercising not only feels great, it also allows me to (temporarily) feel healthy and normal, so it's a big mental boost as well.  I get depressed when I'm bleeding out my ass, and exercise really helps alleviate the depression.  It's good in so many ways.  

So yeah, cardio tonight but I won't overdo it.  Will play things by ear but am hoping to do weights at home tomorrow evening.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/8/15:  My anus hurts.  I have been bleeding less and less - this morning there was only a tiny smear of blood on the TP and that's it - but the hemmie started hurting as of this morning.  Not sure why, but I can feel it.  It's right inside the anal sphincter which is where I've had many hemmies in the past.  At any rate, I see my GP today, so hopefully he can help.

I did ride the stationary bike last night, but I only did 20 minutes and it is a recumbent bike, so it's got a chair-like seat and not a bicycle seat, so I don't think that's why the hemmie is causing pain today.  I don't know.  Even with the pain, I still want to lift weights tonight.  Maybe if I just ignore the hemmie it'll go away.    I know that's not reasonable, but I just want to work out so I'm going to work out and that's that.

Tomorrow, I might walk the dog.  It's been raining for 2 days - yes, raining in Wisconsin in winter, it's weirdly warm enough here that it's raining rather than snowing.  Normally we never get rain here this time of year!  But anyway, tomorrow it's still supposed to be reasonably warm (temps in the 30s) but the rain is supposed to stop early in the morning.  So, I think I will walk the dog once the rain has stopped.  We won't go to the muddy park, we'll stay on the paved path instead.  That should be okay.  Sunday, I have a family lunch gathering to attend, so I think I'll work out on Sunday evening at home.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/12/16:  Rough times.  I lifted weights on Saturday instead of Friday.  Did not walk the dog.  I just didn't have tons of energy and I have even less now.  On Sunday evening, my guts went nuts.  Watery urgent d with lots of blood.  I had the worst bloody bowel movement I've ever had, and I passed blood about 7 or 8 times that evening/early Monday morning.  I didn't sleep at all that night and had a fair bit of abdominal pain.  I stayed home from work on Monday and just rested.

So obviously it's rest days for a little while until I recover.  I'm doing somewhat better today - no more blood, no more d, but I'm very weak and a bit dizzy.  I lost a fair bit of blood so I know I need to allow my body to replenish that before I even think of exercising.  I saw my GP on Friday (before these bad bleeding incidents) and my iron was at 54 and my ferritin was at 180 (!!!) so that's a vast improvement over my previous readings (iron was at 30 and ferritin was at 4 in October, back before I had the iron infusions).  So, I see my GI in early February and I'm thinking of asking him to repeat the labs.  I'd be interested to see how a bad day of repeated heavy rectal bleeding affects my levels.

In the meantime, it's rest until I feel strong enough to work out again.  Hopefully it doesn't take too long.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/19/16:  Haven't been to the gym since my last update.  Fortunately, the bleeding gradually slowed and then stopped.  I'm still having some slight anal/rectal pain, so I think there's still a hemmie there that's mostly healed.  I haven't bled for something like 3 or 4 days now.  I'm not feeling stellar by any means, but I'm mostly okay.

I'm thinking today I'll head to the little gym on my lunch break, but I'm going to take it very easy.  Mainly stretching out my joints.  The weather here has been seriously cold the past few days - as low as -30 wind chills - which has made my joints quite achey.  Particularly hips, knees, and lower back.  So I'm going to do some gentle work on those joints and a lot of stretching.  Am not going to push myself, I know that's unwise right now.  I'm hoping that this helps me ease back into working out.  If today goes okay, I might go for a more full workout tomorrow - weights and bodyweight exercises.  But that's very tentative, just going to see how today goes first.  I'm slightly dizzy, and with the lingering pain "back there", I obviously don't want to make things worse or start bleeding again.  But I do want to work on my achey joints, so that's the plan.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Nope, my guts are giving me the "rest" signal, they don't want me to go to the gym.  I think I should listen.  I still will do some gentle stretches tonight, but won't do anything other than that.  Gotta listen to my body, and it still needs to heal.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/21/16:  I still haven't been to the gym - still dealing with ongoing symptoms although they're slowly getting better I think.  At any rate, I'm sick of waiting, so I'm going ice skating today.  The weather looks ideal (upper 20s F and no wind), and I will just do what I can.  Hoping to skate for about 30 mins.  This will be my first time on the ice this winter, so I will probably be shaky, and I'm just going to focus on trying to be somewhat comfortable and confident on the ice.  Not going to overdo things, just going to try to get past the "baby deer legs" stage.  I love skating and I'm looking forward to this.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/22/16:  I went ice skating yesterday!    It was tougher than I thought it would be.  It was colder than I thought it would be.  And it was my first skate of the season, so I was quite shaky and unsteady at first.  My shins and ankles were really burning for the first 10 minutes or so.  But once I got through that initial discomfort, then I slowly became a bit more relaxed and confident on the ice.  I did about 40-45 mins of skating, and by the end I was feeling very good and could actually skate a bit fast without worrying about falling.  That felt great!

I had been nervous because I was having some prickly abdominal pains, plus anal/rectal pain from the hemorrhoids, prior to skating.  I was afraid I was going to make those pains worse, but fortunately I actually felt a lot better after skating.  Abdo pains seem mostly gone now and anal/rectal region feels a bit better too.  Very encouraging!  The only real issue was that my knees were aching fairly badly after I finished skating.  I think it was because of the cold and the fact that I was only wearing leggings (they were fleece-lined, but apparently not warm enough for my bad joints).  Once I got warmed up again, the knees ached less, and when I got home yesterday evening I took a hot bath which got rid of the remainder of the knee aches.

I'm feeling reasonably okay today.  I am encouraged by the mostly positive result of skating yesterday, so I'm going to hit the gym today.  I won't push myself too much, but I will lift weights.  Hopefully this continues to help me feel better and better.  Tomorrow, the weather looks very nice (30 F and sunny and low wind), so I'm planning to go ice skating again.  I'll take a hot bath right afterwards so that I can get immediately rid of any joint pains that occur.  I'm thinking I'll go to a larger ice rink this time, which sounds intimidating, but I'm not going to improve unless I push myself a little bit out of my comfort zone, right?  So that's the plan.  I'll skate anywhere from 30 - 60 minutes, depending on how I'm feeling.  If I skate longer than an hour, my body tends to get too cold and my muscles get too tired and then I'm at risk of falling/injuring myself.  So yeah, that'll be nice.  I'm excited to finally be doing some active things again after having a rough few weeks!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/25/16:  Forget what I said in my last update.  On Friday, about an hour before I was going to go to the gym, my stomach started throwing some wicked pains at me.  I'm not sure what was up with that, but I felt unwell enough that I skipped the gym that day.  Saturday, rather than ice skate, I just walked the dog and that was it.  Sunday I was feeling lazy so I rested.  So yeah, all I did all weekend long basically was walk the dog and that's it.  Not great.

Today I'm feeling okay-ish again.  As long as my stomach continues to be calm, I'll hit the gym today.  Not planning anything beyond today just yet.  It's been awhile since I've had a proper workout so I'm just going to take things one day at a time and see how today goes.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  Well, I hit the gym.  It was not super easy.  My stomach was pretty unhappy the whole time, with a fair bit of pains around the belly button area.  I didn't push myself too much, in fact I skipped a couple of things that I'd normally do, and I avoided any type of abdominal exercise (no planks for me).  I'm still feeling not super great stomach-wise.  Not sure what's up with that.  I'm thinking that tomorrow should be a rest day though, I don't want to make myself any worse.  I will re-assess on Wednesday and go from there.  Bleh.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/27/15:  Yesterday was a rest day.  Today I woke up with a throbbing, pounding sinus migraine so it seems like it's another rest day today.  It's okay though because I was afraid my vertigo was coming back, but it turned out that my body was just building up to a migraine.  Phew!  I can deal with a migraine, vertigo not so much.  Vertigo debilitates me but migraines are just annoying.  So I'm really glad it's just a migraine!

The weather is looking nice for the next few days.  I don't have any fitness plans, just going to see how the migraine plays out (they usually last me anywhere from 2-5 days).  I'll do some fitness and hopefully get outside for some ice skating as soon as I'm feeling up to it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/28/16:  I just realized I wrote the date as 2015 instead of 16 yesterday.    Whoops!  That's Cat's brain on a migraine for you.

Fortunately the migraine is much improved today.  I'd say I'm feeling about 75% better.  There's still a little bit of lingering head pain and sinus pressure, but nothing like what it was yesterday.  So, I'm planning to hit the gym today!  I feel like I can do a workout today and I'm excited for it.  Not planning any future workouts just yet, going to see how I do today and go from there.  I am hoping to go ice skating sometime soon, but the weather might actually be too warm!  It's supposed to get up to 40 degrees F this weekend!  That's warm enough to melt the ice or at least make everything really sloppy.  Sooo, my skates might have to wait until it cools down a bit which is a weird thing to say in late January!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I did go to the gym.    It felt very good!  I almost didn't go.  About an hour beforehand, my migraine got a bit worse and my stomach started acting up.  I wasn't sure if I should skip the gym or not.  I decided, screw it, I'm going anyway!  So I went, and fortunately that was a good decision.  My head feels a lot better now.  My stomach, well, it's about the same.  But overall I felt good and energetic and strong in the gym, and my mood was greatly lifted.  I really needed that.

Tomorrow, the weather looks decent and I'm thinking I'll be bringing my ice skates to work with me.  If my body and the weather both cooperate, then I'll go ice skating on my lunch break.  That's the tentative plan!  I'm looking forward to it!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 1/29/16:  What a week!  I'm so glad it's almost over.  Lots of work stress, plus the migraine that I got on Wednesday (I can still feel a little remnant of it but it's mostly gone now), and then this morning I gushed blood out my nose like crazy.  It was very odd.  I got to work, sat down at my desk, blew my nose... and, just, out of nowhere, blood went everywhere.  It spewed across my desk and onto my leggings (thank goodness I was wearing black!).  It looked like a crime scene.  I went through about 30 tissues trying to staunch the bleeding - kleenex after kleenex kept getting saturated with blood.  It was crazy!  The worst nosebleed I've ever had, and I have no idea why it happened.  Granted, I have had a lot of sinus issues, and the migraine messed up my sinuses more than usual, so I've been blowing my nose more than usual, and the winter air is very dry.  But that doesn't seem like enough of a reason for my nose to gush blood for like 10 minutes.  It was super weird and a bit scary.  Fortunately I finally got the bleeding stopped, and it hasn't come back so far (I've been super careful about my nose all day!).  Ridiculous, though.  If I'm not bleeding out my ass then I'm apparently going to be bleeding out some other hole!  Ugh.

So, in spite of my nose, I went ice skating today anyway and that went fine.  I went to a local outdoor rink - there's one near my workplace that I can easily get to on my lunch break.  I skated for about 40 minutes.  Last time I skated, I just felt stronger and stronger, like I could keep skating forever.  This time was much more typical for me:  a lot of ankle and shin soreness and just general shakiness for the first 10ish minutes, then I gradually got stronger and at one point felt really good and fast for about 5 minutes, then the muscle fatigue and the cold set in and I went back to shaky and weak and in danger of falling.    That's normal for me so it wasn't annoying.  My muscles can only take so much of being out in the cold before they decide they're done.  That unfortunately often coincides with about 5-10 minutes after I'm fully warmed up and comfortable on the ice and skating well.  I get very limited time to skate well and feel good on the ice.  I'm hoping, though, that the more I skate, the more comfortable I'll get and the better quality skate time I'll have.  I can only improve from here, right?

I don't think I'll get back on the ice in the near future, unfortunately.  It's supposed to be warm this weekend (up to 40 degrees F with some rain) so that'll thaw the ice rinks to the point that they'll likely close for awhile.  And then on Tuesday, we're supposed to get a blizzard with possibly up to a foot of snow, lovely.  Can't skate on top of 12 inches of snow so then I'll have to wait for the snow to be cleared off of the local ice rinks and I'm sure they'll have to re-do the surface of the ice as well, so at this point it's looking like no skating for me for the next week.  Although I may do some snowshoeing after the blizzard!    So we'll see.  I am thinking I'll likely just be indoors in the gym for my fitness endeavors for the next week or so.  I'm fine with being indoors to lift weights, that never bothers me, but on cardio days, I get cabin fever really easily when I'm stuck on the stationary bike.  Pedaling to nowhere with no fresh air and no change in scenery is absolute dullsville.  I know I need cardio, but just ugh.  That's why I'm thinking of snowshoeing because then at least I'll be outdoors!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/1/16:  Had a bit of a rough weekend.  My parents came down on Saturday and there's always a lot of eating when they're around.  We went to a chocolate shop, then out to lunch, and later we went to a winery for a tasting.  I had I think a bit too much wine and food, my stomach wasn't super happy with me and I had an episode of rectal bleeding that evening.  Sunday, I woke up feeling all wrong in my head.  It felt like my migraine was coming back, probably a result of the wine and/or chocolate.  So I didn't do anything active either weekend day because I overdid the eating and drinking on Saturday.  I needed Sunday to be a rest/recovery day.

Today I'm feeling better-ish.  Not great but not as bad as I was yesterday.  Stomach is a bit iffy but my head feels mostly okay and I can tell I have a decent amount of energy.  So, I'm going to hit the gym for weights on my lunch break today.  Hopefully my stomach will be okay with that.

Tomorrow, we're supposed to get a snowstorm with likely 5-8 inches of snow in total.  I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing - if work closes early/opens late/closes for the full day, then I'll help hubby shovel at some point.  If work is open as normal then I'm obviously not going to go out on my lunch break, so in that case I'll make it a cardio/stretching day.  Likely will do about 20-30 mins on the stationary bike and then do some good stretching afterwards.  So, it all depends on what the storm does and what my workplace decides to do, but either way I'll be doing something active.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I almost didn't go to the gym.  My migraine started to sneak back in and my guts got a little more unsettled.  But I was determined to go, so I went in spite of my head and stomach.  I'm so glad I did, I feel a lot better now.  My head feels fine and my guts are calmer.  And I just have that "Ahhhh!" feeling that you get right after a workout, like I feel refreshed and just good.  It's a hard feeling to describe.  Anyway, long story short, I almost didn't go but I'm very glad I did.  Sometimes I need to remind myself that the gym is my happy place and that that is true even on not so great days.  The gym can make a "meh" day into a better day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/2/16:  I hit the stationary bike for a short cardio session today.  It was more difficult than I thought - my guts and head were okay, but my hemorrhoids were not so happy.  I definitely had some anal/rectal discomfort, but I seem to be okay now.  I only did 20 mins on the bike because I didn't want to aggravate the hemmies too much.

Tomorrow, the plan is to hit the gym again for weights.  I'm tentatively thinking of going ice skating on Thursday, if the local outdoor rink is open.  It's currently raining (!!) so the ice conditions may not be good, as everything is currently melty and slushy.  We'll see.  Hoping for another weights session on Friday.  Haven't gotten as far as the weekend yet, trying not to get too far ahead of myself.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/3/16:  I hit the little gym for weights today.  That went mostly fine.  I had some abdominal discomfort during my warm-up, specifically in my LRQ (which is where my main "pain spot" has always been).  It was disconcerting, I haven't had LRQ pain in a little while (I suspect I'm in remission, my main issue lately has been hemorrhoids but I don't seem to have active inflammation/symptoms related to the IBD).  Fortunately, as soon as I got warmed up, the LRQ pain went away and stayed away.  I've been feeling slightly backed up today - have had some rectal pressure like I have to go but then nothing comes out, so I'm slightly constipated I guess - so I am presuming the LRQ discomfort was just related to that.

Other than the brief LRQ discomfort, my workout went fine.  I'm thinking that I won't go ice skating tomorrow - it looks like the outdoor rinks will still be closed due to poor conditions, and I am feeling like I'm in need of a rest day anyway.  My quads felt tired and a bit sore today during my workout, so I know it's best to let them rest.  Still planning to hit the gym on Friday again for weights - and, now that it's no longer January, the New Year resolutioners should be pretty much cleared out and I could actually go to the big gym again!  I'm thinking I'll bring hubby with me (he never goes to the gym voluntarily, I always have to drag him along with me) and we'll make an evening of it.  We'll have a nice workout and then pick up dinner afterwards.  The big gym is usually quite empty on Friday evenings so that should be nice.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/5/16:  Yesterday was a rest day, as planned.  I had good energy but I knew that my muscles needed to heal - I probably could have done a workout, but I knew the wise thing to do was rest.

Today I'm headed to the big gym with hubby in the evening.  We haven't been there in awhile so that'll be nice.  I'm going to have a nice, long, thorough weights session and then have a nice dinner afterwards.  It's been a super stressful week at work and a nice workout sounds like just the thing I need to end the week.


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## Eridon2002

Hi Cat! Is "the big gym" the Princeton Club?  When I lived in Madison(back in 2005) I went there and loved that gym, it's huge


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Eridon2002 said:


> Hi Cat! Is "the big gym" the Princeton Club?  When I lived in Madison(back in 2005) I went there and loved that gym, it's huge


No, although I belonged there for a year about 10 years ago (probably right around the same time as you, actually!).  Yeah, that place is intimidatingly huge (the west side one was anyway, I never went to the east side - I'm a west/south sider).  I belong to Planet Fitness now, mainly because of the price (it was something like $75 per month for the hubby and I to belong to the Princeton Club, and it's only $10 per person per month to belong to PF).  I refer to it as the big gym mainly because I don't want to constantly name-drop the place as that's weird, plus there's a little gym in the basement of my workplace, so in comparison PF is quite large.  So yeah, those are my two main gyms these days - a little free gym at work, and PF.  I also have a home gym in my guest bedroom, but I prefer working out in a gym environment as I can focus better (too many distractions at home).


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## Eridon2002

Princeton Club was pricey.  So funny, I went to the west side one as well.  Small world


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/8/16:  I had an active weekend.    Went to the big gym with hubby on Friday evening.  It was more crowded there than I expected - usually it's dead quiet as soon as the weekend hits, but there were a fair number of people there this time.  It wasn't too bad though, because I was able to use every piece of equipment I wanted, in the order I wanted to, without having to wait for anything to open up.  Can't ask for much more than that!  That workout felt really good.  I felt strong and I really pushed myself and did a lot.  I even did a plank at the end and my guts/GERD didn't punish me for it.

Saturday, we walked the dog.  It was kind of cold out but it was nice to get outside for a little while.  We walked by a local creek and saw some ducks (my dog loves ducks, she will just sit and watch them but will not chase nor bark).  It was nice to get out even though it was cold and overcast.

Sunday, hubby and I went back to the big gym for another weights workout.  This time, I was still a bit sore from pushing myself so hard on Friday!  So it was definitely a tougher workout.  Once again, the gym was busier than I had hoped, and this time around I did have to change up the order of what I did because a few times some of the machines were taken when I wanted to use them.  There was one guy in particular who was really hogging the assisted chin-up bar, and there's only one of those so it's super annoying when someone is doing a bunch of sets on it.  I did get to eventually use it though so it was fine in the end.

Today I'm slightly sore but not bad.  Still, I think today should be a rest day just to make sure I don't injure myself.  Tomorrow, I have an all-day meeting at work but hubby expressed interest in going to the gym after work, so hopefully that will work out.  I'm mainly concerned about when I eat vs when I work out - ideally, with my GERD, I have a substantial snack/small meal (usually oatmeal) about 2 hours before going to the gym.  That seems to be the best system for me.  But since it's a work meeting, lunch is at a set time, and it's looking like it'll be about 4 hours between when I eat and when I can go home and head to the gym.  So I'm not quite sure about that.  I am thinking that I will pack myself some food and sneak out of the meeting in the early afternoon and scarf down my snack a couple hours before the end of the meeting.  That might work out best.  I don't want to go too long between eating and working out, because then my energy levels are bad - 4 hours between eating and exercising is just too long.  But I can't eat and then go work out right away or my GERD will go nuts - 2 hours seems to be the golden time, I'm not starving and my energy is good and my GERD is also happy with that.  I have to time things just right.  So hopefully I can manage to eat at the right time tomorrow so that I can hit the gym right after the meeting.  I'm going to make every effort to do so.  And if my boss sees that I've packed a bag of food, I will just remind her that, with my various fun digestive issues (IBD and GERD), that I feel safer packing my own food especially when I don't know what is going to be on the menu for lunch.

So yeah, long story short, today is a rest day, tomorrow big gym for weights.  Wednesday, maybe cardio - I'm thinking stationary bike in the little gym.  Thursday will likely be weights again.  Hubby's currently furloughed from his job for at least the next week, so I'm dragging him to the gym with me every chance I get (and he's actually appearing to enjoy that), so likely we'll go to the big gym after work on Thurs.  Friday, probably another rest day.  I'm betting Saturday will be another weights day.  Haven't planned things out further than that yet.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/10/16:  I did hit the gym yesterday.  Almost talked myself out of it.  I had to go to a work meeting all morning and part of the afternoon, I was helping run the meeting so I had to get there quite early to help set up.  I was running around like crazy all morning, I got over 3,000 steps on my fitbit before the meeting even started!  I was sure I'd exhaust myself from everything that had to be done for the meeting, plus I wasn't sure about the food situation.  I had neglected to pack myself some safe food so I was at the mercy of what was served and when it was served.  Fortunately, there was a lot of safe food in the lunch - rice, pasta salad, bread, baked chicken.  Oh, and chocolate cake.    So I sort of stuffed myself with food, most of it carbs.

The meeting ended an hour earlier than anticipated, which meant I got out of there at a quite reasonable time.  I was actually still a bit full from lunch when I got home!  But I had decent energy and was feeling okay.  Hubby still wanted to go to the gym, so we waited for an extra half hour or so for my lunch to further digest, then we headed to the gym.  That went great!    I felt really strong and energetic.  You know those days in the gym where the weights don't feel quite so heavy and there's extra pep in your step?  Like you just feel strong and good and pumped.  That was my workout yesterday, it was wonderful.  I felt really strong the whole way through.

Today's just a light cardio day in the little gym on my lunch break.  I pushed myself yesterday so I'm going to relax a bit today and just do an easy light cardio session.  I'm thinking I'll do about 15-20 mins on the stationary bike, then some good stretching.  Tomorrow hubby and I are headed back to the big gym for weights again.  Friday will probably be a rest day, and Saturday I think I'm going to the big gym by myself (hubby is having some friends over that day to play some dumb game, they always play stuff like dungeons & dragons which is so not my style, so I avoid hubby and his friends and do my own thing).  Hubby says that he still wants to go to the gym every other day though, so it's possible he'll work out a schedule with his friends so that he can either go to the gym early or late in the day.  At any rate, I'm definitely hitting the gym on Saturday, with or without him.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/11/16:  I hit the little gym yesterday and just did 15 mins on the stationary bike.  I've been feeling for a couple days like I might be developing yet another hemorrhoid (ugh) so I didn't push it as I was already having some anorectal discomfort.  Fortunately that went fine, if I do have a new hemmie it hasn't bled (yet) so I didn't overdo things on the bike yesterday.

Today I'm kind of exhausted - haven't slept well all week.  I seem to fall asleep okay but can't seem to stay asleep.  I wake up a lot during the night with weird dreams in between, I can't seem to just get a good chunk of rest.  Last night I woke up at 1 something in the morning, then I fell asleep and had a dream that I was paying bills.  Apparently even in my dreams my financial situation is grim, hah.  Then I woke up at 4 something and when I fell back asleep, I dreamed that I was making salt pork with a pioneer woman (???).  I don't even eat pork and in this day and age we have refrigerators so I don't know why my dream felt like I needed to dream about salt pork.  So odd.  Can't I just have a nice dream where things are happy?  Must I always be doing chores in my dreams?

At any rate, even though I'm kind of exhausted, I feel like I can still do a workout.  I have had some rectal pressure but no pain today, so maybe the hemmie is healing?  I'm still on the steroid suppositories (probably a big reason why I can't sleep well these days) so the steroids should be healing whatever's going on in there.  I haven't bled and no pain, so I can do a workout with some rectal pressure and some tiredness.  I won't push myself too much, but I will do what I can.  Heading to the big gym with hubby in a couple hours.

Tomorrow's a rest day and thank goodness, I just hope I can get some sleep.  And not dream about bills or pork!  Other people have cool dreams where they're flying or whatever, I have boring or just plain stupid dreams.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/15/16:  I did do a workout in the big gym on Thursday.  It was super crazy crowded in the gym that evening for some reason.  So I had to shuffle up the order of my workout, I just jumped on whatever machine was open.  I did get to do everything that I wanted to do, and I felt quite good.  Friday, it was originally going to be a rest day but it was so cold out that I didn't want to leave the building on my lunch break.  So, I just walked on the treadmill for my entire lunch hour.  That went fine.

Saturday I went to the big gym around noon for a workout.  Fortunately it wasn't very crowded that day.  I was able to do everything that I wanted in the order that I wanted with only one exception (some ladies were hogging the assisted chin up bar but I eventually got to use it once they were finally done).  I felt quite good.  I also took myself off of the steroid suppositories on Saturday - hoping that my anorectal region is healed enough that I can be off of the steroids for awhile.  And if things go downhill again, I'll go back on the steroids.  My GI encouraged me to try to get off of them for awhile at least, though, so that's what I'm doing.  I see a colorectal surgeon next week so hopefully she will have some better ideas about how to heal and not get any further bleeding hemmies.

Sunday, it snowed all day so we ended up shoveling once it was finally done snowing.  It was light and fluffy snow so it wasn't very difficult to shovel.  I had a headache all day but the activity of shoveling seemed to help.  Other than shoveling, I really didn't do anything active, it was essentially a rest day.  I mostly did stuff around the house and some crafts (sewing and crocheting).

Today my head still hurts a bit but not too bad.  I can definitely do a workout today, so I'm heading down to the little gym on my lunch break for weights.  Hubby is also keeping up with doing a weights workout every other day - he worked out at home on Saturday and is also working out at home today (for some reason, he refuses to go to the actual gym without me, but he's okay with working out at home by himself - he's weird sometimes).  So we'll both do our separate workouts today.  Tomorrow I'm thinking cardio - if the weather holds up, I'm hoping to go ice skating.  It's looking to be a bit warm, though (in the mid 30s F) so the outdoor ice rink might melt a bit, I'm not sure how good the ice conditions will be.  I'm going to just keep an eye on things (my city is good about posting online updates as to which outdoor rinks are open or closed and what the ice conditions are like).  If I can't skate, I'll probably just do a stationary bike session.  I'm also thinking I'll head to the big gym for weight with hubby on Weds and Fri evenings, and probably a rest day on Thurs.  That's the plan for now.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/16/16:  After two whole days of being off of the steroid suppositories, I'm right back on them.  Ugh.  Had a bad episode of d last night and I felt that old familiar pressure and pain in my rectum, plus some upper abdominal pain (which I seem to get when I have a hemorrhoid?  No idea why).  No bleeding yet but it was definitely headed in that direction.  I emailed my GI to let him know I'm back on the steroids.  Wish I could just get these stupid rectal issues cleared up, this has been going on for over a year now.  Ugh.

So I'm not great today, but I'm determined to go ice skating anyway.  My local rink is open, the weather looks okay, and I'm going to go skate on my lunch break.  My rectum feels a bit better this morning than it did last night, so I'm encouraged.

Still planning to do weights tomorrow.  However, hubby works (he's been on furlough for a couple weeks but he's finally going back tomorrow - he also is looking for a better job) so I'm going to hit the little gym on my lunch break and he's going to work out at home before he works (he doesn't go in until noon).  I'm not sure what his work schedule will be the rest of the week - he's going to talk to his boss tomorrow and find out - so I'm not sure when we'll next get to go to the big gym together.  We're still both doing our workouts though which is the important thing.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I went ice skating and that went really well.  It was actually snowing quite a bit the whole time I was out, so when I got to the ice rink there was a thin layer of snow on the ice.  That made me nervous, because I couldn't really see where the defects or bumps were in the ice (since it's an outdoor rink, there tends to be a lot more defects than an indoor rink with a zamboni would have).  Fortunately though, the ice under the snow was nice and smooth, I only came across one little dip that made me lose my balance for a second, but I didn't fall.  I felt really strong and good the whole time, I'm definitely getting more confidence on the ice.  I even thought about trying some front crossovers today - I didn't, as I want to play it really safe (don't want to injure myself before I go to Japan in 5 weeks!) but I felt like I could have done it.

I forgot to mention this earlier but I'm getting a massage tonight.    That will be nice.  Hopefully it helps my intermittent pain - I've had some tightness and pain behind my left shoulder blade these past couple of weeks.  It's not always there, but sometimes it definitely makes itself known.  It feels like, there must be a tendon or ligament that runs alongside or behind the shoulderblade?  It feels like that is really tight and that's what's causing the pain.  So we'll see, hopefully the massage helps.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/17/18:  I had a good massage last night.  My massage therapist is also a family friend, so he makes house calls and charges a reduced rate which is awesome.  Sometimes, though, the day after a massage, I feel very sore and tender like I've been beat up.  Fortunately I feel fine today, no beat up feeling.  And my shoulderblade feels fine too.

I hit the little gym on my lunch break today and that went fine.  My left knee (the bad one) was giving me some pain last night after ice skating, I was even awoken once in the night with knee pain.  But fortunately the knee feels fine today.  And, I'm back on the steroid suppositories for at least a couple of months.  I'm going to Japan for most of the month of April, and I expressed to my GI that I want to feel as well as possible during my trip.  So I emailed him yesterday letting him know that I had a difficult time coming off of the steroid suppositories, and he said that I can stay on the suppositories until after I get back from my trip - then we'll re-assess.  So that's great, that's the outcome I was hoping for.  I feel much more confident now that I'll be well and relatively pain and symptom-free (and hemorrhoid-free!) through my trip.  I kind of have a love-hate relationship with steroids (who doesn't?) because they make me gain weight and disrupt my sleep and all that, but honestly they've helped me so much and the pros definitely do outweigh the cons.  Yay steroids!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/19/16:  Wow, did I put the year as 18 on my last update?  I am losing my mind.    Just kidding, my mind was already lost years ago.  

Yesterday was a rest day.  I had been halfway thinking about going ice skating again, but the weather has warmed up significantly (temps in the 40s/50s F) so my city has closed all the outdoor ice rinks "until further notice" and I'm guessing they won't reopen.  The weather already feels like spring, it sure doesn't seem like we'll get more weather that's cold enough to sustain outdoor ice rinks.  So my skating season is abruptly over, it seems.

Today I'm heading to the big gym with hubby after work for a weights session.  Tomorrow, I'm thinking I'll take my dog on a walk - supposed to be more spring-like weather tomorrow.  The dog park will surely be very muddy (what little snow we had is all melting now and everything is just one giant puddle outside).  So we'll stick to walking on the bike path instead.  I'm shifting my thoughts away from ice skating and towards bicycling, on that note.  This probably won't happen, but I'm toying with the idea of riding my bike to the gym on Sunday for a bike-weights-bike session.  It's very windy today and supposed to be windy tomorrow as well, but Sunday it looks like the wind will have died down a fair bit.  So it's possible that I'll do a bike & gym session on Sunday, but the weather will have to be really nice for that to happen.  Temps in the 40s still sounds a bit cold for a bike ride, but maybe if the sun was out... I don't know.  At any rate, I'll definitely go to the gym on Sunday, just not sure if I'll be getting there by car or by bicycle.

On the health front, since being back on the steroid suppositories, I've had hardly any rectal pain.  I've had a bit of loose stools but apparently that wasn't enough to trigger another hemmie.  So, I'm doing okay for the most part.  I'm a bit tired sometimes as the steroids are affecting my sleep somewhat, but that's fine, the side effects are well worth the healing that's going on and I'm happy to not bleed out my ass for awhile.  I definitely can't complain - I'm functional and feeling like a human and doing okay.  Taking my liquid iron supplement every day, I worked my way up to the full recommended dose of one tablespoon and that's going great, no stomach upset at all.  So yeah, I'm doing okay!  Life isn't quite such a struggle at the moment and sometimes that's all you can ask for.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/22/16:  Well, I had a good weekend - up until Sunday evening.  I hit the gym Friday night, had a great workout.  Saturday I took the dog on a nice long walk.  It was a bit too chilly and windy out to do a bike ride on the weekend, but hopefully it won't be too much longer now until I can get my bike out for a ride.  Sunday, it was back to the gym for weights.  I started off feeling a bit sluggish, but I eventually pepped up and hit my stride and had a good workout overall.

Sunday evening, my dad called me, and long story short, my grandpa might be dying (he might stop doing his dialysis treatments, in which case he'll die shortly).  So that really stressed me out and upset me.  Fortunately I have a very good coping tool, which is exercise.  Today was going to be a rest day, but I'm going for a walk now instead.  It's still a bit chilly outside, but I can walk on the treadmill for my entire lunch hour, so I'm going to do that.  I need to do something active to try to take my mind off of this.  So I'm just going to walk, walk, walk today.  Tomorrow is weights, not sure which gym or whether hubby is coming.  Wednesday I have a luncheon at work so I can't exercise during my lunch break, and it will probably be a rest day.  By Wednesday I should have a much better idea of what's going on with my grandpa and what he's decided to do, so I'll at least know more and will be able to work on my emotions from there.  If my grandpa does elect to stop dialysis, then there's a good chance I won't be at work that day anyway because I'll be going to say goodbye to my grandpa, so that may be a moot point.  At any rate, I'm planning to do as much exercise as I can to deal with this stress and horribleness but I'm not setting firm plans beyond the next day or two because I don't know what's going to happen.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I did 45 minutes of walking on the treadmill and I feel a lot better now.  Another good update is that, for the time being anyway, my grandpa is staying on dialysis.  I don't know what tomorrow or next week or a month from now will bring, so that stress hasn't gone away, but it also can at least temporarily relinquish it's spot at the forefront of my mind for right now.  

So yeah, doing better now than I was earlier, at any rate.  Let the fitness plans commence!  Tomorrow weights, Wednesday rest day, Thursday weights, Friday not sure yet.  The local ice rinks *might* reopen at the weekend, so it's possible but unlikely that I'll be able to hit the ice for a skating session on Friday afternoon.  If I can't skate, I'll probably just do the stationary bike for a cardio session that day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/23/16:  I'm tired today, feeling a bit wiped out.  I'm still planning to do a weights workout, in the little gym on my lunch break.  It's feeling like it's going to be a "fake it till you make it" kind of a day - I'm just going to push through my workout even though I'm feeling tired and not really excited about working out today.  Sometimes you have to do that.

Tomorrow is a much-needed rest day.  I'm looking forward to that.  I'm having lunch with my department at work tomorrow and I'm already looking at menus to decide ahead of time what I want to order.  I'm thinking salmon - I've been on a salmon kick lately (had salmon for dinner last night and am having the leftovers for lunch today!).  I've been doing well with eating good-quality protein lately.  I've been doing a lot of lamb, some venison, a fair bit of fish, and even occasionally some rabbit.  Lots of eggs, too - I could eat eggs and salmon every day and not get bored of it.  

Anyway, I read an article recently that suggested that meals should be given a lot of planning and forethought.  And I thought, I plan out my workouts days in advance, but I don't really plan my eating in advance, and I know my diet needs work.  So I'm starting to focus on that a bit more.  So today's food plan is as follows - breakfast was rice pudding and a protein smoothie.  Snack is oatmeal with chia seeds and cashew milk, with raspberries.  Lunch is leftover salmon and avocado with couscous.  Dinner will be venison.  Tomorrow breakfast and snack will be the same as today, lunch will be salmon, dinner will likely be chicken (hubby works till 7 PM on Wednesdays, so we do a crock pot dinner those days and it's almost always chicken).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 2/25/16:  Oh man.  Today has been slightly brutal.  Hopefully it's all worthwhile, though.  I had an appointment with a colorectal surgeon today.  Long story short, I've had ongoing issues with bleeding internal hemorrhoids for a year now and the bleeding has been bad at times, caused me to become anemic and to require iron infusions, etc.  So, after consulting with the surgeon and going over my options, we decided to band my hemmies right there in the exam room.  That was unpleasant to say the least.  There is a LOT of rectal pressure and discomfort now.

The worst part is, she said I cannot lift weights for 2 weeks!    She wants to make sure everything heals up first before I'm allowed back in the gym.  I can do some gentle exercise like walking, but nothing involving weights and nothing intense.  So, for now I have to focus on healing.  The bands cut off the blood flow and the hemmies will fall off, there will be scabs where they were, the scabs will heal, and then I can go back to lifting weights.  But for now, I have to take things really easy.  I hate missing workouts, but I hope that this is all worthwhile and that this is the thing that gets me properly healed and not bleeding out my ass anymore.

So, there won't be a lot of fitness updates from me for a couple weeks.  But hopefully this is all for the best and will have me feeling better than ever once all is said and done.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I don't really have any updates, but it feels weird to let this thread go quiet even if I'm the only one in here.    I haven't done any exercise at all.  It's starting to drive me crazy, I just want to sneak into the gym, but I know I should let myself heal.

On that note, it's been a week since the hemorrhoids were banded.  I was told it takes about a week for them to die and fall off, so now I'm impatiently waiting for that to happen.  I haven't noticed any hemorrhoids in the toilet (I was told I might not see them though, they might be mixed in with my stool) and it still feels like I have hemorrhoids (I've had some rectal pressure ever since they were banded), so I think they're still frustratingly hanging on.  I just want them to go so that I can heal up inside and then get back to the gym.

I'd like to do a little bit of mild exercise.  I think I'm going to walk my dog both weekend days if the weather allows (it may snow or rain).  I also want to do some stretches because I can feel my arthritic hips starting to get angry with me.  So that's the tentative plan.  If everything goes okay and the stupid hemmies fall off soon, then I can be back in the gym next week Friday.  I keep staring at that date on the calendar, trying to will it to hurry up and get here...


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I walked my dog yesterday!  It was warm-ish (upper 40s/low 50s F) but very windy so we didn't have as long of a walk as I'd have liked.  Still, we walked which isn't nothing.

I'm going swimming tomorrow evening, too.  I hardly ever get to swim (my gym doesn't have a pool).  But I'm going out of town for a meeting, so work is putting me up in a hotel.  Whenever I'm at a hotel, I try to get some swimming in.  I don't ever get my head wet anymore, since it seemed like getting some water into my ear that I couldn't get out was what triggered my horrible bout of labyrinthitis (inner ear inflammation which causes horrendous vertigo) a couple years ago.  I don't ever want to go through that again if I can avoid it, so I'm really careful with my ears now.  But I can still swim, and I'm looking forward to it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/14/16:  It's been about 2.5 weeks now since the hemorrhoid banding.  I was told it's okay to go back to the gym after 2 weeks, but I waited a bit longer to play it safe.  And honestly, I think I'm still healing (had a teeny bit of rectal bleeding & slight discomfort yesterday) but I'm also sick of waiting.    I'm going to work out at home tonight, I won't overdo things at all but I want to at least try a few exercises and see how I feel.  If I continue to bleed and/or have discomfort then I'll stop and rest for a little while longer, but I have to at least try.  I'm just going to do a few things with my weights & equipment at home and see how it goes.  Wish me luck!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ugh, that didn't go well.  I worked out last night.  Didn't push myself at all and didn't do any abdominal exercises.  But afterwards, it felt like I had done a ton of ab work, and my guts are quite unhappy today.  I think it's a combination of the workout and the fact that I'm super exhausted due to the daylight savings time change.  That always throws me off, I hate DST!  So I'm exhausted and my guts are unhappy, bleh.

No bleeding though so there's some good news with the bad.  I've had a few episodes of d last night and this morning, but no blood.  So yeah, maybe it's just the DST thing that's upsetting my guts (they always get unhappy when I don't get enough sleep).

So I think this is a little preview of things to come.  In 2 weeks, I get on a plane and fly 13 hours to Japan.  Talk about my sleep schedule being interrupted!    I have a feeling my guts are going to be extremely upset about that.  I'm definitely looking forward to the trip, just not so much the flight and the jet lag and the 14 hour time difference.  Fortunately we don't have anything planned for the first couple of days, so I'm going to be recovering then.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/16/16:  I hit the gym again today.  This time it fortunately went much better!  I think my timing was just really bad last time - my guts were unhappy with the lack of sleep from daylight savings time (they always get upset when my sleep pattern pattern is disturbed or if I get too little sleep).  So I really should have waited for my guts to recover from that first before going back to the gym after a hiatus.  Just bad timing and me being impatient to get back to the gym.

Today I hit the little gym for weights on my lunch break.  I was fairly cautious, didn't do any abdominal exercises and didn't push myself too much.  I feel good now, and my guts seem fine too.  That's very encouraging.  Since today went well, I'm hoping to go to the big gym after work with hubby on Friday.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 3/18/16:  Ugh.  I was hoping to go to the gym today but I don't think it's happening.  I've had pain and pressure right inside the anal sphincter all day and it sure feels like a new hemorrhoid has formed.  This is incredibly frustrating and depressing.  I just had 3 hemmies in my rectum banded only 3 weeks ago, I was hoping to be hemmie-free for a little longer than this.  Nope, my stupid broken body didn't get that memo.  The new hemmie hasn't bled yet but it's definitely letting me know it's there.

I don't want to go back on steroid suppositories but I also don't know what else to do.  For now I'm going to wait and see.  If the hemmie starts bleeding then I'll probably have to go back on the suppositories.  Ugh, the timing of this couldn't be worse.  I'm going to Japan in less than 2 weeks.  I was really, really hoping to have my health situation be okay but now I'm having to deal with new hemmies already and there's a 13 hour flight in my near future.  Ugh.

So yeah, I'm having a pity party for myself today instead of going to the gym.  Just going to try to heal this stupid thing and am really upset with my dumb body for being such a jerk, again.  Don't want to make things worse so working out is on the backburner for now.  Bleh.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I don't have much to update - the hemmie did start bleeding, and now seems to be healing although there is still some pain (it seems to have stopped bleeding, thank goodness).  I'm heading to Japan soon for a long vacation, so I won't be on the forum for about a month.  Hopefully once I get back, then I'll be back in the gym properly!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/25/16:  I spent March 31 thru April 20 in Japan and have settled back into my home life now, with some mostly good updates.  

We walked around in Japan a LOT.  I had my fitbit with me and we probably averaged 8 to 10 miles per day.  I ate a lot of good food but still lost about 5 lbs total on the trip, presumably from walking so much.  The first couple days of the trip were rough, my body was stressed from the jet lag and time change so I was bleeding and nauseated and just not feeling well at all.  But after the first couple days, I adjusted, and then I felt quite well for the rest of the trip.  Firm, formed stools and very little in the way of gut issues.  My body clearly likes Japanese food very much and I'm trying to incorporate more Japanese food into my diet now that I'm back home.  More fish and rice and so on.

Coming home was also rough, I started bleeding again and I had a ton of gut cramps.  It took me a bit longer to adjust coming home, but I think I'm okay now.  The cramps and bleeding have stopped and I'm able to eat reasonably normally again although my appetite isn't huge.

Walking so much in Japan, I felt so well, and I'm trying to walk more now that I'm home.  I took my dog on long walks both weekend days and that went quite well.  I also took a long-ish (about 8 miles) bike ride yesterday and that also went well.  It didn't aggravate my gut/rectal issues at all so that's very good.

I'm planning to hit the gym today for weights.  Tomorrow I'd like to take another long walk, likely on my lunch hour.  Wednesday will be weights again.  I haven't planned much beyond that.  I'm sort of easing back into a regular fitness routine now that I'm home and recovered from my trip, so not planning too far in advance just yet.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/26/16:  I hit the gym yesterday for weights on my lunch break, then took the dog on a nice long walk in the evening after work.  That went well and I feel pretty good today.  I think my guts are still regulating themselves somewhat now that I'm home from my trip.  I had cramps and d for the first few days after getting home, then yesterday I didn't poo at all.  Today I had a couple large but formed & solid poos.  So I think my digestive system is still somewhat getting used to being home and having American food again and getting over the jet lag and all that.  No more bleeding though which is good.

Today is mostly a rest day.  I'm going to walk around as much as possible but that's it.  It's cold and misty/rainy outside, but I'd like to take a walk if the weather allows.  If I can't walk outside, then I need to do a few errands anyway, so I'll walk around in stores as much as I can.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 4/27/16:  I hit the little gym for weights.  I was hoping to go to the big gym in the evening with hubby, but he's been working so much lately that he wants to relax at home rather than go to the gym.  So, little gym on my lunch break it was.  It went mostly fine.  I'm on the first heavy flow day of my period, and I'm crampy and bloated and having some d, so I'm not feeling the best.  But I was able to get through a workout without issue, so that's a definite win.

Tomorrow I am thinking will be a rest day.  With how I'm feeling today, I'm thinking that resting is a better idea than trying to push myself.  I'll still try to walk as much as I can, but won't do a formal workout.

Friday will be weights again.  I'm not sure yet if I'm going to do weights in the little gym, at home, or in the big gym.  It gets monotonous to just go to the little gym constantly, but the little gym is the most convenient during the work week since it's right in the same building.  So I don't know.  If I am feeling very ambitious then I'll go to the big gym after work on Friday, and if I'm feeling bored with the little gym but not overly ambitious then I'll just work out using my barbell and dumbbells at home after work that day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/2/16:  I didn't do a ton this weekend.  I did hit the little gym on Friday for weights.  Saturday was a lazy day, it was rainy and cold and I mostly just stayed indoors on the couch.  Sunday was nicer outside so I did some yard work.  I attempted to get out crappy old lawnmower to work but it just wouldn't (it was a manual reel push mower and the reel was jammed up and rusted to the point that it didn't want to spin without a lot of effort).  So I did some other yard work and then bought a new, better lawnmower.    I also took the dog on a nice long walk with our friends from the dog park - I socialize with the humans and my dog runs around with her dog friends, so we all get exercise and socialization, it's nice.

Today is a walk and weights day.  It looks to be a really nice day (low 60s F and sunny) so I'm going to go out on my lunch hour and take a walk through the park.  Then, after work, I'm going to do weights at home with my barbell & dumbbells.  Tomorrow looks to be similarly nice weather, so I'm planning on another walk or maybe even 2 walks!  I'll walk on my lunch break and maybe take a walk after work with my dog as well.  I'm definitely making walking more of a priority ever since I walked so much in Japan and felt great the whole time.

The rest of the week has a vague plan - weights Wed, Fri, and Sun.  Walking as much as I can and hopefully a bike ride in there as well - the weather looks like it'll be great both Sat & Sun, so I'm thinking either a bike-gym-bike session on Sunday, or a more leisurely bike ride on Saturday, or maybe I'll go crazy and do both.  I'm feeling pretty well, my rectal bleeding stopped (although my anus was itching like crazy yesterday so I think I've still got an active hemorrhoid) and my stools have been pretty much perfect the past few days.  So it's possible I'll be well enough to do 2 bike rides 2 days in a row.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/5/16:  I slightly overdid things on Monday, I think.  I took a long walk on my lunch  hour, then lifted weights at home in the evening.  I did more than I usually do in a day, and as a result I was pretty sore the next couple of days.  I had been thinking of walking the dog on Tuesday, but the soreness combined with the weather (it had been sunny for awhile but then turned cloudy and cooler) meant that I stayed on the couch instead.

Yesterday I was still somewhat sore, but did weights in the little gym on my lunch hour anyway.  That went fine, the soreness is gone today and I feel fine.

Today's just going to be a walking day - looks like nice weather, so I'll take a long walk through the park on my lunch hour again.  Might walk the dog after work too depending on how I'm feeling.  Tomorrow will be weights, I'm thinking at the big gym after work.  Hubby is working late so it'll just be me, which is always slightly iffy.  Going to the big gym by myself on a Friday night is like asking for creeps to follow me around (it's happened several times already in the past - I don't know why some guys feel that it's okay to follow around a woman they don't know, it's super creepy).  However, I do have a natural form of creep repellant - with my GERD, I tend to belch a fair bit sometimes during workouts.  So if I notice a guy staring or following me around the gym, I'll just let the belches fly, I won't hold them back or try to burp politely/silently.  Let those belches out loud and proud!  That usually does the trick!  

Saturday, it looks like it might be rainy in the morning but nice the rest of the day.  So I'm thinking that I'd love to take a nice bike ride on Saturday once the rain is done.  Sunday, the weather looks to be nice all day, so I'm aiming to ride my bike to the gym - my favorite workout.  Bike to the gym as my warm-up, lift weights at the gym, and bike home more slowly & leisurely as my cool-down.  It's perfect and I'm looking forward to it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/6/16:  Well, my plans for today at least have been scrapped.  I started having rectal bleeding again last night, and my stomach is pretty unsettled today, so I'm taking a rest day instead of going to the gym.  Will re-assess tomorrow and see how I'm doing.  Bleh!  Stupid broken body.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/9/16:  I rested Friday and Saturday.  The bleeding stopped over the weekend and I gradually felt better.  By Sunday I was doing fairly well and I did a lot that day.  I took the dog on a long walk and then did a ton of yard work - pulled weeds, trimmed hedges, mowed the lawn.  I definitely got my exercise in!

So I was thinking that today I might go to the gym for weights, but nope.  The bleeding is fortunately still stopped, but I've come down with a cold.  This cold's main feature is a nasty, persistent cough (my boss said her son has the exact same cold so it must be going around).  I can't work out with a cough like this, so it's another rest day.  Ho hum.  Hopefully this cold will be over with soon because I'm starting to get bored with all these rest days.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/10/16:  I feel about 80% better from my cold.  There's still a bit of chest congestion lingering though, so today's another rest day as I know that I can't work out with chest congestion like this.  Hopefully I'll be well enough to exercise tomorrow - I'll re-assess then.

I saw my GI yesterday, and in a nutshell, he can't do anything further for me for my recurrent bleeding hemorrhoid issues.  I'm being referred to a new colorectal surgeon (supposedly the best one in the area) for a second opinion, and am just going to focus on taking care of myself while I await that appointment.  I need to continue to sharpen my focus on my diet and I need to continue trying to walk as much as I possibly can, etc.

Aside from the bleeding hemmie issues and the lingering cold, things are pretty good right now.  My hubby has a new job which is great.  For the longest time he was working part-time only 1-2 days per week at a shop.  He finally found a full-time temp job and has been working that for the past few months, but that job is ending at the end of this month.  Well, fortunately he's already got a new permanent job lined up as a chef in a fancy new restaurant, so that will be great.  We were so cash-strapped when he was barely working.  Since he's had the temp job, we've had significantly more spending money and have been buying much better quality groceries.  We stocked up our chest freezer with good things like lamb and salmon, and we've been buying a ton of produce each week too.  I've had fruit basically every day and the only one that my body rejected was blackberries.  I've also had small salads here and there without issue.  So I'm going to continue to try to eat better and I'm really happy that we can afford to continue to eat better!  And hopefully he can bring me home some food from his new job from time to time, too.  I'm also going to make efforts to be a better cook myself.  I've never been good at cooking and never really enjoyed it, but I do enjoy having high-quality ingredients so I'm going to try to channel that enjoyment into enjoyment of cooking with those nice ingredients.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/11/16:  I still have a bit of a lingering cold.  My guts aren't super great either, I've had at least 5 bowel movements today and I feel like I'm forming yet another new hemorrhoid.  So I'm thinking that weight lifting is out today.  But, I'm feeling antsy so I'm going to take a long walk.  It's overcast and not super warm today, but the weather actually makes me a bit nostalgic for Japan, and I walked around a lot in Japan, so I may as well walk around today.  It makes sense in my head anyway.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/12/16:  Nope.    I did take a walk yesterday, but it was so humid outside already that I got some gut cramps from it (my guts absolutely hate high heat and/or humidity).  And then last night, my cold came back with a vengeance.  I stayed home from work today, it's that bad.  Very sore throat, very screwy sinuses, still coughing, my neck feels swollen, just total bleh.  Sooo, no exercise for me for a couple more days at least, until I'm finally over this stupid cold for good.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Blerg, I still have a cold today.  Still coughing, sniffling, snorky, sore throat, just bleh.  I'm thinking it's going to be a weekend of resting.  Stupid piece of garbage immune system.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sorry for the lack of updates - my grandfather died on the morning of 5/14 so I was away from the forum for awhile.  I did some exercise during that time.  The first few days were focused solely on helping my grandmother (she's got dementia, plus they were high school sweethearts so she needed both emotional support and help with doing tasks and remembering things).  So I sort of wore myself out quickly doing that, it's mentally exhausting dealing with a dementia patient.  Tuesday was my last full day of helping her as my aunt came in on Wednesday and sort of took over grandma duty (which was a big relief for my dad and uncle and I as we 3 had been taking turns helping her up to that point).  

On Wednesday, I decided that since I had a bit of time, I would work on caring for myself.  I asked myself what I most needed to do, and my brain and body screamed at me that I desperately needed to go to the gym.  So I did, and it felt great.  Working out helps even out my usual emotions and gently chases away a lot of the depression, and going to the gym helped with the grief as well.  I felt like I could breathe easier and like things weren't quite so grim.  I did my favorite workout which is ride my bike to the gym, lift weights at the gym, and ride my bike home.  It felt great.  I did another bike-gym-bike session on Friday and that also felt great.

I didn't have time to work out over the weekend, as we had my grandpa's visitation on Saturday and his funeral on Sunday.  I am planning to work out today.  I'm thinking that I'm going to take a walk on my lunch break, and then lift weights at home in the evening.  I'm still sort of shell-shocked so I am not planning workouts too far in advance.  Just taking things a day at a time right now.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/24/16:  The depression and the impact of my grandfather's death is affecting my energy levels pretty significantly (my iron and other vitamin levels are fine, and I'm in remission so it's nothing to do with IBD).  Yesterday I ran out of steam after one lap of walking around the pond near my work, when usually I can do at least 2 laps.  I also petered out pretty quickly when I tried to lift weights.  I did all the weights I wanted to do, but I cut my stretching short because I was just done.

Today's a rest day because I'm feeling the same as yesterday, just tired and depressed.  I'm trying to eat better and to get more sleep and to care for myself as best as I can.  It's just a rough time and the grief is draining.  I'm just going to listen to my body, take care of myself the best I can, and take things day by day.  For today that means rest.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/25/16:  I did manage to lift weights today.  My emotions went slightly haywire earlier today and I had some misplaced anger, I felt so angry at a co-worker for a good chunk of the day over a minor comment she had made, but I recognized that my anger was the grief manifesting itself in a new way.  And I knew that I could work on my emotions by doing a workout, so I hit the little gym on my lunch break.  It felt great, I really needed that workout.  I didn't feel as fatigued as I've been the past few days, I was definitely more energetic physically if not mentally (mentally I'm still sort of all over the board).  And my workout did chase away the majority of the anger (I'm still slightly peeved but no longer boiling mad), so it was definitely worthwhile.  Not that there's a workout that's not worthwhile, but you know what I mean.  This workout was absolutely necessary today.

This evening we're supposed to have thunderstorms so I'll be holed up in my house with a good book and a mug of tea, watching the storm.  Tomorrow though the weather is supposed to be nice, so I'm thinking I'll take a walk on my lunch hour.  And if I have the energy, I'll either walk the dog or take a short bike ride tomorrow in the evening after work.  I've felt a yearning lately to just ride my bike as much as I can and as fast as I can.  I'm not sure if it's symbolic of me trying to get away from the grief or what.  I have just really had a hankering for bike rides lately and not of the slow, leisurely sort.  Like I just want to hop on my bike and escape for awhile.  So I might do that tomorrow.

Friday I'm thinking I'll do weights again, presuming I'm feeling up to it.  Saturday they're saying scattered thunderstorms, so depending on what the weather looks like that day I'll see what I'm feeling up to - I am already thinking bike ride, of course, but we'll see.  Sunday is going to be a rest day because I'm heading out to visit my grandpa's grave, and am also going to my other grandfather's grave (my mom's father, who died long before I was born).  I'm going to put flowers and flags on their graves since they were both veterans, which will be nice since Monday is Memorial Day.  And I'll have lunch with my parents and maybe meet up with my grandma that day too.  So that'll be a busy day as my grandfathers are both buried in different cities, each of which is about an hour away but in different directions, so I'll be in the car a lot.

Monday I'm off of work for the holiday, so probably I'll go lift weights then.  I am pretty sure my gym is open, and if not, I'll just lift weights at home.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/26/16:  I did take a walk on my lunch break.  It is quite warm out though and I'm a little bit bloated & crampy (it's almost the start of my time of the month) so I didn't walk as far as I would have liked.  I wanted to do 2 walking laps around a pond, but instead I did about 1 and 1/4th lap (I did a full lap, then walked a little ways to the area where the cute baby ducks and turtles are, watched them for a bit, then walked back).

It is still really warm out but I still want to hop on my bike when I get home shortly.  I'm going to be wise and once again take it easy.  Rather than get on my road bike and ride fast, I'm going to get on my cruiser bike and take a leisurely ride.  That will be nice, I haven't ridden my cruiser bike yet this year so I'm looking forward to taking that bike out for a ride.  I love my road bike, it's so sleek and fast, but I love my cruiser bike too.  It's not as fast as my road bike but it's still a lot of fun to ride.  It's more comfortable - the road bike, my stomach is sort of crunched over, but I sit much more upright and less crunched on my cruiser, and the seat is more comfortable too.  Anyway, so yeah, I'm taking the cruiser out for a spin tonight and looking forward to that.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 5/31/16:  Ugh, frustrated.  I hit the gym on Friday, went there on my bike.  I apparently overdid things between Thursday and Friday - with Thursday's ride on my cruiser bike and Friday's road bike trip to the gym, my quads felt super sore after all that.  So I rested up both Saturday and Sunday, I felt like I needed an extra rest day after that amount of soreness.  Yesterday, Monday, was a holiday, and I wanted to ride my bike to the gym that day as the soreness was finally gone.

So, I got myself ready.  Made sure to eat 2 hours before I was to go to the gym, got my gym clothes laid out and made sure my bike had enough air in the tires and got all my stuff together.  Started to get dressed to go to the gym, and my guts were like, nope!  Out of nowhere, I got hit with some bad cramps and multiple trips to the bathroom with urgent watery d.  I have no idea what set that off but it was not fun.  And I ended up staying home with my heating pad on rather than go to the gym.  Ugh.

Today I'm still not feeling great.  I took enough zofran yesterday to slow down my digestive transit time, so there's no more d, but there is still some cramping and unsettledness.  It's not a flare because I haven't had any chills, night sweats, joint pains, etc.  I am thinking I must have eaten something that didn't agree with me although I'm not sure what (I ate pretty safe foods all weekend long).  Either that or I caught a mild bug, not sure.  At any rate, I guess I'll be resting until I'm recovered from whatever this is.  I'm feeling frustrated and grumpy and just bleh.  I hate that my guts can bring all my plans to a screeching halt.  Although I guess the good news is that I wasn't on my bike when the urgency and d hit me.  That's the silver lining.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/2/16:  I'm still somewhat bleh but slowly improving.  When I first had the watery urgent d, I immediately took a bunch of Zofran, as that tends to slow down my digestive system.  It did stop the d, but I took a bit too much Zofran and ended up constipated.  Didn't poop for about 2 days, but finally today things started moving again and I felt much relief as I was getting a bit uncomfortable!  I'm still not 100%, I can tell things are still a bit unsettled and ever so slightly crampy in my lower abdomen, but I'm doing a lot better than I was a few days ago.

I haven't been to the gym yet.  I'm still being a bit cautious.  I have been feeling really down and unmotivated today, so I took myself shopping on my lunch break. Buying new workout clothes always makes me want to go work out, so I got a whole new workout outfit today.  A neon green sports bra, neon green gym shorts, and a neon pink workout top.  It's bright and happy (and will make me really visible when I'm riding my bike!) and I just love it and want to wear this outfit to the gym ASAP.  So, I'm going to cautiously start working out again - I plan to walk the dog tonight, and if all goes well, tomorrow I might ride my bike to the gym after work.  Hopefully my body has recovered from whatever it was that caused the d and urgency and will be okay with me doing some exercise.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/3/16:  I took a walk yesterday with my dog and that was exhausting.  I felt really wiped out afterwards.  The good news is, I finally slept well last night.  So, I'm taking things a bit more cautiously today.  Not going to lift weights just yet.  I had a bit of cramping earlier and I don't want to make my guts angry all over again.  I did take a walk on my lunch break and that went okay, so I'm going to take another walk with my dog tonight.  Will play things by ear in the next few days.  Tomorrow my parents are coming down for the day, but I'm envisioning another walk or maybe a bike ride in the evening after my parents go home.  I haven't thought ahead any further than that.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/6/16:  Well, I did take a walk by myself on my lunch break, and also after work with the dog on Friday.  Then, late Friday night, it felt like I was developing a UTI.  Ugh, no fun.  Saturday I called the on-call nurse and she was able to prescribe me some antibiotics for the UTI.  Of course, the antibiotics wrecked my gut.  I'm taking probiotics as well, but there's just no real mitigating how harsh antibiotics can be, even with probiotics.  I'm also stressed, because my grandmother is being moved into a nursing home in a few days but she doesn't know it yet.  It's going to be a rough week and I just wish it was over with already.  

I was given my grandfather's old treadmill, which I got moved into my house yesterday.  It's a great treadmill, gym-quality.  It's a bit older but was barely used, as my grandfather had walking issues and ultimately ended up in a wheelchair for the last few years of his life.  So it's in nearly-new condition and I really like it.  I always enjoy getting new workout equipment, and I didn't have a treadmill until now, so this is a nice addition to my little home gym.  Now I can take walks even on bad weather days.  I was thinking ahead to winter, but honestly, they're saying it's going to be 95 degrees here on Saturday (!!!) so I might be getting some good use out of the treadmill during summer as well!  I don't do so well in high heat & humidity, so to now be able to walk indoors without needing to leave my house to go to the gym, that's very nice.  And it makes me happy that something of my grandfather's is going to be put to good use and not just thrown out.  I took a quick half-mile walk on it this morning before work and it felt good, although my bad hip reminded me that it isn't such a fan of walking on treadmills.  So I do need to be mindful of that and still walk outdoor as much as I can, and use the treadmill only when it's really needed.

I have no fitness plan this week.  I'm just going to play it by ear and do what I can.  Today is probably a rest day because I don't feel up to lifting weights.  I might walk my dog this evening but they're saying 50% chance of thunderstorms tonight so that walk will be both weather-dependent and guts-dependent.  If I'm feeling bad or if it's raining, I'll stay home and rest.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/13/16:  I didn't do a lot last week.  Did not lift weights, did not ride my bike.  I mostly rested with a few walks here and there.  My bladder was giving me issues most of the week although it's finally quieted down now.  I'm taking a new bladder supplement called D-Mannose which supposedly works better than cranberry for keeping UTIs away.  So far so good on the D-Mannose but I've only been taking it for a few days so still too early to tell for sure if it's helping.

The plan for this week is to get back to the gym.  I'm not feeling great today, my guts aren't stellar and I'm quite tired.  But, I'm going to go lift weights anyway.  I won't push myself but I do want to get back to it.  Life has been keeping me out of the gym lately, within the last month I've had a bad cold and then my grandpa died and then I got a UTI.  I need to get past that stuff and work on my fitness properly again because I know regular workouts help me both mentally and physically.  So that's the idea anyway, we'll see what I'm able to do this week fitness-wise.  The tentative plan is, gym/weights today, walking tomorrow, gym Wednesday, doctor appointment on Thursday so that's likely a rest day, gym Friday, walking/bike ride Saturday, gym Sunday.  Thursday might throw things off entirely - I'm seeing a new colorectal surgeon about my chronic/recurrent bleeding hemorrhoid issues.  I don't really want surgery nor do I want more banding, but if he has a persuasive argument that banding the 2nd time works better (it didn't work the first time for me), then I might go that route.  If I do have banding done then I know I'll have to stay out of the gym for a couple weeks while I heal up inside.  I'm currently not leaning towards having more banding, though, I'm thinking this is going to be another dead end (my GI said he can't do anything further for my hemmie issues and I already saw one colorectal surgeon who was not super helpful, so this is basically my last-ditch effort to stop myself from bleeding out my ass and/or to get myself off of the steroid suppositories already as they are the only thing that helps even slightly).  Soo, yeah.  I have a plan but it may be derailed by the colorectal surgeon, we'll see.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/14/16:  Nope.  My guts started throwing some cramps at me and I had a few bathroom trips and it just seemed like a bad idea to go to the gym yesterday, so I didn't go after all.  I didn't even walk the dog - when I got home from work, I gave my dog her dinner and let her out to potty.  When she got back into the house, it was like she stepped wrong and suddenly she was limping.  She's done that before a few times, it's either a strain or a sprain and it usually heals on its own within a few days.  Still, this means several days of no dog walking either.  Frustrated both with my own broken body and with my dog's (I know it's not her fault, but it's frustrating that this seems to happen periodically and always on the same leg, always her left front leg).  Sooo.  I don't really have a plan for today.  If my guts are quiet then I'll see what I can do, and if not then I'll rest some more.  I'm feeling pretty down lately and just bleh.  Even if I'm not feeling too bad physically, mentally I'm exhausted and depressed and just not motivated to do anything.  I know that a workout will help me feel better mentally so I do want to work out, but also a big part of me just wants to hibernate and eat chips and do nothing.  Just feeling so bleh!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/15/16:  I finally went to the gym, after something like 2 weeks away.  Phew!  It went well, fortunately.  My guts have been iffy all week, with cramping and gas and the occasional pain.  And my GERD has been more active lately too which can kill a workout in its tracks.  Fortunately, my guts and GERD stayed quiet and allowed me to do a good workout.  I feel quite well now.  

We'll see what happens tomorrow as I see a new colorectal surgeon regarding my recurrent/chronic bleeding internal hemorrhoids.  If I get more hemorrhoid banding done then I know I'll have to avoid weight lifting for another 2 weeks.  I don't really want more banding though and I don't want surgery either so my guess is that this appointment is going to be a dead end.  So I guess the silver lining is, even if the appointment is a waste of time, that means I can still go to the gym.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/16/16:  I saw the new colorectal surgeon today.  No banding done - I have one internal hemorrhoid right now, but it's not currently bleeding and it's in a bad spot for banding and apparently would hurt very much if he tried to band it.  Also, he said that he's very hesitant to do anything like surgery or banding in people with IBD, since anything that causes scar tissue can lead to narrowing, plus us IBD'ers tend not to heal so quickly (that's definitely true for me).  So no procedure was done and I can keep exercising.

He did take me off of the steroid suppositories for the time being.  I'm supposed to call him right away if/when the bleeding comes back, particularly if it's bad.  I'm hoping that the bleeding will stay away for awhile so that I can be off of the steroids for a bit and lose a bit of the steroid weight (I currently have about 10 lbs to lose so not too bad).

So, I'm just going to exercise as much as I can and eat as well as I can and drink a lot of water and make sure to have my psyllium every day and do everything I can to keep the hemmies & bleeding away.  I'm not super optimistic, but we'll see what happens.

As for my fitness plans - it's a really nice day out today but I can't walk with my dog - she's sprained her leg again (she has an old injury on her front left leg that seems to get aggravated every so often), so she's been limping the past few days, and although her limp is definitely improving, she probably shouldn't go walkies for a bit.  So, I might go on a bike ride tonight.  My quads are a bit sore from yesterday's workout, so I won't ride too far, but I'd like to get out for a little bit on my road bike.  Tomorrow I'm going to lift weights, but I haven't decided where.  I could go to the little gym on my lunch break, I could work out at home with my dumbbells & barbell, or I could ride my bike to the big gym after work tomorrow.  I guess it'll depend on the weather and how ambitious I'm feeling.

My weekend plans are up in the air because I had been hoping on Saturday to go visit my grandmother in her nursing home, but for some reason my dad told the staff at the nursing home that I could visit on Sunday instead.  So I've asked him to tell them Saturday instead of Sunday.  Hopefully Saturday is okay for me to visit, because Sunday I'd like to spend the day with hubby and go to the gym again.  (Hubby just started a new job as a chef and he is working a lot of overtime, but so far he's had Sundays off, so that's our fun day together.)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/17/16:  The hubby actually got home at a decent time yesterday (he's been working late most nights but he got home at 5 PM yesterday).  So, since he was around, we decided to do something active together - he wasn't feeling like a bike ride, so we went and played tennis instead (there are some free public tennis courts about a block from our house).  We are both super terrible at tennis, and sometimes playing tennis aggravates my joint pain (all that running around is hard on my bad hips and bad knee), or it makes my GERD really angry (all that bending over to pick up the ball can make me reflux like crazy).  So as a result we don't play tennis very often.  But we had fun anyway and definitely worked up a sweat!  Prior to playing tennis, I had about 4,000 steps for the day on my fitbit.  I racked up an additional 5,000+ steps just from playing tennis!  And, my joints and my GERD were both quiet the whole time.  I am still horrendously terrible at tennis (somehow it seems like my tennis skill deteriorates further the more I play, which makes no sense), but I had fun and got some good exercise.

Tonight the hubby is supposedly getting off of work at 5 PM again, so we're planning to ride bikes to the big gym after work.  That's my favorite workout ever so I'm looking forward to it.  And if hubby does end up having to stay late at work, then I'll still ride my bike to the gym by myself.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Once again I need to apologize for my absence in this thread.  I have a good excuse, though.  On 6/19 I was doing some yard work and I ended up cutting my finger badly on the moving blade of a hedge trimmer (seriously ouch).  I had to go to the ER and get stitches.  Since that injury, I haven't lifted weights - anything that put pressure on my stitches just meant awful pain, and even stretching hurt.  I did take a few walks but that was it.  

So I injured my finger on a Sunday.  Then, on Thursday, I ended up having a 4-day long mini-flare which was caused by a supplement I had recently started taking (D-Mannose) which I stupidly didn't read the side effects for.  It turns out that awful diarrhea, horrendous lower abdominal cramping, and vicious nausea are all side effects of that supplement, so I suffered for a few days.  My appetite came back today but I'm eating low-res for a bit to be safe (I've had rice krispy treats and mac & cheese today, definitely not healthy but also not making things worse).

So yeah, I'm just hoping that this week is better than last.  I'm still recovering from the mini flare AND my finger is still recovering - the stitches come out today.  In the meantime, while I was dealing with finger pain and the mini-flare, I got myself some new exercise equipment.  I got a 15 lb kettlebell (I already had a 10 lb kettlebell but it's just a bit too light, I needed something heavier) and I got a resistance band.  I'm excited to use those and I'm getting a bit impatient to hurry up and heal & recover already.  Am just going to play things by ear this week - will see what happens once my stitches come out, and will see how my body is feeling.  I am a bit weak because I lost about 5 lbs thanks to the mini flare, so I'll be happy if I can do anything this week, even just take a walk.  This is definitely a recovery week!  But hey, that's better than whatever nonsense last week was.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/29/16:  I was able to walk my dog last night and that went pretty well.  My guts are basically back to normal, thankfully.  I had a pretty normal bowel movement this morning, and just one instead of multiple bathroom trips.  The cramps have gone and so has the nausea, this morning was the first time I've had an appetite in the morning for quite some time (lately it's just been nausea/no appetite in the mornings).  So I'm doing really well guts-wise.

My finger isn't doing as great but it's slowly improving.  It's still tender though and still somewhat swollen.  So I'm still not sure if a weights workout or bicycle ride would be wise at this point (I don't know if I can work the brakes on my bike with my right hand what with my index finger being like this, and I don't know if I can grip weights properly either).  I think I might just try a few exercises at home with weights or the resistance band and see how that goes.  I definitely will keep up with walking, I can hold my dog's leash with my left hand and walking itself isn't a problem at all, so that's good at least.  I can do *something*!  I don't want to make my finger worse or make the wound open up/bleed again (my doctor said that I should be really careful not to bump my finger in a way that could cause it to open up/bleed).  So, I'm just taking things easy and mostly walking for the time being.  I might try some yoga as well as that hopefully shouldn't aggravate my finger too much (although I'm extremely unflexible and terrible at yoga).  Just being a bit impatient while I'm waiting for my finger to heal, but at least my guts are doing okay now and I can do some things.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 6/30/16:  I did walk my dog last night and that went fine.  I don't think I'll be able to walk her tonight though because there are some thunderstorms moving through the area.  Still, I can walk on my new (to me) treadmill, and I plan to do that for a bit if the storms keep me inside.

So my hubby got a full-time job and as a result I have a bit more spending money, so I've been buying my favorite thing, workout equipment.    I just ordered a foam roller online, and I've been eyeballing a kayak that I want.  We already have a two-person kayak, but with hubby working pretty much every weekend now (he's a chef so weekends are his busiest days), we can't take the kayak out.  I need another person obviously since it's a 2-person kayak, plus my small car won't accommodate a kayak (too small inside and no rack on the roof).  So I want my own single kayak to use by myself when hubby is working - and I found an inflatable kayak that looks really promising.  Since it's inflatable, it fits into a duffel bag and will obviously therefore fit into my car, and it comes with a pump for inflating it quickly.  I already have a paddle, and I just went out and got myself a new, better life jacket.  I'm excited!  I picked out my kayak, I just need to order it.  I'm going to do that today.

My stupid finger still isn't healed, it heals a teeny tiny bit each day.  It's slightly tender but mostly numb, which is disconcerting.  It feels like I have a bandaid on it at all times even though I haven't had a bandaid on it for like 4 days now.  I know there's still some feeling in there, because it can still feel pain.  I whacked it against the faucet in the shower yesterday and ohhh, that hurt!  Fortunately the wound didn't split open nor start bleeding again (my doctor said to be careful not to whack my finger into anything because that could happen).  It really hurt though.  So I know I still need to be really careful with my injured finger.  So, I won't lift weights for awhile yet, not until it's healed more and I'm confident that I can grasp weights without exacerbating the injury.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update:  Kayak ordered!    And I have amazon prime, so it's arriving on Saturday.  Excited!  I probably won't be able to use it this weekend - I'm going to help my parents clean their basement on Saturday, and I'm going to visit my grandmother on Sunday.  And actually, Monday is a holiday, so hubby and I are both off of work, and we may just take out our 2-person kayak that day.    I will definitely put my new kayak to good use soon though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/5/16:  We did take our big 2-person kayak out yesterday.  That went fine for the most part.  The part that didn't go fine was, my injured finger got pretty swollen even though I was trying not to use it at all.  Paddling apparently put a lot of pressure on my finger and I had to ice it for about an hour afterwards.

I'm pretty sore today from kayaking.  I had really felt it in my shoulders as we were paddling, but weirdly it's not my shoulders that are sore today - it's my quads.    Whatever, my body is strange!  At any rate, today is a rest day.  My finger still is healing and somewhat swollen (it's been 2 weeks since I injured it) so I think, given what happened with the swelling after kayaking, I probably should still stay away from lifting weights for a bit longer.  I am planning to go kayaking again (by myself in my new kayak) this coming weekend, so I'll see how that goes.  

My guts are doing well, it's just my stupid finger at this point.  I am impatient for it to heal up already.  I did cut it pretty badly so I know I just have to be patient.  I'll continue walking as much as I can.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/8/16:  I've been walking as much as I can, but haven't done any further exercise.  Yesterday evening I walked the dog, and afterwards for some reason my injured finger swelled up again.  Hmph!  I had to ice it again to get the swelling to go back down.  It's always somewhat swollen, but it gets a bit painful when it becomes more swollen than usual.

If even walking made it swollen, that's discouraging.  Still, I'm getting impatient.  I think I'm going to try a brief weights session soon and just see how that goes.  If it swells up again then I'll just ice it again.  Hopefully the swelling isn't doing damage.  It is healing, but verrrrrrry sloooooooowly.  My immune system is garbage thanks to the IBD and also to the steroids that I was off and on for awhile (I was doing steroid suppositories off and on for over a year thanks to my recurrent bleeding internal hemorrhoid situation).  So it's been almost 3 weeks and I feel like it still has a ways to go before it's healed.  Ugh.

I have a friend at work who expressed interest in taking lunch hour walks with me - she's overweight and has some health issues and would like to start walking more.  I told her sure, and it sounds like we're going for a walk this afternoon.  Fortunately there's ice available at work, so if I need to ice my stupid finger again, I'll be able to.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another update for today:  My friend at work ended up not being able to walk, her kid is sick so she had to run home to attend to that situation.  So, I decided screw it, I'm going to the gym.  I went.  It wasn't super easy.  My finger definitely gave me some pain.  It's a bit more swollen than usual but I don't think ice is needed just yet - I'm just keeping an eye on it.  In the gym I was having some throbbing pain, but now that my workout is over the throbbing in my finger has gone, thankfully.  Moral of the story:  Don't ever cut yourself with a hedge trimmer, because even 3 weeks later it'll still be difficult to work out.

But, I did my workout and I feel really good aside from my finger.  I really needed that.  I was feeling stressed and anxious earlier, and now I'm not.  Depending on what my finger feels like tonight/tomorrow, that'll determine my future workouts.  I really would like to either take a bike ride or get my new kayak out on the water this weekend, so that's what I'm hoping for.  I'm not sure if I can properly work the brakes on my bike with my messed up finger (it's my index finger on my right hand), and I know from last weekend that kayaking definitely made my finger not happy.  So, will just play it by ear and see how it's feeling.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/11/16:  I was quite active this weekend.  As I said, I had hit the gym on Friday.  On Saturday, I had a very stressful visit with my grandmother (long story short, she's got bad dementia/alzheimer's and she was in a mood and talking about how everybody wants her to die so they can take her money and she was alternating between yelling and crying).  So I walked the dog that afternoon to de-stress.

Sunday was a very active day.  I started the day by taking my new kayak for a test run.  It's pretty good, the only issue is that it's a bit too light (it's an inflatable kayak).  It got stuck in weeds very easily and also any current/wind could easily blow it off course.  So it was a bit of a challenge because of those things.  I will aim to find calmer, less weedier waters for next time.

After kayaking, I had lunch and then went grocery shopping.  Then I walked the dog.  And after that I did a bunch of cleaning - straightened up the house, did 3 loads of dishes, vaccuumed, bleached the sinks and the toilet, etc.  My house is super clean now!  And I was exhausted after doing all that.

Today my lower back feels a bit sore - I think I tweaked a muscle just a little bit when I was kayaking.  My finger also isn't super happy, it's a bit more swollen and tender than usual.  I think it's upset about the kayaking and maybe just the cumulative amount of stuff that I did yesterday.  So today I'm taking it easier, it's probably a rest day although I may walk the dog if the weather allows (it's hot & humid and we might get thunderstorms).  I'm hoping to work out tomorrow, probably at my home gym.  I've got a bunch of new equipment (foam roller, resistance band, yoga block) that I'd like to try out.  Will see how I'm feeling, particularly my back and my finger, and will go from there.  Hubby's working late every evening Tues - Fri this week, so I'll be on my own as far as workouts go.  So I can basically do whatever I want - if I want to take out my new kayak for an hour, or if I want to ride my bike to the gym, I can do that.  So I'm hoping to have some good and varied workouts this week, assuming my body plays nice and allows me to do so.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/12/16:  My back and finger are both feeling somewhat better today.  Not stellar but not awful either.  Definitely tolerable.  So I'm giving myself the green light to do some exercise today.

I'm going to take a lunch break walk with my friend at work.  She's in a different department though and I think she only gets a 30 min lunch (I usually take an hour lunch).  So, at any rate, we'll do at least a half hour of walking today and I'll see if I can sneak her away from her department for an hour if possible.

This evening I'm hoping to do some weights in my home gym.  I will of course listen to my body, and if my back or finger give me any trouble or pain then I'll stop doing that particular exercise and will ease up on my workout in general.

I'd kind of love to do a bike ride tomorrow evening.  We might get thunderstorms again so I will just play it by ear.  I think my finger is doing well enough that I'd be able to work the brakes on my road bike.

Speaking of biking, it's amazon prime day so I glanced at the deals to see if there was anything good.  I didn't think I'd buy anything, but I saw a small upright exercise bike for a really decent price.  My current exercise bike at home is huge and pretty clunky (I bought it secondhand).  So I bought the small upright bike and am putting my old clunky recumbent exercise bike out on the curb.  My home gym is a pretty small space anyway so anything that saves space is a bonus - I'm really excited about this new bike.  I use an exercise bike for the majority of my cardio during the winter months when I can't get out on my actual bike.  So this will keep me biking all winter long.  I'm excited!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/13/16:  Bleh.  My friend cancelled on me yesterday so we didn't walk.  And I did something to screw up my back - it's been aching since Sunday/Monday off and on.  It was mostly okay yesterday up until about an hour before I went home from work - then it started really hurting.  So instead of doing a workout, I went home and did some stretching and used my foam roller to try to get my back feeling better.  I think that helped.  It still hurts a bit, but not as much.  I don't want to exacerbate it, so I think it's safest to not work out today.  That's frustrating.  Guess I'll see how it's feeling tomorrow and go from there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/14/16:  My back is still aching, but it's improving.  It's not as bad as it's been the past few days.  So that's encouraging.  I've been putting my heating pad on it in the evenings, and I figured out how to sleep so as not to aggravate it (I usually sleep on my left side, but after sleeping on my left side I'd wake up with bad back pains, so last night I slept on my right side and for some reason felt far less pain this morning).

I ordered a new exercise bike online and it should be arriving today.  I'm sure there'll be some assembly involved, but if I can figure out how to put it together myself (hubby is working late again tonight), then I'm going to test it out tonight.  My hips have been aching a bit from the lack of exercise lately, and I know my hips are always fine with me biking.  And I am hoping that a bit of gentle cardio will help my back, too.  So that's the tentative plan, presuming that I can put the thing together by myself.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/15/16:  My back is continuing to improve, just a little bit of pain first thing this morning and no pain currently.  I walked the dog yesterday and that didn't aggravate it either.  So that's encouraging.  I'm thinking that I'll try doing some weights today and see how that goes.  I won't push myself too hard or anything, but I think I can do it.

Amazon lied, my exercise bike didn't show up yesterday.  It's still in transit, it mysteriously got delayed even though I have prime.  Hmph.  So I'll test it out whenever I receive the stupid thing.

Tomorrow I'm going to my grandma's old condo (she's in a nursing home now) to help my family clean it out so that we can sell the condo.  My grandma has hoarding tendencies including she hoards food even if it's way past the expiration date (she'll keep rotting, moldy food in her fridge).  So that's going to be a fun time, hah.  But I will be getting my exercise in that way - hauling stuff to the dumpster, hauling stuff to the thrift store, and for the few things that are worth keeping, hauling that to the storage unit.  So I'll be lifting and moving a lot of things out of the condo tomorrow.  Possibly doing the same thing on Sunday as well, depending on how much progress we make tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/18/16:  I spent the weekend at my grandma's condo, both Saturday and Sunday.  My grandma has been a lifelong hoarder so it's been a massive undertaking to clean and empty out the condo!  I spent basically the whole weekend at the condo, lifting things, carrying things, moving and organizing things.  My grandma had so much stuff and a lot of it was heavy - expired cans of food that I carried to the trash pile, books that I carried to the donate pile, etc.  I definitely got both my walking and my weightlifting in, that's for sure.

Today I'm taking it easier, it's a rest day although I might walk the dog.  Tomorrow I plan to lift weights.  I did finally receive my new exercise bike, and I got rid of the old exercise bike (put it out on the curb and somebody took it, yay).  It's supposed to get really hot and humid out at the end of this week (95+ F) so I'm thinking that indoor workouts are going to be the name of the game.  So I'll probably be using my new exercise bike at some point this week.  I can use my treadmill at home and of course I have weights at home too.  So I'm pretty well set to do an indoor workout or two.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/20/16:  I rested on Monday and did a good weights workout yesterday, as planned.  It's been awhile since I've done a full, proper weights workout, so that took a lot out of me!  I felt really good but really exhausted too.  And after my workout, I tried doing laundry.    I had such jelly legs that I nearly fell down the basement stairs carrying my laundry down!  I was okay, but just really unsteady on my feet.  Note to self, don't do anything that involves stairs immediately after a workout.

I feel quite good today.  We're at the start of the heat wave, so I won't be walking my dog until maybe Sunday at the earliest.  No outdoor exercise of any type, it's just going to be too hot.  So, I'm thinking today's a rest day to recover from yesterday.  Tomorrow I'm going to do weights again, in the little gym at work on my lunch break.  Friday I will also go to the little gym on my lunch break, for a cardio/stretching day.  I'll do a ride on the stationary bike and I'll do some good stretching as well.  Saturday is probably a rest day - my parents are coming to town to celebrate my brother's birthday and then after that hubby and I have to go pick up his new car (new to us anyway, it's my grandma's car but it's in good shape with low miles).  Sunday I am thinking I'll do another weights workout at home, or if the weather is okay I might ride my bike to the big gym for weights.  I think they said the heat wave will finally start to be over on Sunday, so I'll just keep an eye on the weather and play it by ear.  If it's still too hot I will stay at home and work out.

On the subject of working out at home, my home gym is really just about perfect now.  I recently got some new gym equipment and I love it.  I got a new upright stationary bike and I used that yesterday to warm up - I really like it!  I also got a new TV for my home gym.    I know, that doesn't quite count as gym equipment, but it's much nicer than my old TV.  And it has a built in Roku box, so I think I can get some workout shows/channels on it.  (Not that I tried yet, I watched 2 episodes of Forensic Files yesterday during my workout, ha ha.)


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## Keno132

Great fitness blog you got going here Cat!! This is great. Glad to see things are going well for you 


-an old friend


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/21/16:  I rested yesterday and hit the little gym today.  I was not feeling great going into my workout - I've got a bit of a headache, and my lower abdomen was somewhat crampy.  It stayed crampy throughout most of my workout, but it wasn't bad enough that it stopped me from working out.  I'm still somewhat crampy now and still headachey as well.  I think it's this crazy weather, we're in a bad heat wave with high temps & high humidity.  High heat & humidity tend to cramp up my guts, and changes in the weather can give me headaches, so I'm presuming that's the cause of my current symptoms.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/25/16:  In my last post, I had mentioned that my guts were a bit crampy during my workout last week Thurs.  Well, by Friday it had turned into what I suspect is a flare - lots of cramps, lots of d, lots of nausea.  Getting up in the night to go and I've lost about 4 lbs just from Friday through now.  No chills nor night sweats yet so I have some but not all of my typical flare symptoms.

Sooo, I'm waiting for my GI's nurse to get back to me - I called this morning and explained the situation and requested to have a course of Entocort.  The nurse was on board with the idea, she just has to run it by my GI to be sure.  So I'm just waiting on the call back now to confirm that that's what they're going to prescribe for me.  

In the meantime, exercise is not happening.  I feel very weak (probably from the lack of appetite and the weight loss) and a bit light-headed and still crampy & nauseous too.  I don't think lifting weights would go over very well right now.  I know I need to rest and I'm going to rest as much as I can.  I'm just hoping to get the Entocort script as soon as possible (hopefully today!) and get started on that.  It usually takes a week or two to kick in for me, so the sooner I start it, the sooner I can start feeling better and then hopefully get back to exercising.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  My GI put through the script for Entocort (actually the generic, Budesonide, but same thing).  That's a huge relief.  I really hope it kicks in quickly.  There is a bicycling event that I'd love to go to on Sunday, so I'm hoping for the Entocort to have kicked in by then.  Honestly, at this point, I'd just love to have an appetite - I've only eaten about 3 spoonfuls of mac & cheese and maybe 8 chips today and that's it.  I don't have any appetite, and when I do eat it seems to go poorly.  I'd lost about 4 lbs as of this morning and I've had 7 or 8 episodes of diarrhea plus eaten almost nothing all day, so I wouldn't be surprised if I've lost even more weight.  The Entocort will help me heal and will give me my appetite back, and hopefully I can get back to the gym really soon too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 7/28/16:  I still don't have much appetite, but I've been eating somewhat more normally the past couple of days.  I'm still having some diarrhea but it's down to only a few times a day (it was about 20 times in a day last week Friday).  My weight is still down about 5 lbs.  I haven't done any exercise yet but I'm hoping to soon.  They're predicting thunderstorms off and on today, so if it's not raining tonight, I'd like to try and walk the dog.  I think I can do it, and there are porta potties just outside the dog park if I have to make a run for it.  So it just depends on the weather now.  If not today, I'll aim for tomorrow.  I just want to do something active, even if it's just walking, and the flare has improved enough that I feel like I can be okay on a walk.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/1/16:  I tried walking the dog yesterday and unfortunately it went pretty badly.  I felt quite light-headed and a few times I felt like I might pass out.  I literally had to give myself a "don't pass out" pep talk.  And I felt really unwell for a good chunk of the day after that walk.  Seems like I tried to do too much, too soon.

The good news is, today it feels like the Entocort has finally kicked in.  I actually have an appetite for the first time in a couple of weeks, I feel more energetic, and I feel much less unwell than I've been feeling.  And I've only been to the bathroom once this morning rather than 5-10 times.  So there's some definite improvement.

I'm thinking, after the disastrous walk yesterday, that I should give myself a few more days before I attempt any further exercise.  I think that in a few days, I'll try a walk on my treadmill at home.  That way, if I do pass out, at least I'll be at home and my husband can help me (he was at work when I walked the dog yesterday, so there was nobody then to help me).  I'll see how that goes and take it from there.  I know I need to heal from the flare first and foremost, but I want to incorporate fitness into that healing process as much as I can.  So we'll see what happens, just going to take things a day at a time right now.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/8/16:  Still flaring, haven't done any exercise.  Still feeling weak and fatigued and a bit dizzy and just incapable of doing anything physically demanding right now.  Very frustrated but trying my best to heal.  Hopefully someday soon I can get back to the gym...


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/10/16:  Today's the first day that I feel like the Entocort has really started kicking in!  My post from 8/1, that apparently was just a fluke.  I felt okay for that one day but then went right back to feeling crappy again.  Today, though, I not only feel significantly better, but I also have a headache.  That is important - I always get bad headaches/migraines from Entocort.  This time around, I haven't had a headache yet, but today I have one and it feels like a typical Entocort headache to me.  That says to me that it's actually finally working.

I want to start slowly and not push myself too much.  So I think I'm going to take a short walk on my treadmill tonight.  Since I had such a difficult time trying to walk the dog the other week, I don't want to walk outside.  On the treadmill, if I have an issue, I can just hit the "stop" button and go lie down for awhile or run for the bathroom or whatever.  So that's the plan, just a short walk on my treadmill to see how I do.  I'm not planning any workouts as I don't know what tomorrow will bring, I'm just going to take things day by day and do what I can do.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/11/16:  I walked!  I took a 30 min walk on the treadmill at 3 mph, so I did 1.5 miles.  That felt really good!  Although I was completely exhausted at the end of it.  The steroids have given me some energy, but the flare has definitely sapped a bunch of my energy.  So I felt quite tired at the end of 30 mins.

Today I feel a little worse than yesterday.  Still headachey, and the sinus involvement with the headache has given me a bit of dizziness as well.  My guts aren't great, either.  And I still feel a bit drained energy-wise.  So today I'm probably just going to rest, won't try to exercise at all today.  Will see how I'm doing tomorrow and will go from there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Update 8/12/16:  I started feeling better as the day went on yesterday, and when I got home from work, the hubby and I decided to walk the dog.  It was quite warm & humid out, which sometimes sends my guts into crazy cramps, but I was okay yesterday.  We walked a bit too far and all of us were exhausted when we got home.  Still, it felt good and I feel okay today as well.  That's very encouraging.

I'm thinking, since I've been fine walking and since I feel okay today, I'm going to attempt a short weights session.  I'm going to go to the little gym on my lunch break and just do a few things to see how it goes.  Obviously I won't push myself too much, but I think I can do it.  I know steroids always make me gain fat and lose muscle, so I want to be as proactive as possible about keeping fat off and muscle on.  I think I can do it!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update for today:  I hit the little gym on my lunch break.  It was a fairly difficult workout - turns out I still don't have a lot of energy nor stamina.  Pretty early on into the workout, I felt shaky all over (the "baby deer legs" feeling).  I slowed down and took my time and made it through.  Pretty proud of myself for that.

Earlier today my colon had been getting a little grumpy and pushing on my bladder, so I was peeing like every 15 minutes.  The workout seemed to calm everything down, which is definitely good.  My bladder and guts both feel better, although I can tell my guts still aren't super happy.  In hindsight, it was probably reckless to hit the gym so early on.  The steroids literally started taking effect on Wednesday and I'm in the gym on Friday, maybe I should have waited a bit longer.  But I'm terrible at being patient!  

I'll definitely take it easier tomorrow.  I plan to go visit my grandma and I may walk the dog, but that's about all the activity I'm going to be doing.  Other than that, I'll be resting and watching the Olympics.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Another quick update for today:  I hit the little gym on my lunch break.  It was a fairly difficult workout - turns out I still don't have a lot of energy nor stamina.  Pretty early on into the workout, I felt shaky all over (the "baby deer legs" feeling).  I slowed down and took my time and made it through.  Pretty proud of myself for that.
> 
> Earlier today my colon had been getting a little grumpy and pushing on my bladder, so I was peeing like every 15 minutes.  The workout seemed to calm everything down, which is definitely good.  My bladder and guts both feel better, although I can tell my guts still aren't super happy.  In hindsight, it was probably reckless to hit the gym so early on.  The steroids literally started taking effect on Wednesday and I'm in the gym on Friday, maybe I should have waited a bit longer.  But I'm terrible at being patient!
> 
> I'll definitely take it easier tomorrow.  I plan to go visit my grandma and I may walk the dog, but that's about all the activity I'm going to be doing.  Other than that, I'll be resting and watching the Olympics.


My mom and I have been binging on gymnastics.  I love the Olympics for gymnastics and diving - that synchronized diving is so cool!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I love watching the Olympics!  Well, most of it.  The golf is pretty boring.    I love watching swimming, diving, track & field, cycling, gymnastics.  

Fitness update 8/14/16:  Ughhhhhh.  I should not have gone to the gym on Friday.  That evening, my hip arthritis was quite angry with me.  Fortunately, with a soak in epsom salt and keeping my heating pad on it all evening, it was okay as of Saturday.  My guts, however, were not okay.  Things got really angry all over again on Saturday.  Nausea, bathroom trips, urgency, sleep interruptions, and for some reason I'm also not able to control my body temp very well.  Last night, I was okay at bedtime but woke up an hour or two later and was insanely hot.  So I got up and turned on the AC.  Woke up another couple hours later absolutely freezing.  I felt chilled to the bone.  So I got up and turned off the AC.  I think it's a dehydration thing?  I can tell I'm definitely dehydrated so I'm trying to sip as much water as I can. 

 I may end up going to urgent care for IV fluids and tests.  My GI had ordered stool tests, but I didn't do them at first because I was on the steroids and thought they'd skew the results.  Then I started feeling better.  But now all bets are off, I guess I honestly don't know if this is a flare or if it's an infection or what.  However, I've been to the bathroom so much that I'm feeling pretty empty now.  I don't think I have anything in me to do a stool test with, and I'm not exactly keen on eating right now.  So I don't know, if I can get myself rehydrated then I'll probably skip urgent care and will just pick up the stool test kit from my GI's lab tomorrow morning.

Obviously exercise is out for awhile longer.  I have to learn to be patient and to let myself heal.  I love the gym, it's my happy place and exercise chases the depression away, and I've definitely been depressed in this flare, so that's a big part of why I've been hankering to get back to working out.  My body is yelling at me that I need to heal, though, so I will try to listen.  It's really hard, though.  I hate feeling like this and I hate not working out.  Stupid broken body.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'd love to do a fitness exercise but there's none to give.  I'm still flaring, badly.  I ended up at urgent care on Tuesday to get IV fluids, and I was in the ER today (Friday) also getting IV fluids.  I feel like I'm getting worse instead of better.

Weirdly almost all my bloodwork and stool tests that I've done this week are normal.  I don't have any bacterial infection, no c diff nor anything like that.  CRP, ESR, and fecal calprotectin all normal (but that could be due to the fact that I've been on Entocort for nearly a month now).  The only thing that came back abnormal was that my potassium was pretty low, which is likely due to the fact that I'm having a lot of diarrhea (10 - 20 episodes every day) and of course I've been dehydrated (hence the IV fluids).  Other than that, on paper, I look like the picture of health.  Well, aside from the fact that I've lost about 9 lbs now.

I see my GI on Monday and I'm going to beg, plead, cry for him to help me.  I'm currently on Entocort and it's obviously not helping, so I'm going to ask to switch to pred as I'm hopeful that might work better on this stubborn flare.  I'm also going to ask about doing EEN for a bit because food is just not my friend right now.  Even very bland foods - literally today all I've eaten was a banana and an english muffin, but still I've been running to the bathroom with watery diarrhea many times.  (Does that count as exercise?  If so, I am apparently in training to win the IBD Olympics.)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Still flaring and spent a week in the hospital.  Home now, very weak and doing EEN and prednisone (Entocort just wasn't working).  Slooooooooooowly recovering but it's baby steps.  At the hospital, they told me to walk/move around as much as I can, because lying/sitting all day will of course put me at increased risk of a blood clot.  So, today, I tried walking on my treadmill just to see what my current capabilities are.  It was pretty sad.  I could walk at 1.2 mph, for one minute.  That was my limit.  Man, this flare is brutal.  I'm still fighting though and I'm going to get back to working out someday, hopefully soon...


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Slow but steady improvements.  I've tapered from 40 to 35 to 30 mg of prednisone and doing okay on that front.  Still on EEN, going to start introducing bland low-FODMAP foods (broth and jello to start with) tomorrow.  That will be a big test, I've been on EEN for 2 weeks so I'm on pins and needles wondering how my body will react to food.

Walking-wise, I'm doing okay.  I'm trying to walk as much as I can, even if it's just around a store or walking the dog around the block.  Yesterday I got over 4,000 steps on my fitbit which is the most I've had in weeks, I felt pretty proud about that.  I know walking helps my guts so I'm doing as much as I can (without overdoing things of course).  Today it's very hot outside so I'm going to walk for a few minutes here and there on my treadmill.

So yeah, I'm slooooowly but steadily recovering from the flare and getting back to myself.  It'll be awhile yet before I can properly work out, but I'm confident that I'll get there.  Baby steps!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Not much new to report.  I'm still slowly improving every day, but still also not well enough to go to the gym.  I vacuumed my house yesterday and that took several hours because I needed to take a lot of breaks.  My stamina, my energy, and my strength are all not where I'd like them to be.  My weight is still down, too.  I had lost 17 lbs and so far I've gained 3 lbs back, so I'm still down about 14 lbs from where I was before this flare.  I'm sure that pred is also robbing me of muscle mass but not much I can do about that right now.  I just need to continue to heal.

Walking is still going okay.  The most I can do in a day is about 5,000 steps right now.  Which isn't too bad.  I'm trying to do more, but my body lets me know when it's had enough, and I try to listen very carefully to my body because I don't want to get worse again.  Still doing the low-FODMAP diet.  Jello ended up giving me watery diarrhea both times I ate it, so I stopped eating jello and have had solid stools ever since - I guess add gelatin to my list of trigger foods.  It's apparently not sugar that was triggering me because I've had some candy and some gluten-free cookies and those sat fine with me (I am avoiding fructose because it's not allowed on low-FODMAP, so I've only had foods containing sugar and not fructose nor any sugar substitutes like xylitol nor sorbitol).

So yeah, I continue to take baby steps towards health.  It's a little frustrating that it's taking so long, but on the other hand I'm very happy to be going in the right direction.  I just gotta keep going!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm definitely getting more stamina day by day.  Yesterday I got just over 8,000 steps on my fitbit!  Up until that point, the most I'd gotten was in the mid 5,000s.  It was my dog's birthday yesterday and I wanted to take her on a proper walk through the park, not just around the block.  So we went to the park and had a walk, and I felt pretty good the whole time.  Didn't get tired out, my guts didn't yell at me.  It was satisfying to be able to do that without issue.

I sorta messed up after that, though.  Goat cheese is allowed on low-FODMAP, so I made myself a couple quesadillas using just goat cheese and corn tortillas.  I baked them so that they wouldn't be too greasy.  They were still really greasy, though, must have just been the particular type of goat cheese I was using?  The grease set off my GERD in a big way.  I had literally the worst heartburn I've ever had - the pain was pretty intense for a little while.  I took some extra reflux meds and got things somewhat under control.  But, I then had to sleep propped up, because lying down made me feel worse again.  I have a hard time sleeping sitting up, so I didn't get much or very good quality of sleep.  And when I woke up, there were some big thunderstorms rolling through the area, and that apparently set off a barometric pressure headache.  So I went to bed with awful heartburn and woke up with a throbbing head and feeling exhausted.  Not great.  I've had some tylenol and a bit of dark chocolate which has helped take the edge off the headache (I can't have more than a small bit of chocolate or that'll trigger the GERD all over again).  I'm just sort of hanging in there today.  At least the flare itself is quiet (my stools are formed and perfect and I'm only going 1 to 3x per day), I know my current symptoms are temporary and will be over with soon.  I'm going to eat very bland today so that my GERD stays quiet, and I'll probably go to bed early because I'm so tired.  Won't be walking as much today as I did yesterday.  But hopefully on the weekend I can take my dog on more walks.  I just need to be more diligent about what I'm eating.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I've had to cut back on my walking because I caught a cold.  I was almost up to 10,000 steps per day but now I need to rest for a bit and recover.  Bleh!  I did manage to do some yard work before this cold hit me, so that was good.  It was exhausting - I trimmed the hedges and pulled some weeds, which was a lot of work.  I felt really good and accomplished though that I was able to do that.  So, hopefully once I get over this cold, I can pick up where I left off.  The guts are a little bit iffy but that always happens whenever I catch a cold - it feels like, my immune system turns on to fight the cold, but it also wants to fight my digestive system a little bit while it's on.  Once the cold is gone and my immune system isn't active (or as active?) then I should feel better again guts-wise.  And then I should be able to walk more and do things like yard work and a bit of actual exercise again.  At least I hope so!  Gotta get over this cold and then hopefully I'll be back on track.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My cold is still hanging around but getting better day by day.  I have started walking again with no apparent ill effects.  I have gotten in about 7,000-8,000 steps each day over the weekend.  So that's good.  I also bought myself some hiking boots, as I want to take some hikes in the autumn to see the beautiful scenery.  The trees have just started changing color so it's the perfect time for some hiking.  Hopefully soon this cold will be fully gone.  The flare hasn't made a peep lately so hopefully the pred is working some miracles.  I've tapered down to 10 mg pred as of yesterday, and the only ill effect there was a headache (which seems to happen every time I taper, so no big deal and my guts were fine with it).  I just need to get over this cold and then I might actually be able to properly exercise!  In the meantime, I'm walking as much as I can.  It's cool but sunny here today so I'm planning a lunch hour walk.  As long as it doesn't rain (which it has done a lot lately), then I feel like I can get outside and go walking.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did get out and walk on my lunch hour, it was really nice.  Very windy, cool but not cold (about 65 F) and very sunny which makes it feel warmer.  I took my jacket off and got some vitamin D.  I really enjoyed my walk.  I still have a pred taper headache but it's not quite as bad as it was, I think, and my guts are fine.  My cold didn't bother me, either.  I brought kleenex and a cough drop with me just in case but didn't need to use either.

Once I get over this cold, I'm going to slowly and carefully try to start lifting weights again.  I plan to start out with lighter weights than I'm used to - both to not piss off my guts, and also because I'm pretty sure I've lost a bunch of muscle mass anyway - I lost 17 lbs in this flare and gained about 10 back, but I'm sure what I gained back was much more fat than muscle.  And pred can rob muscle mass anyway so double whammy.  So yeah, slow and careful will be the name of the game, I don't want to push it too much too soon and I know I probably won't be able to do as much as I was doing before this flare, especially in terms of lifting.  We'll see.  First things first, I need to get over this cold.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I still have a lingering cold - I'm still coughing up mucus and blowing my nose an inordinate amount and my voice still isn't back to normal.  But, walking seems to be going okay, it's not making me any worse.  It rained the past 2 days so I stayed indoors and didn't walk as much as I'd like.  Today it's sunny and gorgeous outside so I did take a lunch hour walk.  I had ordered some new hiking shoes and they arrived yesterday, so I took them out for a test run today.  They seem fine, which is good because they were really cheap (like, suspiciously cheap).  I walked through a park which is rather hilly and has gravel paths, so footing was slightly iffy in spots, but I didn't fall and felt quite steady on my feet in my hiking shoes.  I'm quite happy about that.

Tomorrow and Saturday it's supposed to rain again.  I'm going to try to get on the treadmill those days.  Sunday is supposed to be nice again, so I might take my dog out with me for a hike.  And hopefully soon I'll get over this stupid cold already.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I hit my 10,000 steps yesterday!  First time I've done that since before this flare started.  That encourages me, I'm going to aim for that every day.

Today it's cool and rainy so I'm walking indoors as much as I can.  I am planning to walk on my treadmill tonight for awhile.  I might try again to get my dog to walk on it with me.  She needs more exercise but she hates rain, so on days like this, we need to figure out a way to get her to do some exercise indoors.  I've tried and failed to get her to walk with me on the treadmill in the past, but I'll keep trying.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Scratch that, I'm going to be resting up this weekend.  Ugh.  I tried tapering from 10 mg down to 7.5 mg of pred today, which went badly and I ended up in a lot of pain, so I'm back up to 10 mg and waiting on my GI to let me know how to proceed from here (I am just going to stay at 10 mg until I get instructions from him).  The pain sucked and my body is telling me to rest, so rest it will be.  Blehhhh.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm back up to 10 mg pred and doing better, the LLQ pain is gone.  I did end up taking my dog on a hike yesterday and that went pretty well.  She got tired out before I did, ha!  Today and tomorrow it's supposed to be nice weather out, sunny and low 70s F.  So I am planning to take lunch hour walks both days.  Wed - Fri it's supposed to be rainy, so I will probably end up on the treadmill those days.

I want to get back into weight lifting as well but I am really nervous about pushing my body too much, too soon.  With how quickly my pain came back with that taper fail on Friday, that makes me even more nervous.  I'm still waiting to hear back from my GI on a couple of things, the taper and the possibility of LDN, so I kind of want some answers there before I even think about lifting weights again.  I'm sticking with just walking for the time being.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Going to try tapering pred again tomorrow - my GI wrote out a prescription for some 1 mg tablets, so I can taper from 10 mg down to 9 and then to 8, etc.  He recommended I go down by 1 mg every 5 days.  So tomorrow I'm going to try 9 mg and see how that goes.

It's a gorgeous day today and there's talk of rain for the rest of the week, so I'm going to walk my dog tonight as I had to run some errands during my lunch today.  I'm not planning any walks beyond tonight because I want to see how tapering goes first.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I tapered from 10 to 9 mg of pred today.  So far so good, I've had ever so slight abdominal discomfort but nothing like last week when I tried to taper from 10 to 7.5 mg (I was in a lot of pain then).  I honestly don't even know if it's real pain or if it's just me being nervous about tapering because of how last time went, it honestly is so mild that it could just be from me being nervous.

And another bit of good news - apparently today's rain all happened in the morning, this afternoon it became sunny and quite pleasant outside.  So I'm thinking I will walk my dog tonight.  Tomorrow it is supposed to rain more, so I'm presuming that the weather will keep me indoors then.  And I realized, I don't have to jump right from walking to lifting weights.  I can bridge the gap, so to speak, by doing some bodyweight exercises.  So I'm thinking I'm going to try that tomorrow, just a few to see how it goes, and obviously it won't be very intense, I will take things very slowly.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did some bodyweight and yoga exercises yesterday and that went pretty well.  I didn't have nearly as much strength or stamina as I had before this flare started, but that's to be expected.  I know both the flare and the pred have robbed me of a fair bit of muscle.

I was completely exhausted after doing 10 squats, unweighted, so that's not great.  I went slowly and paid attention to form, but even so, it was not easy.  I'm just going to keep at it, do that as often as I can, and build myself back up.

I do have a couple sets of light dumbbells - I have a pair of 3 lb dumbbells and a pair of 8 lb dumbbells.  So I used those briefly yesterday, and that went fine.  I'm going to use the 8 lb ones as a sort of bridge back to lifting heavier weights.  It's going to take a bit to get myself anywhere close to where I used to be, but I've got determination and I know I can do it.

I don't have any solid workout plans for the weekend, but tomorrow I'm going to be very active.  The hubby and I are going to spend a good chunk of time cleaning and organizing our basement and throwing away a lot of unneeded/broken junk.  So there will be a lot of lifting, hauling, taking things out to the trash can or curb, etc.  Our basement is pretty full of junk right now so it's going to be a lot of work, but I'm excited to do it.  I'm so ready to get rid of a lot of junk!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I've had a rough time lately.  Tried a slower pred taper but still ended up failing.  I tapered from 10 mg to 9, stayed on 9 mg for 5 days.  That went okay.  Then tried tapering from 9 mg to 8, and once again ended up with significant abdominal pain and also nausea and extra bathroom trips this time.  Fun.  So I haven't worked out, or even walked much, because I've felt crappy.  I'm recovering and am back on 10 mg, and going to stay at that dose for a few weeks at least before I try tapering again.  My body is clearly not ready to taper so I'm going to give it some time.

Once I recover a bit more, I'm going to go back to walking as much as I can.  I do hope to walk my dog a bit this weekend if the weather holds out (scattered rain is in the forecast).  So we'll see.  It'll also depend on how I'm feeling.  I may just stay home and rest all weekend, although I could always walk on the treadmill if it is rainy.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm still on 10 mg pred and doing okay for the most part.  Worried about what's going to happen when I try to taper again, but for now just trying not to think about that.  Staying at 10 mg for at least a couple more weeks before I try tapering again.

I haven't been walking as much as I should, and my joints have been unhappy about that, particularly my hips.  So, yesterday I made an effort to walk a lot (hike, actually).  I took my dog to a state park where there are bluffs you can walk up - basically you hike up 500 feet on some rocks and then you can look down on a beautiful view of a lake below, and then you can take a forest path back - it's a big loop, about 2.5 miles total, and fairly challenging.  So I took my dog to give that a try.  I was honestly more worried about my dog than myself - she's a corgi with stumpy short legs, plus she's 8 years old so not exactly a puppy anymore, and I wasn't sure how she'd do with so much uphill walking and climbing over big rocks.  But she did great!  My stamina wasn't where I'd like it to be, so I was out of breath a lot and taking rest breaks, while my dog was gung-ho about climbing on every rock.  She was pulling me along at some points!    We both made it, it was a great walk and I'm really glad we did it.  It was fun and really good exercise.

Today's a rest day because I'm sore from all that uphill walking and climbing on rocks!  Tomorrow I hope to get to the gym for some bodyweight exercises and walking on the treadmill.  Supposed to be cold & rainy tomorrow and Wednesday, so indoor exercise will have to suffice.  Good thing I have a treadmill.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had an insanely stressful day today (work has been a bureaucratic nightmare) so I went to the gym on my lunch break to relieve some stress.  That worked, fortunately, and went well for the most part.  I did some walking, some bodyweight exercises, a bit of yoga, and some weights.  The weights went better than I expected - no abdominal pain at all, and I felt stronger than I had expected I would.  I was able to lift almost as much as I had been lifting before this flare, and I even was able to add in a few more reps at times to make up for the slightly lighter weight.

The bodyweight exercises didn't go as well.  I was doing lunges, and I felt something go "pop!" in my left foot.  From there, it was painful to put too much weight or walk a certain way on that foot.  I don't think I broke anything - I've broken bones before and that was much more painful than this "pop" was/is.  I don't know exactly what I did.  It's not painful all the time, only when I step or stand wrong really.  So I'm just going to keep an eye on it.  If it's still painful in a day or two then I'll get it checked out.

(It had me a bit worried because a colleague of mine literally just broke her foot at work like a week ago!  So I had that on my mind, but I really don't think I fractured anything.)

The good news is, I was able to finish my workout with only minor adjustments (I wasn't able to do squats as that was causing too much foot pain, but that was the only exercise I aborted before finishing my reps).  So I feel pretty good overall, and now am just being a bit careful when I walk and trying not to walk too much, and trying to rest that foot as much as I can.  It's not swollen so I don't think I need to ice it.

Obviously I don't have future workout plans, need to see how my foot is tomorrow and go from there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did some googling and self-diagnosed my foot injury.  Sounds like it's "turf toe" which is characterized by pain, a popping feeling or sound, and over-extension of the toe (I was doing lunges at the time so I probably did over-extend my toe).  Yep, that sounds exactly what I experienced yesterday so I think that's the culprit.  Treatment is essentially the same as for a broken toe, tape the big toe to the toe next to it, try not to move it too much, wear hard-soled shoes.  I can do that, I broke my big toe in college so I know the drill.  I think I'll be okay to exercise with this as long as I avoid things like lunges for a bit.  The internet seemed to say it'd likely take 2-3 weeks or so for things to heal.  Okay, I can work with this.

So I'm heading to the store on my lunch hour today to buy some tape to immobilize my toe.  Today's going to be a rest day, tomorrow will see how I'm feeling and will tentatively try some exercise, likely mainly arms and try to stay off my feet/toes for the most part.  I might try the stationary bike again and see if my guts are okay with it this time - if so, that could potentially be easier on my toe than walking.  We'll see.  Last time I tried the bike, my guts gave me some pain - but, that was also right around the time that I had a taper fail, so that could have been partly to blame too.  Sooo, we'll see.  It'll be interesting seeing what I can and cannot do with yet another physical limitation, hah.  My body loves throwing challenges my way, and I have to be creative sometimes to work around them.  Fun.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I took a couple rest days which went well.  Yesterday I had almost no foot/toe pain so that feels like some good improvement.  Today, I went to the gym and did a modified workout.  No lunges, obviously, and I did the bike instead of the treadmill to warm up.  The bike went fine - no abdominal pain whatsoever.  I was able to do some leg exercises - I did squats and a wall sit with no pain.  As long as I kept my foot flat and didn't bend my toes, I was okay.  I did a lot of arm exercises - biceps, triceps, overhead press, chest press, etc.  I feel pretty good.  I'm satisfied with the quality of my workout even with working around an injury.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to walk my dog - as long as I wear hard-soled shoes that don't bend too much, I'm fine with walking.  Sunday I'm hoping to do some more weights in my home gym.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I was pretty active all weekend long and that felt good.  Saturday I walked the dog, and Sunday I both lifted weights in my home gym and walked the dog.  My guts felt a bit unhappy yesterday after all that activity, but that could be because I got a bit constipated.  I always forget to take my psyllium on the weekends - as long as I take my psyllium, I have fairly normal and regular stools.  But if I forget, the low-FODMAP diet seems to constipate me a bit, so I'm thinking things just got a bit too backed up and my guts didn't like that.  Today I'm back on the psyllium and hopefully that'll get things moving along again.

I think today's mostly a rest day.  I'm planning to hand out Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters once I get home from work, so that leaves me basically no time to exercise anyway.  Tomorrow I plan to hit the gym for weights again - still doing a modified version of my usual routine and avoiding certain things like lunges as I'm still recovering from turf toe in my left foot.  I haven't planned anything beyond tomorrow just yet.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Welllll, nevermind.  Last night at bedtime my bad hip decided to start aching quite badly, and it's still hurting today.  (I have what appears to be inflammatory arthritis in both hips, but the right hip has always been worse than the left.)  It's a cane day, that's how bad it is (I almost never walk with my cane, I only use it when absolutely necessary).  So that sucks.  I guess it's a rest day today.  Will re-assess how I'm doing tomorrow.  Between my toe and my hip and not being able to taper off of pred, my body feels like a wreck lately.  Not happy but oh well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My flare decided to come back.  Ugh ugh ugh.  I don't know what to do anymore.  Won't be going to the gym for awhile longer, can barely eat right now.  Pain is up and energy is down.  Going to be resting for the forseeable future.  Not happy about it.


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## scottsma

Well no one can say you don't try Cat.Your head  and heart are willing,but your body dictates otherwise.At least you managed to enjoy your birthday. Feel better soon.
Due to awful weather,I haven't been on little blackie since Friday.So I'm determined to get cycling every fine day during winter.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

You must not get too awful of weather in winter then!  We get lots of snow and bitter cold, so I have to put my bike away for the winters as I just cannot ride in those conditions.  I still can do plenty of outdoor winter activities when my body allows me to - I have snowshoes which are a great workout, and I've been ice skating as well the past few winters.  I also have hiking boots so I could go for hikes when it's not too snowy/icy.  Now I just need to get out of this stupid flare already!  GI didn't call me back today but I see him in a week so we'll see what he says.


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## scottsma

Well we managed to get out on the bikes today and I thoroughly enjoyed it.But it was very cold and damp.I was careful going over wet fallen leaves,it's rained for 3 days.I also don't like to wear too many heavy clothes when cycling.I just wish my guts would allow me to leave the house early morning.I have to wait 2-3 hrs before I feel comfortable.At least I get the housework done and the lunch prepped before we go out,so I can have a lazy afternoon.Take good care of yourself.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Carol, my guts are always worst in the morning as well, I've never been able to be a morning exerciser.  I tried once or twice but never had good results, so I always exercise either on my lunch break or in the evenings.  I'm not sure what it is about mornings, even before IBD I was never a breakfast person, would always feel nauseous if I tried to eat in the mornings.  I'm just not a morning person it seems!

My GI did email me back this morning.  He wants to do more tests but he didn't specify which ones.  Guess I'll find out Monday at my appointment.  I think I'm doing a bit better today but that may just be because I haven't eaten much of anything for the past few days.  I'm down 5 lbs since Friday.  I keep apologizing to my dog for not walking her, I feel like a bad pet owner when I am too ill even for that.  There's nothing about this illness that doesn't suck.


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## scottsma

I'm sure she's just as happy being with you.Alfie loved the outdoors and he was a real "water" dog.Rivers,streams,lakes,sea and muddy puddles.I used to walk miles each day when he was young and pre crohns.But when I was dx'd things changed somewhat.He got his morning walks,but only after 3-4 false starts.Bless him,he knew the drill and only got excited when I was actually in the front path,lead in hand and jacket on.Even then I  had to turn back sometimes.But he got long walks  to the coast in the afternoon and we used to go to the woods etc when my hubby was off at weekends.I really miss him and my life back then,even though he's been over Rainbow Bridge for almost two years.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Is Alfie the dog in your avatar photo?  He's a cute dog, I bet you miss him lots.  My Lily just turned 8, but many corgis live to be 14 or 15 so I'm hoping we have lots of years left together.  She gets a bit antsy when she's cooped up at home, but seems happy if I am just able to give her some petting or throw the tennis ball down the hallway for her, so I do what I can.  I still feel badly though when I'm not able to properly walk her, she needs to get out and socialize with other dogs and sniff all the good outdoor smells and pee on everything.    She's not a water dog at all, though!  Hates swimming, hates baths.  Loves hiking and walking, though.  We live about a block away from a large, fenced-in off-leash dog park, so we take her there as often as we can.  That's where she gets to socialize with other dogs.


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## scottsma

Yes that's Alfie in my avatar.He was 12 when he "died".He had cushings disease.We were told 3 years previous that he had Lymphatic cancer after lots of tests and cash.But I researched his symptoms and told the vet my suspicions.Of course it was too late then.We kept him going for a while,then had to make the decision to say goodbye. We've always had dogs,8 all together,mostly 3-4 at a time,but my head had to rule my heart and say no more....No bike today it's 3c and wet,but maybe tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Lily is my first ever dog, I never had any dogs growing up.  I think one at a time is enough for me, I couldn't imagine 3-4 at a time!  Although I live in a small house in the city, so we really only have room for one dog anyway.

I'm really, really depressed and terrified today.  The election results, I just don't have the words.  I'm hoping to get outside on my lunch break and just breathe some fresh air, even if I'm not well enough to take a walk.  I honestly don't feel like doing anything but curling up in a ball and crying, but I hope some fresh air will help.


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## scottsma

Most of the world feels as you do Cat,but it must be horrendous for the anti Trump folk.

U.S. politics are of course mention on our daily news if warrented,but never has there been so much cover than this election....but you never know,he might prove us all wrong and turn out to be your best president ever ?????....hahaha (not funny,I know)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ugh, no, but I'm guessing he's going to at the very least be in contention for worst president ever.    I spent most of yesterday crying.  Today I'm a bit better, haven't burst into tears yet so far today, have only gotten misty-eyed a few times but have held myself together so far.  It's like grieving.  I'm grieving not only for my country but for all the people I care about.  All my female friends, especially my nieces (who are bi-racial) - this country is now more dangerous for us women.  All my LGBT friends and minority/ethnic friends.  All my disabled/chronic illness friends - what happens to us when they repeal Obamacare?  It's really terrifying.  Nobody knows what's going to happen but the possibilities do not look good at all.

I haven't been able to exercise yet, but I'm feeling a bit better day by day.  I'm going to try to walk a bit more today.  I'm just trying to do as much self-care as I can.  Yesterday after work, I couldn't face the prospect of looking at TV or facebook, so I went to my craft room and just sewed for a couple hours.  I fixed a couple of seams that had ripped on my clothes, I tailored a couple pairs of pants, I made a couple throw pillows that are going to be given as xmas gifts.  That felt really good, it made me feel accomplished and much calmer.  So I'm just going to try to craft as much as I can and stay away from TV and facebook for a bit.  Today I'm going to the craft store to buy some more sewing patterns and yarn, and maybe more fabric too.  

Speaking of exercise and emotions, this whole year in general has been awful and has made me mostly sad but also somewhat feeling like I want to hit something.  I told my hubby this, and my hubby told my brother, and brother gave me boxing gloves for my birthday.    So now I can hit things!  I don't have a punching bag, but I can shadowbox until I get a punching bag.  My boxing gloves are pink, too.  I love them.  Once I stop crying for real, I'm going to start learning how to box.  If I now live in a country where sexual assault is endorsed by the president, I guess I better learn how to fight back!


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## scottsma

You're always industrious Cat and although I know you struggle with this damned illness you don't let it win.Good for you,you're an inspiration.

I really hope Trumpton (it's a kids  TV cartoon here)  doesn't turn out as bad as you think.Surely he'll have guidance etc.I see on todays news that the riots have already begun....No cycling again today.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm not familiar with that cartoon character but I'll google it later.  I don't even want to say his name, although this morning I was cheering myself up a bit by thinking of all the mean/negative words that rhyme with it.  Dump, rump, stump, lump, frump, grump, clump, chump...

There have been riots in the news in larger liberal cities like Seattle, but I don't think there have been any in my city yet (which is odd, because I live in a VERY liberal/progressive city, but we're not a very large city so maybe that's why).  Although I don't get to the downtown area of my city much, and when we have riots here they tend to be downtown, so maybe I just missed seeing that they were happening!

I do try to be industrious, I get antsy just sitting around doing nothing.  My dad actually gave me a really nice compliment the other day.  I had said once, quite awhile ago, that when I'm sick/flaring I feel kind of worthless.  Like I'm not contributing to anything if I'm just sitting there sick and not doing anything, so that's a big part of why I crochet - I can do that even while I'm really ill, and that makes me feel worthwhile.  I'm doing something, even if it's something small, and at the end I wind up with a finished project that I can use or give as a gift.  Well, my dad said to me the other day that I'm never worthless, and I should never feel that way, even if I'm so sick that I'm not able to do anything.  That was nice to hear.  My dad does not say things like that often.  I think he's starting to turn into a big softy in his old age.  

I try to never let the illness win for long.  Sometimes I give it a day, where I just have an all-out pity party for myself and cry, yell, feel negative, feel whatever emotions I need to feel.  I seem to need days like that every so often to just let everything out (I'm an introvert and do tend to internalize things a lot, so periodically I just have to release the pressure and let everything come flying out so to speak).  Aside from those days, I do what I can to be okay and not let it win.

Sorry to hear you weren't able to cycle today!  Still cold and rainy there?  It's actually quite a nice day here, sunny and warm-ish (temps in the upper 50s F) although a bit windy.  It would be a nice day for a walk outside, I might take a brief walk after my trip to the craft store.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I've had a rough few days.  Tried tapering my pred from 20 mg to 15 on Thursday and that didn't go well and I've been feeling really rough ever since.  I see my GI today and will be begging him to help me.  I feel like I'm both going to be on pred forever and flaring forever.  I hate this.  I know he wants to do more tests, and I'm on board with that.  I also want to try LDN and I hope he's okay with that idea.  Hopefully between more tests and different meds, I can get out of this nightmare.

Yesterday afternoon I finally started feeling somewhat human again so I pushed myself a bit, probably a bit too much.  When I feel well, sometimes I'm compelled to just do everything I can, because I don't know when I'll feel well again.  So I walked the dog, took down the Halloween decorations and put up xmas lights (I know it's too early, don't judge, it's been an extremely difficult time lately and I wanted pretty lights to make me feel happy).  Did a lot of general straightening up around the house.  I did 2 loads of dishes and some meal prep.  I also worked some on making and photographing items to sell on my Etsy shop.  And when hubby got home from work, we went grocery shopping.  So I did a lot, too much.  I think I'm paying for it today.  I've felt a bit nauseous and just run-down, weak and even a bit shaky & dizzy this morning.  No appetite either, I haven't had an appetite in awhile now and have lost more weight.  A few weeks ago my weight was 147 and I think now I'm at 140.  So not a crazy amount of weight lost but obviously not a good thing either.

Mentally and emotionally I've been feeling bad, bad, bad.  Not only is the constant flare/inability to taper pred getting me really down, but I've basically done nothing but cry since the election.  I'm so depressed and I don't know how to get out of this funk.  Usually exercise helps my depression a lot, but I haven't been well enough to exercise hardly at all lately.  I'm going to try to walk more because I know that helps, but aside from that I don't know what to do.  I'm terrible at yoga (and don't enjoy it) and don't have access to a pool, so walking is basically my only option when it comes to the more gentle forms of exercise.  Ugh.


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## scottsma

Ah Cat sweetheart,you're really having a tough time eh.? Please get better soon.I understand your compelling need to "do something" and if you're able,then walking is your best option until you feel ready for something more strenuous.A walk can lift your mood too so that's not a bad thing.Even if you don't feel like it,once you get out there you'll soon cheer up.I bet Lily's enthusiasm will help with that.
I've been indoors all weekend feeling below par,and I had to force myself to get little blackie moving today.I didn't notice how windy it was before we left,and I found it really hard going today.Hubby kept asking if I wanted to turn back,but I don't give in easily so kept going.I feel much better for the effort,but I was really glad to get home.I had my bath and PJs.on by 3-30pm. I hope your appointment goes well.Good luck.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks, I'm heading to my GI appt in a few mins so hopefully very soon we will have a good plan of attack.  I'm very nervous but cautiously optimistic.  In my GI's last email to me, he said "let's do more tests" - and since I've met my out of pocket max for this year (meaning, anything medically that I have done should now be covered 100% by my insurance and I shouldn't have to pay anything out of pocket for the remainder of the year), I'm going to give my GI carte blanche to do any and all tests that might even give a sliver of an answer as to what's going on.  Drain all of my blood and test it!  Stool samples, well, I haven't been eating hardly anything lately so might have to wait a bit on those.    Scan me, scope me, heck I'd even be open to exploratory laprascopy if it'd be enlightening.  Dissect me and figure it out already!

As for walking, yes, Lily is always up for a walk.  I don't get home from work until around 6 PM, and it's already completely dark out by the time I get home, so walking her after work hasn't been happening lately.  So, I got myself one of those dorky headlamp things, a really bright LED light to stick on my forehead.    I think I could walk Lily in the dark with one of those, even if I just go around the block.  Although I might pick up some pepper spray as well because it is slightly scary by itself being a woman walking alone in the dark, and even worse now that our president-elect seems to condone, er, let's just call it bad behavior from men towards women.    (But that's a whole other rant for another day.)

I've had bike rides like that, sometimes the wind can really try to break your spirit.  Good for you for pushing through even though it was tough!  Gosh, even thinking of a tough windy bike ride still makes me wistful for my bike.  There's no way I'll be well enough to do a ride before winter, so I'm just going to have to hope for an early spring.  Sigh!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My GI gave me some hope today.  He wants me to try some IBS med called Lotronex, but if that doesn't work or doesn't work well enough for me, then he said I can try LDN!  Yippee!  I am going to give this Lotronex stuff a shot, but I googled it this afternoon and haven't read particularly great things about it.  I'm definitely much more hopeful for LDN and am SO HAPPY that my GI is open to me trying it!  So, for now I have to play nice and be a compliant patient and try the med he wants me to try first.  Then I get to try the med that I think might actually work!  And who knows, I could be surprised, this first med could work great.  It's good to have a solid backup plan though!

I am hopeful that one of these meds is going to help me feel better.  I might even get back to the gym soon!  How nice would that be!  The gym is definitely my happy place and I so, so want to get back there as soon as I can.

Hubby just texted me that he's going to be late getting home from work.  Maybe this is serendipity, I had just written earlier today about taking Lily on a nighttime walk with my new headlamp thing.  I might take her for a quick jaunt around the block while I'm waiting for hubby to get home.


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## scottsma

Good news re: your appointment Cat.Now you have a plan.....I used to use a small hand torch for Alfies evening walks.Although we do have plenty street lighting,there are shadows.Not trying to scare you,but carrying a light means a would be assailant would probably see you before you see them....there,I've scared you haven't I ???
It's not a bad day,calm so far and quite mild,so we're going on the bikes when I get some housework done.....and sitting on this PC. isn't helping,so I'm off to look busy.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

We have some streetlights as well, but I feel better with a headlamp too.  At least if I'm attacked, I can blind my assailant with it.    It's very bright!  I did use it last night to take Lily for a stroll around the block, and that went well for the most part.  There was one point where a police car was going through the neighborhood with a siren on, and... I couldn't tell if it was children or dogs, but there were sort of feral howling sounds coming from the woods near my house!  I'd never heard those sounds before, it was disconcerting.  Nothing came out of the woods though.  Still, super weird!

The weather looks nice today so I'm planning to do some walking on my lunch break.  Hubby and I have a dinner date tonight so probably no walking Lily in the dark after work.  According to the weather report, we may actually get some snow next week, which will make Lily very happy (snow is her favorite thing) but it sounds like it's not going to stick, so no snowshoeing just yet.

Oh, and I didn't get to try my new med just yet - my pharmacy was out of stock, but they're getting more in this afternoon, so I'll get to try it then.


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## scottsma

One thing I used to love about snow....clean dogs !!! hahaha.
I don't expect your new meds will start to work straight away,but it's a start.Usually I'm not half as sick as most people on the forum and opted NOT to take meds at all.I just wish I could just "go" once in the morning then forget about it .I "go" back and forwards from rising until almost lunch time,most days.Today,I actually got on my bike ready for the off,then had to dismount and run upstairs.And I had just "been" immediately before I left the house...Sigh. Despite that,we had a good couple of hours,non stop,except to cross busy roads.I always dismount,and use it as an excuse to have a rest hahaha.
It's 5pm here,and dark so our day is almost done....enjoy yours and your dinner date.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh goodness, I honestly would be terrified to not be on any meds.  I know the monster that lives in my gut would not be quiet if I didn't take any meds!  Do you do anything as far as diet, supplements, etc to keep things relatively quiet?  Obviously you're exercising which is great, and for me I feel like fitness is a key component to me treating my illness, but in the same vein I also know that exercise isn't enough on its own to get/keep me in remission.  I'm definitely all for the meds!

On the subject of diet, I'm still trying to stick to low-FODMAP and for the most part am doing fine with that.  It is hard to go out to eat, though, because so many restaurant foods are not FODMAP friendly.  The one thing I can easily eat at restaurants is sushi!    Yum yum!  Rice, fish, seaweed are all perfectly safe on low-FODMAP.  So that's what hubby and I are getting tonight, going to one of our favorite little sushi places for some deliciousness.

I'm also just about to head out for a walk!  It was cloudy all morning but finally the sun came out and I'm excited to get outside for a bit.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a nice walk through some woods.    My injured foot still isn't fully healed though (a few weeks ago I felt a "pop" and then some pain in my foot - I self-diagnosed myself with "turf toe" and am self-treating it) and I forgot to put my squishy gel pad thing on my foot today, so it was a slightly painful walk at a few points when I stepped wrong - the pain is just behind my big toe, like in the ball of the foot.  So I just had to make sure to walk carefully and deliberately and then I was okay.

It was a nice walk.  The weather is gorgeous - mid 50s F, sunny, not windy.  I only saw a bit of wildlife - one fat squirrel and one woodpecker who was very loud and boisterous.    I also saw some deer tracks on the path.  It was a nice, calming walk.  Just what I needed.

I also just picked up my new meds!  Just took the first pill, here goes nothing.  If this works, great, and if not, then I get to try LDN, so either way I'm good.


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## scottsma

Glad you got out for a walk Cat.Weather is cooler,windier with a few short sharp showers,so no bike today.Going into town for a little shop,then a look in at the auction house.It's viewing day on Wednesday.I love to see what other people have had in their homes,also if there's something worth bidding on tomorrow.
As to meds,I was on Asacol supps for years when I was first dx'd with Proctitis.I now have crohns colitis.My symptoms are stop and go,C & D.I try not to take my subscription Loperamide unless I really have to,the same with laxatives.I have tramadol and amitriptilyne daily.My diet is somewhat restricted but that's through choice mostly.I do have nutrition powder daily,and fish oil supplements.And chocolate !!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

YES CHOCOLATE!    Sorry, I'm in a bit of an odd mood today.  My appetite came back in a huge way, not sure if it's the new med (my appetite started coming back before I started the new med) or if it's the 20 mg of pred fully kicking in, or a combination of both maybe?  Whatever the case, I'm HUNGRY.  

Chocolate is wonderful.  When I was in the hospital and was doing a liquid diet and the nutritionist/dietician lady told me to go low-FODMAP when I transitioned back to food, I immediately looked at the low-FODMAP info to see if chocolate was allowed.  That's literally the first thing I looked for, ha ha.  And fortunately, it is allowed!  Dairy is restricted on the diet, so milk chocolate is only allowed in small amounts, but I am allowed to have as much dark chocolate as I want, and dark is my favorite anyway.    Peanut butter is also allowed, and I found these heavenly dark chocolate peanut butter cups.  I literally buy like 8 bags of them at a time when I'm at the store, ha ha.  (They are small bags, I promise!)  So yes, long story short, I completely understand the importance of chocolate to one's well-being.  I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't have chocolate!


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## scottsma

I've had the Reese's peanut butter cups,but I feel really guilty every time I stuff one (or 3)
in my mouth.My chocolate stash is hidden in the tea towel drawer,because my hubby wouldn't know where to look for a tea towel (drying cloth?).I don't eat loads mind you,just a few chunks every day.I like dark choc.with chilli or ginger.Glad you're feeling better.I don'y know how you manage being on pred.for so long,I hate it,although it does clear things up pretty fast for me.No bike again today,still too windy.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I've hidden chocolate stashes as well.  I also don't eat tons, but I try to have a small bit each day.  Dark chocolate supposedly has health benefits anyway, so really it's health food, right?  

I am not doing so great today.  Had a bit of a fight with hubby yesterday (long story, don't ask, but I'm right and he needs to apologize) and I think I'm having a reaction to my new med.  I'm quite gassy, a bit headachey, and my face is red and feels a bit hot like I'm getting a rash.  All of these are apparently side effects of Lotronex, and in my googling, it said to discontinue taking it if a rash appears as that can be a sign of an allergic reaction.  Great, so it's only been like 3 days and I've apparently already failed this med.

Well, the good news now is that I get to try LDN!    And I'm really hopeful about that.  I emailed my GI just now letting him know what's going on and that I'm going to discontinue this current med.  I think I'm going to give it at least a few days for the Lotronex to get out of my system and the rash to go away, then we'll start looking for a good compounding pharmacy to get me the doses I need to get started on LDN.

In the meantime I'm just trying to be nice to myself.  I'm taking it easy diet-wise today because I overdid it yesterday (I really wanted cake and had a cupcake for dinner, which was not the wisest decision).  I took Lily for another walk around the block last night, and I'm hoping to take a lunch-hour walk today as this is supposedly the nicest weather day that we'll have for quite some time.  It's going to be in the upper 60s F and sunny today!  And by Saturday, they're saying it's going to be in the 30s with high winds and possible snow.  Seriously, I need to enjoy the nice weather now because it's apparently going to not stay nice for long!


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## scottsma

I agree with giving the Lotronex a few more days.You seem certain that the LDN is the med for you,but what will you do if it's not ? This is the reason I told my GI I would try to 
manage without meds.I have a fear of nasty side effects,and going from one med to the next.I do get quite sick sometimes but manage to cope ,so far.I think I would know when I need help.Sorry about your breakdown in communications,but it too shall pass.Men should realise we're always right,even when we're not.hahaha


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I know, I have really high hopes for LDN.  If it doesn't work for me then I'm back at square one with really no good options, so I kind of have to pin all my hopes on LDN right now.  I need it to be a miracle for me!  Since I'm not fully diagnosed, my GI won't even consider biologics nor immunosuppressants at this time, so my options are very limited.  If LDN doesn't work then I honestly don't know what I'll do.

My husband, let's just say he did something stupid and reckless yesterday and I called him out on it.  And all he was able to say to me was, "Don't be mad."  Um, no, that's not an apology, and I have every right to be mad, and I am still gonna be mad, so don't tell me how to feel.  Fortunately, he's working really long hours from today through Sunday, so I won't have to see him hardly at all, and hopefully he'll come to his senses and apologize for being an idiot.

Oh, I meant I was going to stop the Lotronex as of now and give it a few days to get out of my system!  Not that I was going to stay on it a few more days.  Sorry if that was confusing.  I'm definitely stopping it as of now, the rash on my face means I'm possibly allergic to it according to google, so I don't want to keep taking it if I'm allergic.  I'm going to stop it now and give it at least a few days before starting LDN is what I meant.  Which is fine because I think it'll take a few days to find a good compounding pharmacy anyway and get the prescription over to them, etc.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I took a walk today.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous!  But I wasn't feeling super well.  Lately I've been having periods of what I'd call mild light-headedness.  Like, I'm not going to pass out, but I also don't feel well and maybe doing a lot of walking isn't the best idea during these times.  So, I went to a pond that I like walking near.  Usually in an hour, I can easily do 2 laps of walking around the pond, but today I only felt up to doing one lap.  Still, I'm happy that I was able to do some walking, so I'm satisfied with one lap.  

Might or might not walk Lily around the block this evening, depending on how I'm feeling.  I kind of just want to crawl into bed when I get home, it's been a long week and I'm still not feeling very well.  I think the mild light-headedness is a pred side effect - my blood pressure has risen since being on pred (it's usually low, like 100/60 is normal for me, and now it's what most people consider normal, 120/80).  I read somewhere that if you typically have low BP and it rises to the "normal" range, you might feel symptoms of high BP just due to the rise, even though your BP isn't actually high.  So, I think that might be the culprit.  Wish I could just get off the darn pred already!


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## scottsma

I was going to suggest you check your BP.My doc. told me not to let it drop below 100 top 60 bottom.I was feeling light headed for a few days last week but my BP was ok.126/64 I think,which is actually low for me.Your numbers sound worrying to me as you have no margin the play with.Feel better soon,and don't do to much.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, my BP was just checked at my GI's office on Monday, and I see my GP next week Wednesday so they'll check it again then.  I'm still not feeling very well today but I think I'm on the mend.  I stopped taking the Lotronex after my morning dose yesterday, so it's now been about 24 hours since I've taken it.  It constipated me a fair bit.  Well, it seems to be not affecting me so much any more after only 24 hours!  I had 4 bathroom trips the first hour that I was awake!  Definitely not constipated any more!

I am exhausted today, not sure why as I slept quite well last night (maybe it's just from all my bathroom trips this morning?).  The hubby and I had a chat and he apologized for being a reckless idiot so things are better there.  I need to just get through today and tomorrow, then Sunday I can finally rest.  Tomorrow I have to go to my aunt's house for a family early thanksgiving get-together.  We do this every year, my mom's whole side of the family gets together and eats turkey and then we all play bingo and win silly little prizes.  I'm looking forward to it, but I know I'm not going to eat a lot and it's honestly exhausting just to think about.  And I have to pick up my uncle on my way, because he's got this weird type of dementia where he has no spatial awareness (he gets lost extremely easily and cannot drive).  So I have to pick him up, eat, play bingo, and just generally pretend to be a human for a few hours.  I can do it, but it's going to take a lot out of me.  The exhaustion today is the worst!  I'd be doing okay if it weren't for the exhaustion.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm getting my BP under better control (drinking more water, eating less sodium, have increased my vitamin D intake, and also bought a BP monitor so that I can keep an eye on things).  I've also tapered down my pred successfully!  I haven't been able to say that in awhile.  I went from 20 mg to 17.5 mg with no issue.  Phew!

Took my dog on a long walk yesterday.  Wow, it was so cold!  It was 25 F when I got up and I waited until it warmed up to 30 F (which is still below freezing).  I bundled up in many layers, all of them involving fleece, but I was still freezing, particularly my face.  I did buy a new warm face mask thing for winter so I will definitely be using that on our next walk!

We got a little bit of snow but it didn't stick.  We're supposed to get more snow this week but it should be less than an inch and I don't think that will stick either.  So no snowshoeing just yet, but regular walks can still happen as long as I don't freeze.  Lily loves the cold so she was quite happy with our walk yesterday.  It's supposed to be a colder and snowier winter than usual, so Lily will be super happy.    She's so ridiculous, she came from California and her first winter with us was the first time she'd seen snow.  But it instantly became her favorite thing, she's obsessed with snow and much prefers cold weather to warm.


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## scottsma

That's good news about your BP and decreasing steroids Cat.Try not to get over enthusiastic with your monitor though.I check mine every 2 weeks or so and when I'm going to the docs or the hospital I take it daily for a week or so before I go and take my readings with me.Mine always goes through the roof when I'm at the hospital.They say it's "white coat syndrome" but I'm not aware of being nervous,ever.Also it's acceptable to take you BP reading 2 or 3 times to get an average.And try not to offer visitors a BP reading hahaha.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm trying not to check my BP obsessively.  My current plan is to check it twice per day - once in the morning shortly after I take my pred, because that's when it feels like my BP spikes.  And once in the evening to make sure it has gone down a bit after the spike.  So far so good on that front.  I'm also journaling what my BP is doing (I'm keeping a food & symptom journal anyway, so this is just another data point to add to it - I'm a big nerd for spreadsheets and data points so I love stuff like this, ha ha).

I did walk Lily around the block last night.  Brr, it was cold!  And I messed up yesterday.  I don't have the constant crazy appetite on pred, but it sort of comes and goes.  Yesterday I did have a huge appetite and ended up eating too much, which set off a bad attack of reflux/heartburn.  The heartburn was so bad, I could feel the pain from my chest through my back.  Not a fun time!  So I need to really be careful when I get the bouts of crazy appetite and be super mindful not to overdo things.

It's supposed to rain for most of today and tomorrow, so I probably won't walk Lily for the next couple days.  Thursday she will get a lot of exercise, though.  Of course Thurs is thanksgiving, and we're going to visit my grandma and then have dinner with hubby's parents.  So Lily will get to visit and walk briefly with grandma, and then she can run all around at my in-laws'.  They live out in the country so there is a lot of land and woods for Lily to run around in.  There's also a farm just up the road from them where hubby's aunt and uncle live, so we could also walk over there and have Lily look at the cows (she's mostly terrified of them, but they seem to get less scary to her the more she sees them).  So yeah, Thursday should involve a lot of walking.


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## scottsma

Sounds like Thursday will be a good day for all of you.It's nice to have something to look forward to.We had a months worth of rain last night and strong winds.It's calmed down today,but still rainy.Supposed to be OK tomorrow so we're hoping to get the bikes out.
I got some triple strength cranberry pills today,buy one get another for a penny.Also got some probiotic 3billion for the same deal.Bargain.....and they'll last well into the new year.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I take cranberry pills every day and have done so for years.  I'm prone to UTIs, I started getting them recurrently when I was in college.  I got something like 6 or 8 UTIs in one year.  Then I started taking cranberry, and now I'm down to about 1 UTI per year.  I'm not sure what is up with my bladder, I've had both bladder and bowel issues for my whole life and neither issue is fully diagnosed.  Once my guts (hopefully) calm down more, I might pursue some testing on my bladder.  The bladder has felt worse lately, too - I'm thinking it's a pred thing but not entirely sure.  Going to taper my pred down to 15 mg on Friday so maybe that will help a bit.

It's pouring rain here too so no walkies for Lily.  I once tried to teach her how to walk on the treadmill but she either wasn't having it or didn't understand it.  She hops on, but then hops right back off again and doesn't actually walk on it.  So my hopes of being able to exercise her indoors have not come to fruition.

I just checked the weather report since I have a 4-day weekend thanks to the holiday.  Tomorrow looks cold but dry, Friday they're saying light snow.  Saturday, though, might actually warm up a bit and looks fairly nice.  So I am thinking I might take Lily hiking on Saturday.  Hubby works all day that day so it'll just be me and the dog anyway.  I just got Lily one of those hiking harnesses for dogs, the kind with the little saddlebags on the sides so that she can carry her own treats and poop bags.  I'm excited to test out her fancy new harness, and I've been wanting to get out in the woods for a nice long hike.  So I think Saturday is the day.  Now I just need my pred taper on Friday to go well because I obviously can't hike if I'm in pain/nauseous.  Wish me luck!


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## scottsma

I hope your taper works Cat and also that you're able to get out for a walk.If you're like me you can't plan things to far ahead unfortunately.We went along the coast on the bikes today and I really enjoyed it.It was cold but clear and there were loads of dog walkers,joggers and cyclists out and about.But the cystitis has come back.I thought it was too good to be true,clearing up in 24hrs.So back to drinking lots and will double up on the cranberry tablets.Have a good day,mines almost over as it will be dark in an hour.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It's true that it's not easy to plan ahead as plans often change thanks to my wonderful health.    I like to have things to look forward to, though, so if I'm feeling reasonably well then I do like to try to plan things sometimes.  I know it's not a guarantee that I'll be able to go hiking on Saturday, but I'm hopeful.  I was able to successfully taper from 20 mg to 17.5, so hopefully going from 17.5 to 15 will go equally as well.  I try to think positively!

That stinks that the cystitis came back so soon!  Or that it was never really gone in the first place.  Rest up and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.  I just need to survive tomorrow - first it'll be a bit stressful seeing my grandma (even when she's having a good day, it's always a bit stressful to see her because dementia is never easy) and then it'll be stressful seeing my in-laws for thanksgiving dinner (I think they voted for our icky president-elect, and I predict my father-in-law is going to get drunk and start an argument about politics).  Sooo with all that stress, I really do need a hike on Saturday to look forward to!


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I take cranberry pills every day and have done so for years.  I'm prone to UTIs, I started getting them recurrently when I was in college.  I got something like 6 or 8 UTIs in one year.  Then I started taking cranberry, and now I'm down to about 1 UTI per year.  I'm not sure what is up with my bladder, I've had both bladder and bowel issues for my whole life and neither issue is fully diagnosed.  Once my guts (hopefully) calm down more, I might pursue some testing on my bladder.  The bladder has felt worse lately, too - I'm thinking it's a pred thing but not entirely sure.  Going to taper my pred down to 15 mg on Friday so maybe that will help a bit.


I just caught up on my reading, but I was thinking you might want to look into what my mom and I have - interstitial cystitis.  There were times where I was sure I had a bladder infection, but I had a UA done and nothing was found.  My bladder wall actually sloughs off and I see bladder tissue in the toilet.  It scared me at first, but I know it's normal with IC.  It seems to get worse as I get older, too, because the frequent bathroom trips are annoying (although they lessened greatly after my ovarian cyst was removed; I guess it was pressing on my bladder).  I would caution about the cranberry supplements if you have IC, though.  My mom drank cranberry juice like crazy, but cranberries have a LOT of acid so it can make IC worse.

http://www.ichelp.org/about-ic/symptoms-of-ic/


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## Cat-a-Tonic

MissLeopard, I've heard of IC but I don't know if I have it.  Cranberry supplements have helped me a lot for the past 15+ years, and I've always read that cranberry tends to make IC worse, so that right there doesn't sound like IC to me.

I kind of think it's just my bowel issues affecting my bladder?  Like, when I was a kid I was a bedwetter up until the age of 12ish.  And now they've come out with studies just recently saying that almost all cases of childhood bedwetting can be attributed to constipation - even if the child doesn't feel constipated, the colon can still be full of stool and push on the bladder and cause nighttime urination episodes.  So for me, apparently my bowels and bladder have had intertwined issues going back to my childhood.  And I wonder if now there's just inflammation or whatever that's pushing on/irritating my bladder?  I don't know.  It's something to look into.  I will keep IC in mind as well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I took Lily on a walk on Saturday.  It wasn't easy though.  My guts were feeling a bit unsettled before we even left the house.  Then, in the car on the way to the park, I suddenly felt everything in my guts shift in a very bad way.  I had to hold it in and not poo myself while I quickly drove to a gas station!  Fortunately I made it, did not mess myself in the car.  I had some imodium with me in the car so after I used the bathroom I took one of those and didn't have any further incidents, thankfully, and was able to walk with Lily (I made sure to drink lots of water, walk slowly and take lots of breaks - luckily, there are lots of benches to sit on in this park).

Yesterday hubby and I raked the yard which is always a big job, lots of exertion.  My guts fortunately didn't complain though (things are a bit backed up now because of the imodium, so I actually haven't been to the bathroom since I had to stop at that gas station!).  

I can't walk Lily tonight because rain is in the forecast all day (I probably technically could walk her, but we'd both be miserable - she really hates rain).  Tomorrow's looking like really nice weather though, so I'm thinking either a lunch hour walk and/or walking Lily after work.  I feel like I need to do as much walking as I can right now to reduce stress.

I'm stressed because I have an MRE on Friday and I'm sure that the contrast stuff I have to drink beforehand is going to make my guts very unhappy.  My paperwork says that the oral contrast "may cause diarrhea".  Um, yeah, it's definitely going to!  Like, I'll probably be lucky to not crap myself in the MRI machine.    So, Friday is going to not be a fun day.  I'm not looking forward to it.  I tend to buy myself presents to cheer myself up or to bribe myself to get through hard times, and I've literally already bought myself 2 presents (cute stuffed animal and a new scarf) just because this stupid MRE is stressing me out.  And I'm not even worried about the results!  I know it's going to come back normal, my test results always do (my illness loves to hide, plus I've been on pred for months now).  I'm just worried about the stupid contrast and the crazy diarrhea it's going to cause me.  Ugh.

I'm having an IUD put in in mid-December, and even though the nurse warned me that when they put it in, "it's like having contractions, the cramps are extremely painful", that worries me far less than the stupid MRE.  I can deal with pain and cramps, but I don't want to crap myself in front of other people nor in my car.  Priorities, right?


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## scottsma

The Crap problem is forever on my mind Cat.I'm terrible in the mornings,which really annoys me.I try not to take loperamide (Imodium) because to be honest I'd much rather have urgency than not go at all.Rock and a hard place.I had the problem you're worried about when I had MRI.If I'd known time was almost up I wouldn't have pressed the button.Glad you managed your walk though.There'll be plenty rotten weather when you can't make it.I've done a couple of walks over the weekend and today but it really does my back in now.I used to walk miles daily,back in the day.Much rather cycle now.
Try not to worry over much about your test.It's only one day in your life,and you'll be home before you know it.The MRI staff will be more than used to accidents.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I know the hospital staff have seen it all, but I'd still rather just not have it happen.  I've been packing myself a bag in preparation for the worst, there's a large plastic bag to sit on in the car (I might bring a towel to sit on too), plus wipes and pads and of course a change of pants.  And I bought myself yet another present to deal with this (I love building Lego sets, so I ordered myself a small lego set to build once I'm home from the MRI as a gift to myself for surviving it).

Most people are scared of MRIs because of the claustrophobia aspect of it.  Not me!    I just really don't want to poop myself.  So far in 7 years of this illness, I've only crapped myself once, and it was at home (I thought it was a fart, but oh no, it was not!).  Only my hubby was there and I honestly don't think he even knew what happened, and I immediately got my clothes rinsed out and into the wash and myself into the shower.  Still, it was utterly humiliating and I spent that long shower just crying.  So, I think back on that awful experience and I know it would be even more humiliating to have that happen in a public place, where I can't immediately clean myself up, and where people would know what happened.  I really, really just do not want that to happen!  And I think it happening in my car on the drive home would be almost as bad.  I'm an adult, in spite of this illness I'm just not supposed to crap my pants at all, and certainly not while I'm out in public.  Not at the hospital, not while I'm in the car.  Once I'm home, that urgency can hit me all it wants to.  But I don't think it's going to wait that long and I'm just dreading it.

I do feel slightly better about it since I had that episode on Saturday, though.  Feeling that sudden urgency while in the car and being able to hold it long enough to get to a public bathroom and not messing myself, that did give me a bit of confidence.  I know this contrast stuff is just like prep though in how it affects me and I also know there aren't a lot of public bathrooms in between my house and the hospital (fortunately it's only about a 10 minute drive to get home).  I'm mapping in my head where the gas stations are along the route!    Unfortunately there aren't a lot of them.  I go to the University hospital in my city, and there aren't a lot of gas stations nor fast food places to stop at for a quick bathroom break in the university area.  So the drive home might be a really, really loooong 10 minutes.

I'm probably overthinking all of this.  Maybe it'll be fine.  Or maybe I'll crap myself and somehow life will go on anyway.  Either way, I just want Friday to be over with already.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Okay, so I bought myself another present.    I had been wanting some new slippers, cute ones that I can wear during the scan.  I had been looking at some online, but it's hard to know whether they'll fit because slipper sizes are so vague.  But I was just at the store, and they had super cute ones with faux fur on the inside, and the outside looks like fuzzy lambs.  Cute!  And they have hard grippy soles, so that's good for walking around the hospital in.  But no metal so I can wear them in the MRI machine.  They had exactly one pair that fit me, plus they were 25% off and I found out the whole store is 15% off today on top of that, so of course they had to become mine.    New cute slippers make me happy.

I also bought some super heavy-duty extra long "5x protection" (whatever that means) incontinence pads, so hopefully if I crap myself it'll all stay in the pad.  I got bladder incontinence pads because I figure that if I do have an accident, it's going to likely be mostly/all liquid anyway.  I'm NPO for 4 hours before my scan, which means at 9 AM I have to stop eating & drinking, and I'm not a breakfast person anyway (food first thing in the morning makes me nauseous) so I'll have only had liquids that day anyway.  And the contrast sounds to be similar to prep in terms of the effect it has, which means "pee out the butt" type of BMs.  So, hopefully these pads work well if it comes to that.

I feel a bit better now that I got these pads (and slippers, ha ha).  I can get through this.  It might suck somewhat but I can do it!

I wish I could go to the gym today.  It's been a stupidly stressful day at work.  I still don't feel like I'm well enough to do a proper gym workout though.  I might try a walk on my treadmill when I get home.  Maybe that will help.


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## scottsma

It looks like you've got everything covered Cat,but you probably wont need it. as the saying goes "fail to prepare,prepare to fail.Ask to go to the bathroom immediately before your scan.This time next week you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I definitely am a person who plans ahead and plans for everything!  Hah, you should have seen me pack for my trip to Japan.  I was only allowed one suitcase for 3 weeks of being literally on the other side of the world!  That was so stressful to try to figure out what to bring and what to leave at home.  I agonized for months over all those little decisions about what to pack.  So this is relatively easy compared to that, ha ha.

I will definitely use the bathroom before the scan!  In my paperwork, it even says "You may use the bathroom at any time while you are drinking the contrast."  So I'm going to take advantage of that for sure.  Even if it doesn't hit my guts right away, drinking that amount of liquid is going to make me have to pee at the very least!  

I slept really poorly last night.  But today's a better day at work, the stressful issue from yesterday is being worked out.  Today looks like the nicest weather day for some time - temps in the low 50s F and sunny.  So I'm definitely getting out for a walk today!  I really need to get out, get some sunshine and fresh air and just clear my head.

Also, I'm still waiting on my GI to figure out how to prescribe me LDN (I apparently am his first LDN patient, which is exciting, but we have to figure out what to do in terms of getting it compounded, etc).  He emailed me the other day to say he's working on it.  So I haven't started LDN yet, but I'm hoping to very soon!


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## scottsma

You're very like me Cat,(not your arty-farty side hahaha) I make lists for everything,even stuff like giving the house a good clean.And I couldn't imagine going to the shops without a list.Did some walking round the shops today and was nearly on my knees by the time we got back to the car.It was a nice bright day but there was black ice,so no cycling again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes!  I definitely write lists for everything!  Even if my list only has one item on it (current shopping list just says "toilet paper"), I still write that list.    I will even email lists to myself so that I can see my lists on my phone.  I love spreadsheets, too.  At work, I am known as the spreadsheet queen, I literally have spreadsheets for my spreadsheets, ha ha.

That does trickle over into my "artsy-fartsy" side, too.  I made a patchwork quilt for my cousin's new baby, and I had a certain number of each type of fabric square and wanted to make a pattern.  So I opened up a spreadsheet and made myself a spreadsheet of which fabric should go where.  I put that spreadsheet on my tablet and set that up next to my sewing machine, worked like a charm!  And I have a dry-erase board next to my sewing machine with a list of all my current and ongoing sewing projects, so when I sit down to sew, there's no question as to what I should sew.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Okay, so I bought myself another present.    I had been wanting some new slippers, cute ones that I can wear during the scan.  I had been looking at some online, but it's hard to know whether they'll fit because slipper sizes are so vague.  But I was just at the store, and they had super cute ones with faux fur on the inside, and the outside looks like fuzzy lambs.  Cute!  And they have hard grippy soles, so that's good for walking around the hospital in.  But no metal so I can wear them in the MRI machine.  They had exactly one pair that fit me, plus they were 25% off and I found out the whole store is 15% off today on top of that, so of course they had to become mine.    New cute slippers make me happy.
> 
> I also bought some super heavy-duty extra long "5x protection" (whatever that means) incontinence pads, so hopefully if I crap myself it'll all stay in the pad.  I got bladder incontinence pads because I figure that if I do have an accident, it's going to likely be mostly/all liquid anyway.  I'm NPO for 4 hours before my scan, which means at 9 AM I have to stop eating & drinking, and I'm not a breakfast person anyway (food first thing in the morning makes me nauseous) so I'll have only had liquids that day anyway.  And the contrast sounds to be similar to prep in terms of the effect it has, which means "pee out the butt" type of BMs.  So, hopefully these pads work well if it comes to that.
> 
> I feel a bit better now that I got these pads (and slippers, ha ha).  I can get through this.  It might suck somewhat but I can do it!
> 
> I wish I could go to the gym today.  It's been a stupidly stressful day at work.  I still don't feel like I'm well enough to do a proper gym workout though.  I might try a walk on my treadmill when I get home.  Maybe that will help.


I wore Always Discreet Underwear when I had my ovarian cyst surgery (similar to the ones you get at the hospital) and those things are much more comfortable than Depends (essentially the same thing but less bulky).  You might want to even try those - some places like Big Lots have sample packs so you only have to buy 2 or 3 in a pack rather than a great big one.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks!  I was hoping to find something like that but I didn't see any when I was at Target yesterday, I only found incontinence pads, not full panties.  We apparently do have a Big Lots store here, I don't think I've ever been there but I might stop by and check it out.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Okay, so the weather wasn't quite as nice as advertised.  It was only mid 40s F with fairly high winds, so it was pretty chilly out and a walk didn't happen after all.  I did end up going to Big Lots, though, and found those panties that MissLeopard had mentioned (thanks again!).  I got 2 sample packs and they seem promising.  I'm thinking that I might wear a pad into the MRI machine, then use the bathroom after the scan & before I leave the hospital and change into the panties while in the bathroom, because that would make me feel more secure about the drive home.  I think that while I'm at the hospital, a pad will (hopefully!) suffice.

(And holy cow, what a random store Big Lots is!  I don't think I'd ever been there before, it's just a mishmosh of everything.  Kind of reminds me of a store I went to in Japan called Don Quixote - if you want to buy groceries, Japanese cell phones, and socks, all while listening to blaringly loud Japanese pop and being blinded by strobe lights, then that's the store for you.   )

Oh, and as for walking at home on my treadmill - I forgot that xmas gifts have sort of temporarily taken over the guest bedroom/home gym, so the treadmill is currently blocked by piles of gifts.  Oops!  I need to wrap those and move them elsewhere!


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## scottsma

Yes,Cat.Get them wrapped and then they're done.Did you not have that on your list hahaha...:wink:


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha!  I have done everything but wrap them.  These are mostly my hand-made gifts, too - blankets that I've crocheted, a quilt and pillows that I sewed, etc.  And I recently went out and bought big gift bags that would fit big things like blankets and pillows.  So all I need to do is to put them in the gift bags and I'm done (although I still need a place to put the wrapped gifts, my house is not large and the gifts are too big to fit under the xmas tree).

Speaking of sewing, my mom asked what I want for xmas.  I was bold and asked if a new sewing machine wouldn't be out of the question - I've been ogling one that is computerized and has over a hundred stitches, including monogramming (I could have sooo much fun being able to monogram anything and everything!).  My mom said it's in her budget, so I'm getting a super fancy new sewing machine for xmas!  I'm already dreaming about all the things I'm going to monogram.  Lily has her own towels (our old towels) for doggy bathtime, so I'm totally going to monogram her name on her towels.    So excited!  Yes, I already have 2 sewing machines, but so what.  My "main" machine right now is older and has quite a few quirks and I've had to fix a few things on it as best as I could - it's sort of held together with glue and hope at this point.  And my backup machine is the most bare-bones sewing machine ever and I don't really like it, I only use it when absolutely necessary.  So now the bare-bones machine can go into storage or be donated or whatever, and my hope-and-glue machine can become the backup.  You know, for when I don't need to monogram something.    Ha ha.

I'm nervous because a co-worker has a tummy bug and she was in all morning (she finally went home sick around noon) and I just really don't want to catch it.  I know those viruses are very highly contagious, ugh.  Trying not to think about it while also washing my hands a lot and not touching my face.  I'm pretty sure I'll be okay but you just never know.  Incubation time for those viruses looks to be up to 48 hours, so in 2 days time I will know either way whether I caught it.  Hopefully not!

Back to the subject of treadmills, there is a small gym in the basement of the building that I work in, it's free for employees and usually empty.  So I'm keeping a pair of walking shoes at work and sometimes will sneak down there for a 5 or 10 minute walk.  That's been going pretty well, I did that yesterday and today.  I can do that on bad weather days when I need a quick break from work.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I'm nervous because a co-worker has a tummy bug and she was in all morning (she finally went home sick around noon) and I just really don't want to catch it.  I know those viruses are very highly contagious, ugh.  Trying not to think about it while also washing my hands a lot and not touching my face.  I'm pretty sure I'll be okay but you just never know.  Incubation time for those viruses looks to be up to 48 hours, so in 2 days time I will know either way whether I caught it.  Hopefully not!


Two people are out sick today due to a stomach bug - one threw up while at work and left early and the other called out last night.  I'm worried that means it's spreading around work and I REALLY don't want to be sick.  I'm nervous because I felt icky before work and my guts have been really torturous all day.  I've had a LOT of bathroom trips.  Stomach viruses are the WORST!  I hate having belly aches and nausea.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My stomach & guts have been unhappy as well but I am hoping it's just because I'm worrying myself into it and not because I caught the bug.  I definitely relate to your nervousness because I'm very nervous myself.  I have an MRE on Friday, so worst case scenario is that the bug hits me right when I'm in the scanner.  That would be horrible!  I think these things tend to hit quickly, though, so I should probably know before then whether or not I caught it.

I think my one co-worker is (so far) the only one at work who has this, so I'm trying to be hopeful that she's just got food poisoning or something non-contagious like that.  It always makes me feel ill when other people around me are ill, though, and I saw her run to the bathroom and then heard her puking, so that did not do good things for me mentally.  I definitely stayed far away from her and only saw her briefly today, and she works on a different floor than I do and she was using a different bathroom than I've been using.  So I might be okay, although if she does have a bug then she may have infected others at work who could still in turn get me sick.  Ugh.  I'm sorry to hear it's going around your workplace as well.  I hope we both manage to avoid it!  Like you said, I REALLY do not want to catch this!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

How are you today, MissLeopard?  I'm okay, I didn't seem to catch the bug (yet) (knock on wood).  I gave myself quite a lot of gas from being so worried yesterday so I'm pretty gassy today, but other than that I'm okay.  Hopefully you are as well.


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## scottsma

It's bad enough struggling with this damn disease without worrying about others spreading their germs willy-nilly.I hope the germs decide that you two are not worth invading,and pass you by..Cat,re gift wrapping.You won't be surprised to hear that I am absolutely crap at it.Luckily I don't need to buy many gifts and use the shop bought gift bags......Been down the coast on the bikes.The wind was a problem as was the low lying winter sun,but it was behind us on the way back.Did 6mls and really enjoyed it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Usually I wrap gifts, but this year I also decided to go with gift bags instead as it just seems so much easier.  It takes a lot of effort and energy to actually wrap gifts - this way, by just stuffing everything into gift bags, I can save some of my energy for other things.

I'm still jealous of your bike rides, Carol, even the cold and windy ones.  It's been so cold and wet here (mostly rain with some very wet snow mixed in) that I haven't even been able to walk Lily around the block.  Getting outdoors just hasn't happened at all this week.  I think both Lil and I are getting a bit of cabin fever!  And tomorrow a walk likely won't happen either, because I have my scan in the early afternoon, and when I get home I'm surely going to want to stay near the bathroom for the rest of the day while my body rids itself of the contrast.  Hoping to walk Lily on Saturday.

Sunday it's supposed to snow 1-3 inches, yuck.  If the weather isn't too bad, then hubby and I are likely going to go out and do some more xmas shopping.  If it's fairly snowy, though, then I think we will just stay in.  Lily loves snow, it's her favorite thing, so if we get a decent amount of snow then I'll just let her run around in it to her heart's content.  She zooms through the snow at top speed, it's really funny to watch.  My neighbors will all have pristine white yards with no footprints, while my yard looks like a herd of 100 dogs stampeded through it.    I wouldn't mind a cozy snow day to bake and wrap gifts and drink tea and watch movies, so I'm actually sort of looking forward to the snow (I hate driving in snow, so a snow day where I get to stay in and not drive is ideal).


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## gordan

Great idea!  Exercise diaries are a great way to hold yourself accountable.  Keep up the great progress, it helps get out that stress we all have built up!  Your body seems it will also appreciate it.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> How are you today, MissLeopard?  I'm okay, I didn't seem to catch the bug (yet) (knock on wood).  I gave myself quite a lot of gas from being so worried yesterday so I'm pretty gassy today, but other than that I'm okay.  Hopefully you are as well.


I woke up feeling about the same as I did yesterday - exhausted like I hadn't slept all night.  I went to bed last night with an upset stomach and cramps, but no nausea or vomiting has occurred.  Another co-worker called out yesterday and today so things are definitely going around.  I really hope my flu shot provides some protection.


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## scottsma

Our weather has been very kind (mostly) up to now.So we try to make the most of it while we can.6 miles is not a great distance I know,but I can't usually leave the house until close to lunchtime And of course not having to go to work makes a huge difference.I have the utmost respect for crohnies who manage to hold down a job and run a house.And Cat,those of you who have a great enthusiasm for hobbies on top of everything else.Hugs for tomorrow.


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## scottsma

Welcome to the forum Gordan.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

MissLeopard, the stomach "flu" isn't really a flu, that's a misnomer.  The flu is a respiratory virus.  Tummy bugs are usually things like norovirus, rotavirus, etc.  So unfortunately the flu shot wouldn't give you any protection against that.    I hope you haven't caught it!

On that note, things at my workplace are looking up.  Nobody else at work has gotten sick to my knowledge, and my co-worker who was sick yesterday is already feeling much better today (I'm still avoiding her though, because I've read that you can still be contagious for up to 24 hours after symptoms abate, and I'm not taking any chances - still being really careful to wash my hands a lot too and not touch my face, etc).

Carol, it's definitely a juggling act to work and take care of a house and pets and cars and hobbies and husband.    I really have no choice but to work full-time, it's through my job that we have our health insurance (hubby isn't offered insurance through his job as a chef, I think they have too few employees so they aren't required to offer insurance) and of course we need the money that comes from my income.  So I have to work, it's not an option.  But I'm okay with it, most of the time I can get through work okay - it's only a struggle when I'm feeling really unwell.  And my hobbies, they pretty much just keep me sane.    I'm an antsy sort of person, I have a hard time just sitting around watching TV in the evenings, it feels like I'm doing nothing and that drives me nuts.  So if I have something to do, like sewing or crocheting, I feel worthwhile and that relieves the antsiness.

And 6 miles is great!  Before this flare, 6 miles was a pretty typical distance for me to ride my bike as well - 6.5 miles if you want to be exact.  The gym that I go to is something like 3.25 miles from my house, and my favorite workout in the warmer months is to get on my road bike, ride fast and hard to the gym.  The ride there serves as my warm-up.  Then at the gym I'd lift weights and do my stretches.  Then ride my bike home at a slower, more leisurely pace as my cool-down.  That's my favorite thing to do, it's an ideal distance to bike (if I cycle for too long, my guts start to yell at me) and a workout like that always makes me feel so good.  Like I've done everything, like I've left nothing on the table - I did my cardio and I did my weights and I did my stretching, everything is accounted for and there's nothing else I could do, I end up completely exhausted but also completely satisfied with what I've accomplished.  So, don't feel bad about 6 miles, that's a great distance to cycle.    Really makes me miss cycling!  As soon as it's springtime, I'm determined to get back on my beautiful road bike!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, today's the day of the MRE.  I have everything set to go.  I think I'm going to be getting my exercise by running back and forth to the bathroom this evening.    If it's not as bad as I'm expecting, then I will get out my gift bags tonight and start wrapping gifts so that I can move things out of the way of my treadmill (it's the type of treadmill that folds up or down, it's currently folded up and the gifts are in the way of it folding down - if I can just get them wrapped and moved elsewhere then I can use my treadmill).

Tomorrow I'm hoping to walk Lily.  It should be cold (high temp of 35 F, brr) but at least the rain has stopped for now.  I can deal with cold, it is December in Wisconsin after all so it's to be expected.  Sunday they're still saying we're getting 1-3 inches of snow, so I may get my exercise in the form of shoveling that day if the snow sticks to the pavement.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

The MRE contrast went much better than I expected - it made me super gassy yesterday, but honestly there hasn't been much/any diarrhea, if anything it seemed to firm up my stools!  I've had one perfectly formed stool today, and that was it.  I also feel quite well and was able to do a lot.  I did take Lily on a long walk, even though it was quite cold out (I don't know if the temp even got up to 30 F, and it was lightly snowing all day).  She, of course, loves the cold, so she had a great time.  I was freezing, but at least my guts felt well (maybe I should drink MRE contrast more often, hah!).  I did a bunch of other stuff today as well, I wrapped some gifts and bought more gifts and did grocery shopping and vacuuming.  It's been a busy day! 

I didn't get all the gifts wrapped though, there are still piles of unwrapped gifts blocking my treadmill.    Hubby wants to go down to the Chicago suburbs tomorrow to do more xmas shopping, but I'd rather stay home and take care of more stuff like that around the house.  It's supposed to snow 1-3 inches tomorrow, so I guess we'll see what the weather is doing when we get up in the morning.  I'd really just love to stay in, wrap gifts and sew, drink tea and watch xmas movies.  That sounds so nice!  I really don't want to go all the way to the Chicago area in the snow (it's about 2.5 hours each way, so it's a lot of time in the car).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a fairly active Saturday.  Walked the dog, did grocery shopping and other errands, and then in the evening hubby and I went to the zoo.  I got my 10,000 steps in that day and felt quite well.

Sunday, guts were still backed up and I could feel my full guts start to push on and irritate my bladder, so I didn't feel quite as well.  We did stay in, by the time we woke up it had already snowed and was still snowing (it snowed all day, we got about 5 inches total which is more than they were predicting!).  So I mainly stayed in and rested that day, although I did get outside to help hubby clean off the cars (we don't have a garage) and shovel the driveway.  It was very heavy, wet snow so that was a workout in itself just to clean off the cars and shovel.  So I wasn't totally idle.  But for the most part I stayed in, stayed in my pajamas, baked cookies, watched football on TV, drank hot cocoa, and crocheted.  All in all not a bad day!

Today I'm still backed up - I was able to have 2 bowel movements so far today, but it was little hard poos like rabbit poo and my bladder still isn't feeling great.  So I'm going to try to walk as much as I can and drink as much water as I can to get things moving.  I might also eat something I shouldn't, just to get my guts to speed things up a bit.  The things we do to try to achieve some sort of balance!

Hah, I still haven't cleared the area around my treadmill at home.    This might be slightly OCD but I'm waiting for more presents to arrive (I've ordered some things online that are coming in the next few days).  We do a few different xmas get-togethers - one with my parents and brother, one with hubby's parents and his sister and her family, and one with my aunts and uncles and cousins on my mom's side.  So, I like to only wrap gifts once I have all the gifts in hand for that particular group.  I don't have everything for my parents nor hubby's parents yet so I haven't wrapped any of those yet, they're all still just sitting by the treadmill.  My aunts/uncles/cousins gifts I do all have, so I did wrap all of those, but those are the only ones I've wrapped.  Hopefully though by the end of the week, I'll have everything and can wrap it all and be done with it.  And use my treadmill again!  (In the meantime, I can use the treadmill at work, and I can also walk outdoors as long as the weather is okayish - it's in the 30s F and not snowing today, and the snow from yesterday has mostly been shoveled off of the sidewalks already, so I am hoping to walk Lily after work tonight.)


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## scottsma

I walked into town and back today,and around the shops for an hour.Not great,but better than nothing.It was very cold 3c and down to 0c now at 4-30pm,so to cold to cycle.But the temp.is going to rise to 13c on Wednesday so we'll def.be on two wheels then.I think I've mentioned before that walking really does my back in now.By the time I got home today I was almost in tears.I couldn't get in quick enough to take some pain meds.I used to love walking and did some miles walking my dogs.In fact if I had a penny for every mile I'd be pretty rich.Not your fave man D.T.rich though hahaha.:hallo 3: I hope your tum gets back to normal soon,whatever normal is for us.Take care if you walk Lily tonight.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It sounds like we are having similar weather, 0 c is 32 F which is about what it is here right now.  Too cold to cycle but not too cold for a walk as long as it's not windy/raining/snowing.  Yes, you've mentioned your back before with regards to walking, that's not good.  I'm glad you can cycle without pain.

Our weather is going to get colder, not warmer - by Thursday it's maybe going to get as "warm" as 20 F, brr.  No more snow though for a few days at least.  But 20 F is quite cold, probably too cold for me to do much walking.  So I really should make more of an effort to clear the area around my treadmill...

As for my belly, I had some oatmeal a little while ago which sometimes gets things moving along, and I plan to have Mexican food for lunch if that doesn't work!  And then a very gentle dinner of rice and fish to apologize to my body for the Mexican food, ha ha.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> It sounds like we are having similar weather, 0 c is 32 F which is about what it is here right now.  Too cold to cycle but not too cold for a walk as long as it's not windy/raining/snowing.  Yes, you've mentioned your back before with regards to walking, that's not good.  I'm glad you can cycle without pain.
> 
> Our weather is going to get colder, not warmer - by Thursday it's maybe going to get as "warm" as 20 F, brr.  No more snow though for a few days at least.  But 20 F is quite cold, probably too cold for me to do much walking.  So I really should make more of an effort to clear the area around my treadmill...
> 
> As for my belly, I had some oatmeal a little while ago which sometimes gets things moving along, and I plan to have Mexican food for lunch if that doesn't work!  And then a very gentle dinner of rice and fish to apologize to my body for the Mexican food, ha ha.


Are you a regular coffee drinker (drink everyday)?  If not, I would recommend drinking 2 cups of coffee to spur on a BM.  I found this helps me tremendously without having to take on laxatives.  Anytime I'm feeling backed up, coffee helps 9/10 times.  Apparently, it's backed by science, too.  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-coffee-make-you-poop/?utm_term=.42d71b81f341


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Unfortunately not, caffeine gives me migraines so I've had to cut it out altogether (except for a small bit of chocolate at times - I can't have soda, coffee, nor even decaf tea, though).  I used to drink coffee on occasion before IBD came into my life and I do recall it giving me a laxative effect!  But then when I got sick, I also started getting migraines, and right away I found caffeine to be a trigger.  So I haven't had coffee in over 7 years now.    I miss it a bit, sometimes I walk down the coffee aisle at the grocery store just to smell it, and it smells wonderful.  But that's as close to a coffee fix as I can get without setting off a migraine.

I had taco bell for lunch and still no further movement!  I did, however, do some more reading up on interstitial cystitis, to see if there were any home remedies I could do to make my bladder feel better.  I came across a link that said that sometimes allergy meds can help, so I tried taking a claritin.  I think it's helping?  I haven't really had bladder urgency since taking it, and I don't think my bladder feels as irritated.  So I may just start taking claritin on a regular basis and see if that doesn't help my bladder.  I'm definitely going to take it on a trial basis for a week or two and see how I'm feeling.

Walking-wise, even though it was a bit colder and windier than I expected, I still took a walk through the woods on my lunch break.  Got about 5,000 steps in so far today and had a nice time.  I found a new walking path nearby which is paved but goes through woods, which is a win-win!  With yesterday's snowfall and with it becoming very melty today, everything is muddy, so a paved path is a must on days like this.  But I also really prefer walking through woods to walking through the city - I read that there's a Japanese term called "forest bathing" which I'm trying to do more, it's literally just go to a forest and soak up the nature and de-stress.  So this was a perfect place to walk today.  I can definitely see myself doing more walks there.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Unfortunately not, caffeine gives me migraines so I've had to cut it out altogether (except for a small bit of chocolate at times - I can't have soda, coffee, nor even decaf tea, though).  I used to drink coffee on occasion before IBD came into my life and I do recall it giving me a laxative effect!  But then when I got sick, I also started getting migraines, and right away I found caffeine to be a trigger.  So I haven't had coffee in over 7 years now.    I miss it a bit, sometimes I walk down the coffee aisle at the grocery store just to smell it, and it smells wonderful.  But that's as close to a coffee fix as I can get without setting off a migraine.
> 
> I had taco bell for lunch and still no further movement!  I did, however, do some more reading up on interstitial cystitis, to see if there were any home remedies I could do to make my bladder feel better.  I came across a link that said that sometimes allergy meds can help, so I tried taking a claritin.  I think it's helping?  I haven't really had bladder urgency since taking it, and I don't think my bladder feels as irritated.  So I may just start taking claritin on a regular basis and see if that doesn't help my bladder.  I'm definitely going to take it on a trial basis for a week or two and see how I'm feeling.


Decaffeinated coffee works, too.  You could try some of the low acid coffee - Puroast - if you have acid reflux or heartburn issues.  I've tried it before and, while it's not the best tasting, it definitely didn't set off any problems.  

As for the IC and Claritin, I've never read about that connection, but that's interesting.  I am taking Singulair for allergic rhinitis, hay fever, and chronic asthma and I've noticed that I'm not using the bathroom nearly as often as normal.  I have both IC and overactive bladder.  I've tried Oxytrol patches in the past but I am allergic to the adhesive.  I've tried Vesicare back when I was first diagnosed with OB but it was kind of pricey and really didn't make much of a difference.  I've tried Myrbetriq with better luck, but don't have a prescription (it was sample).


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## MissLeopard83

I just realized why Claritin can work for IC - it's an anticholinergic medication!  Most medication for OAB problems are anticholinergic in nature - they block the acetylcholine receptors in the nervous system.  So, if the AC receptors are blocked, you aren't "getting the message" thru to your nerves in your bladder to use the potty.  

http://www.healthline.com/health/overactive-bladder/anticholinergic-medications#Overactivebladder1


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Decaf coffee still has some caffeine in it, so I can't have that either.  It has less caffeine than regular coffee but still enough caffeine to trigger a migraine.  Same with decaf tea, it still has enough caffeine to give me a migraine.  Literally I can only drink ginger tea at this point - it's got zero caffeine (herbal teas have no caffeine at all).  And since I'm doing the low-FODMAP diet, I'm not allowed chamomile tea since that's too high in FODMAPs, and I can't do peppermint tea because of my GERD, so ginger tea is literally the only hot beverage I can have.  And that does not trigger bathroom trips.

At any rate, I finally was able to have a decent bowel movement!  Phew!  It was actually so large in volume that I clogged my toilet this morning.    But I feel better, not so backed up now.

I have no idea the science behind the claritin and IC thing, but that sounds like it makes sense.  I'm definitely going to keep taking it if it helps, which it seems to so far (but obviously it's still very early on in my claritin trial).  It still seems odd to me that an allergy med would help my bladder, but hey, if it works it works!  And I'm not complaining!  And I don't think there are many adverse side effects to taking claritin long-term, so I'm fine with this.

As for walking - I did walk Lily around the block yesterday.  Today's weather is supposed to be similar to yesterday's, so low/mid 30s F, just warm enough for the snow to be melty and for the ground to not be slippery.  I am hoping to do another walk at that paved path through the forest.  Yesterday, where I parked, you could basically take the path in either direction.  So I walked in one direction - today I'm going to try the other direction.  

Tomorrow it's supposed to start getting colder, so my walks will probably have to be moved indoors to a treadmill.  I'm feeling okay lately so I'm tempted to throw in a few bodyweight exercises as well - things like squats (no lunges though, that's how I injured my toe about a month ago and it still hurts at times).  I've just tapered down to 10 mg pred which is slightly dangerous territory, recently any time I've tried to go below 10 mg is when I flare up again, so I'm going to have to be very cautious about exercise and listen to my body.  I need to focus on getting well, and getting off of pred.  That's the priority now, and exercise has to come second to that and has to be complimentary to me getting well and not hinder my progress or put me in more pain.  So, the bodyweight exercises and walks in the future will be dependent on how my taper is going.


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## scottsma

That's sensible Cat.It's impossible to everything.Getting well is more important than exercise.You can easily catch up because like me exercise is part of daily routine.Having said that I'm having a "can't be bothered" day.I have been for a supermarket shop though.I'm glad you managed to get emptied,what a relief that must have been.I'll be interested in how the Clarityn experiment works.I'm also interested in coffee to get things moving.Would that be black coffee ? I do drink weakish milky nescafe,not fresh.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I know I'll be able to catch up pretty easily, I definitely do try to make exercise part of my daily routine.  I don't know the answer to your coffee question but I would presume that any type of coffee would have some laxative effect?  Maybe stronger coffee would have a stronger effect, I'm not sure.  Back before I got sick, when I would have the occasional coffee, I'd always splurge for fancy coffee with flavors and whipped cream and chocolate syrup and so on.    It was more like a dessert than like coffee.  And those would go right through me, but I always presumed it was because I'm lactose intolerant (I've been lactose intolerant since my early 20s, well before IBD came into my life) and I'm sure those fancy coffees had a lot of dairy added - milk, whipped cream, etc.  So I don't know!  Maybe it was the coffee or maybe it was the dairy, or maybe both.

I'm having a stressful day.  Work has been a nightmare, and I'm always stressed around the holidays anyway.  So I already snuck down to the treadmill at work and did a 10 minute walk on that, which feels like it did help somewhat with my stress levels.  I'm also still planning on walking through the forest and walking Lily later today, so hopefully between all my walks I'll be able to offload a good chunk of stress.

Specifically the holiday stress right now is that computers are stupid.    I've got some video files on my computer that I took of my grandparents a few years ago, it's them telling some of the well-known family stories.  I want to put burn these files onto DVDs and give one to each person in the family.  Sounds great, right?  But my computer keeps giving me error messages and won't burn the files to a disc.  And I'm not sure why, the error message is vague enough that I don't know what to do to fix it.  I do have a DVD recorder that basically records right off of the TV, so the current plan is to put the files onto a thumb drive and run that through my blu-ray player, and record it off of the TV like that.  But my hubby has to hook up the DVD recorder to do that and it sounds very complex (I have no idea how to do that or I'd do it myself).  So this project has now stressed both of us out.  We're going to work on it tonight and see if we can't at least make some headway.  I'll be super happy if we can get this stupid thing to work!  I just want to share happy family memories with my family, it shouldn't be so difficult to do.


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## scottsma

I get the "error" message quite a lot.The only thing that works for me is to switch off and re-start.But I'm a techno phobe and certainly don't use this lap-top to any where near 10% of its full potential.How much time do you get off at xmas Cat ? I expect your hubby will be busy.I love the Japanese idea of the forest walk.I feel really sorry for people who perport to "hate" the countryside and have no interest in wildlife.I mean,what's not to love ? I'm just out of the bath and have my PJs on ready for evening TV staring.Unlike you, I'm happy to sit doing nothing in the evening.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I also don't understand people who don't like being outside in nature.  Weirdly, my own brother is one of these people.  And I can sort of understand in a way - when we were kids, our parents would take us on nature hikes, but our parents are bird-watchers.  So we'd have to stop every, like, 10 or 20 feet so that they could stop and look at a bird.  That type of nature walk we definitely found to be very boring, especially as children, and they wouldn't let us walk ahead because of course we'd scare the birds.  But as an adult, I love walking in nature, and I love seeing birds (though I don't stop every 10 feet to look at them) and animals and insects. The few times we've tried to go on a nature walk as a family of adults, my brother complains the whole time and is in an extremely foul mood.  Did I mention he's 31 years old and really should have learned how to behave like an adult by now?  I guess the Japanese notion of forest-bathing is lost on him.  Or it brings back childhood memories of being bored and he can't get past that?  I don't know.  There are lots of things I don't like/don't understand about my brother, that's just one of them.

I get a few days off at xmas and another few at new year's.  I am off of work from Dec 23rd thru the 26th, so that's a nice 4-day weekend there (although obviously it'll be a very busy weekend!).  And then for new year's, I get to leave at half-day on the 30th, and don't have to go back to work until the 3rd.  New year's is going to be a much more restful and relaxing time, hubby and I rarely go out on new year's and this will be no exception.  Usually we cook a nice meal and stay in and watch TV, sometime we don't even stay up until midnight.  I'm not sure of hubby's work schedule - I know he's taking off Dec 24-26th as we have family stuff to do all those days, but I suspect he'll be working a lot during new year's (the restaurant he works at is also a bar, so they'll likely do a lot of business over new year's).  So, I may have some time to myself at new year's, which I'm just fine with (I'm a huge introvert and love my alone time).  I'll probably use that time to clean up and recover from xmas, and of course do some crafts.


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## scottsma

Since our son emigrated to Australia 18yrs ago,hubby and I don't do xmas at all.(we have had 2 in OZ,nightmare) We'd take a pic-nic into the hills and go for a ramble,then come home and relax.We have no other family now to celebrate with.Since losing Alfie almost two years ago,we've lost the inclination to do things we did with him (and all our other dogs)it's to upsetting.Hence the cycling.So if the weathers reasonable we'll go out on the bikes,if it's bad weather,well.we'll have to see.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well then, I'm glad that you have cycling to look forward to, and I hope you have nice weather on xmas and can go for a bike ride.  The thought of a bike ride or a picnic here on xmas, it just wouldn't happen.  We get too much cold and snow this time of year - could maybe go skiing or snowshoeing, but definitely not a bike ride nor picnic!  We're supposed to get another 3-6 inches of snow this coming weekend, ugh.

I walked on the forest path yesterday in the other direction, and it wasn't as nice as the first direction (from the parking area, you can either walk east or west on the path - the first day I had walked west, and yesterday I walked east).  It was more urban and less foresty - there were some trees but also there were clearly visible office buildings, a school, cars, etc.  It did not give me the impression that I was in a calm, relaxing forest.  So in the future I'm only going to take the path that goes to the west as that path is much nicer and feels like a proper forest, you can't see buildings nor cars from that side.  

Today it's getting colder.  It was only 18 degrees F (about -8 C according to google) this morning when I drove to work.  Brr!  And it's only going to get colder from here, yuck.  One of the things I inherited from my grandpa were a couple of his blankets.  One is a blanket that I had crocheted for him a few years ago - it's red, his favorite color.  And the other is an electric blanket, it's wonderfully toasty warm (and also is red).  So lately in the evenings I've been cuddling up with my grandpa blankets.  They're comforting on multiple levels.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Blerg.  I have had a headache all day and it seems to be getting worse instead of better.  No walking today, not even on a treadmill, so far.  I might push myself to walk Lily around the block tonight although it's very cold out, but maybe the cold will shock/numb my brain into having less pain.    Tomorrow I have a work holiday luncheon, so I can't get out and walk on my lunch break (it'll likely be too cold anyway so probably a moot point).  I just hope this headache is gone by then.  Sometimes my headaches/migraines can last up to 5 days.  I've taken some tylenol and it seems to have done precisely nothing.  Ugh.  I really need to be able to at least pretend like I'm a normal human at this luncheon tomorrow, so I hope this headache is gone soon.

When I'm not feeling well, I make stupid decisions.  I've been trying to stick to the low-FODMAP diet, but I totally cheated on that for lunch today.  I decided to have shrimp and veggie tempura, got take-out from a local Japanese restaurant.  Fried foods generally do not sit well with me, but it sounded yummy.  My guts are just slightly unsettled now, nothing too bad (knock on wood) so far.  The stupid part is, sushi is totally safe for me.  Fish, rice, seaweed are all okay on the low-FODMAP diet but obviously something fried in batter like tempura is not.  I could have gotten sushi and been okay.  I am kicking myself slightly for that.  I need to make better decisions even when I'm in pain.  That's apparently a part of myself that I need to work on.


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## scottsma

We all need to loosen up occasionally Cat.Being disciplined all of the time is soul destroying.At least you knew you were making the wrong decision and that you would pay for it,but I would have taken the chance too.Hope your migraine passes quickly.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm still somewhat headachey but better than yesterday.  I've been taking claritin as a trial to see if it helps my bladder issues (so far so good there) but I think it's messing with my sinuses as I've been blowing my nose more and having more nosebleeds than usual, and my headaches usually start in the sinus area too and this one is no exception.  So I think this headache is maybe because of the claritin?  I don't know.  I'm sure I've taken claritin in the past and I don't recall having issues with it, so maybe it's just the cold & dry winter air screwing with my sinuses (I often get nosebleeds in winter because of the dry air) and it just coincidentally happened at the same time that I started taking claritin daily?

My guts aren't super happy with me today either, probably because I ate poorly yesterday.  I'm getting back on track today with my diet.  My department is having an xmas luncheon today at work, and for my lunch I've ordered baked salmon and rice which is very safe for me.  I'm also planning ahead for some meals to keep myself on track.  It's supposed to be quite snowy all weekend, so the other day I took a whole turkey out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to thaw - I'm planning to roast that either tomorrow or Saturday, then we can have turkey leftovers to get us through the snowstorm.  Yum!

Exercise-wise, I just don't feel up to it today.  Between the headache and my guts, plus the fact that I'm exhausted (I tried going to bed a half hour earlier than normal last night, but instead of getting more sleep, I lay awake for an hour - ugh!), I just don't feel up to exercising, not even walking, today.  I'm hoping tomorrow is better.  Saturday, the snow is supposed to start in the early afternoon, so I'm tentatively planning to get Lily out for a nice long walk in the morning before the snowstorm hits.  And I'm sure I'll be shoveling and cleaning the cars off once the snow is (at least temporarily) over with.  It's supposed to snow from Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning, take a bit of a break, then start snowing again Sunday mid-afternoon.  So there'll be a few hours there of no snow where I can get out and clear off the first round of snow, before the second round starts.  So yeah, with all of that, I'll definitely get some exercise in this weekend!


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## scottsma

If you don't feel up to it,don't push yourself.There'll be other days.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm feeling a little better as the day has gone on.  I just got back from the work luncheon, it was actually a fun time.  We had a white elephant gift exchange which was really fun.  I managed to eat my salmon and I feel okay-ish.  At any rate, I don't feel any worse than I did before eating, so I guess that's success.  I was able to eat without making myself feel worse.  And I had a fun time and had some laughs and mentally feel better than I did this morning.

I'm becoming slightly more ambitious, too.  Looking at the weather reports, I feel like I want to do as much as possible outside the house on Saturday morning before the snow hits.  I'm now toying with the idea of going to visit my grandma on Saturday morning.  I could get there around 10 AM, visit with her briefly, give her a small xmas tree and some small ornaments that I got for her, and the DVD that I made for her.  Lunch at her facility is served at 11 AM, so I'd leave shortly before then so that she could sit down to her lunch.  Short visits with her are best anyway, so that'd be an ideal time to leave.  It's about a 45 or 50 minute drive to get home, so I'd get home before noon - the snow is supposed to start at some point between noon and 3 PM on Saturday.  So I wouldn't be driving in snow which is good.  And if the snow holds off just a bit, I could quickly walk Lily once I got home.  Then I could settle in for the rest of the afternoon and watch the snow and do some sewing and wrap more gifts, etc.  

So, that's the current plan.  Zip over to my grandma's and have a visit with her, zip home and walk Lily, then have a more relaxing time for the rest of the weekend and stay in while the snow flies.  Once again hubby has been wanting to go to the Chicago suburbs on Sunday to do shopping, but once again the weather is almost certainly going to stop us from doing that (it stopped us from going to Chicago last weekend, it's stopping us this coming weekend, and it sounds like it may even stop us the following weekend - there's a lot of snow in the forecast all of a sudden, it is going to hit us every weekend it seems!).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, I had a rough evening yesterday.  All day I was sort of wondering if I was developing a yeast infection (pred can cause those), and by evening I knew it to be true.  So I went to the pharmacy and got some yeast infection medicine.  They have different time spans for treatment - you can get a 7 day course, 5 days, 3 days, or even 1 day.  Since I'm getting an IUD inserted on Monday, I opted for the 1 day treatment course.

In the past I'd only done the 5-day courses (I think that was all they had when I was younger?) and I don't recall those being painful at all.  Well, the 1-day course apparently is stronger, and it burned a lot.  My lady parts have sort of been weeping blood today, although I do feel much better now - it's not burning anymore and the infection does seem to have gone.  Still, in the future, I think I'll opt for more days!

Today I am very tired.  I kept waking up, couldn't stay asleep, and when I was asleep I had bad dreams.  I dreamt that an acquaintance of mine was trying to assault me and I only had a pair of scissors to defend myself.  Then I woke up again.  When I fell back asleep, I dreamt that my dog ran away and I couldn't find her and I was so sad and worried.  So after that, when I woke up, I just stayed awake - couldn't take any more bad dreams!

Today has made a turn for the better, though.  I got a call from my GI's nurse, saying that the LDN prescription has been sent over to the compounding pharmacy!!!    Finally!  I can't make it there after work as they close shortly after I leave work and the pharmacy is on the far opposite side of town from where I work, so I couldn't make it in time.  I am going there first thing tomorrow morning.  (I'll call them this afternoon just to make sure everything is all ready to go.)  I'm so excited for LDN!  Tomorrow is going to be a good day.  

But on the subject of bad dreams, apparently people have some very weird dreams and interrupted sleep their first week or so of taking LDN.  So I guess I better get used to bad dreams and not sleeping well because it's going to happen some more!  But it should only be for a week or so, I can deal with that.


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## scottsma

What an awful night you had Cat,I hope you get a better sleep tonight.
Good news that your LDN is ready.I hope it does what you want it to.Fingers x'd.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Carol!  My LDN prescription finally going through, that more than makes up for a crappy night.  My mood is so much improved now.

I did some reading, and it sounds like I should take my LDN at bedtime.  So the plan is that I will pick it up tomorrow and will take it for the first time at bedtime tomorrow.  So on Sunday I should maybe have some inkling of an idea of how it's going.  I know it can take weeks or even months to kick in, so probably I won't feel much different by Sunday.  I'm down to 10 mg of pred, so my hope is that as I'm coming off of pred, LDN kicks in fully (and has at least started kicking in before then so that it helps me get off of pred).  And from there I hopefully have a nice long remission (that would be so nice!).  My longest remission in the past was about 2 years, from spring 2011 - spring 2013, and those were wonderful years.  I exercised so much, I kayaked, I rode my bike, I lifted weights, I took Lily on lots of long walks.  I really want to get back to that!  I want to be able to exercise often and intensely!  I want to go on adventures and travel as well!  Lasting, stable remission is my goal and I'm going to fight like heck to get there.  I really hope LDN is the key to that goal.  It's certainly made me feel energized, like I have a good weapon in the fight now.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Well, I had a rough evening yesterday.  All day I was sort of wondering if I was developing a yeast infection (pred can cause those), and by evening I knew it to be true.  So I went to the pharmacy and got some yeast infection medicine.  They have different time spans for treatment - you can get a 7 day course, 5 days, 3 days, or even 1 day.  Since I'm getting an IUD inserted on Monday, I opted for the 1 day treatment course.
> 
> In the past I'd only done the 5-day courses (I think that was all they had when I was younger?) and I don't recall those being painful at all.  Well, the 1-day course apparently is stronger, and it burned a lot.  My lady parts have sort of been weeping blood today, although I do feel much better now - it's not burning anymore and the infection does seem to have gone.  Still, in the future, I think I'll opt for more days!


That's been my experience, as well, with the 1-day treatments.  They are much too strong.  In fact, I used one at night one time that had Tioconazole as the active ingredient instead of the usual Miconazole and woke up with swelling and pain in a very sensitive place.  I had to call-off work and make an emergency appointment with my OB/Gyn who said it caused a severe rash and he applied lidocaine to the affected areas because it was too painful for me to even sit normally.  Not fun at all!  I'm also allergic to white petroleum - I get contact dermatitis from it - but regular petroleum doesn't seem to do any harm.  White petroleum was in the treatment and caused even more problems (that's before I knew I was allergic).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh my, that sounds horrible!  My experience fortunately hasn't been that bad - there definitely was a lot of burning last night at bedtime after I inserted the medicine, but it gradually eased up over the course of maybe an hour or so.  And I can sit just fine today and I don't think there's any swelling or anything like that.  There might still be an ever so slight burning feeling left over, but that isn't surprising because I'm also still bleeding ever so slightly (just the faintest light pink tint when I wipe, it's hardly anything at all).  I just need things down there to be okay by Monday afternoon as that's when I get the IUD put in, which is why I initially had thought the 1-day treatment would be best - it didn't occur to me until I actually put the medicine in that I realized, duh, it's going to be very harsh and strong because it has to do everything in one day as opposed to multiple.  I do think I'll be fine by Monday, but I've also learned my lesson and will never do the 1-day treatment again!  Fortunately I don't seem to get yeast infections very often - in the past I've only ever gotten them when on certain antibiotics, and this one was caused by pred, so I only seem to get them from certain meds.  Fun times when you have to take meds for your side effects from meds.


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## scottsma

I hope your plan to see your Gran and walk Lily go as hoped.But like I said earlier, don't push yourself.We must take notice when our bodies are trying to tell us something,and not do what we "think" we should be doing.Enjoy your day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Fortunately the day went well and (almost) everything went to plan.  I got my LDN, I then proceeded to laugh-cry in my car for about half of the drive to my grandma's (I really, really, really wanted to try LDN and I fought hard to get my doc to prescribe it to me, so to finally have it in hand, my emotions just sort of all came out at once in a big mess, ha ha).  

I made it to my grandma's just fine and we had a lovely visit.  I brought her the DVD with my grandpa on it, and at first all she could say was, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."  Then later she started saying, "It's like you dug him up and brought him back to me!"  Which was pretty macabre of a thought in my opinion!  It didn't help that she then kept repeating that phrase.  She was very happy though, happy to see me and happy to have that DVD (which I'm sure she's already forgotten about, but oh well).

After that I went to the grocery store, which was kind of crazy.  Very busy - with the impending snowstorm, apparently everybody in town decided to do their grocery shopping today.  So long lines and big crowds and general craziness there.  

Then, and this is the part that really didn't go to plan - I came home and was going to cook a whole turkey.  I had put a frozen turkey in the fridge days ago to let it thaw, but when I took it out of the packaging - still frozen solid.  Ugh, oh no!  I cannot cook a frozen turkey, I don't know how or even if that's advisable.  Sooo, no turkey dinner for me tonight and I'm a bit grumpy about that.  Hubby is off work tomorrow so I'm going to assign him to deal with the stupid frozen turkey.  I wash my hands of it.

I did walk Lily after that.  It was very cold but she of course loved it.  The snow started just as we were leaving the dog park, so that was good timing.  The snow is coming down now so we're hunkered in for the evening.  If it's really snowy tomorrow, I might get my snowshoes out for a bit.  And of course will shovel too.


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## scottsma

Glad your day went well,apart from the turkey that is.Will look forward to update on the LDN.Enjoy your day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

LDN went fine, I didn't have vivid dreams and don't really feel any different.  I know it takes awhile to kick in so I wasn't expecting it to do a whole lot on the first day anyway, so this is fine.

Hubby put the turkey in the slow cooker, so we'll see if that works.  He's just going to cook the stupid thing all day, so we're planning to have it for dinner.  Cooking it for 10 hours!

It's still snowing!  We probably already got 5 or 6 inches of snow and they're predicting 7-10 inches of snow total by the time this snowstorm ends.  I think I pinched a nerve in my neck/shoulderblade area, I've had some neck & shoulder pain yesterday and today.  Hubby has had similar pain lately, so we're going to have a rough time when it comes to shoveling.  I don't think I'm going to get my snowshoes out, as I need to save my energy for shoveling (and for recovering from shoveling).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yesterday I shoveled and ran around in the snow a bit with Lily.  Did not go snowshoeing but was very active around the house.  I did a lot of sewing (got all my fabric cut and pinned, and sewed 3 of the 6 Bambi pillowcases - going to try to sew the rest tonight so I can get them mailed out to my cousins).  I also wrapped almost all of the xmas gifts that I had sitting by my treadmill - just a few more gifts to finish up making (making a pillow for my youngest niece) and then everything will be done as far as xmas gifts!  And I can access my treadmill again which is really nice.  I also did a bunch of stuff like cleaning, baking banana bread, vacuuming, etc.  It was a very busy day, especially considering that I was hunkered down inside at home all day due to the snow!

LDN still going fine, I've had zero side effects and I think I'm starting to see some benefit?  At any rate, I haven't gotten worse and no side effects, so I'd say it's going fine so far.  It's only been 2 days so still too early to really see any benefits anyway.

Today I get my IUD inserted, so I'm guessing I'm going to be resting with my heating pad for much of the evening (hopefully things will be okay enough that I can still sew).  Any future walking/exercising for the next little while is going to be dependent on how crampy my lady parts are.  I was told to expect very bad cramping for the first 20-30 minutes or so, and from there it should hopefully get much less crampy, but that I should expect intermittent cramping for the next few months.  Sooo, we'll see how much and how intense of cramping my body throws my way.  It is important to me to get this IUD - with those horrible men coming in to office soon, I want to make sure I get my birth control all set for as long as their administration might last - so in the long-term, the cramping will be well worth it.  But for now, it might suck a little bit.  We'll see!  I've got tylenol and bentyl (I know that's for gut cramps, but it seems to help with menstrual cramps as well, and I can't take anything like ibuprofen so I'm going to give bentyl a try) and I have my microwaveable heating pad.  Hopefully everything will go okay today!  If all goes well then I'll start up with my walking again soon - going to have to be indoors on a treadmill, though, because the weather is supposed to become extremely cold this week.


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## scottsma

At least you'll know where the cramps are coming from,and of course you may not get any trouble at all.It's probably worse case scenario.I'm waiting for the weather forecast to see if we can get out on the bikes tomorrow.Hope so.We don't have snow yet,but it has turned colder,which is OK as long as there's no wind.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

We've gotten snow every weekend with more in the forecast for this coming Friday and Saturday.  It is pretty but I'm sure I'll be sick of it very soon!  I am hoping though that the cold and snow means that the outdoor ice rinks will be opening in my city in the near future.  I love getting out for some ice skating even though I'm not very good at it (I can skate forwards and usually not fall, but I cannot do anything remotely fancy, just moving forward and staying upright is my main goal when skating, ha ha).

A couple of hours to go until I get my IUD put in.  I'm not too worried.  With all the invasive stuff I've been through lately, even with the cramping I think this will be not too bad.  I mean, I don't have to drink prep nor contrast, so right there it's already better than the last few medical things I've had done.    And it sounds like I won't have a period anymore, since the IUD is hormonal, so right there I'm already fairly excited about that prospect.  No babies and no periods, that makes me happy!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

IUD insertion went fine.  Cramping wasn't as bad as I was led to believe - I did spend Monday evening with my heating pad on, but the cramping was totally tolerable.  It was nothing compared to my IBD flare cramps.  And I've felt fine since then, no bleeding since Monday and only the occasional cramp here and there but it's momentary and tolerable.  So that's been fine overall, not a big deal.

LDN is going fine - the last 2 nights I did have some trouble sleeping, so that side effect has started.  I've read that poor quality sleep usually only lasts about a week when first starting LDN, so fairly soon I should be able to get better sleep again.

I haven't done any exercise lately, not even walking.  Monday was my IUD insertion, and yesterday our furnace broke and we were dealing with that nonsense (it's fortunately fixed now).  It's been very bitterly cold outside so walking outdoors is not happening right now.  We're supposed to get more snow on Friday/Saturday, so possibly Saturday I'll take Lily out and I'll go snowshoeing while she romps in the snow.  Sunday hubby and I plan to deep clean our house.  We're hosting my parents and brother on xmas, so I want to scrub and clean a lot of the house, particularly the kitchen and bathroom.  So that will sort of be like exercise, it'll definitely be a very active day.


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## scottsma

Glad the IUD went well and you're not suffering to much.It's a good job done and worth any little niggles.We decided to stop at one child and hubby had a vasectomy at 25 bless him.It wasn't my idea at all.Men are real babies,well mine is,so I was quite surprised.We even went private.I had a walk into town this morning,came back and did hubby's lunch then had a really enjoyable time on the bikes.It's still v. mild here but wet underfoot.
I'm sure your parents won't be giving you're home an inspection at xmas,but I like to have things done,then I can enjoy being lazy for a week or two.As to your sleeping problems re: LDN.....are you still taking Ami.? I sleep like a baby on just one a night.It's made a huge difference for me as I'm a really light sleeper usually.If the doc. took me off it I would have to fight him.hahaha.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, I take 25 mg amitriptyline every night.  It usually helps me sleep, but it doesn't always work 100% for that (I take it for migraine prevention - a higher dose would probably help me sleep better, but on anything higher than 25 mg, my migraines come back/get worse).  I do have some OTC sleep aid tablets that I might try one of tonight - I don't like taking those things, but on rare occasion I do give in and have one when I really need to sleep.

That's great that you've still got mild weather and can go for a bike ride!  Not a chance here, it's way too cold for that now.  I'm just hoping it warms up a bit so that I could go snowshoeing without completely freezing.


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## scottsma

Have just noticed my clean black trousers are absolutely covered in mud at the back.It's a good job I didn't go to the shops AFTER my bike ride.It wouldn't occur to my other half to tell me.I only take 10mg of Ami.,any more gives me dreams and restlessness.It's supposed to work in conjunction with Tramadol for my back pain.I used to use OTC sleep aids before that.They worked v.well for me.I hate not sleeping.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I never have clean black pants - I wash them, fold them, put them away, later I put them on, and somehow magically they have accumulated pet hair.    I swear black pants are like a pet hair magnet!  I never notice it as much on other color clothes, but on black I always see the pet hair.  Oh well.

You wear trousers on bike rides?  Is that not uncomfortable?  I always wear workout capris/leggings when I go on bike rides, if I have to look nice for some reason then I'll wear a skirt over leggings, but I don't think I could do a bike ride in trousers!

I just looked at the weather report and I'm discouraged.  Although we're getting another 10ish inches of snow on Friday/Saturday, I won't be able to snowshoe.  The bitter cold temperatures are continuing, ugh.  There's a high temp of -6 degrees F on Sunday.  (That's about -21 C according to google - very cold, and that's the high temp, so that's the warmest it'll be that day - brr!)  That's too cold.  So I guess I'll hunker down in the house, again.  Will definitely get on my treadmill though!  It's finally clear of gifts!


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## scottsma

My pants are pull ons but quite smart.I had been to the shops earlier and never thought to change.I have worn jeans on the bike,accidentaly,and that's a definite NO-NO.I plan to get some leggings for next summer.Our weather is still mild but cloudy,it might reach 15c at the weekend.We are going up the coast with the bikes tomorrow.But I won't be wearing black pants.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm jealous of your weather, 15 C is almost 60 F which is springtime weather!  That sounds perfect for a bike ride, so I hope you get to have a nice ride and enjoy that balmy weather.  Here it's once again -6 (-21 C).  Brr!  Although I did see that my local outdoor ice skating rink is now open.  It's currently a bit too cold to skate, when it's this cold I lose feeling in my legs when I'm outside and will likely fall.  But next week it's supposed to warm up a bit, into the 20s F, so I could totally go ice skating then.  I'm excited about that prospect!  I love ice skating!  

Oh I agree, jeans are definitely not happening on a bike ride, that sounds like the worst!  I don't think I'd get very far on a bike in jeans, that would be way too uncomfortable.  My backside has already been through enough, ha ha.  

This morning hubby and I were admiring the fact that our treadmill is now accessible again.  We didn't actually walk on it, but we admired it.    I'll walk on it this weekend for sure.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Gosh, well, I've been active at work today!  I'm sweating, like I have noticeable pit stains on my shirt (yes, I put deodorant on this morning!).  We've been ordering a bunch of items at work that we'll be giving away to customers throughout next year, so right now a LOT of stuff is being delivered and we have to store it in some way that's organized.  So I've spent a big chunk of the morning organizing things, moving boxes around, etc.  And I feel pretty good now!  It feels like I had a mini-workout.  I really need to start working out properly again.  I keep telling myself I will when I'm a little bit more well, when I've tapered down on pred a bit more, when I've been on LDN for longer.  But frankly, I'm sick of waiting.  I'm going to start working out again!


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## scottsma

Cat.you may as well wait until after the festivities.But a walk on the treadmill wouldn't hurt if you really must.Of course,when you put things off it's so much harder to get motivated again.But I have faith in you because I know you WANT to do it.That makes a huge difference.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I've been wanting to get back into properly working out for awhile now - basically since this flare began.  I'm sort of always motivated!  I love fitness!  I hate not working out at all or not working out the way I want to (frequently, intensely, with heavy weights).  I've always had the motivation, I just wasn't physically well enough but I think I might be now.  I know I should ease back into it, so I'm going to start by just doing a few exercises with lighter weights, and gradually up the weight and intensity etc.  I don't want to wait for the holidays to be over, I want to get a jump-start on things now.  (I also don't want to be mistaken for a New Year's resolutioner - I sort of loathe those people, they get all gung-ho to exercise starting on January 1st, and by January 5th or so they've already quit, but before quitting they hogged every piece of equipment in the gym while taking selfies, ugh.)

I'm going to take things slow & easy.  Last time I went to the gym, I injured myself (I was doing lunges and I felt something go "pop!" in my left foot just behind the big toe - turns out I gave myself turf toe, which has mostly healed now but still gives me a little bit of pain at times.)  I will be careful not to injure myself this time.  I have a home gym so I'm going to start there - I have dumbbells and a barbell and a weight bench, so I can do a lot from home.  I just want to do a few things and see how my body responds.  If it goes well then I'll continue from there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did it, I worked out at home yesterday, and I feel mostly good today (I do have a throbbing headache, but that's because there's a big snowstorm moving in - aside from the headache I feel fine).  I walked on the treadmill to warm up, then did some weights - nothing too heavy nor strenuous, mostly barbell with a bit of dumbbells.  And then I did some nice stretches at the end.  It felt really good!  I haven't lost much strength which is very good.

I think I'm going to try to lift weights again on Sunday.  Tomorrow I will likely be shoveling snow at some point - we're supposed to get up to 10 inches of snow between this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon.  Hubby works tomorrow, so I'll probably end up shoveling by myself.  That will be a good workout, I don't think I'll need to do anything else besides that!  

I am still pretty tired today.  I took another OTC sleep aid, but it didn't help as much this time.  I still woke up a few times during the night, and once again I woke up at 5 AM and couldn't get back to sleep - for some reason, my brain on LDN feels that 5 AM is the proper time to wake up (my alarm goes off at 6, so that's an hour of sleep that I'm missing out on every day now).  It's been only 6 days though that I've been on LDN, so I'm sure in a few more days once I've adapted to it, then I'll be sleeping better.  That's what I've read and that's what they told me at the compounding pharmacy.  So hopefully just a few more days of waking up at 5!


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## scottsma

We had a really good couple of hours on the bikes today.Had to stop a few time to visit the loo,but there are a few at the coast so no problem.WWe came across a path we hadn't used before,but we had an idea where it would take us.It was only about 18ins wide and I'm not very good on narrow paths,but it widened out after about half a mile.Then we came across what can only be described as a swamp.Impossible to cycle through.Go back or push on ? We pushed on and pushed the bikes.What a mess I was in.hahaha.I wear very light weight soft ankle boots and the mud was almost over the tops.Pants were a mess too,and the bikes of course.But it was good fun and we had a laugh.Have cleaned my boots and am about to have a bath then put a wash on.Glad you managed to do some exercise.I,like you always feel so much better afterwards.(and smug)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I don't know if smug is the word I'd use, but I do feel much more self-confident after a workout.  Usually I feel like I am not very good looking and am a bit chubby, but after a workout I feel like I'm hot stuff and skinny.    And yes, I feel very good as well after a workout, both mentally and physically.  I feel satisfied, I think that's the best word to describe it.  My mind and body are at ease after a workout, it's like every part of me becomes content for a little while.

Oh yuck, there's no way I would have gone through that mud, you are braver than I am!  Enjoy your bath, you've earned it!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I ended up not exercising over the weekend except to shovel snow (which is sort of a workout in itself).  I got the news on Saturday that my grandma had almost died - she was found pulseless, not breathing, but then she took a breath on her own and came back to life.  She's alive and apparently okay for the time being, but that's terrifying that I almost lost her.  So I ended up crying a lot this weekend and worrying.  And eating ice cream.  I know, that's not good.  (And isn't allowed on my low-FODMAP diet either.)

I know that the cure for stress and sadness is exercise - I always feel better, less stressed and happier after a workout.  So today I'm getting right back to it.  I'm going to go down to the little gym in the basement at work and do a lunch hour workout.  I'm back to eating healthier today as well - I have fruit (banana and tangerine) and oatmeal with blueberries for my snacks, and for lunch I packed baked fish (red snapper) and white rice.  Dinner will also be fish, hubby is going to make smelt.  So yeah, I'm getting back on track diet-wise and fitness-wise.  I won't let a couple of sad/bad days deter me from my fitness goals.

I know that fitness also requires planning, so I'm planning my workouts for this week.  Tomorrow I might take a walk - the weather is supposed to get up to 30 F, which is much warmer than it's been (it's been like -25 with the wind chills, so 30 degrees above zero sounds tropical in comparison).  Wednesday I plan to do another weights workout.  Thursday maybe another walk or maybe a rest day, depending on the weather and how I'm feeling.  Friday I have the day off of work and I have to do a few errands, but once my errands are done I plan to lift weights again, probably in my home gym.  Or I could also go to the big paid membership gym that I belong to and lift weights there - it's nice having several gyms to choose from!


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## scottsma

Glad you're back on track Cat.We've been cycling at the coast today.It was quite cold,but ok when we got going.Kept away from "MUD" today though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Glad you kept out of the mud this time!  I get a chill just thinking about cycling in winter, though.  Brr!  It sounds very cold to me although we are still in a cold snap at the moment here.  I have seen some people here in my city who are very stubborn about bicycling even in the coldest/snowiest weather - I saw at least 3 cyclists this morning on my drive to work, in the snow and the cold (it was -8 degrees F and that's not even factoring in the wind chill!).  Hopefully your weather is a little warmer than ours!

I just got back from my workout a little while ago and I feel good.  It feels great to be working out again!  And I'm feeling good physically, although I'm not quite where I want to be mentally.  I'm not back into the gym mindset yet.  Like, I knew I wanted to work out today.  But I forgot to pack extra Ranitidine with my lunch - I always need to take reflux meds before a workout, so I don't know why I neglected my Ranitidine like that - my brain just wasn't thinking "gym" I guess.  Fortunately I did have extra in my purse that I put there in case of reflux emergency.  I'm going to make sure to pack extra from now on.  Also, I didn't shave my legs!    That's silly, I know, but I felt a bit self-conscious about it.  I used to always remember to shave my legs if there was even a 1% chance that I'd be doing a workout in the near future.  So I need to remember to do things like that now that I'm starting to work out again.  I'm just not quite in the right mindset yet.  Working out, especially with a chronic illness, requires certain things to be planned/done ahead of time, and I'm just not there yet.  The unshaven legs thing was silly, but I really do need ranitidine or I cannot work out, I will vomit, my GERD is too severe to go without it.  So yeah, forgetting that was just a symptom of me not being in the right mindset yet.  I need to work on thinking like an athlete again and remember to do the things I need to do to work out.


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## scottsma

You've had a lot to deal with lately,so don't beat yourself up.But I know what you mean.I'm particular about stuff like that,and it spoils things for me when I forget.But I expect there will be lots of hairy legs in the cold weather hahaha. No bikes today.It's sunny but cold and breezy,so off to the supermarket for a last shop before things get mad.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I hope the supermarket wasn't too busy, and that you can get back on your bike again soon.

Ah, well, the best laid plans... I'm coming down with a cold.  So no working out for me for a little while.  I woke up this morning feeling run-down and with a sore throat, and as the morning has gone on, I've also felt a bit sniffly and my voice is just starting to get scratchy and I'm coughing a little bit too.  I can tell it's a cold because my guts are also unsettled - when my immune system turns on to fight a cold/virus, it always attacks my guts a little bit too, it's like a mini-flare.  So it's not just that I'm tired and sniffly, it's definitely a cold.  Ugh, no fun.  Oh well.

Sooo, scratch all my fitness plans that I had laid out!  I'll be resting and having soup and tea and orange juice instead.  I'll get back to the gym once this cold is out of my system.


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## scottsma

That's a shame Cat,just when you were getting in the groove again.
But it's sensible to take it easy when you're feeling icky.You may as well leave it until after the hols.Your body is not in the same frame as your mind and is telling you so.Take heed.
Got the shopping plus, a few calorie laden treats,so that's me done for now. I might have to peddle extra hard to work them off.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I know from experience that I cannot exercise with a cold, I just end up in coughing fits and getting nothing accomplished and feeling more exhausted.  I need to wait until this runs its course and gets out of my system first. 

Yum yum, calorie-laden treats are the best!    I'm going to go to the grocery store at some point this week and pick up some chocolate treats since I'm not feeling up to baking xmas cookies.


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## scottsma

Have just noticed I put an extra "body" in my last post,Have amended it,but oh,if only.

Haven't opened any treats yet.....this girl has a will power of iron.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I bought an exorbitant amount of dark chocolate peanut butter cups at the store yesterday.    I wanted to fill my candy dish, because we're hosting my parents on xmas, and I know my mother loves chocolate as much as I do.  So I bought a LOT of peanut butter cups.  Like, probably wayyy too much.  (Just kidding, there's no such thing when it comes to chocolate!)

I'm continuing to rest.  My cold isn't too bad, but it's just bad enough that I know it's there.  I know I couldn't do a workout like this.  So I'm resting.  I do have to go through some boxes that were delivered to work and sort out their contents and put the boxes in the appropriate spot, so that will be a little bit of exertion, but it can't be helped.  I'm just going to take it slow with the boxes and not do too much too quickly.


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## scottsma

I love Reese's Peanut butter cups too.It annoys me that I have to peel the paper cups off.I bought some "cupfree"ones, but they're tiny and I have to eat four at a time to make up for it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

These are ones I got at a store here called Trader Joe's (not sure if you have that chain in the UK?).  They're not Reese's, they're TJ's store brand.  They're dark chocolate instead of milk - I'm allowed dark but supposed to limit milk on my low-FODMAP diet.  I love dark chocolate though so that's no problem.  They're really yummy!  Like, I had to stop myself from scarfing a lot of them.  Fortunately (?) my GERD gets riled up quickly by chocolate and peanut butter, so I have to limit myself to only having 2 or 3 maximum per day.


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## my little penguin

Cat-a-tonic
Enjoy life brand makes choc free of milk and all other top 8 allergens 
They have chips, bars and chunks for baking 

https://enjoylifefoods.com

Hershey"'s has a simply syrup that is mainly sugar and cocoa to use as well 


Nana cream is an ice cream with many flavors that is free of milk and most things not allowed on the fodmap diet 
https://nanacreme.com
Diaya has "cheese" pizzas and "cheese cake" etc that is milk free 

Pm me if there is a specific holiday treat you are looking to replace 
I have been cooking for ds food allergies and gastroparesis and Crohns for a very long time 

Another one if you don't like to bake is Katz 's

Their stuff including choc covered chocolate cupcakes is dairy and wheat free


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks!  I've looked at the Daiya brand of pizzas, but I can't have them - they have either onion or garlic or both, and I'm not supposed to have any onion nor garlic on low-FODMAP.  So that's out.  I do make my own belly-safe pizza at home sometimes, using rice flour in the crust, and tomato slices instead of tomato sauce, and goat cheese (doesn't affect my lactose intolerance and is low-FODMAP friendly).  I'll have a look at the other things you mentioned, thanks for the links!


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## my little penguin

Ds likes follow your heart cheese
Check out king Arthur's gluten free pizza crust mix 
Not bad if you add extra flour


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I need to stop at the health food store soon for some more psyllium, so I will look for those brands when I'm there.  Thanks again for the suggestions!

Carol, I was bad.    I exerted myself.  At work, we're doing this big project where basically we're ordering a ton of stuff (trinket-type items) that have our company's logo on them, to give away to our customers.  I've been put in charge of this project and I've been ordering thousands upon thousands of items.  We need to organize and store these items once they come in, so that's also my job now.  I've been receiving and moving big boxes of stuff almost every day.  Today I was organizing our storage area in the basement at work and I had to move at least 20 or 25 large boxes.  I'm definitely tired now and a bit sweaty, and my nose was dripping like crazy.  But my coughing and other symptoms haven't increased, in fact I don't think I coughed at all the whole time.  That's encouraging - it hasn't been a very bad cold, and I don't think I made it any worse by exerting myself.  I promise I will rest the rest of the day.  Tomorrow, though, I will probably have to deal with more big boxes.  If my cold is not any worse and/or is getting better tomorrow, I think I might try a workout on Friday.  I won't push myself, I'll keep it simple and relatively easy.  But I think I can do it!


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## scottsma

There's not much you can do when there's work to be done.At least you've got time off for the weekend and will be able to snuggle in after the festivities.It's bright and sunny 7c.so we're going cycling soon.It might be our last chance as the forecast isn't good for the weekend.Last week I read that a cold glass of water first thing,kick starts the digestion etc.So I have been doing that while waiting for the kettle to boil for the tea,and I have noticed the difference.Then I read hot water and a slice of lemon has all sorts of benefits,so started that today.It might just be that I'm having an easy time lately,but it can't do any harm.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, I have a short bit of time to snuggle in before the festivities, but not really after.  Friday I'm off of work and have to run some errands (I have to get Lily's nails trimmed at the dog groomer - she's too squirmy for me to trim them myself - and I have to pick up a lamb roast from the butcher shop) and clean my house a bit.  That's my "rest" day.  Saturday we're going to my in-laws' house, Sunday my parents and brother are coming over, and Monday I'm going to my aunt's house.  It's 3 straight days of xmas for me, I'm slightly dreading it as it already sounds exhausting.  And then Tuesday I'm back at work already.  I'm much more looking forward to New Year's - I get a few days off then as well (Friday I work a half day, then I'll be off Sat, Sun, and Mon).  We don't go out or anything for New Year's, so I'll get to stay in and relax then.  But not so much for xmas!

I've read that as well, about drinking a big glass of water.  I do drink a lot of water when I first wake up, as I take a bunch of pills first thing in the morning (Lialda, Nexium, pred, and claritin, plus a few supplements).  So I do end up drinking a fair bit of water just to get all those pills down.  My guts have been very quiet since I've been on LDN - lately I'm having about 2 bowel movements per day, one in the morning and one in the evening, perfectly formed and firm.  I'm sure that's due more to LDN than to drinking water, but surely the water isn't hurting anything and may be helping too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Let's try this again since the forum has been a glitchy mess lately.  It ate my last few posts that I tried to post.

The short update is, I caught yet another cold at xmas thanks to my nieces & nephews.  This is a pretty bad cold, too, so no exercise for a little while longer.  I plan to spend my long New Year weekend sewing and crocheting and resting.  Will get back to fitness once I'm over this cold!  This is 2 colds in 2 weeks, very annoying.


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## scottsma

I hope your cold (s) didn't spoil your xmas.That's the trouble with little ones,if they've got something,they insist on sharing hahaha.Had a bike ride yesterday.Lots of frost where the sun doesn't reach,so kept on the sunny side of the path.The trouble with that is,the sun is very low in the sky,so I  had to wear my baseball cap pulled well down.We made the mistake of ending up at the coast again.Too many people,too much traffic,utter madness.
A lot of ignorant people too.Although we were on a dual pedestrian/cycle path,and I always rang my bell,would they move ? would they hell !!! But at least we got some air and exercise.I had to get a script for the cystitis after all.I hope the tabs don't affect my tum adversely because I've been doing OK lately.I hope your sniffles clear up soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

No, the cold didn't spoil my xmas.  I was exposed to the cold germs on the 24th when I saw my nieces & nephews, but I didn't come down with cold symptoms until the morning of the 27th, right as I was headed back to work.  Ugh.  So it's been a bit of a rough work week, I did call in sick one day but the rest of the week I've been snorking and hacking and sniffling away at my desk.  I think I'm getting better, though.  I now can sometimes breathe through one of my nostrils.  

I've experienced that on bike paths here as well, people blocking the full width of the path and won't move out of the way.  There have been times where I've had to ride up on the grass just to get around stupid people who won't move.  I previously didn't have a bell on my road bike, but I've recently bought a bell for it, so maybe that'll help.  Probably not though if your bell didn't help!

Sorry to hear about the cystitis - I presume you're taking antibiotics for it now?  Whenever I get a UTI, I'm always told to take good-quality probiotics to try to replenish what the antibiotics destroy.  That does seem to help, I think.  But yeah, antibiotics are never easy on me regardless, so I know how you feel.  Hopefully it's just a short course of them and you can be done with this soon.

Speaking of meds, I'm increasing my dose of LDN as of tomorrow night.    I'm going up to 4.5 mg, which is the ideal recommended dose for IBD.  Up until now I've been taking 2 mg as my GI wanted to start me at a very low dose to make sure I did well on that before moving me up to the 4.5 mg.  All has gone well on 2 mg, so hopefully I'll also do really well on 4.5 mg.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I still have a bit of a lingering cold, but it's nice weather this morning and Lily needs a walk, so I'm going to try to walk her shortly.  Hopefully that will go well.  4.5 mg of LDN is going fine so far.  My guts are very quiet, extremely quiet!  I've had no cramping, no urgency, very little frequency (at most I'm going twice per day, I might need to up my soluble fiber intake a bit), no pain, etc.  I think that once I'm finally over this cold, I might be feeling almost normal!  Which seems very odd to me.    I don't trust it!  Normal isn't normal for me.  But maybe this really is me getting into remission.  Maybe LDN really is my miracle drug!


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## scottsma

That's a good start to the new year Cat,long may it last.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did walk Lily yesterday.  I don't think it made my cold any worse, so that's good.  I'm planning on a lunch hour walk today as the weather is fairly nice today but is supposed to be quite cold for the rest of this week after today.  This might be my only chance to get outdoors for a bit, so I'm taking that opportunity.  I still have some slight cold symptoms, mainly a bit of sinus congestion, but the cold is definitely on its way out.  Hopefully in a few more days, I'll be able to start working out properly again.

I was thinking about going ice skating, but my local outdoor rink is closed due to weather (it rained yesterday which apparently messed up the ice too much).  And I can't snowshoe either as the rain has melted a lot of the snow, too.  Hmph!

Meds-wise, still doing mostly fine.  I was planning to taper my pred down this morning but I forgot.    So I'll taper down tomorrow morning instead.  I'm on 9 mg and I'll be going down to 8 mg.  LDN 4.5 mg is going fine, I didn't sleep very well last night which I expected, so tonight I'll take an OTC sleep aid.


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## scottsma

It's a struggle to make plans for out door exercise at this time of year.Hubs went out cycling alone today and almost got blown off his bike,so I'm glad I didn't go.I got some anti-bi's on Friday,just three days worth.I was hesitant but felt I needed something.Took the last one yesterday but there's been no improvement really.I get the urge to go,but it takes ages for the stream to get going.I'm drinking lots of water.I looked it up on the web and apparently Amitriptilyne can be to blame.So although I only take one at night I'm going to stop for a few days to see if it makes a difference.I will miss it though,as I sleep really well while on it.I might take an OTC in it's place.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That's interesting about amitriptyline!  I have bladder issues and am on ami as well, but I think my bladder issues are separate and not caused by ami (I've been on ami for about 5 or 6 years now, but my UTI issues go back 15+ years to when I was in college, and honestly I've had bladder issues my whole life - I was a bedwetter up until about age 12).  I've been taking a generic claritin every day as I read somewhere that that could help with bladder urgency & frequency, and sure enough, it does seem to be helping.  LDN might be helping my bladder as well, I'm not totally sure if it's that or the claritin or both.

My GI once tried switching me from amitriptyline to nortriptyline as he thought it'd help my migraine & gut issues, but I hated not being able to sleep well on it, so I went right back to ami after a short time.  I hope you can sleep okay without ami!  While my body adjusts to this new dose of LDN, I need ami AND an OTC sleep aid, ugh.

It definitely is difficult to make outdoor fitness plans this time of year, and the weather sure isn't helping.  It's been more rainy than snowy lately!  For a short time we had a decent snow pack, but now it's mostly melted with lots of grass peeking out in spots.  Lily isn't happy because she loves snow, the more the better as far as she's concerned.  And I like snowshoeing, but I haven't had a chance to get my snowshoes out once yet this year.  There's no snow in the forecast, either, but there is more rain, ugh.  Yesterday when we walked Lily, the dog park was about half mud and half ice (or "mice" as hubby dubbed it).  I'd rather there be snow than mud/ice!  It makes for difficult walking/hiking, and obviously no snowshoeing and no ice skating.  So, for now I'm sticking to paved paths for my walks until conditions change.

We're planning more indoor workouts, too.  I now have everything set up in order to do some boxing - I have my heavy punching bag hung up from a rafter in the basement, and I have my boxing gloves.  Hubby wanted to try it as well so I've just ordered him some boxing gloves online too.  And we have the treadmill and a stationary bike, as well as lots of weight equipment at home.  So once I'm over this cold, I will be making use of a lot of that equipment.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm having a lazy day today, mainly because I'm quite tired.  I'm currently adjusting to my new dose of LDN and not sleeping well/having odd dreams.  I still have a lingering cold, too - I've probably gone through about a thousand kleenex in the past couple of weeks.  

I'm also a bit depressed because of our incoming president-elect (I still don't like saying his name).  I know that fitness helps when I'm depressed, so I'm starting to make plans for that.  I'm taking off of work on inauguration day and I'm going to stay off the computer and not watch TV except for netflix that day.  I don't want to see, hear or even think about that awful man.  If the weather is nice that day, I'm going to run away for a few hours and do a lot of walking in the woods with Lily.  I'm going to do as much self-care as I can that day, which for me means exercising and getting out in nature.  

And if the weather is bad that day, you'd better believe I'm going to be using my punching bag.    If I can't get out in nature, then I will almost certainly feel the need to hit something!


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## scottsma

I think most people share your feeling about him,Cat.It's minus 2c here so far to cold for cycling,especially at my age !!! Going to town for a hair cut.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha ha, It's about 2 degrees F here (very cold, and it's well below zero with the wind chill) yet I still saw one person riding a bicycle as I was driving to work!  I guess for a very crazy few it's still bicycling weather.    Not for me though!

You'd honestly be surprised, some people here like the president-elect.  My brother is one of those people, my brother voted for the guy.  I know I've complained about my brother before.  I just don't understand him at all.  He and I are about as different as two people can be.  I know he's intelligent (he lacks common sense but he has a high IQ), so I really don't understand his views or why he voted the way he did.  (I don't understand why anybody voted for that horrible man!)

Fitness-wise, I think I'm ready to jump back into things.  I still have a slight bit of a cold, but it's mostly just mild sinus congestion at this point.  I read somewhere some advice about working out with a cold - it said that if you have symptoms below the neck, like chest congestion or coughing, then it's best to rest.  But if your symptoms are only above the neck, like sinus congestion, then it's probably okay to exercise as long as you don't push yourself too hard.  So, I'm taking that advice and am going to try a workout today.  Obviously I won't overdo things, but I do want to get back into it.  I slept well last night and I have pretty good energy levels today, and I think I can do it!

I'm motivated, too.  Yesterday I got a new gym bag, so I took everything out of my old gym bag and organized my new gym bag.  That led to me also organizing ALL my workout clothes (and there are a lot of them!) and getting rid of a few that are old or no longer fit, etc.  It was nice seeing what I've got, I have a lot of really cute workout clothes that I want to wear!  But obviously I have to work out to wear them, so that makes me really want to go to the gym a lot.


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## scottsma

Oh,I'm way too old for "cute" work out gear now.I am quite annoyed though, because I had a couple of pairs of leggings in the back of the cupboard from my fitness class days,and I thought I'd sort them out for the bike.Of course they've gone.I must have donated them to the charity shop.I do send a lot of stuff there.Never mind,I will buy some new.I'm looking forward to rolling them up to my knees in the summer.I've got loads of nice t-shirts too.It's funny,but by the autumn I look forward to warm sweaters and coats,now I'm looking longingly at my summer stuff....sigh !!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Leggings are very popular right now!  You should be able to find some cute ones.  Although there are also very ugly ones out there.  My sister-in-law gave me what might be the world's ugliest pair of leggings for xmas.    The pattern on them is very bright orange and yellow geometric shapes.  Orange and yellow aren't exactly my colors though!  I've only worn those leggings in the house to sleep in, I will never wear those outside of my house.  They're very comfortable but extremely hideous, ha ha.

I did recently buy myself a very cute pair of leggings.  They have an outer space/galaxy type print on them, so they're mostly black but with smatterings of stars and galaxies.  MUCH cuter than the hideous orange and yellow monstrosity.    I also got some pink fleece leggings for walking Lily in cold weather.  Leggings are definitely easy and comfy, although I do like to wear either a skirt or a longer shirt with them so that people don't see the shape of my backside!

Mostly though I wear black workout capris to the gym.  I like capris, because I tend to get very warm during workouts, so long pants are usually a bit too warm, but I don't like shorts because nobody needs to see my thigh cellulite.  So capris are a good compromise, and I only have to shave my legs below the knees to wear them.  

I tend to do that as well, look fondly through my summer clothes during winter and vice versa.  Although I am an addict of coats and jackets at any time of year.  I just got myself a new winter coat, it's very high quality and seems brand new.  I got it for $7 at the thrift store, score!  It's slightly too big on me, but you know me and sewing.  I'm going to do a few tweaks to make it fit me better - moving over the buttons and removing the shoulder pads, mainly.  So, as if I didn't already have enough sewing projects to do, I gave myself another one.  Ha ha.  Good thing I got my new sewing machine!

Oh, and seriously, you're never too old for cute workout wear!  Although it is easy to overdo it.  There was a lady who frequented my gym for awhile, she was maybe in her 50s/60s?  She would always come to the gym immaculately dressed.  Her outfits were just the tip of the iceberg - she'd of course show up in a spiffy matching outfit and perfectly white shoes that never saw a speck of dirt, but she'd also be in full makeup AND jewelry!  Seriously, she always wore large gold dangly hoop earrings.  In my experience, most women who go to the gym in full makeup, they aren't there to work out but rather to be seen and/or to pick up guys.  I have to give this lady credit, though, she actually did work out rather than just sit around taking selfies or whatever, she was a serious exerciser.  So you apparently can rock a cute look in the gym even when you're an older gal, but for me I'll be skipping the makeup and jewelry.


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## scottsma

I put make on EVERY day.I always wake with sticky out hair so have to damp it down and blow dry it.I then put on pencil liner,blusher and pale lippy.That's it.No foundation or eye shadow,so I did do my fitness classes wearing make up of sorts.I love perfume too.
Yellow and orange are not my colours either,or purple or irridescant green.My fave colours are black and navy blue,with maybe a touch of colour to brighten it up.I have loads of coloured scarves,too many,but I know I've mentioned that before.So it will be black and navy leggings.Once we get Jan.& Feb.over with we can start looking forward to Spring....bring it on !!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a pretty good workout yesterday.  My stamina is still quite low, I struggled to do 5 minutes on the stationary bike as a warm-up.  2 minutes in and I was ready to quit!  I made myself do 5 minutes but it was a challenge.  I know I just need to keep working at it and my stamina will return, but in the meantime it's a bit frustrating and embarrassing.

My GERD was a bit active during my workout.  I belched a fair bit, which is an indicator for me that my GERD is not super happy.  I also had an acidy taste in my mouth towards the end of the workout.  I'm a bit surprised, as I did take my pre-workout reflux meds.  I always take 300 mg ranitidine and a handful of Tums before hitting the gym, and that's what I took yesterday.  I think pred might be affecting my GERD, though.  When I was on higher doses of pred - 20 mg and above - I had horrendous heartburn regularly.  I'm down to 8 mg pred, and no longer experiencing heartburn, but that's not to say that it isn't affecting my GERD still.  So I will make sure to be mindful of my GERD in future workouts.

I'm hoping I can do a workout tomorrow.  I injured myself yesterday.  I'm such a klutz, I was going to bed last night but I guess I walked wrong and smacked my toes into the leg of my dresser.  And I smacked them really hard!  There's still pain today, it's pain in my 3rd and 4th toes on the right foot and the pain sort of goes up into the foot bones.  I'm not sure if I broke something, I don't think so, but I'm not entirely sure.  I can walk reasonably well but the pain is still there.  I'm just going to keep an eye on things for now I guess.  I've broken a toe before (also due to klutziness!) so I know what to do if a toe is broken.  I just hope I didn't break a bone in the foot itself, as I don't know what to do for that.  Ugh!  Hopefully it's just really badly bruised and that's the reason for the pain.


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## scottsma

Didn't you hurt your toe at the back end of last year Cat ? I agree with your klutz theory hahaha.But I'm not going to rub it in 'cos I could be me next.
I don't know much about Gerd.,just occasional indigestion,thankfully.Is it usual for exercise to bring it on ? Strange.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did hurt my toe last year - my big toe on the left foot.  I had been feeling a bit better so I had gone to the gym, was just doing some bodyweight exercises at that point.  I was doing lunges, and I felt a "pop!" in my left foot just behind the big toe.  Turns out it was "turf toe" and is treated very similarly to a broken toe (tape the big toe to the second toe and try not to move it, wear hard-soled shoes, etc).  It still causes a slight bit of pain here and there, but I'd say it's probably 95% better at this point.  

Yes, I'm quite good at injuring myself.    This latest injury is in my right foot, so it's the other foot now, not the same one that had turf toe.  I think the pain has lessened a bit as the day has gone on, so hopefully this means nothing is broken.

When I did break my toe, that was back in college.  I had a baby cockatiel and he was sitting on my shoulder (I had an apartment, didn't ever live in a dorm).  My baby bird couldn't fly, he did have his flight feathers but his wings were trimmed.  I also wasn't wearing shoes, just sock feet.  All these details are important, I promise.  I went to the freezer to get something out to make for dinner, and as I opened the freezer door, a can of frozen concentrated orange juice fell out.  I could see that it was going to land on my foot, and I had a split second to make a decision - I could quickly jump back, out of the way, but the baby bird on my shoulder would likely fall off of me and get injured.  So the choice was, injure myself or injure my bird.  I chose to injure myself.  The can of OJ landed right on the joint of my big toe and I heard and felt it snap.  Very painful!  And I guess not totally attributable to klutziness, but it is an odd story, to say that I broke my toe because of orange juice and a baby bird.  

As for GERD, I have both a severe case of GERD (it scored a 95 out of a possible 100 in terms of how severe it is when I had a pH impedance test), and I have a hiatal hernia.  The hiatal hernia means that the valve between my stomach & esophagus doesn't fully close, so stomach acid/contents can essentially come up my throat whenever they feel like doing so.  My worst non-dietary GERD triggers are bending over/lying down, and using my abdominal muscles.  So, in the gym, even if I'm not specifically doing ab work, I'm still using my ab muscles a fair bit, and that's pushing stomach contents up my esophagus.  So basically I expect to reflux somewhat at every workout, and I take reflux meds prior to working out to try to counteract at least some of it.  It's not ideal but it's workable.  But, my reflux did seem worse than usual at yesterday's workout.  More belching than usual, and I usually don't get an acidy taste in my mouth like I did yesterday.  I only drink water, no food and nothing but water, for 2 hours prior to every workout, so that should dilute my stomach acid somewhat, and the reflux meds should in theory do the rest.  But I guess pred is still making my stomach a bit too acidy.  I can't wait to finally be off of pred!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I probably should elaborate more.  Here's how bad my GERD is in terms of what the pH impedance test recorded - it's a 24 hour test with an NG tube in, the NG tube has sensors that check for things like how acidy my reflux is, how high in the throat my reflux gets, how many episodes I have, etc.

So, in 24 hours, I had 48 separate episodes of reflux.  The longest single episode was over 5 hours long.  When I'm sleeping, I reflux more often than not.  Exactly half - 24 - of my reflux episodes reached the top of my throat.  Those are the numbers that I can remember, it was a few years ago that I had that test.

So yeah, they take the data from the test and give you a score for how severe your GERD is.  Zero would be you have no reflux whatsoever, you're fine.  And 100 is the worst possible reflux ever.  I scored a 95.  That's one test that you do not want to ace, but I did.  So I'll be on both PPIs (Nexium) and ranitidine probably for life, or at least for the foreseeable future.  There is a surgical fix for the hiatal hernia, but I don't think that'll fix the GERD itself, just one symptom of the GERD, plus I've heard horror stories of the surgery going very wrong and people ending up feeling way worse afterwards.  So I don't want to have the surgery.  I'll wait for better treatments to come along.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Another quick update:  I've been walking around a fair bit all afternoon, and my foot/toes are feeling better and better the more I walk.  So definitely not a break then.  Phew!

So, I'm still planning to do a workout tomorrow then since my foot & toes seem okay.  I'm going to work out at home late morning/early afternoon before I head out to visit my grandma.  Then I'll have a late lunch with my dad and brother (they're going to visit her too).  I like having a plan for the day, particularly when it comes to my workouts - as I said in my posts above, because of my GERD, I need to only drink water and have no food for 2 hours prior to exercising.  So I do need to plan ahead!


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## scottsma

I hope you find your Gran in good spirits.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did!  Unfortunately I wasn't feeling great - stupidly had salad with dinner on Friday night and paid for it last night and this morning.  I seem to be able to get away with salad about 50% of the time, so it's a real gamble, and it didn't pay off.  Ugh.  So I didn't end up working out before my visit.  Hopefully tomorrow!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

So, yesterday was... interesting.  I was definitely active!

Hubby and I were doing some remodeling in our house.  We have 3 bedrooms and it's just the 2 of us, so the smallest bedroom is my craft/sewing room, and we were remodeling in there.  Adding in a countertop to put my sewing machines on and moving things around, adding some modular storage, etc.  So that by itself was a workout.

Lily also needed a walk, so I took her out on the bike path and back.  It was very cold out.  When I got back home, I realized that my fitbit was missing!  Oh no!  I figured I must have lost it on our walk.  So, out we went again for a 2nd walk in the bitter cold.  I did not find my fitbit.  Looked everywhere that we had walked - it was a clip on fitbit in a bright blue case, so it should have been easy to spot, but I didn't find it anywhere.  I also searched everywhere at home and in the car, but couldn't find it.  I think I must have lost it when we were out in the morning buying supplies to do the remodel.  We stopped at at least 3 different stores so I must have lost it somewhere then.  

Sadly I think it's gone forever at this point.  I ordered myself a new fitbit online, and this time I'm ordering the wristband style instead of the clip, as I think that'll be less easy to lose.  It'll arrive tomorrow, fortunately.  In the meantime, I feel like I've lost a limb - I'm a big data and spreadsheets type of person, I like to know my metrics, and I feel adrift without my fitbit telling me my data!  And I know my data would be good because of the two walks yesterday and all the activity with the remodel!  Ugh.  I just feel off today, not knowing my numbers is driving me crazy!

The remodel itself went pretty well.  At one point a shelf fell on my head and I now have a big bruise and a bump behind my ear (it was totally my fault, my natural klutziness at work yet again).  Other than that, things went fine, and the room looks much nicer and more organized now.

Guts-wise I'm mostly fine.  I'm still getting an occasional cramp here and there, I'm still not quite back to where I was before I stupidly ate salad, but I'm getting there.  I'm obviously well enough to take 2 walks, so I'm okay enough to work out.  I didn't lift weights yesterday due to all the other activity I was doing.  And today I don't think I will lift weights either - the weather is looking pretty ideal for ice skating.  Upper 20s F so the ice won't be melty but it's also not as bitterly cold as it's been.  My local ice rink is open and I got my skates out of the closet, so I'm ready to do some skating!  Tomorrow it's supposed to warm up and rain, so that sounds like a good day to stay in and do some weight lifting, so that's the plan.


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## scottsma

Well,that was a productive weekend,shame about your Fitbit though.We managed a longish ride this afternoon.It was a wet morning,so I did some laundry the went shopping.The sun was out when we got back,so Les got the bikes out while I put the shopping away.The weather is going to worsen as the week progresses,so I'm glad I made the effort.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It sounds like our week is going to worsen weather-wise, too.  Snow is in the forecast for later this afternoon, rain tomorrow, and then apparently more snow Wed & Thurs.  Then more bitter cold and more snow.    Today is apparently the one good day to get out and skate!  Although I did go ice skating during a snowstorm once last year and it was actually very beautiful, and with just a dusting of snow on the outdoor ice rink, it didn't pose a problem skating-wise.  So it's possible I'll be able to get out again this week and skate, depends on how much snow we get.

I'm glad you were able to get out on a bike ride while the weather was still nice!  It's been so cold here - it's been below zero temps lately, just bitterly cold.  Yesterday it warmed up to about 12 F which is still quite cold, and a brisk wind too, I was freezing after 2 walks with Lily!  You know when it's so cold out that you lose feeling in your legs?  I definitely had that happen yesterday!  Today it's something like 26 F so I should be able to retain feeling in my legs, which is good because I don't want to fall while ice skating.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

So my grandma almost died, again, today.  She stopped breathing and turned grey.  Somehow she started breathing on her own again after about 45 seconds, according to my dad.  Last month she did something very similar, no pulse and not breathing and turned grey.  She has a DNR order so the nursing staff in her facility couldn't perform CPR on her.  The ambulance was called and the EMTs showed up, and one of the EMTs literally just yelled at her to wake up - and she did.  I don't know how many times a person can technically be dead and come back, but my grandma seems to be going for a record.  It's extremely scary and worrying, and I know that one of these times, she won't come back from it.  I don't think she's going to be around for much longer, and I hate that.  Hate it, hate it, hate it.

My dad messaged me to tell me about her latest "incident" about a half hour before I was going to go ice skating.  So I was sort of an emotional mess, but I know that exercise really helps me mentally, so I sort of forced myself to go ice skating anyway even though I really didn't want to in that moment.  It was hard, but I went to the outdoor ice rink and I put on my skates and I made myself get on the ice and I kept forcing myself to move forward on the ice.  Gradually it did get easier, and by the end of my lunch hour, I felt mentally and emotionally a lot better.  I'm still worried about my grandma, but I no longer feel like bursting into tears and/or curling up into a ball underneath my desk.  (Okay, I slightly do, but it's no longer an overwhelming urge.)

I tried to channel the awesomeness of my mom's friend when I was ice skating.  My mom's best friend from when she was a kid, she's a very cool lady indeed.  I've looked up to her my whole life, she's a strong single woman who doesn't need no man (apparently several men have proposed to her and she turned them all down), she's very cool and confident and independent.  And a few years back, she was talking to my mom about how, when she was younger, she used to go ice skating on her lunch hour, in a skirt.    I feel like that's such a cool thing to do - she was having adventuresome lunch hours rather than just being boring and sitting around and eating lunch.  And in a skirt no less!  I like having adventuresome lunch hours too.  So, I made sure to wear a skirt today (along with warm fleece-lined leggings, I'm not crazy!) and I went ice skating on my lunch hour in her honor.  Hopefully I'm even half as cool as my mom's friend.


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## scottsma

Oh,goodness me Cat.I'm glad gran pulled herself round,bless her.Her Guardian Angel must have given her a little poke again.Good for you for going ahead with your skating plan.Worrying isn't going to help things and I know how much better you felt after making the effort.RESPECT !!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Carol.  It was really worrying last month when it first happened, but for that to happen twice, it's absolutely terrifying.  And I've been told it's not a matter of if, but when, it happens again.  I think her body is trying to shut down.  I mean, a person's heart and breathing don't just stop for no reason - she's 84 and she has Alzheimer's and I think she's getting ready to die.  I'm not ready for her to go, I just lost my grandpa in May and I'm not ready to lose my only remaining grandparent.  But I recognize that I don't have a say in this.  All I can do is go visit her as often as I can while she's still here, and practice as much self-care as I can.  A big part of that is fitness, so I'm going to get myself to the gym as often as possible.

Today's fitness plan is weights.  I have a GP appointment this afternoon, so a lunch hour workout can't happen today.  I plan to go home after my GP appointment and lift weights in my home gym.  I have a barbell, dumbbells, a weight bench, a balance board, kettlebells, etc.  I have enough equipment at home for a really decent workout.

Tomorrow's plan could go either way, depending on what the weather does.  There's a chance of rain/snow in the forecast in the afternoon.  So if it's not raining/snowing, I think I will go to the forest path and take a walk through the woods on my lunch break.  If it is raining/snowing, I'll work on my cardio in the gym in the basement of my workplace.  Walking on the treadmill alternating with riding the stationary bike.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I lifted weights yesterday.  I had a bit of a delay - received my new fitbit in the mail (I lost my old fitbit so I upgraded to a newer model) and wanted to set it up first before my workout.  So that took a little bit of time to set it up, but I'm glad I did - I was able to have a good workout and get my numbers from the workout.   

I managed to do 10 minutes on the stationary bike as my warm-up.  Once again, I felt exhausted only a couple minutes in, and wanted to quit, but pushed myself to keep going.  And once I got past 5 minutes in, it felt much easier, and then getting to 10 minutes was no problem.  So it seems like my stamina will return pretty quickly if I just make myself stick with it.

I lifted weights and felt quite good doing that.  Once again, though, my reflux was a bit too active for my liking.  I've been taking 1 ranitidine (300 mg) and 4 Tums before working out, so I think I'm going to increase the amount of Tums next time I lift weights.  Hopefully that will help.

Today's plan is still on - either walk in the forest or walk indoors if the weather doesn't behave.  Tomorrow I plan to lift weights again.  I haven't planned beyond that just yet.


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## scottsma

Please don't overdo it Cat,you're just getting over a cold.But I understand you know how hard to push yourself.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I feel like I am taking it easy.    I'm not lifting as heavy nor as intensely as I had been in the past (prior to my flare that started in July).  I am pretty much over the cold, and my guts are mostly quiet, so I feel okay enough to do some sort of exercise most days.  I will take rest days here and there, I know that those are important to let my muscles and body heal and recover.

But I also do want to work out as much as I reasonably can right now.  That's my buffer against depression and negative emotions.  I am depressed about my grandma's situation and also stressed about work stuff (very busy & stressful right now), so I feel like exercise is my medicine, it's my anti-depressant.  If I have a workout planned for the day, I find that I look forward to it all day long.    And then feel better after I've done it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I got my new fitbit yesterday and I'm not sure I like it.  It seems to count too many steps!  Like, when I'm washing & drying my hands, it'll tack on an extra 50 to 100 steps.  I'm not walking, I'm just washing my hands!  I emailed the manufacturer to see what they have to say about this.  I just want it to be accurate!  It might be worse to have inaccurate numbers than to have no numbers.  It's driving me slightly nuts!

Edit:  I found a possible workaround.  In the fitbit help section, it says that if you select to wear it on your non-dominant hand, it's more sensitive to movement (and might add extra steps in).  But if you select that you wear it on your non-dominant hand, it's less sensitive to movement and might even leave off a few steps.  So I'm trying that.


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## scottsma

Well good luck with that Cat.Being the age that I am I tend to swerve techno stuff.I'm quite intelligent, but I feel things are going too fast and I don't need it.I've used a pedometer and we had a thing on the bikes that told us distance,speed etc.but it got wet and we haven't replaced it.And of course,who hasn't got a sat-nav ? Hubby has often had a few choice words with "her".


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Some fitbits are pretty basic and really only track steps like a pedometer would.  My old fitbit, the one I lost, was fairly basic.  It tracked my steps and also counted how many flights of stairs I walked up, which was a neat feature.  We put that to good use in Japan - we walked all of Fushimi Inari, which is the shrine in Kyoto that has 10,000 orange torii gates.  What they don't tell you is that when you walk all of Fushimi Inari, you're walking to the top of a small mountain and back down again.  It looked flat on the map, but it was definitely steep in real life!  It felt like we just went up, up, up.  After that walk, my fitbit said we walked up the equivalent of about 70 flights of stairs.  So that was cool to know, to put a number to how far up we walked.

My new fitbit is more fancy.  It tracks my heart rate and can supposedly recognize various different types of exercise, like if I'm lifting weights, or bicycling, it supposedly can tell what I'm doing.  I'm skeptical of how accurate that might be, so I manually tell it when I'm lifting weights or whatever.  It did automatically recognize that I took a walk yesterday, but considering that it's really just a fancy pedometer, that's not surprising.  

I'm going to the gym in a little while to do a weights session, so we'll see what my fitbit has to say about that.  Tomorrow, I don't have a workout planned, but I do have to help a co-worker with some things.  We ordered a whole bunch of stuff for work, so we have hundreds of boxes now.  And the boxes were all labeled and organized by me, but now we have to start taking things out of the boxes and sending them out.  So I'll be lifting and moving boxes around tomorrow.

The tentative plan for Saturday is getting a bit full at the moment - ideally, I'd like to get up, eat a mid-morning snack, walk the dog, lift weights, then go visit my grandma.  That might be too much all at once, though.  It'll depend on how I'm feeling and how energetic I am that day.  I'm definitely going to visit my grandma, as she's on borrowed time and my priority is to see her as often as I can while she's still around.  But something else might get dropped off the agenda if I'm not feeling up to both walking the dog and lifting weights.

Sunday, I think will be a rest day.  I haven't had a rest day yet this week.  I may walk Lily if the weather is nice, but other than that I won't do anything active.  My Green Bay Packers are in the playoffs, and they play on Sunday afternoon, so during the game I will be on the couch glued to the game.  

Monday I have the day off of work for the holiday (MLK Jr Day).  Hubby is also off that day.  I'm hoping I can get him to work out with me - he usually hates going to the gym, but sometimes I can drag him along for a workout, and he always thanks me afterwards.  I haven't been to the big paid membership gym in months, and although I'm guessing it'll be still quite busy with New Year's resolutioners, I'd still love to go to that gym.  It's huge and has tons of equipment and I can always get a really good, full workout there.  (Well, as long as resolutioners aren't hogging any of the machines!)  So maybe we'll go there.  If not, I'll work out at home again.

I don't have plans past that except for a tentative idea for next week Friday.  That's inauguration day, and I feel like I should treat it like a national day of mourning.  I'm not going to be online at all that day and no TV except for Netflix.  I refuse to give that horrible man even one iota of attention that day.  My hope is that the weather is decent that day - if so, I'm going to take Lily and go off into the woods for as long as I can.  Just get away from everyone and everything.  Hubby is off of work as well so maybe I can convince him to go hiking with me.  And when I'm not hiking, I'll do whatever else I can at home that involves no TV and no internet and avoiding people.  Sewing, crocheting, listening to records (yes, I have records and a record player, and sometimes when I'm in a certain mood I'll dig them out and listen to them).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I just got back from the gym.  I had a really great workout!  No stamina issues at all today - I easily did my warm-up on the stationary bike and felt like I could do more, at no point did I feel winded or like I wanted to quit.  I also took a couple more Tums than usual, and I had a few belches, but no other reflux symptoms at all.  No acidy taste in my mouth like I'd had the past couple of weights workouts.  Progress!    I feel really good, very pleased with my workout.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did help my co-worker with boxes today and got a bit sweaty doing so, I think that counts as doing a workout.  My co-worker recently had surgery and she's not supposed to lift heavy things, so I did most of the lifting and moving of the boxes.

Will see what I'm capable of doing tomorrow.  I might just be crazy enough to do everything in the plan - walk Lily, lift weights, then go visit my grandma.  I'm feeling pretty well today, so if I'm feeling like this tomorrow, I think I can do it all.  And will then of course take it easier on Sunday!


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## scottsma

Well done that girl,BUT don't over do it !!! It's good that you're doing so well but watch out for "The Wall".My plans for today are very simple.Having coloured my hair (hubby hasn't noticed yet) what's new hahaha,prep'd lunch and done the floors,we're going to walk down to the Saturday market,through the park over the road,then back along the river.Then I'm going to slob out with my book.It's very cold 2c,but sunny and still.Not a bike day though.Sun's too low in the sky.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I think I'm okay enough to do the full plan today.  I got up, made myself eat a light breakfast (I'm usually not a breakfast person at all, it tends to make me nauseous to eat too early in the day, but I want to get an early-ish workout in before I go visit my grandma, so I needed to eat at a certain time so that I can work out 2 hours afterwards).  Fortunately breakfast went fine, just the slightest bit of nausea but nothing bad.  I'm planning to walk Lily shortly and then come home and lift weights, then zip over to where my grandma lives and have a nice visit with her.

Part of me is slightly dreading visiting with my grandma.  I know she doesn't have much time left, and I'm sort of scared that this will be my last time seeing her.  That's a scary and sad thought.  But hopefully my workout will somewhat insulate me from those emotions - exercise usually helps me feel so much better mentally & emotionally, at least in the short-term, which is another big part of why I want to work out right before I go to see her!

Hah, I haven't colored my hair in a bit, but my hubby never notices either.  He doesn't notice when I get a hair cut, or when I get new glasses, or anything really.    I probably could get a tattoo on my face and he wouldn't notice it, ha ha.


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## scottsma

Men in general are funny creatures eh? I take great pleasure in telling him "weeks ago"
when he does eventually notice stuff.I don't take offence 'cos I know he's not alone.They're in a world of their own most of the time.
I hope your visit with Gran goes as you want it too.You really need to stop torturing yourself about what will be.It's natural to worry but it won't change anything.Hugs.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did everything in the plan!  I walked Lily - it was cold out but not bitterly cold, and the sun was shining and melting some of the ice.  The dog park was very icy, I had to walk carefully in some spots because it was so slippery.  Then I lifted weights when I got home.  That felt great, I felt really good afterwards.  Got in my car and headed to visit my grandma.  I know she doesn't mean to do it, but she's very draining sometimes.  When I have to repeat the same thing to her 27 times (not even really an exaggeration), it is draining to me.  I still like seeing her, of course, but I feel like I need a rest break after that.  So I felt great on the way to grandma's and drained and a bit sad on the way home.  Sad because her dementia is getting worse and obviously her physical health is failing too, I know she won't be around much longer.  

Well, I tried to make her happy in the time she has left.  I mentioned previously that I was bringing her a pashmina scarf because she liked mine so much.  Mine was blue, and I thought that pink was her favorite color so I got her a pink one.  Well, she said at our visit today that blue is her favorite color.  I guess I was wrong about pink!  So I ended up just giving her both scarves (they weren't expensive).  And because she's my grandma, she insisted on paying me for both.    That's one of the things I had to tell her 27 times, she wrote me a check for the scarves and then the rest of our visit she kept asking if she paid me and if she gave me enough money and how much money did she give me and was that REALLY enough because those scarves must cost more than $10 apiece and I kept saying, yes, you paid me, yes, you paid me enough, please put your checkbook away, you already wrote me a check, yes, they really were $10 (and pulling up the link on my phone to show her how much they cost).  So that was draining.  But hopefully she is happy.


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## scottsma

Ah,bless her.And you sweetheart.I'm like you and not religious,but I can see the goodness in people,and you've got it in spades.Glad you're work outs are going to plan.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thank you, Carol.    I do feel slightly bad because I won't be able to visit my grandma again for at least a couple more weeks.  This coming Saturday, there's a women's march in my city (it's a sister march to the big one in Washington DC, which is of course to protest those horrible men coming into office).  So I'd like to participate in that.  And the following Saturday, I'm going eagle-watching and wine tasting with my parents and brother - there's a spot here where bald eagles congregate each January, and there's a winery right near there, so we do that every January.  So my Saturdays are a bit busy for the next couple weeks!

Fitness-wise, I've been doing well.  I walked Lily on Saturday and Sunday.  Monday, it was a day off of work because of the holiday, but we got a bad ice storm so everything was very icy and we didn't leave the house at all that day.  Saturday and Monday I did weights workouts at home.  Sunday I only walked Lily and that was it, although the football game did get my heart rate up!  My team, the Green Bay Packers, are in the playoffs, and they were playing the Dallas Cowboys, who were ranked as the #1 team this year.  It was a very close game which was won by the Packers in the last seconds of the game.  So we're going on to the next game in the playoffs, and if we win that one, then the Packers go to the superbowl!  So I'm sure that this coming Sunday's game is going to be very stressful as well!

Today's a rest day - it's still too icy out to walk Lily, and I lifted weights yesterday, so I can't lift again today (I need at least one day in between weights workouts so that I don't injure myself).  I might take a brief walk on my treadmill if I'm feeling antsy, but other than that, no workouts planned today.  Tomorrow, I'm going to head to the little gym in the basement of my workplace on my lunch hour for another weights workout.  Thursday, it's supposed to be quite warm out for this time of year - upper 40s F!  So if it's not raining that day, I think I'll take a walk on the paved path through the woods.  Friday, I am off of work and that's inauguration day, so I'm hoping to get out into the woods for some proper hiking.  They are predicting rain for that day, though, so the backup plan is to do a weights workout at home.  And then Saturday is the women's march - it's looking again like it will be upper 40s F, so if it's not raining I plan to ride my bike downtown and then participate in the march and then ride home.  Sunday, I'd love to go to the big paid membership gym and do a nice long workout prior to watching the football game.  So that's my tentative fitness plans for the week.


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## scottsma

Looks like another busy weekend for you Cat,and interesting.If you get on the march I'll be right beside you and wine tasting and eagle watching,well,what's not to like.We're busy redecorating the kitchen,but after a mornings painting and clearing up managed an hour or two on the bikes.It's a lot warmer than last week,9c,but over cast so no low sun burning the eyeballs out.Going to get some leggings tomorrow while they're in stock,after a mornings wallpapering.I'd rather go eagle watching.Enjoy the rest of your day.It's 7pm here and PJs are on.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Carol, sounds like your weather is very similar to what ours is about to be - I googled, and 9 c is about 48 F, which is what it's going to be on Thursday through at least Sunday.  So yeah, it is going to be bicycling weather, which I cannot believe because it is January in Wisconsin so it is supposed to be frigid and snowy!  Not warmish and rainy.  It's been a really odd winter here, weather-wise.  Not that I'm complaining about upper 40s F, mind you.  I'm looking forward to getting on my bike and riding down to the women's march!  Although the eagle-watching may be sort of a bust because of the weather.  The eagles like it when it's very cold, then they tend to congregate in one spot along a river to do their fishing (because typically the other parts of the river are frozen over, but the spot near a dam is always open).  If it's warmer, then the eagles have their choice of where to go fishing and don't need to all congregate near that one spot.  So it's actually a bad thing for eagle-watching, though I am still likely to see a few (on warm years like this, I'll probably see maybe 5-10 tops, and on a very cold year we sometimes see 40+ eagles).  Oh well, we can still go to the wine tasting!    That's always good no matter what the weather is like.


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## scottsma

I got 2 pairs of leggings,1 black and 1 navy blue.I wear a lot of those colours (UK spell.) and I like to be co-ordinated.Black trousers,top,shoes etc.even my underwear is matched.(in case you were wondering hahaha)I have never,to my knowledge worn mis-matched bra & pants.Got the wallpapering finished in the kitchen so might get out on the bikes tomorrow.I envy your eagle adventure.We only have wild Golden and Sea Eagles in Scotland.Plenty of hawks and falcons and kites in the countryside though,if you actively look for them.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I love buying new workout clothes.    I am not nearly as color-coordinated as you, though!  Usually it's black or grey workout capris and a brightly colored top.  I seem to own a lot of bright pink workout tops.  My workout shoes have bright pink shoelaces, so I guess I'm color-coordinated there.    It's completely accidental coordination though!  As for underwear, ha ha, no comment!  As long as it doesn't have stains/holes then I'm good, hah.

As for birds of prey, we get a lot of hawks here in the city, mostly red-tailed hawks.  They're quite common here.  Bald eagles we typically only see in January, although rarely we do see them at other times of year.  They seem to like to go further north in the summers, and only come down here in the dead of winter to fish and roost for a short time.  So as a result, eagle-watching in January has become very popular in this area!  There are even bus tours that go to the best spots.  We won't go on the bus, we already know where the best spots are and can drive to them all ourselves.

The latest weather report is saying that it's going to be 53 degrees F on Saturday!  That's springtime weather, not January weather.  But hey, I'll take it.  Should be very nice weather for bicycling downtown and participating in the women's march.

I'm heading down to the little gym shortly to lift weights.  I just re-vamped my workout playlist, I took out some music that was sounding stale and I added in some fresh new music.  So that should keep me pumped up in the gym, I love it when I can add new music to my workout mix, it really invigorates me.  Unfortunately, 2 of my favorite music groups are basically done now (one broke up permanently, the other just began what will be a very long hiatus) so now I'm going to have to seek out some new groups/singers to listen to!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Just got back from the gym a little while ago.  I definitely was not color-coordinated today!  Black workout capris, blue workout top, and orange socks.    Oops, ha ha.  Didn't feel like digging through my gym bag looking for coordinating socks.  I did have a good workout and that's the important thing.  The new music kept me going.  I do feel quite tired now though!  And even though I didn't do any abdominal exercises, my ab muscles feel quite tired now.  It feels like I did about 200 crunches but I didn't do any.  I think that's just an IBD thing?  I try to go easy on my abdominal area but it likes to yell at me a bit anyway.  Oh well.  It's not pain or anything, it's just sort of a general muscle fatigue feeling.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It looks like a walk is not happening today, rain in the forecast yet again.  That's okay, because I remembered that today is one of my favorite days - it's $2 pants day!  There's a cute little upscale thrift shop in town, and they run different sales every Thursday.  The $2 pants sale is my favorite.  I've gotten some brand-new, designer pants there.  So I'm going bargain hunting instead of forest walking today.  

I won't be online at all tomorrow - no TV and no internet for me, I don't want to give any attention to that horrible man.  And Saturday I'll be at the march, protesting the horrible man.  So I'll probably be back online Sunday or Monday.


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## scottsma

That horrible man will be on our TV at 4pm tomorrow,but I won't be watching.Trouble is it will be on all the news progs.and in all the papers so there'll be no escaping it for weeks to come.As to my colour co-ordination,Ha !! it's not a virtue,I've got nothing better to think about and I can be very particular about silly things.Luckily my typical untidy hubby stops me getting out of line.And I do wear colourful tops and scarves with my dark basics.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I know I can't avoid the horrible man altogether, but it feels like the right thing to do to avoid him tomorrow.  The only TV/internet I'm allowing myself tomorrow is Netflix, and even then obviously nothing political.  I don't subscribe to any newspapers, and I won't even turn on my computer tomorrow.  I'm taking the day off from work, and hopefully will go hiking if the weather behaves (it's looking iffy right now).


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## scottsma

Our daily paper has him on the front page today.I don't think he's well supported here,people are just interested / concerned what it will mean for you,us,and the world in general.
Was planning a ride today but I'm not having a good start to the day,hopefully by lunchtime.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

He's honestly terrifying.  I just read that there's now some bill that congress introduced that would remove the US from the UN??!!  Um, what!  Every day is now like a nightmare!

I didn't go hiking and I didn't go to the march.  It was too rainy to go hiking on Friday, so I stayed in.  And then on Saturday morning, I just couldn't stop crying.  I had felt this impending sense of doom all day on Friday, and on Saturday I woke up and remembered that we have a new president, and I just couldn't stop the tears.  I could not pull myself together and I just wanted to be alone, so I stayed home from the march.

Today I'm trying to be a functional person again and that involves forcing myself to go to the gym.  I still feel somewhat weepy, but better than I was yesterday.  I'm planning to go to the big paid membership gym around lunchtime, then watch my Packers play and hopefully win - if they win then they go to the Superbowl, so that would be one good thing out of this miserable weekend.

I think I mentioned that one of my favorite music groups broke up recently.  Well, 3 of the 4 members got back together in secret to record a goodbye song.  I've been listening to it on repeat all weekend and that hasn't exactly helped me to stop crying.  It's a sad song.  It's a pretty song, too, though.  You can turn on English captions to understand what they're saying.  The phrase they keep repeating - "Annyeong, annyeong" - means "goodbye" (can also mean hello) in Korean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEkLHC7l25w


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did go to the big paid membership gym yesterday.  That gym has a ton of equipment, so as a result I tend to have a longer and more strenuous workout when I go there.  Translation:  I'm sore today!    My body isn't used to doing so much in the gym.  It's a good thing, though.  It makes me want to go back and go regularly so that my body adjusts and so that I get better workouts more regularly.

Hubby is a gym fail, though.  I can't seem to get him to go to that gym with me anymore.  He's been working as a chef, meaning long hours on his feet, and he's exhausted when he gets home from work and the last thing he wants to do is work out.  He has lost weight since becoming a chef, just because he's on his feet so much and so busy & active at work.  But, he's not gaining muscle, he's just lost some weight.  It's not necessarily a healthy thing, you know?  And fitness is all about health, at least for me it is.  But I can't convince him to go with me to the gym anymore.  I used to be able to drag him along - he never wanted to go, but in the past he'd go as long as I was going, although he wasn't happy about going.  And after we were done working out, he'd always thank me and say that he did feel better after a workout, so I know he was getting something beneficial from going to the gym.  He's just too tired now though I guess.  Hmph.  He told me that he's fine with us canceling his gym membership and upgrading mine.  I might do that, with the upgraded membership then I could bring him with me as a guest if he decided he does want to go to the gym.

At least he's been using the punching bag at home.  He told me he wanted his own set of boxing gloves (I guess he didn't want to wear mine, as they're pink!).  So I got him his own pair (not pink, red) and he's been using that more than I have.  So that's good, at any rate.

Today's plans are to go for a walk on the forest path.  I'm so sore from yesterday's workout, but I think a walk will do me good and loosen things up a bit.  Tomorrow I'd like to go to the gym again, will probably go to the little gym at work on my lunch hour.  Wednesday I have a dentist appointment so no workout that lunch hour, and it'll probably end up being a rest day which is fine.  Thurs I have stuff going on at work at odd hours, but I'm hoping to head to the big paid membership gym after work that day for a longer workout in the evening.  Friday, not sure yet.  The weather has been above freezing so the outdoor ice rinks have all melted & closed temporarily.  But, the weather is supposed to get colder and snowier later in the week, so I'm hoping that I might be able to ice skate by Friday.  It doesn't sound like there will be enough snow to go snowshoeing, but maybe I can skate.  If it's still too warm then I'll probably just take another walk.  Saturday is the eagle-watching and wine-tasting day, but I'm hoping to sneak in a workout in the evening that day.  If I can't fit it in, then I'll go to the gym on Sunday instead.  Those are my tentative plans for the week.


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## scottsma

I think it's better to do an extensive workout every other day.I used to do Mon.morn,tues eve.and thurs.pm.Just do something gentle on the other days.
It's no good trying to encourage hubby if he's not keen,he works long and hard so it's not as though he's a couch potato and he does make an effort to do his own thing.It's nice to do things together though.We've been busy finishing off the painting etc.so haven't done much else.Hope to get out on little blackie tomorrow or Wednesday.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I agree, from everything I've read, rest days are necessary and there needs to be at least a day in between weight lifting sessions.  Some people get around this by doing legs one day, arms the next, back the next, and so on.  I'm not a fan of that, I like to go all out and do a whole body weights workout and then either have a rest day or a gentle exercise day such as walking the next day to let my body recover from doing weights.  So I try to do weights every other day with either rest or something else on the days I'm not lifting.

The thing is, hubby pretty much is a couch potato when he's not working.  He spends most of his evenings parked in front of the TV and/or computer.  I get that he's tired, but I'm tired too - I work full-time myself, plus he's healthy while I'm still clawing my way towards remission.  Yes, my job mainly involves sitting at a desk, while his job involves being on his feet all day, so I'm sure he is physically tired at the end of the day.  It's just not healthy, though.  He's only lost weight because he's eating less, and what he does eat seems to be food at his restaurant, which is not healthy food - it's all high fat, fried foods.  (The restaurant is a brewpub so they serve what I'd call upscale bar food - like, instead of just french fries, they serve poutine, and they serve a lot of hamburgers with fancy toppings, many fried appetizers, etc.)  It's not healthy.  Maybe I'm a bit skewed in my view, because at this point I've pretty much come to view weight loss as unhealthy - when I'm at my sickest is when I lose weight, and when I'm getting healthy again is when I gain, and maybe I project that onto others as well.  Maybe it's just my perspective.  But I do feel like he needs to make fitness more of a priority than it is.  I guess he's the only one who can decide that for himself, though.

I'm still going to cancel his gym membership and upgrade mine, though.  The big paid membership gym is a chain, and my current membership allows me to only go to my "home" location and not other locations within the chain.  But if I upgrade, I can go to other locations too.  My "home" location is near my house, but there's another one not far from my work, and one in the city where my parents live, etc.  I would have more workout options if I upgraded, so I'm going to (it'll be the same cost for one upgraded membership as it is for my and hubby's basic memberships, so win-win!).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had my walk on the forest path, it was mostly nice.  The paved part of the path was fine.  I went a bit further today, there's a point where the paved path turns into a gravel path and that part has been icy for awhile now so I've avoided it up for the most part.  Today it was more slushy than icy and I was wearing my boots, so I wandered down it for a bit.  And I stumbled onto something odd!  Well into the woods, fairly far from houses or roads, right in the middle of the path, was a large... thing.  It was like a giant ball made from ice and snow and gravel and mud, I think.  Like the base of a huge snowman but also containing a lot of gravel and mud.  It was gigantic and just sitting smack dab in the middle of the path.  I presume either teenagers or gigantic dung beetles made it.    I took a photo of it (I always bring my camera on walks just in case) because it was so odd!

My favorite singer and one of my personal heroes is Utada Hikaru, and awhile back she had temporarily walked away from her music career because she had no independence.  She was super sheltered by her record agency from her teen years onward, and by the time she was nearly 30, she realized she really had no idea how to be an adult or how to do a lot of  normal things.  She was talking in an interview about how the straw that broke the camel's back was that she had gone on vacation.  She went out to the countryside, and she had no idea what to do while she was out there.  So she asked some people, and she was told that it's nice to take a walk in the country.  So every day, she took a walk, and every day she had a new experience on her walks, it was like a new adventure every day.  She had never done that before, she had never just gone for a walk before, and she said that it was such a simple thing that most people take for granted, but for her it was something new and it showed her that she had to learn what other things there were to being an adult and to go out and have other adventures and become an independent adult.  So I always think of Utada when I walk (and usually listen to her music on my ipod too), but I especially think of her when I see odd things on my walks like that giant slush-mud-gravel ball!  I think she'd be proud of me and my little adventure today, ha ha.  

She has a song called "Nijikan dake no vacance" which means "A 2-hour vacation".  I love that thought - just get away for a couple of hours, away from humanity, go out into the woods for a long walk.  A couple hours (or even one hour) is all you really need to refresh yourself and your mind.  I try to go on a nijikan dake no vacance whenever I get the chance.


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## scottsma

I totally agree Cat...I love nature and wildlife and the complete silence except for birds and maybe a babbling brook.I don't mind hubby being there because we're on the same wavelength.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm not feeling great this morning.  I had a different supplement drink this morning than usual and I think it upset me (I usually do ProNourish but I ran out today and had Boost instead).  I took a zofran which has kicked in now and I'm doing better than I was earlier, but still not feeling quite like my normal self.  I'm still aiming to go to the gym today.  If I'm not feeling well enough by mid-day then I'll scrap the lunch hour workout and aim to do an evening workout instead.  And in the meantime I'm being gentle on myself, going to eat lightly and blandly and drink as much water as I can, etc.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ughh.  I might be feeling worse (at least not any better) as the day has gone on.  Definitely skipping the gym today, and I came home sick from work after a few hours too.  Trying to rest with my heating pad but it's just making me feel overheated.  Still no pain, so I still don't think it's a pred taper fail.  But I'm also questioning whether it's more than just Boost upsetting me at this point.  A co-worker said she was also not feeling well today so maybe there's a bug going around?  I don't know, it doesn't really feel like a bug either.  It just feels like #$%& IBD rearing its ugly head for whatever reason.  I'm frustrated!  I don't know why this is happening and I like to have a reason for things.  And I hate skipping going to the gym when I've been doing so well.  Ugh!


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## scottsma

Ah Cat,just when things are going well for you.Sensible idea not to exercise.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

So my theory now is that this is my adrenal glands grumbling at me (and the adrenals can also cause belly issues) because of the pred taper.  My adrenal glands haven't had to work in months, and now that I'm down to 5 mg pred, they've had to start producing some cortisol again and they're unhappy about that, hence the symptoms and tiredness.  That makes more sense to me than taper fail, a bug, or Boost causing this.  I slept really well last night but still feel tired today, so it makes sense to me that it might be my adrenals doing this.

At any rate, I'm staying home today and resting some more, and won't exercise for a little while.  Will listen to my body and give it what it needs, which right now is rest.  I am less frustrated today with not exercising, because at least now I feel like I am on the right track of knowing what is causing this and what to do to recover.  I need to taper very carefully now - I might give myself more than a week from here on out to taper down, so that I don't stress out my adrenal glands too much.  I see my GI next week so I will discuss this with him then.  I'll start back up with some gentle exercise (walking) when I am feeling better and up for it.  In the meantime I'll rest and skip workouts for now.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

At this point it seems like it most likely is a taper fail, as I'm still feeling awful.  So I went back up to 6 mg today.  I see my GI on Monday and am going to ask him about how to taper without symptoms (if such a thing is even possible).

I've been off sick since Tuesday morning and in my pajamas the whole time.  Fitness has been far from my mind as I'm just trying to recover from this taper fail.  I love pred but I also hate it so much!  I just want to be off of it.  I feel like I'm so close and yet so far.  Just like everything else in my life, I'm in limbo.  Close to being off of pred but still on it.  Close to remission but still flaring when I have a taper fail.  Close to a diagnosis but still undiagnosed.  Just ugh.  I'm so frustrated.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> At this point it seems like it most likely is a taper fail, as I'm still feeling awful.  So I went back up to 6 mg today.  I see my GI on Monday and am going to ask him about how to taper without symptoms (if such a thing is even possible).
> 
> I've been off sick since Tuesday morning and in my pajamas the whole time.  Fitness has been far from my mind as I'm just trying to recover from this taper fail.  I love pred but I also hate it so much!  I just want to be off of it.  I feel like I'm so close and yet so far.  Just like everything else in my life, I'm in limbo.  Close to being off of pred but still on it.  Close to remission but still flaring when I have a taper fail.  Close to a diagnosis but still undiagnosed.  Just ugh.  I'm so frustrated.


We could be sick buddies, seriously.  I had my tonsils taken out thru scheduled surgery on Tuesday morning at 8:30am and have been feeling horrible ever since.  As if the abdominal surgery in October wasn't bad enough, this affects how I eat, drink, swallow, and talk.  I'm on FMLA for 2 weeks but I'm thinking, at this point, that it will probably take longer than that so I may have to extend the FMLA period.  I know it might be a bit premature, but I know my own body and 1 week for the last surgery wasn't long enough so I extended it to 2 weeks.  I'm thinking 3 weeks might be the best.

Anyway, I hate that the prednisone taper is making you feel so yucky.  I used to hate being on steroids for my asthma (also prednisone) and outright refused it when my PCP asked if I wanted to try steroids (thankfully, the Singulair I requested did the trick).  I hope your GI will work with you and find a good plan.  It seems ironic, doesn't it?  The LDN was doing such a good job before and now your body has to play catch-up.  You might want to see if your doctor thinks it's OK to take a supplement like AdrenaSense.  It contains herbs so make sure it doesn't interact with your medications.  Being on steroids for a long time can push you into Cushing's Syndrome so it might be a good idea if your doctor checks to see how much cortisol is in your bloodstream.  Too much can make you sick and cause fatigue.

I hope you feel better soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks, MissLeopard.  I hope you feel better soon too.  I've been eating very lightly and blandly (yesterday I had toast and a few animal crackers, so far today I've had a few bites of mac & cheese and a few potato chips) and I think that's helping.  Mornings are worse for me when I'm having symptoms, the bulk of my nausea and bathroom trips and just feeling unwell seem to happen during the morning hours.  So now that it's afternoon, I'm feeling a bit better.  I presume that going back up to 6 mg pred is helping as well.  I did go back to work today, and it's been so busy that I've been at least somewhat distracted from my guts by how busy I've been.  

I seem to recall that Jennifer had her tonsils taken out not too long ago so I just searched and found her thread about that.  Scroll down to post #25 and that's where she starts talking about her experience.  She didn't have totally smooth sailing with her experience either so maybe her thread will give you some hope that feeling this poorly shouldn't last too much longer.  

http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=43407

And yeah, I am familiar with Cushing's and its counterpart Addison's disease - when I was first sick, my GI had me tested for Addison's as some of my symptoms fit and I had a really good response to a low dose of pred (10 mg) - apparently Addison's can cause some digestive symptoms and weight loss, and the ideal dose of pred for it is something like 7.5 mg, but it turns out I do not have Addison's.  I definitely know that I don't want to be on steroids for longer than necessary and my GI agrees, now we just have to get my stupid broken body to agree with us too.    A girl who used to be active on the forum, she's my friend on facebook and she's on pred for Behcet's disease.  She told me that she's been tapering her pred like this - she'd do 6 mg one day, 5 mg the next, then 6 again, then 5, and so on, alternating for a few weeks before going down to 5 and staying there.  Then alternating between 5 and 4, and so on.  She said that's been working much better for her than just going from 6 mg to 5.  And then Jennifer chimed in and suggested that I try cutting my 1 mg tablets in half and going from 6 mg to 5.5.  So those are both feasible options and I'm going to ask my GI about that at my appointment on Monday.  I'll ask about that supplement, too, I haven't heard of that one before.

In the meantime, the plan is to rest.  I don't have any plans at all for the weekend and I had hubby hook up the playstation 3 so that I can play Katamari Forever.    If I'm feeling better then I will probably take the dog out for a short walk, but I'm not going to push myself at all.  The most strenuous thing I'll do all weekend probably is grocery shop.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I seem to recall that Jennifer had her tonsils taken out not too long ago so I just searched and found her thread about that.  Scroll down to post #25 and that's where she starts talking about her experience.  She didn't have totally smooth sailing with her experience either so maybe her thread will give you some hope that feeling this poorly shouldn't last too much longer.
> 
> http://www.crohnsforum.com/showthread.php?t=43407


The day that the tonsillectomy was performed was terrible.  I threw up 3 times which is agony on an already sore throat.  I think it was because of the anesthesia, Dilaudid in the PACU, and the Hycet my doctor gave me for post-surgery pain (liquid Vicodin - combo Tylenol and Hydrocodone).  Vicodin did wonders for my last surgery in October, so I'm glad this doctor gave me the same thing, but I notice when I am almost due for another dose as my throat gets REALLY sore and it's difficult to swallow.  I combat it with a Sucret drop and an ice pack on the throat.  I've been trying to sleep with a humidifier, too, so my throat stays nice and moist.  Dehydration increases the chance of bleeding.

Yesterday was the worst in terms of pain, which was to be expected, because the scabs started to form.  Today, however, was the first time I ran a fever of 100.2.  It fortunately went back down after taking the Hycet dose (it was due) and sleeping some more.  There is definitely no shortage of sleep in my recovery.  The Hycet is so strong that about 30 minutes after taking it, it's difficult to keep my eyes open.  I bought stuff before the surgery to keep myself busy with and haven't done a thing because I cannot concentrate long enough (I have Perler beads, cross-stitch kits, a paint-by-numbers set, coloring books, etc) but that's normal.

Anyway, I'm glad I had those nasty tonsils out.  The ENT doctor told my mom afterward that they were FULL of stones, even though I couldn't see them.  I know they had horrible looking wart-like growths on them and were full of holes, but I had been drinking carbonated beverages to keep them as clear as possible.  They had been causing problems for almost 2 years but I recently got health insurance in the last year.  The first ENT I saw didn't even care what was going on so my PCP sent me to another ENT for a 2nd opinion.  He said we should get rid of them since antibiotics didn't help and my tonsils were enlarged (he wrote hypertrophic tonsils on the diagnosis sheet).  I'm hoping this will help with the chronic coughing and trying to clear my throat.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm doing better, the 6 mg pred has definitely kicked back in.  The weekend was slightly rough, particularly Saturday - we were going to drive about 45 mins each way to drop off a sewing machine for my niece.  I knew I had to eat something beforehand.  So I had a small bowl of oatmeal with some kiwi fruit.  My guts were very unsure about digesting that, and as a result, I had cramps the whole drive there (they finally let up on the way home).  Same thing with dinner, I had some salmon and my guts gave me some cramping after that too.  But, the cramping didn't lead to urgency nor bathroom trips.  It was just standalone cramps.

Sunday I felt better, I had a slight bit of cramping when I first woke up in the morning, but after having a bowel movement, I didn't have any further cramps and I was able to eat without issue.  I also was able to walk the dog, which felt great.  It was quite cold out, it was maybe 20 F and breezy so the wind felt very cold.  Lily of course loved it though, she loves the cold weather and snow.

Today no cramps, although I felt a little iffy when I woke up - some mornings I have nausea, I guess it's like having morning sickness without being pregnant?  That fortunately has passed though and I was able to eat a small snack (banana) with no issue.  I see my GI this afternoon and we will discuss what to do about my pred taper.  Hubby is making a potato dish for dinner which I know is belly-friendly for me.  It's supposed to snow, but if the snow hasn't started when I get home from my appointment, then I might take Lily out for a quick walk.  I'm hoping to start lifting weights again this week, I just want to make sure I have a plan of attack for the pred taper first and give myself another day or two to recover from the taper fail before I try hitting the gym.  In the meantime I'm just going to walk when I can.


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## scottsma

I've felt a bit iffy too this weekend.Just goes to show that we can't take this darn disease for granted.We had a good afternoon on the bikes on Thursday,but sooo cold,I was glad to get home.We went along the coast again today.Thought we'd make the most of it as the weather is threatening to change for the worst in the next few days.I hope you're appointment goes as you want it to.I know you'll keep us updated.That potato dish sounds tasty,I might google some recipes.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I can give you the basics of our potato dish - we take some potatoes (enough to fill a glass baking dish) and peel them and cut them up.  Sprinkle with shredded cheese - I use goat cheese as I can't do cow's dairy.  Add cooked ground meat - I usually do ground turkey as I don't do beef, but tonight we're adding ground lamb, yum.  We also add cooked turkey bacon that we cut up into little bits, and sometimes we add broccoli.  And you can add whatever else you like, such as cooked onions if you can handle them, etc.  Bake that all until the potatoes are done, add sour cream if you like, and enjoy!  It's like a baked potato casserole.

I'm freaking out because there are shakeups at work that I was just told of today, and now nobody knows if we're going to have jobs anymore.  We won't find out more until after April 1st so I'm trying to just be calm until then, but I was literally just told of this so currently I'm freaked out and trying not to cry.  Hubby and I were planning to do some basement renovations soon (to add a 2nd bathroom to our basement, because our house currently only has one bathroom) but I just texted him and told him to put that on hold as we need to save our money.  Ugh ugh ugh.  I really hate this.  I need my job.  Not just for the paycheck but I need my health insurance too!

I know that stressing will only make me feel worse, and as my boss said, there's nothing we can do right now to change anything.  So I'm going to do something active tonight to relieve some stress, even if I just end up walking on my treadmill.  I'm really hoping to get Lily out for a walk though.  I just feel like I need to get outside and away from all this!  First though I have to go for my GI appointment.  I have to get through that and then I can go home and cry and walk and punch my punching bag and do whatever else I need to do.

It's past 2 PM and I haven't eaten lunch yet.  Suddenly I find I have no appetite.  Hopefully the lovely smell of baked potato casserole will revive my hunger tonight.


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## scottsma

That potato dish sounds delish hahaha.Will def.try it soon.
Not good news re: work though,and what a long time to wait with that hanging over you like the sword of Damacles.Sensible not to spend though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hah, it actually seems to me like a very short time to wait.  I've worked for the same company for 14+ years now.  About a year after I started working here, the department I was originally in was told that we were being downsized.  It took a full 18 months for them to actually downsize us though.  So a couple months wait seems like nothing compared to a year and a half that I waited back then.

I'm still nervous, but I feel better today than I did yesterday.  I did take Lily on a walk yesterday after my GI appointment.  It was snowy and a bit icy, she and I both slipped and slid a bit but fortunately neither of us fell.  I'm planning to walk on the forest path today on my lunch hour.  I must have slept funny on my left knee, as it's aching today (I suspect I have a bit of arthritis in that knee).  But walking doesn't seem to make it worse, so I will walk.  I need to get away to the forest for even a brief amount of time.  Really looking forward to that!

My GI appointment went mostly fine.  We briefly discussed my pred taper and what our goals are (get me off of pred and fully into remission and staying on Lialda and LDN as my maintenance meds) and how to accomplish the pred taper successfully (alternating doses every other day is the plan we're going to try).  We were both in agreement about our goals and what to do from here so it was a pretty brief discussion.  He saw that we still had more time, so rather than end the appointment early, he said, "How's the rest of your life going?  How's work?"  Well, of course I had just gotten the news a few hours earlier that we might be losing our jobs, so I immediately started crying.  Ugh.  My GI is a good doctor, don't get me wrong, but he's typically a very stoic, by the books type of guy.  He deals with the gut symptoms and nothing else, he has made it clear in the past by his actions and words that he does not deal with the emotional side of things.  But yesterday, he actually leaned in and was like, "What's wrong?"  He was genuinely concerned.  So I told him a bit and he actually listened, he's never done that before.  And he actually tried to help, too - he asked about my skillsets and said that surely I could find another job in a similar company, and I said that I do have some former co-workers at another company and sometimes they even try to recruit me there, so yes, I could go work there if I had to.  I think my GI just likes having problems to solve, ha ha.  It did make me feel better that he was concerned and wanted to help, he usually just ignores me when I cry in front of him (I've done that many times, I cry pretty easily).

I'm feeling better and better every day and am recovering well from last week's taper flare, and my GI encouraged me to exercise as much as I can.  So today's plan is to walk as it's supposed to be a relatively warm day (mid 30s F and no rain).  Tomorrow I plan to lift weights, probably in the little gym in the basement at work (I may as well use that gym as much as I can while I still have access, ugh).  I don't want to plan things too far in advance just yet, but that's the plan for now.

Oh, and I forgot to add - I did end up going eagle-watching after all, although just briefly.  When we drove on Saturday to drop off the sewing machine for my nieces, we drove through the area where the eagles tend to congregate, so we briefly had a look.  The river was not frozen over at all, so eagles were nowhere to be seen.  As we were leaving town, though, we saw one immature bald eagle perched in a tree (they don't get the white head until they're about 5 years old, they're sort of a mottled dark brown for the first few years and that's known as their immature phase/coloring).  So I did see one eagle, yay!


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## scottsma

That was a good appointment eh.? It's nice that you're both on the same wavelength too.
Have'nt you got grips to put on the soles of your shoes/boots ? They're not very good for impacted shiney ice though,and I don't think they do them for dogs.
I'm glad you've calmed down a wee bit re: your employment.You know what worry and stress do to you and there's not much you can do about the out come.8 wks plus is to long to worry.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hubby has some ice tread things for his boots but I don't like walking with them, they're a bit awkward (I walk awkwardly enough already, I'm a big klutz!).  And the ice was pretty shiny.  The big issue with the ice was that it was patchy and a light layer of snow had covered everything, so it was hard to see where the ice was.  You'd think you were just walking on snow that was on top of pavement, but then there'd be a sneaky patch of ice and suddenly everything was slippery.  Poor Lily is awkward at walking as well (corgis are awkward at everything) so we were both skidding around a bit.

And no, Lily wouldn't be caught dead in boots.    She hates wearing anything aside from her collar, which she loves.  When I take her collar off to brush her, she sometimes will pick it up in her mouth and try to get me to put it back on her, ha ha.  But she hates wearing anything like dog clothes or shoes.  She doesn't even like wearing her harness, although with her odd body shape she needs to wear a harness in order to go on walks.  So she will tolerate me putting her harness on but she lowers her head and ears and has the saddest eyes ever as I'm putting it on her.  When she was much younger, she got a small wound/infection in her foot that needed to be surgically cleaned out and have a few stitches put in, so we had to keep the foot wrapped up and in a boot for about a week while her incision healed.  That was a very challenging week!  She had the cone on but she still managed to get the boot and wrapping off about 10 times per day.  Fortunately it healed fine and all is well now, but oh my, that was a very frustrating time.

Yeah, I have calmed down, I haven't cried all day today and I'm not even thinking about it that much anymore.  Worrying now won't do me any good so I'm just trying to put it out of my mind at least for the time being.  I'm going to go on my forest walk shortly and really looking forward to that.  Although I'm still planning on only spending money on the essentials for now (groceries, toilet paper, and of course bills such as mortgage, etc).  I don't want to buy anything non-essential until the dust settles in a couple months.  I know that's going to be a challenge for me as I really enjoy shopping and buying myself treats, but I think I can do it.  I just want to sock away as much money as I can right now, that's more important than treats.  I feel a bit like a squirrel and there may or may not be a harsh winter coming, so I've got to hoard all my nuts just in case.


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## scottsma

Of course you have to buy toilet paper hahaha,that's top of the list.
I know you were upset when you first learned of the up and coming work thing,but it's better to talk about it and get it out of your system.Which is why you feel better today (yesterday).You know how valuable the forum is for getting stuff off your chest.
Alfie hated wearing a coat but it was important when he got old and sick.I was so fed up with his miserable face one day,I took it off and hung it on the fence at the local golf course.It was still there two days later so I brought it home,washed it and gave it to the dogs charity.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, and I'm still going to buy good quality soft toilet paper, too.  Even though I'm trying not to spend, I still refuse to buy cheap thin TP.    And yeah, I know venting helps me a lot!  I think telling my GI about it helped too.  And we're working on solutions already - hubby ideally should have a job that offers health insurance, so that we could both be on his insurance if I do lose my job.  So he's been applying for some jobs.

Hopefully Lily won't have to wear a coat when she's old.  Her fur is very thick, she is one of those dogs that has a "double coat" (thick undercoat and thick overcoat of fur).  She sheds like mad year-round but cold never seems to bother her, she loves snow and winter and cold - conversely, she hates summer and heat.  Sometimes I have to drag her along on walks in the summer, but in the winter she's running all around in the snow with pure joy.  Oddly enough she originally is from California!  She lived there with her original owners for the first two years of her life, then they moved here and couldn't keep her and she became my dog.  Our first winter with her was the first time she saw snow, and that year we had a blizzard and about 18 inches of snow fell in that storm.  The snow was almost as high as she is tall, but she loved it anyway and sort of "swam" through the deep snow.  She didn't need a coat in that, so I am hoping she won't ever need one.

My fitness plans have changed slightly.  Instead of going to the gym for weights today, I'm heading outdoors for some ice skating.  It's one of those ideal days - my local outdoor rink is open (and it's always free), and the weather looks perfect for skating.  The high temp today is about 28 F, so not too cold and also not quite warm enough for the ice to be melty.  So I've got my skates in the car and I'm going to zip over there for some skating today.  I'll do weights tomorrow instead.


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## scottsma

Great idea.It's best to make the most of better weather.Take care.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, and tomorrow is supposed to be colder, so that'll be a better day to stay indoors anyway.  I'm wondering though if I'm coming down with a cold - I've been a bit stuffy and coughing a little bit this morning.  Hopefully it's just the dry winter air.  I've got some vitamin C drops and some ginger tea, so I'll have some vit C and some tea - I've even got a travel tea mug, so I could bring it with me to the ice rink.  Although with my luck I'd fall on the ice and spill hot tea all over myself, eek!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Okayyy, so, the weather today might have gone a bit past ideal.  I swear when I checked the weather report this morning, it said a high temp of 28 F and overcast skies.  Well, that was a lie.    It's now about 35 F so things are getting slightly melty, and there are blue skies and the sun is out.  Hmmm.  Well, I'm still going skating anyway.  As long as the ice doesn't get too melty it should be fine.  The ice rink is still open today, in spite of the warmer and sunnier than expected weather.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ahh.  I got back from skating a little while ago and I feel quite good now.  It sure doesn't feel like 35 F out there, there's a very brisk wind which made everything feel colder and made it a bit challenging to skate!  But I did skate and didn't fall, so that's a definite success.  I was concerned about how the condition of the ice was going to be - the free outdoor rinks can sometimes be quite iffy.  And it's only been below freezing for a short time, so I wasn't sure if the ice had enough time to set properly (it's a flooded field, not a frozen pond, so at least I don't have to worry about falling through the ice).  Well, there are 2 rinks at the park that I go to, there's a smaller rink and a larger one.  The smaller rink was almost in pristine condition, the ice was great!  Which is good, because the larger rink looked horrendous.  I don't think I could have skated on it at all, the ice looked very choppy and broken up into big chunks, it looked un-skate-able.  But I was fine with sticking to the smaller rink, especially since I was the only person there (it can get a bit crowded with multiple people!).  I'm not sure how it was that the small rink was so good and the large rink was so bad - they are literally only like 2 feet away from each other.  And they're maintained by the same organization.  Who knows!  But I'm glad the small rink was so nice for skating today.

My legs did feel a little tired while skating, and feel quite tired now, which makes sense because I've been walking every day without a break.  I think I do need a rest day.  I am still planning to lift weights tomorrow, and will focus more on arms than legs, and will take a rest day on Friday.  Saturday I am thinking I will go to the big paid membership gym, hopefully with hubby, and lift weights.  While we're there, we can upgrade my membership and cancel his (I can still bring him along as a guest with the upgraded membership, and it's the same cost).  Sunday, it's looking like it'll be nice weather (they're currently saying 36 F and sunny) and I'd love to go on a longer hike.  There's a 4.2 mile loop as part of the forest path that I've been wanting to try, there are at least 2 restrooms along that path, and dogs are allowed - sounds good to me.  So I'll bring Lily for sure, and maybe I can convince hubby to come too (he did not sound at all enthusiastic about it when I mentioned it to him yesterday).


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## scottsma

Walking Alfie in the woods used to be a huge part of our lives.Probably because we were born and bred at the coast,we take it for granted.In good weather the coast is always far to busy,so we keep away.It's exciting to go and watch the waves crashing when there's a winter storm though.Glad you enjoyed your skating.It doesn't take long for unused muscles to complain.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm nowhere near the coast, I live in the upper Midwest so I'm near-ish to the great lakes (it's about a 90 minute drive to the nearest one, Lake Michigan).  But I'm at least 1,000 miles away from the ocean on either side.  So I've never really been a coast person, but definitely am a forest person.  

I didn't want to tell my parents about the shakeups at work, because I knew they'd just worry and try to give me money (they're already giving my brother money plus food and room & board, he still is unemployed and lives with them).  But then my mom said she wanted to come down and do fun things and go shopping this weekend, so I had to tell her no and explain why I am not spending any money at the moment.  Ugh.  So now she's worrying and I'm sure she told my dad and he's worrying too.

The fitness plan is still on.  My legs feel better today and I still plan to take a rest day tomorrow (with no fitness and no shopping, what am I going to do with myself tomorrow??).  Heading to the little gym today on my lunch break for a quickie weights session.  Hubby expressed more interest in my weekend workout plans, so maybe I can drag him along with me after all.  And he's on board with the no spending money thing, too (he said he thinks he might need to remind me of not spending, and I told him I'm counting on him to remind me of that at key times!).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm tired now.    Just got back from the gym.  I honestly wasn't really feeling it beforehand.  You know when you have a workout planned and you just have to sort of "fake it till you make it"?  Like, just make yourself do the workout even though you're not feeling like it.  That's how today was.  I do feel good now, I'm happy that I worked out, but I wasn't feeling it going in.  I'm very glad that tomorrow is a rest day, I need a bit of rest.  I'm still wondering if I'm coming down with a cold, I've been blowing my nose more than usual and I've needed a couple throat lozenges today, and I'm just a bit tired.  Hopefully tomorrow's rest day will get me feeling more energetic for Saturday's workout!

I'm still doing well on not spending any money, but it is difficult.  I keep looking at the calendar, like, when can I spend again?  Still two months, huh?  Ughhh.  I need to find some distractions for myself from spending money.  I should have enough yarn and fabric to get me through 2 months, and I just downloaded a bunch of free books to my kindle, that's a good start.  Shopping and buying myself treats is my way of cheering myself up, though, so I need to find a new outlet for that specifically.  Hmmm.


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## scottsma

Like you,I always feel better when I've done something.And I know the feeling of "making the effort" very well.If I don't get out every day I feel awful,both physically and mentally.
Except when I'm having a "sick" day and all I want to do is snuggle down with a book.
As for your non spending......If you DO lose your job you'll be glad you've been careful,and if you DON'T lose your job you'll have something saved to have a splurge......Yaaaaay !!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I really need to start looking for a newer car, so adding money to my savings will mean that I can maybe buy a slightly nicer car than I've currently budgeted for (I'm definitely putting the car shopping on hold until I know what my job situation is though!).  My current car is 16 years old with over 200,000 miles on the odometer, and although she's still running fine at the moment, she's obviously getting older and I don't know how much longer she'll last.  So once the dust settles and I either find myself still with a job or find a new job, then I can start looking for a newer car.

Today's a "sick" day for me, I'm quite headachey this morning and still feel like I might have a slight cold.  Definitely a good day for a rest day.


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## scottsma

We've been doing home decorating and finished the gloss painting at lunchtime.I didn't get out yesterday at all so we hopped on the bikes and had a run along the coast.I was getting headachey with the fumes,though they weren't really that bad.Just got back and I really would like a shower or bath,but can't until the paint dries,hubby says.I can enjoy a wash down at the sink for now.Trying not to touch the wet paint as we pass is proving a real problem, how people with kids manage,I do not know.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I don't know how people with kids accomplish anything!    My sister-in-law has 5 kids between the ages of 3 and 13, and it's always complete, uncontrolled chaos at her house.  I wouldn't be able to do anything (except maybe have a nervous breakdown) in a setting like that.  It makes me appreciate my calm, quiet house so very much.

We might soon do some painting as well.  We have some paint leftover from when we painted our living room and kitchen (so we wouldn't have to spend any money on paint/supplies), so we might paint the sewing room as it really needs a coat of paint.  It sounds like a big job though because we'd have to move everything out of that room first!  That part would be a bigger job than the actual painting!

I think I've definitely got a cold, ugh.  I wasn't sure the past couple of days, because I always get an increase in gut symptoms when I catch a cold - it's like, when my immune system turns on to fight the cold/virus, it also attacks my guts a little bit while it's on, because that's just what it does.  I didn't have any tummy symptoms for the past couple of days, but today I've got some nausea and I've been to the bathroom 4 times already.  So yeah, it's a cold.  It still seems quite mild.  And I had read that it's still okay to work out as long as all the cold symptoms stay above the shoulders - meaning, if you've got a sore throat and/or sinus congestion, but no symptoms like cough or chest congestion, then it's okay to work out.  And I don't have a cough, although I'm not sure if my gut symptoms count or not.  All my "classic" cold symptoms are above the shoulders, though - headache, sinus congestion, and just a slightly sore/tickly throat.  For now I'm going to play it by ear and see how I'm feeling tomorrow.  If I'm still nauseous & having bathroom trips then I'll skip the gym, but if that part is over with (the gut symptoms usually don't last very long), then I might still try a workout.  We'll see.  For the time being, I took some zofran which brought the nausea down to a more tolerable level, and zofran also tends to back me up a bit, so that should slow things down and prevent me from using the bathroom quite so much.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I didn't end up going to the gym during the weekend - I've got just enough lingering cold symptoms that I decided it was better to stay home instead.  We did paint on Saturday, so we got that accomplished anyway.  And that is sort of a workout, like squatting down to paint the lower parts of the wall and reaching up to paint the ceiling, etc.

Sunday morning, I woke up with a sore lower back.  Not sure if I tweaked it while painting, or if I slept on it wrong, or what.  It was fairly painful for the first half of the day, as I walked around the pain gradually eased up.  But I didn't go to the gym that day either for fear of making it worse.  We did walk Lily and that seemed to help my back.  It's feeling normal today, no pain.

Today's plan is to go to the little gym on my lunch hour.  It looks like a very nice day out, I'm very tempted to take a walk, but I walked yesterday and I really need to have a weights day.  Tomorrow looks like it should be good for walking also, so I'll walk then.  The tentative plan this week is weights Mon-Wed-Fri, walking Tues, and not sure about Thurs.  It's supposed to get colder again on Thurs, so possibly ice skating, or maybe a rest day.  Saturday it's supposed to rain, so I might skip exercise that day and go visit my grandma.  I haven't seen her in a few weeks, so a visit would be very nice.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Bleh!  I'm in a taper fail.  Got hit with cramping and nausea a short while ago - literally while I was halfway through eating my oatmeal.  I felt fine while eating it and suddenly I felt not fine.  Because of this, I'm not going to lift weights today after all.  I think I might take a walk if I'm feeling up to it.  Mostly I'm feeling very frustrated.  Before LDN, I couldn't get below 10 mg of pred without symptoms (I tried multiple times).  Now I cannot get below 6 mg pred, have failed at that twice now.  Ugh ugh ugh.  So frustrating!  I just want to taper off of pred without flaring up again or having symptoms!  So not happy right now.  I really hate my stupid broken body and I hate pred too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Didn't end up walking nor going to the gym.  Still working my way back to feeling better.  I had to ask hubby to come by my work and drop off my 1 mg pred tablets so that I could get myself back up to 6 mg (fortunately he doesn't work Mondays).  So I'm starting to feel better now that I've taken an extra 1 mg and am back up to my 6 mg.  My body just doesn't like being at 5 mg.  I emailed my GI asking what to do.  I'm wondering now if I could try going from 6 to 5.5 mg.  My 1 mg tablets are tiny, but they do have a line down the middle to theoretically I could try splitting one in half.  Pred is so powdery though that it might just disintegrate.  But it's worth a try I think.  Maybe going from 6 to 5.5 to 5 will work better.

So all my fitness plans are up in the air now.  I'm resting today and will see how I'm feeling tomorrow and go from there.  Ugh.  Stupid pred, stupid body.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Still having taper fail symptoms today.  Ugh.  I've been to the bathroom I think 4 times already this morning (the same thing happened at my last taper fail) and had to take some zofran for the nausea.  Mornings are usually worst for me anyway, though, so I'm hoping that I improve as the day goes on.  

I'm thinking that today is going to be a rest day even if I do improve later today.  My body needs rest and healing right now.  I'm just going to play it by ear each day and see how I'm feeling.  It's raining today so I wouldn't be able to do a walk nor go ice skating anyway.  I did drag myself in to work but I'm not sure if I'm going to make it through the whole work day.  I think the zofran is helping though so I'm at least semi-functional today.


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## scottsma

That's the best plan.Just see what each day brings rather than plan ahead.It was raining this morning so we had a drive out to a little market town for a mooch around the shops.Of course the sun came out and the temp.rose to 8c.It would have been a good day for a bike ride.The forecast isn't good for the fore- seeable so it could be a while before we get out.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I ended up going home sick from work yesterday and staying home sick today.  It's like a mini-flare every time I have a taper fail, with bathroom trips and cramps and fatigue and nausea.  I've lost 3 lbs because I've had no appetite.  I just hate this!  I emailed my GI asking for help with my taper, and he was like, "Did you try zofran for the nausea?"  Um, yes, it takes the edge off but I still feel like crap so please help me!  (That was the gist of my response to him anyway.)

So yeah, fitness is still on hold, I'm resting with my heating pad on today.  I'll start with taking walks again once I'm feeling better.  In the meantime it's rest for me.


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## scottsma

I'm so sorry Cat.I know you want to get off pred.but you're not having much luck are you ? I don't know what the solution is.Look after yourself and put exercise on hold for the present.It won't take you long to get back into it, but please make sure you're fully recovered first.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm definitely determined to get off of pred.  I seem to have trouble just going from 6 mg to 5, and for this taper fail I had tried alternating the dose (6 mg one day, 5 the next, 6, 5, and so on) but that's failed me as well.  So my next thought is that maybe I could try going from 6 mg to 5.5.  I've emailed and asked my GI if pred comes in 0.5 mg tablets, he hasn't responded yet.  I can try to cut my 1 mg tablets in half, although they're tiny, so I'm not sure how well that is going to work.  For the time being, I'm staying at 6 mg for at least a week or two to recover from this before I try again to taper.

I'm feeling overwhelmed at the moment.  Between the job stuff and not being able to get off of pred and feeling pretty awful at the moment, I'm just a weepy mess.  Of course, exercise is my stress-relief and my antidepressant, and when I'm not well enough to exercise, I quickly start to feel much worse mentally.  I'm trying to eat toast but I'm crying on my toast.  I seem to just get further behind in my illness and my finances.  I'm not giving up, but sometimes it's all very overwhelming.


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## scottsma

Ah me darlin',it will pass,you know it will.Stop trying so hard to be perfect.

On the subject of halving pills,you can get pill cutters.I got one at the vets when I had to halve Alfies tramadol so I expect the pharmacy will have them too.
Now,try to concentrate on all the GOOD things in your life,because you do have them,you know.  Hugs.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I do have a pill cutter - I've been using that to cut my 10 mg pred tablets in half.  But even that is a bit messy and uneven, the tablet never seems to cut perfectly down the middle and it's always sort of powdery and disintegrates slightly in the cutter.  And that's the 10 mg tablets, so I'm guessing it will be similar for the 1 mg tablets but even more difficult as they are so tiny.  So that's why I'm hoping my GI can track down some 0.5 mg tablets for me, if they even exist.

You are very wise.    I know I have a lot of good things in my life.  Sometimes though, the bad things seem to yell the loudest for my attention - sort of like certain politicians, ha ha.  And I sometimes forget that my feelings are liars and that the bad things feel permanent, but they're not.  I read this essay awhile back and it definitely spoke to me.  Here's the link:

http://www.epbot.com/2016/03/writing-my-way-out.html


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## scottsma

Oh believe me, bad stuff and thoughts  get to all of us sometimes.I just tell myself that there are millions worse off in the world and it usually works.This time next year you'll have forgotten all about it.Have a good day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm feeling more positive and doing a bit better today.  Only been to the bathroom 3x instead of 4 so far this morning.    I did drag myself in to work today, and I got some good news - it sounds like my department is safe, my boss told my co-worker that it doesn't sound like there will be layoffs in my dept.  Phew!  I know it's not official and things could change, but it was still really promising to hear that.  And it's a load of stress off of my back!  I was crying in the car on my way to work, but now I don't feel like crying.  (I cry so much when I'm flaring or when my guts are acting up, it's ridiculous.)

I'm still not going to do any exercise today.  I'm pretty weak, I've lost 4 lbs this week, I haven't had much appetite and haven't eaten much (maybe that's why I only had 3 bathroom trips?).  Yesterday I had some toast and some french fries, and then I was naughty - hubby was eating strawberries and they looked wonderful, so I ate 2 or 3.  Well, my bathroom trips this morning have included a few chunks of red, I know it's undigested strawberries.  Oops.  I need to play it safer with food until I fully recover from this taper fail.

If I'm feeling up to it, tomorrow's weather looks like it's going to be lovely, and I'd really like to take a walk if I can.  I won't if I'm still feeling like I am now, though.  The weather might be nice on the weekend as well, temps in the 40s F which sounds great to me!  So if I can't walk tomorrow, I'll see if I can take a walk at some point during the weekend.

Oh, and my GI got back to me about pred - he said they do not make 0.5 mg tablets, but they do make 2.5 mg tablets.  So I could use that to taper from 6 mg down to 5.5 mg - I'd take 3x 1 mg tablets and one 2.5 tablet to equal 5.5 - I hope that will work.  For now I'm staying at 6 mg for another week or two to let my body recover, I need a slight break before I try again to taper.


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## scottsma

You should feel more relaxed now re: Pred. and job.Even if the job side is not 100% certain there is hope,and that's something.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I definitely do feel more relaxed.  And I even engaged in my favorite non-fitness activity:  Shopping!    I didn't go overboard, but there's always a sale at a local thrift store on Thursdays so I went to check it out.  It was supposed to just be purses and shoes that were on sale, but they also spontaneously put all clothes on sale!  Since I've gained a few too many lbs thanks to pred, I've gone from a size small to a size medium and from a pants size 6 to a size 8, so new clothes that actually fit are something that I need right now.

My eye is always drawn to blue, and I ended up buying 3 things, all of them blue.    I got a cute new turquoise workout top, name brand with the built-in sports bra and it seems brand-new.  I also got a cute bright blue workout jacket, it's got a special pocket for my ipod (which is also blue!).  And I got a really cute navy blue jacket for springtime.  I feel soooo much better after shopping!  And I only spent $15 on all 3 things.

So yeah, new clothes, especially blue workout clothes, make me very happy.  But it also motivates me which might not be the best thing right now - I really want to hit the gym in my new clothes right away, but of course that's not wise at the moment (plus I have to wash them first anyway).  So I will wait until I'm feeling better.


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## scottsma

I love a bargain.We have lots of charity shops over here,Heart,Cancer,Aged,Hospice,etc etc.They're all run as boutique type shops,clean,light and good changing rooms.I get much more satisfaction buying from them,than I do buying new.Things I haven't worn for a while all go back to them.I got my hubby two pairs of Paul Smith jeans for £1 a pair.I think they're about £80 new.I get his casual T's for knocking about in for £1 too,then I don't have to worry about grease and oils stains etc.'cos he is a mucky pup at times.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, this was a thrift shop benefiting Hospice, with all volunteers working there and all the proceeds going to people in Hospice, so I always feel good shopping there.  And like you said, it's clean and nice like a boutique.  And I always donate my old clothes back to them too.  I love bargains too, this particular shop sometimes has a $2 pants sale and that's like xmas for me.    Pretty much all my pants - jeans, business trousers, sweat pants, workout pants, and even skirts - have all come from the $2 pants sale.  I love it!  I've gotten some name-brand bargains there as well, I never know how much things cost brand new but sometimes the women working there will tell me things like, "Oh, this is a very good brand and would cost over $100 if you had bought it new!" and I take them at their word.  And then I think to myself, who on earth would pay $100 for one pair of pants??  Not me!

Hah, "mucky pup", that's a new phrase for me!  My hubby is similar.  He'll think nothing of making a huge mess, then is surprised later when his shirt has stains (or the countertop, or the rug, or wherever/whatever project he was doing!).  

I'm feeling better day by day.  I think I could take a walk today, but I did have some cramping and d earlier today, so I'm not going to risk it just yet.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I'm now hoping to do a walk on Sunday.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I walked both weekend days.  Saturday, I took Lily out for a quick walk before lunch, as my parents were coming down and they wanted to take us out to lunch.  That walk went fine.  

Yesterday, I decided to take Lily on a longer hike.  That ended up being not so great, but we got through it.  There's a longer (not paved) forest path which makes a loop and it's about 4 miles total, and I'd been wanting to walk it.  Sunday, the weather looked nice.  It was sunny and in the 40s F.  But it was super windy!  I figured we'd be in the forest, so the trees would act as a wind break.  And they did, for the parts where we were in the forest.  But the path didn't end up staying in the forest the whole time, there was a large chunk where it was in the prairie/open field, so there was nothing in those areas to stop the wind.  Also, the paths had previously been full of ice/snow, but with the temps above freezing, the paths turned into a watery, slushy mess.  My hiking shoes quickly started letting water in, so my socks and feet got a bit soaked.  I know Lily wasn't happy about that either (she loves snow but hates water).  By the end of that hike, Lily was not happy, she was dragging behind when usually she's trotting out in front of me.  And this morning she was moving a bit more slowly and stiffly, so I think the walk wore her out and maybe the wind & cold meltwater affected her joints a bit.  She's 8 so I have to remember that she's getting older and isn't quite as spry as she used to be.  Next time, we'll take an easier hike.

Oh, and I also at one point stepped wrong and rolled my ankle.  I didn't injure it, but it was close - I very easily could have sprained or even broken it.  It was a little tender after that.

I'm sore and tired today.  Today is definitely a rest day.  Will re-assess tomorrow and see what I'm feeling up for.  I'm also a bit nauseous this morning, but that's typical for me, I'm often nauseous in the mornings, and Monday mornings are sometimes worse - my routine gets thrown off by the weekend, as I sleep in and then take my meds at a later time than usual and I'm not eating at the same times as normal and I forget to take my psyllium, etc.  So today's a recovery day, both from the hike and from the weekend in general.


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## scottsma

Well even if you didn't enjoy your walk so much,at least you made the effort.
I haven't been very far for the last few days because of cold miserable weather and stomach problems.We got halfway through the park yesterday,on the way to the craft market,and I had to come home.Today I walked into town and around the shops and felt better.I was going stir crazy.Our temps are to rise into double figures as the week goes on,so I'll be on little blackie at the first opportunity.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I hate when that happens, when you push yourself to get out but then your stomach forces you to turn around and go home.  I feel like I should get credit for making the effort, so my stomach should just quiet down and let me enjoy the thing that I pushed myself to get out and do!  But of course IBD doesn't work that way.  It's frustrating.  Hopefully your stomach will allow you to enjoy the nicer weather.

We're supposed to get nicer weather as well.  It's still in the 40s and sunny, and the wind has quieted down.  And it might get as warm as 60 F by the end of the week!  That's springtime weather for sure.  It already sort of feels like springtime out now!  So maybe I'll get to go on a bike ride as well if it truly is that warm!

My fitness plans are all up in the air, no plans at the moment other than a rest day today and will re-assess tomorrow how I'm feeling.  Ice skating is definitely not happening this week!    And ice skating might be done for the season if it stays this warm.  32 F is freezing and it's supposedly going to be warmer than that for at least this week.  All the snow is melting and surely the outdoor ice rink will melt too, so unless things get quite cold again for at least a little while, I think skating is done for the season.  That's a bit sad.  But it does open up other possibilities, like bicycling.

This coming Saturday, hubby is scheduled to work, so I get a weekend day to myself.  I'm hoping to go visit my grandma that day, presuming she and I are both well enough for a visit.  My parents said that she had the flu just recently.  So hopefully she's well enough for me to visit.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm doing a little better today than yesterday.  The nausea seems to be mostly gone, thank goodness.  I had a bunch of cramping first thing this morning, but after about 5 bathroom trips, the cramping seems to have subsided.  I'm still feeling a little "off", I don't have much appetite and I feel a little weak and run-down.

Because of the cramping and feeling "off", I'm not going to do any exercise today.  I don't want to make my body angry all over again.  It's slightly frustrating having to take multiple rest days in a row, but I know that's the wise thing to do.

If I'm doing better tomorrow then I'll probably try a walk.  If I'm still feeling like this then I'll rest, again.  It all depends on what my body decides to throw at me.  The good news is that everything is continuing to melt, so by the time I can take walks again, the walking paths should be much clearer of snow, ice, slush, etc.


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## scottsma

Well,I had a bad start to the day but felt well enough by 11am to go for the weekly shop.Had to leave the trolley and run to the toilet TWICE.Anyway managed ok and cooked Les's lunch while putting the shopping away.Had a walk along the river and back for 1hr and a half, but I was almost on my knees with back ache by the time we got home.I never have any bother while cycling.I was a keen walker but I think those days are over now.I will still do local walks though,use it or lose it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, I hate having to leave the cart and use the bathroom at the grocery store!  Although I will say, my local grocery store always has about 6 or 8 full rolls of toilet paper in each stall, and it's the soft, 2-ply stuff.  They don't skimp on TP, they have both quantity and quality, so at least when I have to use their bathroom it's not horrible.  I certainly can't say that about every public restroom!  (Especially in Japan, where sometimes I'd encounter a squat toilet - those were just a nightmare, even if you only had to pee - I ended up peeing on my shoe at least once, while standing in a puddle of other people's pee.  Ew!  Thank goodness for machine washable shoes!)

I'm feeling gradually better as the day goes on.  No further cramping nor bathroom trips.  I think eating high sodium is helping right now, too.  So I'm planning my meals around making sure that I'm getting a lot of sodium (heading to the store on my lunch break to buy some small bags of chips).  The weather is looking better and better every day - it's going to be 30 F tomorrow, 40 on Thurs, 50 on Fri, and maybe as warm as 60 on Saturday!  If it's really that warm, I'm going to pack a book and a picnic blanket.  When I go to visit my grandma that day, I can go by my grandpa's grave afterwards and sit and read a book.  His favorite book was Winnie the Pooh, so sometimes I go sit by his grave and read one of the Pooh stories.  That's my small way of staying connected with the memory of my grandpa.  I haven't been able to sit by his grave all winter, but now that it's spring-like weather, I can again.

I'm tentatively thinking about walking tomorrow, presuming that I continue to feel better.  And if I can do that and that goes well, then I might try lifting weights on Thursday.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hah, I did more shopping.    I went to another local thrift shop and I found a super cute dress.  It was only $7.  It's like a short sweater dress.  It's a really cute shape and the fabric feels very high quality (sometimes sweater dresses feel cheap and don't hold their shape very well, but this one holds its shape and feels like very good quality).  It's going to look adorable with leggings and boots, I can't wait to wear it.  Oh, and the best part?  It has pockets!!  I absolutely love it when dresses have pockets!  

That really cheered me up.  I was in a pretty foul mood this morning, I'm never happy when my guts dictate what I can and can't do (and especially when I can't exercise).  Thank goodness I don't have expensive taste and am happy with a bargain!


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## scottsma

It's almost 10am and we're just about to go down to the coast on the bikes.Have to make the most of it.Talking toilets.When in Australia we went for a forest walk.I wasn't very happy as there are far to many things that kill you over there.Needed to pee,wooden shed with W.C.(water closet) painted on the door.A very very deep hole dug into bare earth.No seat,paper.And the smell was indescribable.But when you gotta go,you gotta go.Now that's squatting.I also shared a cubicle with a 2ft lizard one time.But it was asleep.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My grandma has a great story about a WC/outhouse.  This was in the early 1950s, she was recently married to my grandpa and she was pregnant with my dad.  My grandpa was in the army and he got stationed in France.  I'm not sure of the details why, but my grandma didn't go to France to join him right away, so he already had a house to stay in when she got to France.  So she just arrived in France, literally just got off the plane, and being pregnant she really had to pee.  So my grandpa got her to the house and directed her to the back yard of the house where there were a couple of outhouses, they didn't have indoor plumbing at this house.  She said that my grandpa surely must have known what would happen but he didn't warn her.  So she goes out back, and opens the first outhouse door - and it goes, gobble gobble gobble!  She said she nearly peed her pants with shock.  It turns out that their French landlord kept a live turkey in the first outhouse!    Fortunately she was able to use the other outhouse without incident.

I hope you have a good bike ride and that your guts don't force you to make any pit stops (or that you don't encounter any turkeys if you do have to stop and use the bathroom!).  My guts are still feeling a bit iffy, but I've only had 2 bathroom trips so far this morning, which is better than the 5 I had yesterday.  I'm not sure if I should walk today or take another day to recover.  I'm sort of thinking that I'll just walk around a couple of stores, so as to be near a bathroom just in case.  And since it's Feb 15th, there should be sales on leftover valentine chocolates, ha ha, so I might do a bit of chocolate shopping!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm still feeling just slightly iffy today.  Have had 2 BMs so far today, no urgency and only minimal cramping, so I'm still improving, but not quite where I'd like to be just yet.  I'm thinking I'm okay for a walk, so I'll try that.  Will re-assess tomorrow and see if I'm up for weight lifting or maybe just another walk.  

I need to start paying better attention to my diet, too.  When I'm feeling unwell, I don't feel like cooking, so I turn to convenient foods like chips or candy, and that's obviously not good.  I need to make myself pack healthier lunches and I need to cook more.  I'm going to go to the Korean market after work and pick up some kimchi, because I know that does good things for me.  My friend who is Korean-American told me that sometimes when she's just a little bit nauseous, eating something spicy like kimchi helps her - I tried that, and it seems to help me too.  In general I need to eat more of an Asian/Japanese style diet - I felt so good when I was in Japan, I think it was partly diet and partly all the walking I did.  So I need to re-affirm my goals - I need to walk more and eat better.


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## scottsma

My diet's pretty limited but it suits me.It's something that has evolved over the last 18mth or so.I rarely eat meat or any type of dinner/lunch type food.It's basically fruit,porridge,yoghurt,raw nuts,occassional eggs or sardines on toast.Sometimes a healthy ready meal which I never finish.I do have a high nutrient powder with chia seed,and supplements and green tea daily,and chocolate.
Had a good run out on the bike today,but it was very gusty and I almost lost my ball cap a couple of times.I don't have a cold but my nose was running with the wind,that's where fleece gloves come in handy hahaha.saves stopping.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha, I also wipe my nose on my fleece mittens regularly when I'm walking Lily on cold days.  And if I'm in the gym and nobody else is there or nobody is looking in my direction, I'll wipe my nose on my shirt sleeve.    My nose drips a lot when I work out so I have to be a little gross sometimes.  (I always wash my mittens, shirt, etc after a workout so it's not too gross for long, it gets washed right away.)

I used to love sardines, but they seem to rile up my GERD nowadays.  I get very fishy burps/fishy tasting reflux from sardines.  So I sadly have to avoid them now.  I eat a lot of eggs, and I know those are very easy on my belly.  My lunch today is a wrap consisting of scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, and avocado.  I can't do raw nuts, even if I chew them very well I still seem to be able to feel them as they pass through me, it's not pleasant.  I can do nut butters and nut milks though, sometimes I have almond butter and I have almond milk almost daily.  Chia seeds in my oatmeal with almond milk is my usual go-to for my mid-morning snack.  I put the almond milk in first thing in the morning so that it has a few hours for the oatmeal and chia seeds to soak up the almond milk, then it's nice and mushy (the only way I can tolerate it) by the time I eat it.

I don't eat much meat either.  I cannot digest beef and I have never liked pork, so I don't do either of those.  I do a lot of fish and some poultry, and on occasion I'll have some lamb or bison.  Mostly though I stay away from red meat and stick to fish and some poultry.  And by poultry I mean mainly chicken and turkey - duck is too fatty for me, it gives me horrendous gas.  The last time I ate duck, I kept having a feeling of needing to use the bathroom urgently, but when I tried to go, I'd just have a ridiculously long fart.  So now I avoid duck as I don't want to do that again.

What types of fruit do you eat?  I'm trying to be better about eating more fruit, as I do seem to tolerate a fair amount of fruits.  Today I had a kiwi with my oatmeal, and I've got a banana and a clementine for a snack later.  I've also found I can tolerate peaches as long as I remove the skin, I can tolerate most berries, and I can even have strawberries when I'm feeling well (but when I'm not feeling well, I need to avoid strawberries).  Grapes are my one big issue when it comes to fruit, I have to remove the skins in order to eat grapes, but that's such a pain to do.  The last time I tried eating grapes, I didn't remove the skins, and then a day or two later I had a rather uncomfortable bowel movement and it looked like I had pooped out a bunch of contact lenses - it was grape skins!  They really do look like contact lenses when they go through you undigested.


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## scottsma

Basic fruits at this time of year,Peeled apples (with a chunk of hard cheese and a handful of cheese and onion crisps (chips),tangerines or same type,bananas,prunes.black grapes occasionally,prunes when needed,and most canned fruit in juice,drained.In summer I have strawberries,nectarines etc.I always (mostly) cook healthy meals for Les,but never fancy what he's having,so instead of cooking separately for myself,I end up taking the easy option.Our car's in for it's MOT (road worthy.cert ?) and when we get it back at lunchtime we're loading the bikes up and going further up the coast.There are cycle paths on the dunes and a really good fish and chip shop for Les's lunch.No cooking today.Yaaaay


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Gosh, prunes sound dangerous to me!  Do they help your digestion, do they cause you anything like cramping?  Do you just eat one?  I haven't done dried fruits since being sick, as I had read that things like raisins are really hard to break down and can cause blockages (and since I know I can't digest grape skins, I think raisins would be even harder for me to digest).  I don't think I'm brave enough to try prunes!

I do have a lot of canned fruits, and I drain the liquid too.  They're super easy, it's like peaches or pears with the skins already removed for me so I don't have to do any work.  And I'm excited that it will soon be strawberry season.  Last year I was in Japan just as strawberry season started, and we ended up eating strawberries almost every day.  They were extremely delicious!  Even on the bullet train, looking out the window at Mt. Fuji, I was eating strawberries.  So now strawberries remind me of Japan.

Ooh, fish and chips sounds delicious.  I don't think we have road worthiness inspections here - I've never had to take my car in for anything like that (and it wouldn't pass, my car has some emissions issues).  

Hah, on the subject of cars - this morning hubby and I were talking about money.  We had an extra $200 that I was going to put into the savings account, but then hubby's cell phone broke and of course a new phone is going to cost - can you guess how much? - yep, $200.  So I was saying that I'd still like to put some money into our savings, and then in the same breath hubby and I both said what we'd like to use some of our savings on - he said vacation and I said new car.    I was like, objection, overruled!  I need a car more than we need a vacation.  My current car is 16 years old - literally, my car is old enough to drive a car, ha ha.  And she's got over 200,000 miles on the odometer, and she's had a few more quirks lately and sometimes needs pricey repairs.  Hubby's got a newer car so now it's my turn.  I don't want a brand-new car, just a newer car and nothing fancy.

I should give a fitness update.  Yesterday was pretty frustrating.  I took a walk but it was a challenge.  My legs felt weak and tired and a few times I felt like I might either fall over due to lack of strength in my legs, or I felt like I might just pass out.  It was disconcerting.  Fortunately I didn't fall nor pass out, but it was not pleasant to feel like I might.  And I'm not even sure why I was feeling like that - my guts weren't stellar yesterday but they weren't bad either.  I have been eating and drinking so it wasn't like I was dehydrated or malnourished.  I do think that my ears were a bit plugged up though, which can sometimes cause me dizziness or balance issues, so I'm thinking that might be the culprit.

Because yesterday was such a challenge, I'm thinking I'm going to not do any exercise today.  I'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow and go from there.


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## scottsma

That's the trouble with outdoor exercise,it takes you away from your comfort zone.Especially when you're on your own and maybe there are not to many people around.I hope you always have your cell phone with you.
Prunes I need  when, for no apparent reason ,I stop going to the bathroom numerous times a morning.I usually have 5-6 well chewed,lots of water,stool softeners and a couple of laxatives at bedtime.It usually does the trick,but does make me quite ill for a while.I have a phobia about having a blockage.Temps got up to 11c,enjoyed our ride and shared fish and chips.Les is happy to share because I only have a little bit.I couldn't eat a whole portion to myself now,though I used to have a good appetite.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ah, I see, that makes sense about the prunes helping you go.  I usually just increase my psyllium and/or eat more oatmeal if I am going less than I should be, that usually does the trick for me.  It seems like 2x BMs daily is ideal for me - once in the morning and once in the evening.  That's about how often I go when I'm truly in remission, so I try to aim for that.  Last weekend I hardly went at all, like at most once per day and I think there was a day where I didn't go at all.  Then, this week, I've been going too much again, averaging about 4x BMs daily.  Which is not too bad, considering that in a bad flare I can easily go 10 or even 20+ times per day.  My record is 35 times in a day, and I was definitely going about 20 times during the worst of my flare back in July/August.  So 4x per day isn't so bad compared to that!  But I'm still aiming for remission of course.

Yes, I definitely always bring my cell phone with me.  Sometimes I get nervous, because I don't get good cell reception in certain areas, particularly the little gym in the basement at work.  So I usually will tell a co-worker when I go to that gym, so that they can come looking for me if I don't come back at my usual time.  That's definitely a big worry for me, if I got injured in that gym and couldn't move, I'd really be in a bad situation.  I don't get cell phone service down there, there isn't a landline phone down there, and I'm usually the only person in that gym.  And if I were to go unconscious in that gym, the lights in there are motion-activated, so if I was still for longer than a few minutes, the lights would go off and then I wouldn't be found for who knows how long!  So yeah, I always try to tell somebody before I go to that gym, so that they can come find me if something awful should happen to me in there.  And of course I always take my cell phone on walks, and I try to tell someone where I'll be going, too.  As a woman, you never know who might attack you when you're out walking by yourself.  When I walk Lily, I have a pepper spray that I keep in my bag (I don't think Lily is big or scary enough to defend me), and when I'm hiking, I carry a small swiss army knife.  I hate guns so I refuse to own or carry a gun (hubby does own a couple of long guns - I always forget if they're rifles or shotguns - but he only uses them for clay pigeon target shooting and he keeps no ammo in the house, so we technically do have guns but no ammo).  So hopefully I'd be able to defend myself and/or call for help if need be while I'm out exercising - hopefully I'll never have to be in that situation to find out, though.

That's how hubby and I are, too, I usually eat what I can manage and then he eats the rest.  He can eat his portion and mine.  He's not a big guy but he can definitely eat a lot!  Which has always been good for me because I've never been a big eater, and of course I tend to have very little/no appetite when I'm flaring or feeling ill.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Diet-wise I'm already doing better.  As long as I put a little planning and forethought into it, I do okay.  I just have to not be lazy about it.  I stopped at the Korean market yesterday and got some kimchi, and I think that's helping already (maybe because it's fermented so it has probiotics?  Or maybe it's the spices?  I know some spices can be anti-inflammatory).  I had some kimchi with rice and some squid salad yesterday for dinner and that sat very well with me.  For lunch today I did another wrap, with scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, goat feta cheese, and a mixture of kimchi & mayonnaise - the mayo makes it creamy and cuts the spice a bit, so it's really yummy.  Dinner will be leftover turkey and avocado - just because we have a lot of leftover turkey (we cooked a whole turkey a few days ago) and we have a couple of avocados that are ripe now and need to be eaten up.  So I'm not sure if we'll make that into sandwiches or what, but we need to make something with those ingredients.  

I'm going to try to eat a bit of kimchi every day - it seems to help my guts.  And I know I don't need to eat much - I can't eat a lot of it anyway, it's too spicy to eat very much of.  I got a big jar of it at the local Korean market so that should last me quite awhile.


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## scottsma

Your diet sounds very tasty,my sort of food.We live in a small town and they're not into stuff like the big cities.I have read that Kimchi is good for digestion.I quite fancy trying it but if I asked for it here  they'd think I was an alien.Glad you take your safety seriously.Some women allow themselves to get into bad situations don't they.I'm not blaming them mind you,but you can't trust anyone now,sad as it is.Enjoy your weekend.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh yeah, I know that I have to take my personal safety seriously.  I've never been attacked, but I've been followed by guys, and that alone is terrifying.  I've been followed at least twice at the big gym, and I've been followed while hiking.  The guy who had been following me while hiking, I thought I lost him, but after I was done hiking and I got into my car and left the park, he apparently had been waiting in his car and followed me in his car as I drove out of the park!  Now that was really scary.  I drove super fast and managed to lose him.  I have read that if you're being followed in your car, don't drive home, drive to a police station, so I was about to go to the police but fortunately I lost the guy at a red light and I managed to get away from him.  So yeah, I know to take my safety seriously.  I don't know what these guys want, when they follow me like that.  At the gym they probably just want to ask me out and I'm obviously not interested, but what was the car guy thinking?  Was he going to kidnap me, rape me, murder me?  I sure don't want to find out but I'm guessing the answer isn't anything good.

I've decided that today I'm not going to visit my grandma after all.  She had the flu recently, and since residents of her unit don't get to leave, I'm sure the flu is spreading in there like wildfire.  I had my flu shot, but I've read that statistically about 50% of the people who got the flu shot are catching the flu anyway this year, it's really spreading like crazy right now in my state.  I don't want to risk catching the flu, so I'm going to wait at least another week before I go visit her.

That frees up some time for me to do what I want.  Hubby is at work today so it's me time!  It's already 55 degrees F and it's supposed to get up into the low 60s today, which is springtime weather for sure.  Like, I might not even need a jacket to walk Lily!  So walking her and maybe a bike ride are on the agenda for today.  I'll see how I feel after walking her, how tired my legs feel, and will decide from there whether or not to take a short bike ride.  It's supposed to be equally nice weather tomorrow, with no rain until Monday, so if I can't ride today then I'll try for tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I walked Lily yesterday, did not go on a bike ride.  Was hoping to do that today.  But then, yesterday evening, I got hit with some pretty bad nausea.  It came on rather suddenly and strongly, so I was worried that it was a virus.  I nearly vomited but didn't (I'm one of those stubborn people who absolutely refuses to vomit unless I'm given no choice in the matter, I hate vomiting more than anything else).  Some zofran and my heating pad got it under control.  I got really bad chills as well - I was shivering and my teeth were chattering - but my heating pad also helped with that.  Today I'm a bit crampy and don't have much appetite, but the nausea and chills seem to be gone.  I didn't eat anything weird yesterday so I really don't know the cause of the nausea & chills, maybe it is a virus?  At any rate, my stupid broken body is keeping me from exercising, yet again.  So frustrated but not much I can do about it.


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## scottsma

That doesn't sound good Cat.I'm glad you did the right thing and didn't exercise or visit Gran.I know you feel frustrated by it all, but that's what we have to put up with.You'll have a "good"day soon,and you'll enjoy it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Still having bad days so far.  Yesterday I rested, barely ate anything, but still felt rough.  This morning, the same.  So I've upped my pred dose from 6 mg to 8 because I don't know what else to do.  I haven't felt well in over a week and the past few days have been hard.  I'll go up to 10 mg if 8 doesn't do the trick.  I emailed my GI to let him know I'm doing this (he lets me deal with my taper my way).  So frustrated.  I want to be off of pred and I want to just feel reasonably well.  Apparently that's too much to ask for on either front.  Ugh.  I'm really depressed today.  If I'm honest, I've been depressed for awhile now.  I'm starting to think I need to ask my GP for some help, an antidepressant or something.  I already take 25 mg amitriptyline for my migraines, but I might need to be on a full dose of something else if it's not contraindicated with my amitriptyline.  (I can't take a higher dose of ami, I once tried 40 mg and my migraines came right back.)  It's a double-edged sword, though.  If I go to my GP and say I'm depressed, that will go in my file and then forever doctors will say, oh, you have undiagnosed gut issues?  Clearly it's just because of your depression.  (When really it's the other way around - I'm depressed because of my gut issues, I don't have gut issues because of depression!)

So I don't know what to do other than cry.  Does crying count as exercise?  That's all the exercise I'm going to get for today.  Ugh ugh ugh.


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## scottsma

I'm so sorry Cat.Nothing I say will help.I'm sorry you're having to increase the pred.especially,because I know how badly you want to be done with it.It's OK to feel sorry for yourself and cry if you need to.Don't push yourself,and snuggle down every opportunity you get.Sending hugs.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thank you, Carol.  It does help just knowing somebody's listening.  I'm feeling a little better now that the 8 mg has had most of the day to kick in.  I was able to eat a little bit of toast and now I'm having tea.  I feel a bit less awful than I was earlier.  

I sure do have a difficult time with pred, it seems to get more difficult every time I have a taper fail (and this time I wasn't even trying to taper!).  It's just becoming a seemingly never-ending thing at this point so I get more and more frustrated.  I started flaring in July, was put on Entocort at that time, Entocort did nothing, I was hospitalized in August, put on IV steroids while in the hospital, and put on pred when I was released from the hospital.  I've been on pred ever since.  I know it's helped a ton, but I also hate it.  And I hate how my body reacts when it doesn't get quite enough pred for its liking.

My aunt with Crohn's, she's been on 10 mg pred for ages and she's planning to stay on 10 mg pred forever.  I was shocked when she told me that, now I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to be similar just because I can't get off of the stupid stuff.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Thank you, Carol.  It does help just knowing somebody's listening.  I'm feeling a little better now that the 8 mg has had most of the day to kick in.  I was able to eat a little bit of toast and now I'm having tea.  I feel a bit less awful than I was earlier.
> 
> I sure do have a difficult time with pred, it seems to get more difficult every time I have a taper fail (and this time I wasn't even trying to taper!).  It's just becoming a seemingly never-ending thing at this point so I get more and more frustrated.  I started flaring in July, was put on Entocort at that time, Entocort did nothing, I was hospitalized in August, put on IV steroids while in the hospital, and put on pred when I was released from the hospital.  I've been on pred ever since.  I know it's helped a ton, but I also hate it.  And I hate how my body reacts when it doesn't get quite enough pred for its liking.
> 
> My aunt with Crohn's, she's been on 10 mg pred for ages and she's planning to stay on 10 mg pred forever.  I was shocked when she told me that, now I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to be similar just because I can't get off of the stupid stuff.


I'm sorry to hear your prednisone taper is not going well.  I know you want nothing more than to get off it.  Because I have no experience with flares, I did some reading and the CCFA website suggests that prednisone does little to prevent flares - they are only used in the acute stages of the disease.  It seems to me that because your flare has been about 8 months long, it would suggest it has moved from "acute" to "chronic" and that's why the prednisone is not working so well anymore?  It could also be that your body has gotten so tolerant of the steroids that it automatically shifts into "flare mode" when you go down.  It's just an idea but I'm no doctor.  I'm not certain what you and your doctor have tried, but I'm wondering if it might be a good idea for you to seek another opinion to see if someone else might be able to help you balance out your flares so you can finally get off the prednisone.

I understand what you mean about the depression.  I've struggled with chronic depression (aka persistent depressive disorder) since I was 16 years old (I will be 34 this year).  Because you are having health problems, I think it's only natural that you would be feeling a little blue.  I would consider yours more of a "situational" problem.  If it persists longer than 2-3 weeks, then I would consider seeing your GP for advice.  It doesn't necessarily mean that you have depression - everyone gets a little down now and then.  It also doesn't necessarily mean that you need to be on medication.  Your GP may recommend that you talk to someone for therapy (I strongly recommend the CBT route if you are interested in therapy).  If you work for a large company, they might have an employee assistance program where you could have a certain number of sessions for free.  Your employer is not at liberty to gain access to this information - it's a HIPAA violation - so no worries about your boss finding out.  We have an EAP where I work but I haven't had to use it.

Also remember that your gut makes 90% of the serotonin in your body.  I don't know if you have tried probiotics (I know they do not cure IBD and they don't work in all people) but it might be a good idea to see if that brings up the good bacteria.  

http://bodyecology.com/articles/your-gut-can-influence-how-you-feel-it-all-starts-with-serotonin


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks, MissLeopard.  I should clarify, about the depression.  I've suffered from depression since I was about 12 years old - I've never been formally diagnosed, but I remember wanting to not live anymore when I was 12 and nothing made me happy, I was depressed all the time for much of my adolescence.  It sort of went away on its own around age 16 when I traded up for an eating disorder.  I was anorexic from about ages 16 - 19.  I'm sure there was some depression mixed in with that, you can't hate yourself that much without also being at least a little depressed, but the eating disorder definitely had center stage during those years.

As an adult I've been through periods of depression but nothing too bad, until IBD came into my life.  But then I discovered that working on my fitness is the best anti-depressant for me - it heals my body and my mind.  Being in the gym, especially lifting weights, just chases all the negative feelings away.  But at times like this, when I'm too ill to even take a walk, let alone lift weights - I get depressed super easily and quickly.  I'm sure it's part of the flare itself, I cry so much during flares.  I cry at nothing sometimes.  I'm sure if I could just get things under better control guts-wise, the depression would ease up too.  I had almost no depression for the 2 years that I was in remission (spring 2011 - spring 2013).  I exercised so much during that time and felt great the whole time.  But then they stopped making my maintenance med, Asacol, and I struggled to find another maintenance med that worked as well, and I haven't felt that well ever since.

And yes, I do have 2 maintenance meds right now which I had hoped would keep me in remission once I got off of the pred, but now I'm not so sure.  I'm on Lialda, I've been on that for years.  I don't think it does much, but it's not hurting anything either.  And I'm on low dose Naltrexone, have been on that for a few months now.  At first I was sure that LDN was helping, but I don't know if it's enough to keep me from flaring.  And I'm basically out of med options, being undiagnosed.  My GI won't put me on anything like biologics nor immunosuppressants.  So I'm stuck, I'm really stuck.

I have read that, that changes in the gut bacteria can affect serotonin, although I don't know that I fully understand the science of it.  Before this latest episode of feeling poorly, I had just started having kimchi every day, as that's got both spices (anti-inflammatory) and is fermented, so probiotics.  But my stomach can't handle much of anything now, it gurgled like crazy yesterday after I ate some toast, so I think kimchi would probably hurt very much right now.  I've tried probiotic capsules before, they didn't seem to do much for my guts but they seemed to make my GERD worse, go figure.  I think I'm one of those people for whom probiotics don't make a whole lot of difference.

So yeah, in a nutshell, when I'm well I'm really well - exercising and eating my kimchi and feeling great.  But when I'm unwell, I'm really unwell, depressed and crying and feeling horrendous.  I'd love to just be normal!  I'd gladly give up the highs if I could just have fewer lows, you know?


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Thanks, MissLeopard.  I should clarify, about the depression.  I've suffered from depression since I was about 12 years old - I've never been formally diagnosed, but I remember wanting to not live anymore when I was 12 and nothing made me happy, I was depressed all the time for much of my adolescence.  It sort of went away on its own around age 16 when I traded up for an eating disorder.  I was anorexic from about ages 16 - 19.  I'm sure there was some depression mixed in with that, you can't hate yourself that much without also being at least a little depressed, but the eating disorder definitely had center stage during those years.
> 
> As an adult I've been through periods of depression but nothing too bad, until IBD came into my life.  But then I discovered that working on my fitness is the best anti-depressant for me - it heals my body and my mind.  Being in the gym, especially lifting weights, just chases all the negative feelings away.  But at times like this, when I'm too ill to even take a walk, let alone lift weights - I get depressed super easily and quickly.  I'm sure it's part of the flare itself, I cry so much during flares.  I cry at nothing sometimes.  I'm sure if I could just get things under better control guts-wise, the depression would ease up too.  I had almost no depression for the 2 years that I was in remission (spring 2011 - spring 2013).  I exercised so much during that time and felt great the whole time.  But then they stopped making my maintenance med, Asacol, and I struggled to find another maintenance med that worked as well, and I haven't felt that well ever since.
> 
> And yes, I do have 2 maintenance meds right now which I had hoped would keep me in remission once I got off of the pred, but now I'm not so sure.  I'm on Lialda, I've been on that for years.  I don't think it does much, but it's not hurting anything either.  And I'm on low dose Naltrexone, have been on that for a few months now.  At first I was sure that LDN was helping, but I don't know if it's enough to keep me from flaring.  And I'm basically out of med options, being undiagnosed.  My GI won't put me on anything like biologics nor immunosuppressants.  So I'm stuck, I'm really stuck.
> 
> I have read that, that changes in the gut bacteria can affect serotonin, although I don't know that I fully understand the science of it.  Before this latest episode of feeling poorly, I had just started having kimchi every day, as that's got both spices (anti-inflammatory) and is fermented, so probiotics.  But my stomach can't handle much of anything now, it gurgled like crazy yesterday after I ate some toast, so I think kimchi would probably hurt very much right now.  I've tried probiotic capsules before, they didn't seem to do much for my guts but they seemed to make my GERD worse, go figure.  I think I'm one of those people for whom probiotics don't make a whole lot of difference.
> 
> So yeah, in a nutshell, when I'm well I'm really well - exercising and eating my kimchi and feeling great.  But when I'm unwell, I'm really unwell, depressed and crying and feeling horrendous.  I'd love to just be normal!  I'd gladly give up the highs if I could just have fewer lows, you know?


Thanks for the clarification.  I was kind of iffy about posting above because I don't want to seem like the type that goes "take A, B, or C and you will be cured" kind of person.  I had someone say something like that to me about my depression and I wanted to smack them.

I have GERD, too, and I know what you mean about things affecting it.  I've never had probiotics affect it though.  Just curious - have you ever tried taking a probiotic that was specifically made to open up in the intestine?  If it's not coated right, it will open in your stomach and many probiotics are made with lactose so it could affect your GERD.  I know of a really good brand that I used before and didn't affect me - Natren Healthy Start (green box).  They have probiotics that are dairy-free (I believe I remember that dairy doesn't do well on your gut).  I'm sure there are other dairy-free probiotics, but I know this one bypasses the stomach for maximum absorption.  They also have a good product called Healthy Trinity which are also dairy-free.  Hope this helps.

Also, I wonder if the reason why kimchi is affecting you is because of the high fiber content?  It's actually a _prebiotic _which sets up a good environment for probiotics to thrive in.  All prebiotics are high in fiber which might be a good thing to avoid if it's bothering you.  I, myself, cannot handle spices very well.  I've never tried kimchi, but I don't think I could handle it either.

I wish I could help with your diagnosis.  It stinks when you don't have a definitive answer as to what ails you.  I know I breathed a heavy sigh of relief when they found out what I had last year.  Is this the only doctor you are able to see?  I know, last year, I was planning to switch to an IBD specialist in a group that is very highly rated, but didn't need it.  I wonder if a research hospital such as Mayo Clinic might be able to provide more answers?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

You remembered correctly, dairy is not my friend.  I've been lactose intolerant since my early 20s (years before IBD came into the picture).  I honestly don't remember what brand or type of probiotics I had taken as this was a few years ago.  I seem to recall trying a few different types (including the more expensive refrigerated ones) and didn't have success with any of them, so I sort of gave up on probiotics.  Maybe that's something to revisit at some point soon as I know my body is sort of ever-changing.  I know every flare for me is a little different and my trigger foods have changed over time, so maybe I'd react to probiotics differently now too.

I can see other doctors, but I'm hesitant to switch right now.  There are shakeups at work, and although it sounds like my job will probably be safe, I want to be absolutely sure.  We were told we'll know more in April (we're being absorbed by another part of the company and getting a new president, and that transition happens in April).  So after that I might be more comfortable with switching doctors, but for the time being I'm staying put.  I'd hate to start out with a new doctor and then lose my insurance and be out of luck.  At least sticking with my current GI, I can email him and he knows my history (and he knows what a pain in the ass I am).  Even if I lose my job and my insurance, I could still pester my current GI via email.  That would still suck, but it'd be better than having a new doctor I think.

I'm not sure if I could go to Mayo Clinic or not on my insurance.  I'm guessing not.  And they're pretty far away, I think it's something like 4 or 5 hours to drive to the Twin Cities from here and I'm not even exactly sure where Mayo is in Minnesota.  It might be something to look into once the dust settles on my job situation.

I didn't mean that kimchi is affecting me all the time - I just meant, right now most foods are not my friend because I have no appetite and some nausea and diarrhea.  But when I'm feeling okay, I can do kimchi just fine.  My friend who is Korean-American suggested that I try it, she had a rough pregnancy a couple years ago and she said that when she was just a little nauseous, she'd eat something spicy and that would help with the mild nausea.  So I've been trying that and it's been working, as long as the nausea is mild.  I wouldn't want to try eating kimchi with moderate or severe nausea!  And when my guts are upset in general I avoid all spices and fiber too.  I only eat it when I'm reasonably well.

As for getting a diagnosis, I'm usually not that upset about not having one.  It's been over 7 years now so I'm not exactly holding my breath.  I used to think that I'd have a big party once I got diagnosed, but my party planning went by the wayside years ago.    At this point, I'll probably just die of shock if I actually get diagnosed.  But it does limit me at times like this.  I just have to find new, creative ways to keep putting one foot in front of the other.


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## scottsma

Hope you're feeling better Cat.I meant to mention yesterday that I had ordered Matcha green tea from our local health store.I'll collect it later today.Did you sample some while in Japan ? It has loads of benefits and I like green tea so I thought I'd go a step further.To do it right I will need a bamboo whisk,but hopefully the directions on the tub will be simpler and I won't need to do the full ceremony hahaha.I hope I like it as it wasn't cheap,and it was buy one get one half price,so I did that.I'll let you know how I get on.Have a better day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Carol, I didn't try matcha, because I cannot tolerate caffeine.  It gives me migraines.    I can have a few small pieces of chocolate per day (sometimes even that's enough to give me a headache).  Any more caffeine than that, even a small amount like in tea, and I'll get a migraine with aura.  My mother also cannot tolerate caffeine but in a different way, it gives her cysts, so neither of us had matcha while in Japan.  We encountered it everywhere, it's extremely popular there - it was at every sushi bar, we found matcha ice cream and buns filled with matcha cream (that looked gross, it looked like the bun was barfing green goo!).  But we couldn't have any because of migraines and cysts.  We did see a tea ceremony as well but didn't participate.

I'm feeling a little better today, guts are calmer and nausea seems to be gone.  My bladder is now acting up, though, because apparently I always have to have some sort of stupid issue happening with my body.    I've been drinking lots of water, but as of yesterday evening I'm barely peeing.  I don't know if my colon is siphoning all my water or what.  I feel like I'm on the brink of getting a bladder infection, bladder feels pretty irritated right now, so I'm just trying to drink as much as possible and I'm taking extra cranberry capsules to try to stave that off.

If I'm feeling okay at lunchtime, I'm planning to take a walk on the forest path.  Today's weather looks like it'll be the nicest day of the year so far.  Almost 70 degrees F!  That's not just springtime weather, that's summer weather!  I can't stay indoors on a day like that, so I'm really going to try for a walk.  Even if it's a short, slow walk, I still want to get out and enjoy this day.  I think I can do it.


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## scottsma

A walk should be ok,if you feel up to it.Drink lots of water to try to flush out your bladder.Of course I know you'll be doing that.
I got the Matcha and also some matcha and seaweed tea bags which were new in.They're really nice.Haven't tried the powdered stuff yet.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Bladder is doing a bit better, I had a lot of water and some orange juice and I've been urinating more and feeling less like I'm getting an infection.  Oh, and Carol, I should mention, I'm going to try sardines again.  I remembered you talking about them and I thought I'd give them another try as it's been a few years so maybe I won't get the fishy burps this time around.  I was at the grocery store yesterday evening and bought 3 cans of sardines.  I'm thinking I'll try a can this afternoon, I'll let you know how it goes.

And on the subject of diet, I also got some almond milk yogurts at the grocery store yesterday.  I'm not sure if they have as much probiotics as regular yogurt, but they seem to be okay with my belly.  I had one earlier today and it didn't seem to upset me.

I am going ahead with my plan of taking a walk, I'm heading out soon to do that.  My guts got a bit riled up mid-morning with some cramps and nausea (this was before eating the yogurt), but that fortunately didn't last very long, and my bladder is improving.  So I think I'll be okay to take a walk.  If I do need a bathroom, I know there's a gas station at one end of the forest path, so I could duck in there if need be.

So that's today's plan.  Take a walk and then eat some sardines.  After today, it's supposed to get colder and rainy and even snowy, so I'm not sure that I'll be able to do much walking the next few days.  But that's okay.  I'm thinking of giving yoga another try, so being stuck indoors will give me the opportunity to do that.  I'm really terrible at yoga, I have bad balance and I'm not very flexible at all, so I usually fail and quit pretty quickly when I try yoga.  I'm going to try gentler, restorative yoga this time, rather than "bend your legs into a pretzel and balance on one toe" type yoga.    Who knows, maybe this time I won't quit yoga right away!  (Although honestly I probably still will, ha ha.)


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## scottsma

Hahaha I loved your yoga description.I don't know how you have your sardines,but I toast one side of the bread (not in the toaster obviously) then thinly butter the untoasted side and spread with the drained and mashed sardines and toast until it suits you.I like black pepper on mine.I'm only describing it because I know you do things differently over there.Well,it's 7pm,have got my PJs on and it's time for some TV.Have a good day but be careful.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

We definitely do things differently here!  I've never had sardines mashed on toast before.  We usually just eat them straight out of the can here.  They come in various sauces, the ones I'm eating today are just in water but they also come in oil, in mustard, and even in hot sauce (I don't eat the hot sauce ones).  I think they come in tomato sauce too but I can't have tomato sauce because of my GERD.  I'll have to try sardines on toast sometime soon as that does sound good - toast is very safe for me and I've done tuna melts that are similar - just a can of tuna, some mayo, and melt some cheese on the bread as you toast the whole thing.  Yum!

I just got back from my walk and it is SO NICE outside!  I didn't need a jacket and I even got a little bit sweaty.  It's summer-like weather except without the mosquitoes.  We usually have cold & snowy winters here so this is a huge anomaly from our usual February weather.  I even saw a couple of bats!  I saw something flying and I thought, there's something wrong with that bird.  Then I realized it wasn't a bird at all!  The bats usually stay in hibernation for awhile longer than this, and it's worrying because they're not going to have any bugs to eat just yet.  And the weather is going to get cold and snowy again soon and I'm not sure if bats can go back into hibernation once they've just come out of it?  Other than worrying about bats, I had a really good walk.  I felt good, I didn't feel dizzy like I did on my last walk (I think that dizziness was the first sign that I needed to up my pred dose a bit).  I'm doing a lot better than I was.  Still not quite as well as I'd like to be, but I can eat and take walks again and my guts and bladder are both relatively calm, so I can't complain.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm feeling bleh today.  It's cold and gloomy and about to rain, so at first I was just cold and tired.  But then I got hit with some cramps, and for once it's not gut cramps.  It's in the lower-right abdomen near where my main IBD "pain spot" is, but it feels like menstrual cramps, it doesn't feel like it's guts-related.  I wonder if my IUD has shifted around or something.  I've only had it since mid-December so maybe my body is still adjusting to the IUD.  I'm not sure.  I haven't had any menstrual bleeding in awhile, but they told me to expect sporadic bleeding for awhile after getting my IUD, so I presume sporadic cramps are also something to expect.  So I'm not worried.  Still, it's not a fun feeling.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be colder and rainier, and then Saturday it's supposed to be even colder and snowy!  Ugh.  Yesterday was like summer and now it's like winter's back.  It's hard to go back to winter weather after having such a nice day like yesterday.  With the cramps, I don't have any fitness planned for today.  But I might seek out some gentle yoga exercises on youtube and give those a try at some point soon.  Will see how I'm feeling this evening, if I'm still having the cramps or not.

Today is $2 pants day so that should lighten my mood, I always love shopping for bargains and you can't get much better than $2 pants.  I have some weekend plans - nothing planned for Saturday, I'm hoping to just stay in since the weather will be so yucky, and I'll probably sew and maybe do something warm like bake cookies.  Sunday, we're going to see both of our grandmas.  I have one grandma and hubby has one, the rest of our grandparents are deceased.  So we'll stop by my grandma and give her a purse that I bought for her.  Then, hubby's grandma is having a birthday party - I think she's turning 90?  She's very sturdy, so different from my grandma.  She can remember things, like at xmas she remembered that I hadn't been feeling well at thanksgiving and she told me she hoped I was feeling better.  My grandma, meanwhile, can't remember a conversation that we had 30 seconds ago.  And hubby's grandma still drives, lives in her own home, cooks, cleans.  My grandma is becoming more frail and is in a care facility because she can't do any of that due to her dementia.  So we'll see the two extremes when it comes to grandmas on Sunday.


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## scottsma

It's amazing how differently people age isn't it ? I wonder what the secret is.I feel that I might live long and strong.I look around at peeps my age and think "I hope I don't look/act like that"...I know your gran has health problems through no fault of her own,but apart from being sick and fragile, I think aging is a state of mind.Some people embrace it,while others (like me) fight it all the way.
And you,poor soul,never seem to have two days the same lately.You might as well make your mind up that you're going to be under par until spring.Just go with the flow and don't try so hard to be the way your mind tells you should. hugs.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It really is amazing how my grandma is 84 and has so many issues, while hubby's grandma is even older but is doing just fine.  Whether it's genetic, environmental, dietary, etc - who knows!

I do think you're right about aging being a state of mind.  I can remember being a young girl, like 5 or 6 years old, and my grandma would tell me that she'd old and probably going to die soon.  She would say that sort of thing often, it sticks out in my mind that she told me that many times.  I'm 37 now, so this was over 30 years ago.  She's 84 now, so she was only in her early 50s when she was saying these things to me!  Of course a 6 year old child has no concept that someone in their 50s isn't very old, when you're little anything over 20 sounds ancient.  But now that I do have an understanding of that, it's absolutely shocking to me.  What sort of 50-something person talks that way, and especially to a child??  So yeah, my grandma has had an "aging" mindset for a long time now.  For literally as long as I can remember.  I'm 37, and although some days my body makes me feel much older, I know I'm far from old just yet!  And I wouldn't ever say something like that to a child.

I think the cramping is gone.  I did try eating sardines again though and that didn't go so well.  Yesterday I had sardines in water and that was fine.  Today I tried sardines in oil and that was not fine.  I think the oil upset my stomach, and also gave me fishy burps.  I took an antacid and that seemed to help a bit.  So now I know, sardines in water are okay but not in oil.

You know me, I'm stubborn and I'll go crazy if I try to make myself wait until spring to get back to where I want to be.    I'll just keep re-assessing day by day and do what I can when I can.  I did have some good luck at $2 pants day today - I got 7 things total.  One tweed skirt which has pockets - I absolutely love it when dresses and skirts have pockets (and yes, skirts are included in the $2 pants sale).  I also got two pairs of sweatpants for lounging around or sleeping in.  Two pairs of trousers for work, one black and one khaki.  One pair of black workout capris, which you can never have too many of in my opinion!  And one pair of lightweight pants - they're hard to describe but they're made out of some sort of a lightweight windbreaker-like material.  They have a pocket and an elastic waist, very comfy and I think they'll be great for hiking in the summer.  I prefer to wear long pants when hiking, because I want to avoid ticks, so lightweight pants are great.  I can tuck them into my socks, not really a cute look, but it'll keep the ticks off of my legs and I won't overheat.  The last thing I need to get is some tick-borne illness like Lyme disease!  So I'm pretty vigilant about avoiding ticks.


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## scottsma

Ticks and mozzies love me,so I'd do the same when walking in the country.Long pants,socks and boots.I have worn a head and face mesh thing when it's really bad.All of our dogs were plagued with ticks even with regular Frontline.You did well at the "moochie" shop.There was a "fill the bag for a fiver" thing on last week,but I was in a rush so missed it.The bags were great big mesh things,so it would have been worth it.Maybe next time.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ooh, I love fill a bag sales!  I went to an estate sale once and there was tons of fabric, and you could fill a big bag with fabric for something like $8.  So I did that.  I got tons of pretty fabric - really nice stuff like brocade and silk.  I thought I filled my bag to the top, brought it over to pay for it, and they told me I could still fit more fabric in!  The people working the estate sale were literally shoving more fabric into my bag.    That was a good day.

Today's pain of the day is a new one.  I'm having nipple pain!  It's not very painful, it's more in the realm of annoying - you know when you go just past itchy and into pain?  It's like that.  It started yesterday afternoon and has not gone away.  I don't feel a lump, it's not discolored nor swollen, there's no discharge or anything, it looks and feels completely normal, the only oddity is the pain.  I was hoping I was just wearing an uncomfortable bra yesterday, so I put on a different bra today, but it feels the same.  I'm keeping a close eye on it because of my family history of breast cancer and I will get it checked out next week if the pain doesn't go away over the weekend.

The weather today is awful.  It's raining and the temperature is right around the freezing mark (32 F) so everything is getting a bit icy.  And then this evening we're supposed to get snow on top of the ice, which never makes for easy driving because you can't see where the patches of ice are as they're all covered up by snow.  Fun.  I've already decided that tomorrow I'm not walking Lily - the weather is supposed to be similar tomorrow, with the addition of strong winds.  That's definitely sounding like a day to stay indoors, crochet, sew, read, drink tea, watch movies, and just generally stay warm and cozy.  If I get antsy from being stuck indoors tomorrow, I plan to walk on the treadmill and/or try some yoga.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I didn't do much exercise on the weekend.  Saturday I stayed in due to the weather.  Sunday, we had a pretty full day of visiting both our grandmas.  Didn't have a chance to walk the dog on Sunday as it was already getting dark out when we got home.

I'm not feeling great today.  Having some odd pains in the upper abdomen - usually my pains are in the lower abdomen.  However, yesterday I was a bit reckless with my diet.  I had strawberries with lunch and again in the evening!  My body didn't like strawberries twice in one day.  So I think the pains are the strawberries moving through me.

I'm still planning a walk for today, though.  I'm feeling like a walk would help the strawberries move through me, and the weather today looks good.  For the next 3 days, the weather report says rain, snow, snow, so it won't be sunny/dry again until Friday, so I need to take advantage of today.  Going to my usual favorite spot, the paved forest path.  Not going to go too fast nor too far as I don't want to make my guts more unhappy, but I do want to get out and enjoy the sunshine and get the strawberries moving through my system better.

I was proud of my hubby yesterday.  At his grandma's birthday party, his cousin asked what sort of diet I'm doing, and without hesitation he said, "It's called low-FODMAP!"  And he started telling her about it.  Technically speaking I'm sort of getting away from low-FODMAP now as I know that gluten isn't a trigger for me, so I'm eating more gluten than a strict low-FODMAP diet would allow, and I'm eating a few other things like avocadoes and peaches (without skins) that aren't allowed on low-FODMAP because they don't bother me.  So it's sort of a modified low-FODMAP diet, but close enough.  I'm just glad hubby knew that much!


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## scottsma

Yes,that was good of him.My hubs wouldn't have a clue.His answer would have been."not very much" and left it at that.How was your Gran.?
We been cycling the last couple of days.The weather was cold but sunny,but the forecast says bad weather on the way,so we thought we'd try to get some miles in.I'm looking forward to wearing less clothes though.It's difficult to know just what to wear.I start off chilled,and finish with a sweaty face and a damp back.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That's how I tend to be when riding my bike, too, at first the breeze of being on a bike makes me feel cold, but then I get warm and sweaty, even if it's a cool day.  I just try to dress in layers and bring a lightweight backpack to toss my jacket into.

My grandma is as okay as can be expected.  She was in a really good mood, although she still can't remember anything.  We looked at some photos, including some that were taken at her old condo.  She lived there for over 10 years just prior to being moved into her current facility, but she has no memory of her condo at all and she kept asking me whose house the photos were taken at.  She did have a semi-distorted memory of her episodes of cardiac & respiratory arrest - she called them "fainting episodes" and she couldn't remember how she had gotten to the hospital after her initial episode, so she said she thinks she walked to the hospital.  Um, nope.  It wasn't fainting and she sure didn't walk!  It was a nice visit, though.  She had nothing but good things to say, she even complimented her facility (usually she thinks she's in "prison" and wants to get out).  She said she loves the food, she loves her place, she loves the staff, she just had great compliments for everything about her facility.  That made me happy!  She's got to be there, she cannot live on her own, so it was great that for once she was happy to be where she's at.

My walk yesterday went well.  I felt better than expected while walking, I think it did help my guts quite a bit.  I feel better today than yesterday, too.  Today's rain storms are a bit sporadic, so I'm going to see what the weather is looking like when it comes time for my lunch break.  If it's looking okay then I'll grab my jacket and umbrella and take another walk.  If it's not looking great, I might head down to the little gym for some treadmill walking and maybe I'll try doing a few weightlifting exercises too.  

Tomorrow we're supposed to get 3-5 inches of snow, yuck.  So I really don't think I'll be walking tomorrow.  I'll see how I'm feeling and what the weather is doing.  I might end up treadmill walking again but that's okay.  On days that I'm feeling okay, I want to do something active, even if it's just treadmill walking.  Trying to build myself back up towards being a regular gym-goer again but also don't want to push myself too much while I'm still trying to get off of the prednisone.

I hope your weather isn't too bad!  It sounds like March is coming in like a lion for everybody - hopefully that means it will indeed go out like a lamb and we'll have a nice early spring.

Oh, I should add, I might have found a weekend workout buddy.  Hubby's cousin, the same one who asked about my diet - this cousin is a really nice lady, not much older than I am, and she likes a lot of the same types of fitness that I do.  She's really into biking, hiking, and kayaking.  And she told me that she has most weekends off of work this year, which lines up with my work schedule as I don't work weekends either.  So, we haven't made any official plans yet, but we'd like to get together and go hiking and biking and kayaking on some weekends this year once the weather is a bit nicer.  I think that'll be really fun.  I'm usually a solo exerciser, at most I'll drag hubby to the gym or I'll walk or hike with Lily, but usually it's just me by myself.  So this is something new for me, exercising with another outdoor fitness enthusiast, but it sounds really fun.  She's already planning a bike ride for us where we eat ice cream after we're done riding.


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## scottsma

That's great.When I went to classes we had lots of laughs and there's always a tendancy to try that much harder when you've someone to share with.There's nothing wrong with a bit of light hearted competiion.I bet you hubby is secretly relieved,as he'll be off the hook.
Enjoy your day.It's almost TV time for me.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Enjoy your TV time!  It's only lunchtime here.  I'm scarfing some food before my walk.  I'm being a bit naughty - I had packed a very healthy lunch today.  My packed lunch is rice, baked salmon, kimchi, and pickled ginger.  But then they decided to bring in a catered lunch at work for a meeting.    I'm not in the meeting, but there were a ton of leftovers, so I'm having a turkey wrap from the catered lunch.  It's got bacon, yum!  But it also has lettuce, which might give me trouble later.  You'd think that I'd learned my lesson after just having pain from strawberries, but nope.  If I'm given the option to eat something naughty, I usually take it.  Sometimes I suspect I just like having things to complain about.    But honestly I just have very little self-control around yummy but dangerous foods if they're placed in front of me.  That's something I need to work on.

It looks like I will be able to take a walk shortly.  The rain has moved out of the area so I shouldn't even need an umbrella.  (I might bring one with just to be safe though.)  It is extremely foggy and the ground is wet from this morning's rain storm so I'm going to stick with my old favorite, the forest path.  It's paved so I shouldn't get muddy at least.  And it's fairly warm today, the cold weather isn't coming until tomorrow.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to having some outdoor fitness fun with hubby's cousin.  I think her goals are a bit different than mine - she's a bit overweight so I think she's looking to lose weight, whereas I'm just looking to have fun and work on my fitness and have adventures.  I don't think there will be even so much as a friendly competitiveness between us (at least not from my end), as I long ago decided to not compare myself to anyone else in the gym.  Other exercisers have their own goals and their own issues and I've got mine so I know there's no sense in even trying to compare myself to anyone else.  The only competition I'm in is with my body and my illness and my brain.  It's all internal, there's no outward competition from or for me.  And that extends to workout buddies.

As for hubby, he's actually been using my punching bag fairly regularly!  He enjoys it.  He even put a stereo down in the basement so that he can listen to music as he punches, and he got his own boxing gloves (he didn't want to use my pink ones, ha ha).  So he is getting some fitness in which is great.  I'm glad he's found something he enjoys doing, as he would always complain that he hated going to the gym when I'd drag him along with me.


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## scottsma

I bet punching is great for stress...I can think of a few chins I'd like to smack


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Definitely, me too!  You just envision the person you'd like to hit, and have at it!  You can get your anger out without getting arrested.    When my brother and I were little, he had a dart board, and we'd hang a photo on the dart board of a person we hated and then try to hit them with darts.  For awhile the photo on the dart board was of my brother's teacher.  So I might apply that idea to my punching bag, I think I might tape a photo of the president to it.


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## scottsma

Give Trump A Thump.hahaha....or three.Or as many as you can manage before you drop to the floor with exhaustion.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hubby suggested yesterday evening that I use the punching bag to do some punching, but by that point I was too tired so I didn't do any punching.  Hah, I think I could give the bag one punch for each politician I dislike and that would tire me out well before I run out of politicians...

It's been snowing pretty heavily all day, but fortunately a lot of it is melting even as it's still snowing.  The roads are just wet, it's just slightly too warm for the snow to stick, so that's good.  But I still don't want to go outside in this mess.  So, I'm planning a lunch-hour gym session.  I'm going to head down to the little gym and just see what I can do.  If I can manage some weights, great, and if not, I'll stick to the treadmill.  I'm feeling pretty good today, no nausea and only 2 bathroom trips, and my energy level is okay.  So I think I'm up for at least trying some weights.

It's supposed to be much nicer weather on the weekend, they're forecasting 60 degrees F and sunny on Sunday!  So it'll be back to springtime weather again.  I suggested to the hubby that perhaps we could go to a state park and take the dog on a hike, and he seemed to think that was a good idea.  He's been in an odd mood lately - at his chef job, one of his best friends just got fired (this is the same guy who initially hired hubby at the restaurant) and hubby said that now all the people he enjoyed working with are gone.  So that made him quite depressed but apparently also spurred him into action - he applied for a job at a temp agency that is more in line with his degree.  He's got a job interview today at the temp agency, and if they like him then they'll arrange an interview with the actual company where the work will be done.  If hubby could get this job, it'd be a great thing for him.  Being a chef, he's on his feet all day and it exhausts him.  He enjoys the work but I know he feels bad because we're still paying off his student loan, and he's not using his degree at all right now in his current job.  Getting a job where he actually uses his degree, that would be great for him.  (His degree is in art/animation, and the job he's interviewing for is video editing, so not his exact field but close enough, it's close enough that he'd be satisfied with it.)

It's supposed to snow again tomorrow so I'm not sure what I'll do.  Friday it's supposed to be sunny, no more snow, so I'm already planning a walk for that day, so maybe tomorrow will be a rest day.  I'll probably walk Lily on Saturday and maybe do some more weight lifting if I'm feeling up to it.  And of course hopefully some hiking on Sunday.  This all feels rather ambitious but I think I can do it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Just got back from the gym.  I feel good!  I was able to lift weights.  I wasn't sure that I'd be able to - yesterday I had some fairly annoying LRQ pain after my walk, and it sort of lingered into today, and I was afraid that it would stop me from working out.  But I think lifting weights actually made the pain go away, as I really don't feel it now.  That's very encouraging.


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## scottsma

That's good news Cat,but don't forget the way things have been going lately.
Maybe Hubs suggested the punch bag work out because he saw a glint in your eye that meant you might punch him ? As for his "funny"mood.Well,things for you both are uncertain at the moment.We mostly like things to carry on as they are,but you're young enough to cope with change,and hopefully it will be for the better.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I know, and I'm sort of terrified to try tapering my pred again because that's when everything seems to go downhill for me.  But I have to taper my pred, so I just have to be brave and do it.  I'm thinking I'll try it tomorrow - that way, if it goes badly, I'll have the weekend to recover.  I'm at 8 mg currently and I'm going to try to go down to 7 mg.  I think that'll be reasonably safe - I had gotten as low as 6 mg before without issue but then I had flare symptoms and went back up to 8 mg.  So I think I'll be okay at 7.  We'll see I guess.  I am just so sick of being on pred and so sick of having taper issues, I just want to be off of the stupid stuff already and done with it.  But, like just about everything else in my life, I have to fight hard to get there.  It just can't ever be easy.

I'm in a mood today.  I woke up with a headache, and I feel really fat today (can't seem to lose any of the pred flab that I've gained).  I tried putting on makeup to make myself feel prettier, but I feel like it just makes me look worse.  My lipstick is making my face look even more pale than usual.  It's one of those days where I just want to run away and not be me today.  I tend to think of myself as 3 entities - there's me, the personality, and then there's my brain and my body, and it's like I'm living with 2 bad roommates that I can't get away from.  My brain tells me things, like I'm too fat and should starve myself (I had anorexia for 3 years as a teen and it's the sort of thing that you never really fully recover from), and my body of course is a huge jerk most of the time.  But today my issue is with my brain.  It's telling me I'm worthless and fat and ugly and all sorts of terrible things.  I know that's not true, but it's hard when it's coming from within.  It's like how I have to separate my grandma from her dementia, I have to separate myself from my destructive thoughts, because I know that it's illness talking and not me.  But it's hard, because it is coming from a part of me, the ill part.  So I'm in a mood because I don't want to deal with this crap today.

On a day like this, exercise is the one thing that can reliably lift my mood.  So I'm thinking about trying some gentle yoga tonight.  I'm just going to pull up some yoga videos on youtube and give it a try, I think.  In the meantime I'm just trying to walk around as much as I can and do deep breathing to keep myself calm.


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## scottsma

Good idea.You need something to stop yourself having negative thoughts.
We all have them sometimes and me telling you it will pass won't help.But it will pass.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm having a rough morning but fortunately I know the reason this time.  Yesterday I got home from work and I was in such a terrible mood.  I didn't feel like doing yoga, I only felt like yelling or crying.  I asked hubby if we could go get ice cream and he said sure.  So we went and got some pints from a local place.  I really wanted something chocolatey, but they didn't have anything with a lot of chocolate in it.  I ended up getting an espresso flavor.  It didn't seem to have real espresso in it so it didn't trigger a migraine, but it did have almonds in it.  Eating nuts, even if I chew them really well, seems to bother my guts, and of course dairy isn't really my friend either.  Sure enough, this morning I'm having some loose stools and feeling run-down and unwell.  My body isn't happy with me.  But at least I know where to lay the blame, it's on me for eating that stupid ice cream with nuts.  It's not a taper fail, yay!  

If I'm feeling up to it this afternoon, I'm still going to try for a walk.  Walking always helps my guts feel better.  But we'll see how I'm doing and how near to a bathroom I need to stay.


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## scottsma

I had a craving for ice cream and bought a tub of strawberry.That was 4 weeks ago,and it's still in the freezer.Then I bought coffee flavour and only had a couple of spoonfuls as it had softened by the time I got it home.I don't have a problems with ice cream so I don't know why I haven't scoffed the lot.I haven't left the house for 2 days after a good couple of days on the bike.Just feeling lazy,I suppose.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It's okay to have lazy days.  Anyway, as a regular exerciser, it's good to have rest days - that allows your muscles to heal and recover, so that you don't get injured.  So don't think of them as lazy days, think of them as recovery days.  

I should have added to my earlier post that I got a bit scared about tapering.  I was planning to taper from 8 mg to 7, but I panicked.  So I tapered to 7.5 mg instead to be safer.  I'll stay at 7.5 mg for a couple of days and then will try going to 7 if all seems to be going okay at 7.5 mg.

On the subject of pred, it's really doing a number on my skin lately.  I've had a bunch of acne and my face feels so dry (although the dryness could just be because it's winter).  I've just recently gone down the rabbit hole of Korean skincare products - I have found a few products that I love and seem to help, so of course that's led me to buy even more products.  Help!  

I took a zofran this morning - I don't want to take imodium anymore, since it is opioid based and not really safe to take since I'm on LDN (which is an opioid blocker, so anything opioid-based could make me very ill).  Zofran tends to slow down my transit time and is safe to take on LDN.  And I haven't had a bathroom trip since taking the zofran, things seem to have calmed down.  I still don't feel great - I'm really chilled and feeling very fatigued, but at least the d seems to have stopped.  I'm having ginger tea and will see how I'm doing as the day goes on, if I'm able to eat a little something and if I'm able to take a walk.  At this point I don't know, but it's only 8:30 AM so it's still early.


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## scottsma

Cat I wouldn't think about tapering until you feel good for at least 3-4 days.
I haven't used the toilet since Wedesday.It happens sometimes and I hate it.I haven't taken any loperamide (Imodiam) for weeks so It's not that,and it's not my diet to blame.Probably why I'm feeling lazy.I might try some prunes later.I'm going to look into Zofran as an alternative to loperamide,what do you think.What do you take it for ?



PS.I've just searched Zofran and I see it's for nausea, which I only have when in severe pain,so not for me really.I thought it might help with frequent toilet visits.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, zofran is for nausea.  It has the added "benefit" of slowing down my transit time, so it's a good thing for me to take when I'm both nauseous and having bathroom trips.  I get nausea pretty regularly so I keep zofran on hand everywhere I go - it's in my purse, in my hiking day pack, in my living room, in my bedroom, in my bathroom...

I know it was a bit risky to try tapering today, but that's me being stubborn again.    I think it's going okay, too.  I've had a little food today and I'm feeling a bit better.  Haven't been to the bathroom since this morning and I think my energy level has picked up a bit.

I'm not going for a walk, though.  I just don't have it in me today.  I'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow and go from there.  Of course it's supposed to be a beautiful weekend weather-wise, so I'm going to try to at least walk the dog both weekend days, but we'll see how I'm feeling.  

I hope you're feeling better soon, too.  For me, if I have had a bunch of diarrhea, then as my system "normalizes", I tend to not go for several days.  It's like my system emptied out and now that things are moving more slowly through it, it takes awhile for the poo to reach the other end, so I never worry too much if I am going a lot and then not going.  That just seems to be normal for me.  But I understand you worry about getting a blockage, so I know you'll do what you feel you need to do.  Go easy on the prunes, though, that just sounds painful!


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## scottsma

Cat,are you OK sweetheart ?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I'm good.  I spent most of the weekend away from the computer which is why I didn't update.  Had a really nice weekend, actually, which is weird.  My guts were suspiciously calm even though I tapered my pred on Thursday.  I don't trust it, I think they're plotting something.  Probably saving up some horribleness for the next time I taper.

I didn't lift weights but I did walk Lily both days.  Saturday it was windy and muddy but we walked anyway.  It was so muddy that once again my hiking shoes got a bit of muddy water inside and soaked my socks, yuck.  Yesterday hubby was off of work so he and I walked Lily together - we stayed on the pavement and didn't go into the muddy dog park, so I didn't get wet feet that time.

Today it's warm, almost 60 degrees F, but windy and rainy, so I'm planning on going to the little gym and trying some weight lifting on my lunch break.  Hopefully I can take a walk tomorrow, it's supposed to be almost as warm as today and sunny too so that sounds great for walking.  I think I'm going to try tapering my pred from 7.5 mg to 7 mg on Wednesday, so we'll see what happens then.


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## scottsma

We had a good 2 hour cycle today.We did get caught in a heavy rain/hail shower but it wasn't windy at least.Also I was wearing the wrong pants and I kept getting caught on the peddle.But I enjoyed it none the less.Glad you're ok though.Fingers x'd.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Eek, hail, that sounds really awful to be stuck on a bicycle in weather like that!  Hopefully you were able to take temporary shelter somewhere during the hail.  Rain is one thing, but hail can really hurt!

I had a really good workout today.  Accomplished everything I wanted to.  My strength is pretty close to where it was before this flare started (back in July!) and my stamina is improving (that took a big hit during the flare).  My only complaint is that I broke my resistance band!    I was given a couple of resistance bands by my physical therapist back in 2011 when I went through PT for my hip arthritis.  I keep one at home and one in my gym bag at work.  Well, that one broke as I was doing leg lifts with it.  I think I need to buy a new one, I don't suspect that the physical therapy place will give me another one 6 years after I was discharged as their patient.  So that's a bit annoying.  But other than that, my workout was great.  I felt good the whole time - a slight bit of reflux, but no other belly troubles at all.  And reflux is very typical for me during a workout anyway so that was expected and standard for me.


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## scottsma

I'm really happy to hear you're feeling good.Please don't spoil things for yourself  though.
It's a cold 3c but sunny,so when the laundry's done we're going cycling before a weekly shop.Thought we'd do it that way in case the weather changes later.Have a good day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It was fairly cool here as well - sunny and upper 40s F, but still very windy.  I decided to take a walk anyway.  The paved forest path is sort of down in a valley, it follows a creek which is in a sort of natural valley with hills on either side.  So I figured I might be at least partially blocked from the wind if I took the forest path, and that worked out pretty well.  The wind wasn't too bad at most parts.

My one big issue was my bladder, and really it's my guts to blame.  I had taken a zofran last week Friday, and zofran often makes me constipated.  It sure did this time!  I'm still backed up, I've barely pooped at all since Friday.  But I've been eating pretty normally, so of course my digestive tract is filling up more and more with stool.  And that's now pushing on my bladder uncomfortably, and because of that I now don't have my normal bladder capacity.  So, even though I urinated just before heading out to the forest path, I had to pee pretty quickly.  That made for a slightly uncomfortable walk.  I was glad to finish my walk and rush to a bathroom!

Other than that issue, I'm still feeling pretty well.  My appetite is fairly normal and I'm not having any gut issues besides the constipation - no cramping, no nausea, no pain, just mild discomfort from my guts feeling so full - I feel uncomfortably bloated/full but that's about it.  So I can't really complain too much.  Zofran can constipate me for up to a week, but usually when I take just one, it's more like a few days tops.  So I should become un-constipated very soon, the zofran's constipating effect shouldn't last much longer.  (No, I won't eat any prunes!  Ha ha.)

Tomorrow's plan is to lift weights again, presuming that I'm still feeling reasonably well tomorrow.  Thursday will be my rest day and it's also bargain hunting day - my local thrift store that sometimes has the $2 pants sales, they're having an end of season sale on Thursday with $3 sweaters and $5 winter coats, so I'm going to go check that out.  I already have plenty of coats, but I could use a few more sweaters.  Since I've gone up a size thanks to pred, some of my sweaters have become a bit too small, so more sweaters in my new size would be good to get me through the last of winter.


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## scottsma

I hope you get your innards back to normal really soon.I don't envy you one bit.But I do envy you your thrift shop.Although I must say ours We can get lots of designer stuff,not that I care about that much,and stuff that people have bought overseas on holiday etc.so it's quite unique.Not like going to the local fashion stores and seeing the same stuff in different sizes.We've had a good couple of days on the peddles,but my r ear end and tail bone  feels a bit bruised,due to some rough terrain.Having today off and going into town to look round the auction house to see if there'll be anything worth bidding for tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

What kind of seat do you have on your bike?  I put a gel seat on my cruiser bike, and a gel seat cover on my road bike.  It makes a big difference!  You can get padded bike shorts, too, but they don't exactly look cute, which is why I opted for a gel seat/seat cover instead.

Yeah, there's been some designer stuff at my thrift store, too.  At the last $2 pants day, I bought a skirt (they're included in the sale, really it's all bottoms that are $2 during those sales).  And when I got it home, I realized the tag said "Gucci".  Score, I got a Gucci for $2!  But, then I washed it and it shrunk.  Turns out it was wool.  Oops!  It no longer fit me after that.  So I donated it back to the thrift store.  Somebody else smaller than I am can now get a Gucci skirt.  I don't care much about labels, I care more about whether something fits and looks nice and is good quality, regardless of the brand.  And I honestly don't even wear skirts very often so it's fine.  I mostly liked the skirt because it had pockets, ha ha.  I'm very big on pockets.

I tapered my pred as of this morning, went from 7.5 to 7 mg.  Hopefully my body will accept that.  Oh, and I finally was able to have a bowel movement.    Last night before bed I finally felt the urge to go, and I went a LOT.  I feel like I emptied my entire colon, ha ha.  I went again this morning, not as much as last night.  I feel much more comfortable now, I don't feel so bloated and full.

Today's plan is still to hit the little gym on my lunch hour for weights.  I'm feeling pretty good so far, so unless I start to feel like a taper fail is coming on, I don't see why I wouldn't be able to hit the gym.  And tomorrow is bargain hunting - maybe I'll find a Gucci sweater.    Ha ha.


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## scottsma

I think I'll have to get a gel seat.Mine is quite comfy but there's no harm in having "extra"comfy.Glad you had a good "clear out" The relief is great eh? One of our thrift shops is having a sale of donated clothes on Saturday.All new with shop/price labels still attached.You have to buy a £2 ticket to get in the shop before you can buy anything.I didn't bother though as I hate crowds.I got hubby a nice navy blue striped shirt for £1.
Good luck with the pred.taper.Are you going to stay on 7 for a few days before you try to go lower ? It might be best to take it slowly.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I'm going to wait probably just over a week before I try tapering again.  I'm going to take it slowly and taper by 0.5 mg.  I prefer to taper on or around Fridays, so that I have the weekend to recover if it goes badly.  But next week Mon & Tues I absolutely cannot be ill, as everybody else at work is going to be at meetings and I have to be in the office while they're all away.  There's nobody else to cover but me.  So I figured, I'd taper now, and if things go badly I can be sick from today thru Sun if need be, and then hopefully better by Monday.  But hopefully the taper will go fine and I won't need to worry about that anyway.

So yeah, I'm thinking next week Thurs or Fri I'll try going down to 6.5 mg, presuming that I'm feeling well enough then to do so.

It's been a weird time for me lately.  In addition to not feeling horrible, I'm also doing okay money-wise which is weird.    We just got a hefty tax bill from the IRS - but then I just got a bonus at work today, which is almost the same amount as we owe the IRS.  It's weird to get a large bill and then suddenly get to pay it all off and not have to worry about it!  Worrying is what I do best,  ha ha.  What will I do with myself if I can't worry about my health nor my finances?  

I definitely recommend getting a gel seat or seat cover.  They're not too pricey, either.  I think my gel seat was about $25 and the seat cover was in the $10ish range, very reasonable.  I also got hubby a gel seat cover for his bike, and he agrees that it makes a big difference in terms of comfort.  I'm of the opinion that my poor backside has been through enough already, so I'm going to make it as comfortable as possible when I have that option.

I hate crowds too so I totally understand that.  I'm a huge introvert anyway so I love being alone, and I feel sort of suffocated and overwhelmed in crowds.  Plus in crowds I can hear people coughing and sniffling and then I get paranoid that I'm going to get sick.  It was awful in Japan in particular - there's an unspoken rule there that you don't talk when on the train, so it's pretty silent on the trains even when they're packed full of people.  And there's another unspoken rules that you do not blow your nose, that's disgusting in their culture.  You sniffle instead, you sniff that mucus back up into your nose.  So, imagine being on a train that's jam packed with people and all you can hear is sniffling!  Eek, it was awful!  I loved most parts of my trip to Japan, but not that part.


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## scottsma

We were at the local craft market at the weekend.You would love it,whereas I just went for the walk and something to do.It was absolutely jam packed.It's in a Victorian train station and quite big with lots of space.It has a wrought iron and glass roof and the sun was streaming through.I'm not very tall and I was quite overwhelmed,so we just walked through and out.I'll be giving it a wide berth come the summer and holiday weekends.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That sounds like a lovely place and I do love buying craft supplies (I've been cooking up my next crafts in my head already, I have an idea for a chain maille necklace).  But yeah, the crowds would probably overwhelm me too.  I'm never sure if I'm tall or not, it seems to differ based on who I'm standing next to.    I'm 5'8" so tall-ish for a woman I guess.  But I'm the shortest in my family - all my cousins on both sides are taller than I am, my parents are taller than I am, my brother is much taller - he's 6'6" so he's nearly a full foot taller than I am!  I'm the shortest and the only one with IBD, I often wonder if there's a connection there.

In hubby's family, though, I'm pretty tall.  Hubby's mother is very short and his sister is also shorter than I am (hubby is 5'11").  So I feel rather tall when I'm spending time with them.  My mother-in-law even forbade me to wear anything with heels around her, ha!  (I normally don't wear heels anyway so that's not a problem.)

I had a brief period during the late morning of feeling a bit "off" - not quite nausea, not quite dizziness, but something approaching that.  I think though that it was just my body getting adjusted to the new, slightly lower dose of pred.  And I'm feeling better now.  So I'm heading to the little gym shortly for my workout.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a good workout.  Was able to do everything I wanted to and it was no sweat - literally, everything felt pretty easy today and I barely even broke a sweat, which tells me that I can increase the intensity next time.  I brought my one surviving resistance band from home, so I was able to use that.  I'm going to buy some more soon.  I'm thinking my next workout will be Friday.

I've been doing well diet-wise for the most part except for when free food is in front of me.  Then I lose all willpower.  There were snacks brought in to work today - a veggie tray, a fruit tray, and some cookies.  So I had a strawberry and two cookies.  They were delicious!  I hopefully won't pay for that, cookies are fairly safe for me as long as they don't have coconut in them or oats (I can eat oatmeal as long as it's cooked well and mushy, but hard oats like in cookies or granola bars is too much for my body to handle and that puts me in pain).  These were chocolate chunk cookies and they didn't seem to have anything in them that would trigger me.  And I know I've had issues with strawberries in the recent past, so I only had one.  Hopefully one isn't enough to put me in pain.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a good rest day yesterday.  Guts are still quiet.  And I got some bargains - got 3 sweaters (a dark blue cardigan, a light tan long sweater coat, and a medium brown sweater) and I got one jacket that needs new buttons, and then I got something interesting.  It's like a long black jacket in sort of a Chinese style - it's velvety and has frog closures.  But it reminds me of a pirate coat.  It was only $3 so I'm going to play around with altering it to make it more interesting.  Hah, that's me bargain hunting - I can't just get bargains, I also have to get sewing projects.    Like I needed any more sewing projects!  I have a whole room full of them already.  But if I see something interesting with potential and it's cheap, I can't help but snap it up and give myself another project.

Anyway.  Today's plan is to hit the little gym on my lunch break for a weights session.  My guts still feel good.  The weather turned bitterly cold - it's only going to be about 20 F today, and it's also windy, so it feels even colder.  So no walking for a bit until it warms up.  Poor Lily might not get a walk this weekend, depending on how cold out it is.  I'll make sure she gets some treats and I might take her to the pet store so that she can get out and have some socialization with other dogs.  And I might take a walk on my treadmill tomorrow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oops, I had a super lazy weekend.    I started out fine - I got up early on Saturday and went to an indoor rummage sale and got a few things, then I hit the grocery store right away.  Did my weekly grocery shopping and got myself a few chocolate treats too, and that was the start of my laziness.  I got home, put my groceries away, did some laundry and straightened up a bit.  Then I thought about all the other chores I should do - I should vacuum, I should wash some dishes, I should give the dog a bath... then I saw my chocolate treats sitting out and I was like, or maybe I could just play video games and eat chocolate!  So that's what I ended up doing all weekend long.  Oops.

Today I'm getting back on track.  Going to the little gym on my lunch break for weights.  It's very yucky weather here today, it's snowing and windy so the snow is blowing almost horizontally.  I'm definitely not going out in that mess!  So gym it is.  Tomorrow should be sunny but cold, so I'm thinking I might either do a treadmill walk or do a cardio session on the stationary bike in the little gym.  The tentative plan is weights Weds & Fri, and on Thurs it's looking like it might warm up slightly so I might take a walk that day.  I'm thinking I'm going to try to taper my pred on Thurs so we'll see how I'm feeling - I'm only going to taper by 0.5 mg again (I am currently at 7, so I'll go down to 6.5 mg).  Hopefully my body will be fine with that and will allow me to walk without throwing any symptoms at me.


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## scottsma

My weekend consisted of clearing the attic.And you know what that's like hahaha.We had 4 refuse sacks of books which went to a charity (thrift)shop this morning,We have a good car load for the local tip (dump) and a van load for a cancer care charity,which is being collected  later in the week.I also tidied drawers and cupboards in the house and found four packets of sweets which I bought for xmas and had put away.Result !!!
Hubby is quite poorly with a heavy cold so we didn't go out.But I did walk into town for a docs apt.and some shopping,today,so that's better than nothing.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sounds like you had a very productive spring cleaning weekend!  I hope your hubby feels better soon.  There must be a bad cold going around.  My grandma also has a terrible cold right now, I was told not to go visit her this weekend because she's so unwell right now.  She's 84 and obviously not a healthy person to begin with so that's worrying, but she recovered from the flu just fine a few weeks ago, so hopefully she'll recover just fine from this as well.

I really should do some spring cleaning as well.  I just recently went through my pants and got rid of what no longer fits me.  I figure, if I lose a bit of weight, my current stash of pants will still fit, and if I lose more than a bit of weight, I have plenty of belts.  Gaining weight is always more problematic for me than losing.  If my clothes are a bit too big, it's not a huge issue, but if my clothes are a bit too small then everything becomes uncomfortable.  So I got rid of all my too small pants.  I need to do the same with sweaters and tops now.  I have at least a couple sweaters that I absolutely love, but they just don't fit me anymore - they're too tight in the arms and too tight around the belly.  But I'm going to have a hard time letting them go.  I think that I might take those sweaters and re-purpose them.  I have a sewing pattern for making mittens out of an old sweater, and I've also in the past made a throw pillow out of a sweater.  So that way I could still get some use out of those sweaters.

It's snowing so heavily here that I'm wondering if we're going to be sent home soon.  And the roads haven't been plowed yet either which is worrying (my city doesn't like to plow until after the snow has stopped falling, which can make for some very bad road conditions during and right after the snowstorm).  If I get sent home, I can still do a weights workout using my barbell and dumbbells, etc.  So we'll see what happens.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Didn't get sent home (but it's still snowing).  So I went to the little gym and had a pretty good workout.  I had a bit of reflux, but nothing out of the ordinary for me during a workout.  I was slightly concerned because I had just a few odd abdominal pains earlier today, but my guts were fine and quiet during my workout and I haven't had any of those pains since either.  I might just be slightly constipated again - I haven't taken any Zofran lately, but I always seem to forget to have enough fiber on the weekends.  During the week, I have oatmeal and I have psyllium husks, and that's enough to keep me regular.  But on the weekends, my usual routine is nonexistent and I often forget to have my psyllium and usually don't have oatmeal either.  It's weird because when I flare, I have lots of diarrhea (I was having 20+ watery bowel movements per day at the worst of my flare in July/August, and I was taking like 6 zofrans per day then).  But when I'm not in an active flare, then I tend towards constipation instead and need soluble fiber just to go at least once per day.  My body is so weird.

This evening's plans are definitely to relax.  Hubby is making belly-friendly burritos for dinner (with goat cheese and ground turkey instead of regular cheese and beef).  And I just finished up a crochet project, I finished making a blanket as of last night, so I can start a new sewing or crochet project.  I have a few ideas in mind - I have a jacket that I'm going to sew new buttons on, and I also want to crochet myself some wrist warmers.  So we'll see what wins out, sewing or crocheting (and it's possible that I'll sew the buttons on and then start crocheting, I think I have time for both).  Both sound like something cozy to do on a snowy day.


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## scottsma

Hubby still poorly and as he likes to share,he passed it to me.Woke with sore throat,rattley chest,runnny nose and headache.Boy,am I glad the loft got done.So unlike you,who's always so industrious,or planning to be,I'm doing nothing for a day or two.The weather is good here,12c and sunny,which always makes me feel like I should be outside,but I'm not going.Good that you got some workout done,take care'


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh no, I hope it's not too bad of a cold for you and that you recover quickly!  Ha, you're right, even if I catch a cold I still would be working on a crochet project.    I can't stand to just do nothing.  I get very bored and feel worthless and antsy just lying around watching TV, so I usually crochet when I'm sick because it's not labor-intensive and it gives me something to do and makes me feel worthwhile.

I think there's a nasty cold going around here as well.  My grandma has a bad cold, and there seems to be one going around at work too (so I'll probably catch it myself as pred seems to wreck my immune system even more so than it already was).  A co-worker has been coughing terribly all morning and she just left to go to the doctor and I think at least one other co-worker also has a cold.

You mentioned a rattley chest, which can sometimes be indicative of pneumonia - so please do go to the doctor if that doesn't improve quickly or especially if it gets worse.  In the meantime, rest up!  No bicycling for you until you're completely better.  From what I've read, with a cold, it's  generally okay to exercise as long as the symptoms are above the neck only.  But if you have symptoms below the neck, which you clearly do with the chest rattle, then you need to hold off on exercise until you're completely recovered.  So rest, rest, rest!

As for me, my legs feel tired today so I'm thinking I might skip the cardio session after all.  I'll make today be a rest day with plans to lift weights tomorrow, walk Thurs, and weights Friday.  Hopefully by giving my legs a day to rest today, I'll be able to do my workout plans for the rest of the week.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hmm, there are now multiple people at work who are coughing a lot, and I'm sure I've been exposed to the germs (I'm covering for the receptionist today as she's off, and the lady who is covering my breaks has been coughing - so she's been getting germs all over the reception desk, great).  Pretty sure I'm going to come down with a cold shortly myself as that's usually how it goes.  I think I'm going to run to the craft store on my lunch break and buy some more yarn!  I see more crocheting in my future.


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## scottsma

The last time I was unwell with a cold (?) was during the week of the Millenium 17yrs ago.So it's come as a shock to me.I have noted your advice re: chest,although I have had the pneumonia jab,which is for life.Also up to date with my flu jab.

      Happy sewing !!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Wow!  That's pretty amazing to not have a cold for 17 years!  I'm definitely jealous of that.  Me, I tend to get at least 4 or 5 colds per year if not more.  I also get the flu shot every year, but it's not 100% effective.  I've gotten the flu at least twice in the past decade in spite of having the flu shot.  So whenever people around me are ill and contagious, I automatically assume I'm going to catch it too.  Usually I'm right, and it's a pleasant surprise when I'm wrong.

(I know when I've caught a cold rather than "just allergies" if my guts also act up - when my immune system turns on to fight the cold, it also fights my guts a little bit while it's active.  And I know I have the flu instead of a cold when I get chills and aches.  I last had the flu 2 or 3 years ago, and that year's version of the flu came with a cough that lasted for over 2 months.  Yuck!)

I just bought a whole bunch of yarn and also some more chain maille links, so I'm set for projects for a while.    Hopefully I don't catch this nasty cold that's been going around, but in all likelihood I will catch it.  Better to be prepared with some sick day projects just in case.  And if I don't get sick, bonus!  Not getting sick will mean I can still work out but I'll also have a lot of yarn to have fun with.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hmm.  Not sure if I've caught a cold or not.  I definitely have more sinus congestion than usual today, and my guts might be slightly iffy, but I'm not coughing - everybody at work has been coughing.  My lungs and throat feel fine, it's just my sinuses and maybe guts that are slightly wonky.  So I'm not sure if I'm going to make it to the gym today or not.  I'll just play it by ear and see how I'm feeling over the next few hours.  I can always skip a workout today and try it tomorrow instead if I'm questionable today.

Carol, I hope you're feeling a bit better today!  Keep resting and stay hydrated.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I should add that if my guts are indeed iffy and if I do indeed have a cold, then I'm going to put off tapering.  I had been planning to taper tomorrow but I won't do it until I'm feeling better.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hmmm.  I'm still quite sniffly.  The mucus is starting to go down my throat which is making that a bit irritated and I'm clearing my throat more than usual now too.  And my guts are just slightly iffy still.  I'm thinking that I am going to skip my workout today after all and will see how I'm feeling tomorrow.  Will probably also postpone tapering as I mentioned earlier.  I'm taking extra vitamin C today and will rest as much as I can and re-assess tomorrow.  Yuck!

Wait... oh no... I think the coughing has just started.  Maybe it's just the mucus in my throat, but just now I've started coughing a little bit.  Ugh!  Oh well.  I figured this would happen so it's not like it's surprising.  Good thing I bought more yarn yesterday!


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## scottsma

Cat,please don't do to much today.Better safe than sorry.
I feel better than yesterday,but I've been sleeping a lot.Only had porridge for two days,just 'cos I thought I should have something. Drinking lots.and peeing lots.Haven't "been" since Monday morning so I've got THAT to look forward to.I haven't taken any cold meds for that reason,just lemon juice and honey in warm water.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I won't do too much today.  The fatigue is hitting me now and I just feel like sleeping too.  I'm definitely skipping the gym for a few days at least, I know what I need now is lots of rest.  I haven't taken cold meds yet myself either, I'll only do that if I need them to be functional for work.  Cold meds tend to make me have to use the bathroom - of course with presumed IBD I don't take any NSAIDs, so acetaminophen-based meds is basically all I can take, and acetaminophen seems to make me have more frequent and looser bowel movements, especially if I take it on an empty stomach.  But having a cold also makes me go more often, as my immune system likes to attack my guts a bit while it's turned on.  So no worries about being backed up for me right now.

I just had some ginger tea with cinnamon, which is my go-to warm drink when I have a cold (honey isn't allowed on low-FODMAP so I tend to avoid honey these days).  Is porridge the UK term for oatmeal?  If so, that should help you go - oatmeal always helps me go.  Hopefully you don't have to resort to prunes again.  Feel better soon, both guts-wise and cold-wise!  Get some more rest, I will be resting too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha ha, oops, I didn't rest.    I didn't go to the gym, I promise.  But I had time to kill on my lunch hour since I wasn't going to the gym and I also didn't have much appetite.  So, I did my favorite non-gym activity:  I went clothes shopping.    Got some really good deals, too!  I found a super cute sky-blue moto style leather jacket, for $20.  I've been thinking about getting a moped, and hubby says I would need to wear a leather jacket while riding a moped for safety.  So I've been looking around for awhile now for a cute, affordable leather jacket.  I think this one fits the bill perfectly, now I just need to find a blue moped to match.    I also got a really pretty black and white maxi dress for summer, that was only $5!  And I got a sweater and skirt set for $4 which was maybe the best score of the day.  It is really cute, it's sort of a retro style (it reminds me a bit of the fashions of the 1930s) - it has sparkly buttons and a peplum.  I've gotten a bit more, ahem, curvy, since being on pred, and this is the first time that my curves have looked good with a peplum.  Usually peplums do me no favors but this one actually works for me.  The skirt is a bit too long, so I think I'm going to hem it, but other than that no alterations are needed.  So yeah, I scored big at the thrift store today!  That makes me feel better mentally if not physically.  Shopping and finding super cute bargains always brightens my mood.  And that's a good thing when I can't get to the gym.


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## scottsma

Clothes shopping lifts the spirits eh? Yes, porridge is oatmeal,and yes I have "been".It's 9-10am and I've been back and forwards since 6am.I think it's settling down now.I didn't have prunes this time.I do like to try natural remedies, but to be honest I'll take meds anytime as long as they work.I haven't done my hair or make-up since Monday,so I must be quite poorly.It's the first thing I do every morning as a rule.I just hope we don't get visitors.Hahaha. Have a good day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

The fatigue knocked me down hard today.  I woke up this morning and just felt exhausted.  So I called in sick to work and went back to bed and slept for another 4 or 5 hours.  I still don't feel great, and honestly I still feel fatigued, but a bit better than I was feeling.  I haven't been coughing today and barely been blowing my nose, so it feels like fatigue is really my only big symptom right now.  Hopefully it goes away soon.

I'm glad to hear that you were able to go without having to take prunes again.  Hopefully you and I both recover from these colds soon.  As for you not wearing makeup, I find that certain things go by the wayside for me as well when I'm not feeling well, with the first thing usually being flossing.  I floss my teeth religiously when I'm well, but it's the first thing I stop doing when I'm unwell.  I did not floss last night and I doubt I will tonight either.


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## scottsma

Oh dear Cat,I'm glad you took notice of your body and took the day off.If you slept extra time,you must have needed it.I'm feeling marginally better today,I've even put a wash on,and a casserole for hubby,but I'm wacked out now,so that's it for the rest of the day


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I went to work today which might have been a mistake.  The fatigue is much better, but I've had nausea all morning.  I've taken 2 zofrans and they've done little to help.  I don't want to take anymore but I have to be functional to work so I don't know what to do, ugh.  I hate when my body does stuff like this.  It's endlessly frustrating.

I'm planning a restful weekend.  My parents want to come down but I'm just not feeling up for a visit.  I just want to rest some more.  Probably not going to do much of anything over the weekend.  If I'm feeling up to it, I'll take Lily on a short walk, but that's a big if.  It's rainy today which matches my mood.  I'm just feeling so bleh both mentally and physically.

I was productive yesterday, though.  I crocheted myself a new scarf while resting and watching movies.  (I watched Wild - I thought the book was better.)  I had gotten some super pretty, thick, soft yarn for cheap - you know me, I love a bargain.  Apparently sometimes the factory messes up skeins of yarn, so they sell it for much cheaper - the yarn itself is fine, it's just that the skein looks lumpy or whatever.  So I got a bunch of gorgeous yarn for $5 - it should have cost at least $20 if the skeins hasn't been messed up.  The yarn is soft light grey, almost white, with silver sparkles running through it.  So pretty!  I made myself a very thick, warm scarf with that yarn yesterday.  I'm quite happy with the result.  Next crochet project will probably be to start on a new blanket.  I got yarn in shades of dark red, so I'm going to make a red striped blanket.  (My last blanket was blue stripes.)  So I am sure I'll be working on that quite a bit over the weekend.


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## scottsma

Even when you're resting,you're busy, hahaha
I had to laugh earlier.I told you I'd put a wash on.Well when the cycle finished I went to empty the machine and realised I hadn't added the detergent or softener.It was there on the worktop and I knew instantly I hadn't put it in.First time in over 50 yrs and countless loads of laundry.If it had been a"dirty"wash,I would have done it again,but I thought,"oh,too hell with it".Was that an "age" thing or just being a bit poorly ? I said to Les earlier,we do take feeling well for granted until sickness strikes.Of course,we've just has a cold and I'm really not complaining.I'm so looking forward to getting on little blackie again,but it will be a few days yet,if not more.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I've done something very similar to that!  I put the laundry in the washing machine, put in the detergent and fabric softener, and walked away.  A couple hours later I was wondering why I hadn't heard the washer beep yet, so I went back downstairs to check it... and realized that I had never turned it on.    I'm 37 so I don't think I can blame it on old age quite yet, either.

Yes, even when I'm resting I have to be doing something - either playing a video game or on the forum or doing crafts, something to keep my mind occupied.  I'm sort of an antsy, fidgety person and crafting in particular helps keep the antsiness at bay.  When I was off of work back in Aug/Sept due to my terrible flare, I was of course hospitalized at first and then resting at home for a few weeks before I went back to work.  And I did SO MUCH crocheting during those few weeks, ha ha.  I made several blankets and I made one very interesting scarf (it was orange and had a hood on it and the hood had fox ears, and the scarf part looked like a fox tail, it was super cute).  I can crochet even when I'm too ill to do much of anything else.  The only time I wasn't able to crochet was when I had that accident with a hedge trimmer and sliced my right index finger badly and needed 7 stitches.  I couldn't crochet with that finger out of commission, but after it healed, I got right back to it.  (That finger never regained full sensitivity and has a huge scar, but I can crochet just fine and I'm pretty used to how that finger feels now.)

I took another 2 zofran because I couldn't deal with the nausea.  I also ate a few potato chips as sometimes I drop too low in sodium and chips always seem to help.  So I am less nauseous now, I can at least deal with how I'm feeling now.  But my total for today is 4 zofran, eek.  I'm not going to poop for like a week!    But I just hate nausea so much, and I find it extremely hard to get through a work day with nausea.  I needed to take zofran to be functional.  So now I'm functional, and I will just have to deal with the constipation.


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## scottsma

Re: the laundry,glad it's not just me then.....:thumleft:
Re; the nausea.It only affects me when in severe pain,so occasionally.But I don't know what I'd choose between it and constipation.It's not the constipation that bothers me, per se,it's the result after the meds.for same.Between a rock and a hard place,excuse the pun.:frown:


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha ha, I'm going to be in a hard place while pooping a rock.    I think I've said this before, but vertigo is my #1 most hated symptom, followed closely by nausea & vomiting.  So I'd rather be constipated than nauseous.  It's not always worth it - like, the nausea may have gone away on its own, but since I didn't wait and see, I'm now going to be constipated for days.  Worth it?  I honestly don't know.  It's really difficult to say if saving myself a few hours of nausea is worth up to a week of constipation.  But usually, if I'm nauseous, I choose to take zofran because I just hate nausea so much.  I at least can function when I'm constipated.  It's not a fun time, but I can deal with it.  Nausea, I have a much harder time dealing with.  And I'm prone to pretty frequent nausea.  Like, most mornings I'll have some nausea (usually not enough to need a zofran for).  Mornings can be rough and some mornings are worse than others (like, today).  If I eat something that doesn't agree with me, or if I have a taper fail, or if my guts are just feeling feisty, or for seemingly no reason at all, I can be hit with nausea.  It's a frequent but unwelcome visitor in my life and it doesn't necessarily accompany any other symptom (like you said you only get nausea with pain - I get nausea on its own, no pain required).

I'm feeling a little better as the morning has gone on so I'm going to attempt to eat a small amount of food (mac & cheese, which is usually very safe for me).  Wish me luck!


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## scottsma

Good Luck, but take it easy this weekend.You'll have plenty good days to catch up with your fitness regime and your tapering.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, I haven't even thought of tapering, I'm staying put at 7 mg at the moment until I recover from this.  And walking is the only fitness I've thought of doing, but even that is iffy.

Eating went fine!  The small bit of mac & cheese sat fine in my belly.  It seems like the nausea is gone, thank goodness.  I might have oatmeal for dinner just to get some fiber though.  (No, I won't resort to having prunes, ha ha.)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My guts are feeling a bit rough today (and I didn't even have oatmeal for dinner).  I was wrong about not being able to go for awhile, I've had several bowel movements already this morning.  I'm feeling some crampy pain, too.  Not a fun time.  Good thing I had already planned to rest this weekend.  I recently got a new heating pad and I've been using it today.  I've also made some progress on crocheting, I started on a blanket yesterday and got a chunk of it done already.  And I started making a chain maille necklace too.  And I'll do some sewing probably later today or tomorrow.    These distractions are a good thing, though, they help me forget for a bit how icky my guts are being.  

I'm not walking the dog today.  I don't feel well enough and it's cool and windy out, so I'm just going to stay in and keep on resting (and crocheting).  Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be nicer, so I'll see how I'm feeling.  I know that walking does help my guts, but I also have to listen to my body and give it rest when it needs it.  So we'll see.  No plans to taper yet, I'm not going to risk making myself feel worse when I already feel not great.


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## scottsma

Well,because I felt a little bit better I thought I'd change and wash the bed-linen.And when I had,I could have crawled right back in.But I'm glad I made the effort AND that I remembered the detergent.I do love a fresh bed.It's been wet today but the sun tried to come out so we had a little walk over to the park.That was hard work too,but like you I'm not one to sit and do nothing,we just do different things.This crohns thing does get in the way of planning things to do,but I'm not complaining.I can muddle through, whereas there are so many holding down a job and/or raising kids.I can please myself,and for that I'm thankful.Enjoy the rest of you weekend me darlin'.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I'm really glad I never had kids.  I can barely take care of myself some days, and working full-time often has me exhausted.  I do not think I could handle a kid on top of everything else.  Did you have Crohn's when you had your son?  Or did that come into your life later?  For me, I got sick just before I turned 30.  I was already on the fence about having kids, and getting a chronic illness just sealed the deal for me, no kids for me.  If I do want to hang around with kids (which I rarely do), I have 5 nieces and nephews between the ages of 3 and 13.  But mostly, hanging around with those kids reinforces for me that not having kids was the right choice for me!    I'm very happy with just hubby and the pets, I don't need any other people in my household.

That reminds me, I really should wash the bed sheets as well.  And then, like you said, crawl right back into bed!  I'm already ready for bed, I've been in my pajamas all day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a decent day yesterday.  It was pretty nice weather and I was able to walk Lily with hubby.  We even ran into our neighbor, who we haven't seen in awhile.  She owns 2 corgis, and Lily loves playing with her corgi friends.  So we walked with her and her corgis for a little bit.  We stuck mostly to the paved path, as the park was very muddy.  But even so, Lily did not stick to the path, she walked through a lot of mud, and at one point she slipped and fell face-first in some mud.  She had a muddy snout after that!  And very muddy paws.  So right after our walk, Lily had a bath.

Today's weather looks even nicer.  Close to 60 F, it really looks and feels like springtime!  Usually the first day of spring still feels more like winter weather than spring, so it's a real treat for the first day of spring to feel like spring.  I'm going to take advantage of it and have a lunchtime walk on the paved forest path (it's still quite muddy out, all the snow melted so everything is soggy and muddy).  Tomorrow, if I'm feeling up to it, I'm tentatively planning a weights workout.  Later this week, also presuming that I'm still feeling reasonably well, I'm going to try to taper.  I'm still at 7 mg pred and plan to taper to 6.5 mg.  Not sure what day I'll try that, maybe Thurs or Fri.

The weather is supposed to get icky - starting Thurs, it's supposed to just rain and rain and rain.  At least a week of rain, yuck.  It's in the forecast every day.  So I won't be able to take walks during that.  Not quite sure what I'll do during all that rain.  Probably some treadmill walking.


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## scottsma

Dogs love to run around with friends,so I expect it was worth having a bath for.We are expecting bad weather too, so just as well I'm still not feeling up to cycling.At least I'll be able to blame the weather.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, Lily sometimes will get a little aggressive with dogs she doesn't know (especially dogs that are much larger than she is), but she loves her friends and never gets aggressive, and sometimes will even play with them (she's not usually very playful when it comes to other dogs - she didn't have a lot of socialization with other dogs when she lived with her previous owners up through age 2, so she's still sometimes sort of clueless as to how to interact with other dogs).

It's been a stressful day at work!  I feel like I'm being pulled in about 100 different directions.  We're transitioning over to our new regional president and there's a lot of data she wants from us and I'm the person who runs a lot of the data and puts together spreadsheets and so on, so it's been a challenging time.  But it's good, the new president already knows she can come to me and get data and info, so that's a good thing.  Just a bit stressful at the moment as we're transitioning.  I'm heading out soon for my walk, it's much-needed on a day like this!  I just want to get out and breathe in the spring air and enjoy the calmness of the forest.  That sounds so nice right now!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My walk yesterday was fantastic!  I was just warm enough that I didn't need a jacket.  It was a bit breezy but it was also sunny, so the breeze felt nice with the warmth of the sun.  I got my 10,000 steps in yesterday and my fitbit was very happy with me, ha ha.  

The Zofran constipation is now catching up to me.  I had several substantial bowel movements on Saturday, but nothing on Sunday, and only a few tiny "rabbit poos" yesterday, so I'm feeling a bit backed up and slightly crampy this morning.  I'm still planning to go to the gym this afternoon, but I'm going to try to void my bowels first if I can.

Work continues to be stressful.  Our official transition date to our new president isn't until April 1st, so I'm sure it's going to be stressful until then and likely after then for awhile as well until we all adjust to whatever changes happen.  Today is particularly stressful though because our new president is going to be here in the office tomorrow (her home office is in another state) so today and tomorrow are going to be extra challenging.  I'm definitely looking forward to my workout today as a way to relieve some stress.

Tomorrow I have a plan in mind, too.  It's supposed to be colder, so I'm going to take a rest day.  I am going clothes shopping and then I'm going to treat myself to sushi for lunch, yum!  I know that will brighten my mood as well.  Thursday I'm hoping to hit the gym again - I'm also thinking that I'm going to try tapering that day.  So I don't have plans yet for Friday, as I want to see how tapering goes first.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a good workout yesterday.  Everything went fine, except that I think my one remaining resistance band is getting too stretched out.  I ordered myself a set of new resistance bands online, so when they arrive in a couple of days then I'll be able to do my hip exercises properly.

My guts aren't super happy today, I'm sure it's due to work stress.  There's some pain and I can also feel a small fissure.  I'm still going to have sushi for lunch, it always sits very well in my stomach and is one of my safest foods (my guts were at their best when I was in Japan!).  Hopefully after today is over, I'll be a bit less stressed.  The real test will be to see what happens in April.  I've been told unofficially that my job should probably be safe, but there's still that little bit of uncertainty, so I'll be stressed until I know for sure what's happening with my work situation.

Still hoping to do a weights workout again tomorrow.  Friday, not sure yet - it's supposed to rain all day, so maybe a treadmill walk.  Saturday, I'm probably going to go visit my grandma with my dad.  He also wants to put some flowers on my grandpa's grave (his dad).  It's supposed to rain that day as well so we probably won't stay long at my grandpa's grave.  But hopefully we can have a nice visit with my grandma.

It's supposed to rain all weekend, it's apparently going to rain for days and days according to the forecast.  So no walking Lily for a little while.  I'm hoping to maybe do a weights workout at home either before or after visiting my grandma, and I'll probably hop on my treadmill at home as well at some point.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Today has been very stressful indeed!  I'm glad it's almost over.  Work has been crazy.

I did have my shopping and sushi lunch, and I'm having sushi for dinner too (shh, don't tell hubby).  At a local grocery store, they do decent sushi rolls and they have "sushi Wednesdays" - on Wednesdays it's only $5 for a meal-sized amount.  I usually get the spicy cooked shrimp rolls, yum!  So I had that for lunch and it was delicious.  Then, hubby texted me and asked what I wanted for dinner.  I very slyly asked if we could go out for sushi for dinner, and he said that's a great idea.    Yum!  We go to a restaurant that has specials on sushi rolls from Monday thru Wednesday, so again it's not too pricey and it's really yummy.  So I'm headed there shortly to meet hubby for some more delicousness.  

I'm not even really being naughty, either.  My guts love Japanese food, especially sushi.  So really, I'm being nice to my guts AND I'm giving myself a little treat in the process - win-win!

My guts were feeling a bit rough this morning, but are feeling better as the day has gone on.  The abdominal pain seems mostly gone now.  So the plan is still to do a weights workout tomorrow on my lunch hour, and also planning to taper my pred tomorrow morning.  I'm still not sure about Friday, haven't planned anything for that day just yet.  Saturday, I'm meeting my dad at my grandma's facility for a visit with her.  We're meeting in the early/mid afternoon, so I'm thinking I can squeeze in a home gym weights workout around 11 AM and still make it to my grandma's place in time.  My new resistance bands should arrive tomorrow so I can try them out on Saturday.  I'm usually not a morning exerciser, but hopefully late morning should be okay.


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## scottsma

Oh Cat !!! please take it easy.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Carol!  I don't think I'm overdoing things, I feel okay.  Yesterday's sushi sat fine with me, my guts are quiet this morning.  I'm still planning to hit the gym today for a workout.  The work stress has alleviated a bit now that yesterday is behind me, thank goodness.

My weight is up which I have mixed feelings about.  I'm 5'8" and currently 153 lbs, which is tied for the highest my weight has ever been.  I was 150 lbs when the week started, so somehow I gained 3 lbs just this week.  I've been eating healthy and not over-eating, and I've been exercising, so I really don't understand how I gained 3 lbs.  But my body seems to do this - when I eat junky food and skip workouts, I tend to maintain or even lose weight, and when I eat healthily and work out, I gain.  It's dumb, I don't understand it.  And I have not been working out so much that I put on 3 lbs of muscle this week.    Maybe a bit of it is muscle but probably most/all of it is flab.  Just a pred thing I guess?  I don't know.  It's a little frustrating, I already went up a pants size but now those pants are starting to get a bit tight too.  I don't want to go up another size if I can help it!

Speaking of pred, I tapered this morning.  Went from 7 mg to 6.5 mg.  So far so good but it's probably still too early to tell for sure whether my body is going to accept the lower dose.  Wish me luck, I just want to be off of this darn stuff already!


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## scottsma

Fingers x'd for the taper.I know you want it over and done with.I would too.A neighbour of ours used to get down to half a tablet,but if she stopped all together,she was ill.It wasn't for gut problems,can't recall what it was for,but she is/has been on pred. for years.Stop putting yourself down,regarding your weight.No one tries harder than you,re; diet and exercise,so it's got to be the pred.I know muscle weighs more than fat,so it would be nice if it was that,but you know best.Glad the stress is abating some at work,You know it's not good for us but it's unavoidable sometimes.Enjoy your day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Work got a bit more stressful as the day has gone on, but still not as bad as yesterday.  I keep getting assigned more projects to work on, hopefully this means they like my work!  I'm trying to view it as a positive, and in a lot of ways it is.  It's just all a bit stressful at the moment though.  But it is good job security (I hope!).  

I know, I shouldn't be hard on myself about my weight especially while I'm still on pred.  I just feel chubby lately, today in particular is bad because of somehow gaining 3 lbs and being at my highest weight ever, and I just happened to put on trousers today that were already tight on me before and are almost ridiculously tight on me now (I dare not bend over or I might bust a seam!), so I feel quite chubby with all of that happening at once.

I'm just about to head to the gym and a workout is much-needed today.  I seem to be saying that a lot lately!  I'll be happy to put this stress behind me.

So far so good on the taper, I haven't had any symptoms so far yet.  Yes, with certain illnesses (Addison's disease comes to mind), you just basically have to be on pred indefinitely.  My aunt, who has Crohn's, has put herself on pred indefinitely - she's just taking 10 mg per day every day and has no plans to ever taper.  That seems risky and reckless to me and she's not that old (she's in her late 50s I think).  I know pred can cause bone loss and all sorts of other undesirable things, plus of course it's making me fat and crazy.    So I'd just like to be off of the stuff.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a really good workout.  I felt strong and good in the gym.  Really no reflux to speak of, either, I don't think I even belched once during my workout!  That was fantastic, I wish all workouts could be like that.

I'm now thinking I'd like to have a cardio session tomorrow.  30 mins or so of riding the stationary bike.  I don't do a lot of cardio and honestly I'm not a huge fan of stationary cardio - pedaling to nowhere gets old fast.  I love riding my bike outdoors, but being stuck inside doing a repetitive thing really gets tedious for me, so as a result I don't do a lot of cardio in the colder months.  I know I need to work on that.  So I'm going to plan for a cardio session tomorrow.  It's going to rain anyway so I may as well stay in and get in some fitness.  Maybe I can lose a little of this extra flab that I've packed on this week!  But at the very least I can work on my cardio fitness as I'm usually working on my strength instead.


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## scottsma

It's a lovely mild sunny day,so we're going on the bikes.To be honest I'm doing it more for hubby than myself.It's been 2wks since we went cycling and although we've been to the shops and for short walks,we have just been biding time 'til our colds are better.My chest is still weezy and I still have lots of mucos in my head,but I'm going to give it a go.It was my idea,not his.Trying to plan a route where there are no inclines, but it's not easy.If I can't do it,I'm not ashamed to push though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I hope your bike ride went okay.  With a wheezy chest, that sounds pretty iffy to me.  I hope you got through it with minimal symptoms/discomfort.

I'm having yet another supremely stressful day.  Had a bit of a bad guts morning, too, but I think I know the culprit.  I woke up with a headache - there are rain storms moving through the area, so I think the changes in pressure from the storms gave me the headache.  So I took some acetaminophen right away to get rid of the headache - but I stupidly took it on an empty stomach, which usually upsets me.  I'm doing better as the morning has gone on.  Still a bit of lingering gut unhappiness and sort of a lingering headache too, but I think I'm okay for my cardio workout as planned.  And that should help me relieve some stress, which is very much needed.  This week sucked!


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## scottsma

The ride went ok thanks.I was glad I made the effort,and boy,was it an effort.

I'm sorry your day got off to a bad start,but you might find a bit of exercise beneficial.
But don't push yourself to hard.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did 30 mins on the stationary bike.  It was interesting.  My stamina was fine - I was expecting to get tired out, but I didn't.  The issue was my hip.  I have arthritis in both hips (GP thinks osteo, a rheumy I saw thought inflammatory) and my right hip has always been worse than the left.  About 15 minutes into my cardio session, my right hip started aching.  Ugh.  I made sure to stretch it out very well afterwards, and it's feeling a little better now, but there's still some achiness.  Usually high impact exercise, like jogging, will make my hip hurt like this, but low impact is usually fine on my hips.  So that's frustrating.  Maybe it's just because it's my first cardio session in quite some time.  Usually I do ride the stationary bike to warm up, but that's only for 5 to 10 minutes and then I go lift weights.  I'm going to try to have another cardio session next week to see if my hip does the same thing or not.  I hope not!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm dialing it back a bit on my exercise plans.  I had originally planned to work out at home before going to visit my grandma.  But when I woke up a couple hours ago, my headache was back and it sort of feels like my cold is, too.  I'm very congested and coughing a bit and feel run-down.  Definitely don't feel like lifting weights right now.  So I'm taking today off, and will re-assess tomorrow.  Still going to visit my grandma (if it's the same cold, surely I'm not contagious any longer).  But other than that, I'm resting.  I've been playing the Sims all morning, ha ha.  That's about as ambitious as I am right now.

My hip feels okay today, that's the good news.  It's still rainy so I'm guessing that's why I've still got a headache.  Don't want to take acetaminophen for it though since that didn't go well yesterday, so I'm just trying to do normal things like drink a lot of water and rest, etc.  I have some chocolate, too, which sometimes helps with my headaches.


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## scottsma

It's nice just to snuggle down if you're a bit below par,especially with chocolate.
It's a lovely day here,got up to 16c.We went for a walk down the bank to the river,then along the river and up the bank to the weekend market,then back through the park and home.I think it's about 3-4 miles.It is a cycle path ,but there are far to many people,and dogs and kids running around,so not worth the stress of cycling,unless you've got a big stick with a sharp point to poke them with.I was almost on my knees with back pain when we got home.I'm so glad cycling doesn't have the same effect.I hope you find your Granma well and in good spirits.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a rough Saturday all around.  My visit did not go well, my grandma was extremely agitated when we arrived and she kept yelling that she was leaving her facility and coming home with us.  When we told her no, she said then she's either going to run away or kill herself.  Fortunately she said all of this in front of staff members at her facility, so they're keeping an eye on her.  She started packing her stuff to run away but then she did eventually calm down and we were able to have something of a conversation, but it was really stressful especially for the first hour or so.  Her dementia is progressing fairly rapidly, she made faces at people several times which is very bad.  Making faces means she's losing her words, and that means her dementia is progressing from moderate to severe.  (I wrote a much longer version of this in the Grandparents thread.)

Yesterday I woke up feeling better - my cold seemed to be on the way out again, guts were quite good.  So, I overdid things.    Of course I did.  I hadn't done any of my usual weekend chores on Saturday because the visit took up a good chunk of the day and because I wasn't feeling well, so I had a lot to do on Sunday.  I vacuumed, did laundry, tidied up the house, walked Lily and went grocery shopping with hubby (he did dishes and cleaned the kitchen while I was doing my chores).  We also went to this huge antique store just to browse, we found a few good things.  I got a vintage sewing kit, it was only $9.50 and it has a ton of sewing supplies in it!  That was a nice score.  But we sure did a lot that day.  While we were running around doing shopping, we went out to eat, which I think was a mistake.  It was even my idea, I said let's go to the Mexican restaurant - it sure sounded delicious at the time, and it was delicious.  I had a quesadilla, and I know that cheese isn't my friend.  (Mexican food in general isn't my friend.)

So, between overdoing things yesterday and eating something that I shouldn't have, I'm not feeling so great today.  My guts are a little bit unhappy and I feel kind of exhausted, too.  The work stress isn't helping, either.  As of next week, our transition period will be over and then we can start learning what's actually happening.  So for now I'm just sort of in survival mode.  I just need to grit my teeth and get through this week.  That sounds like a really hard task when it's only Monday morning, ugh.

I don't think going to the gym is a good idea today.  I might try a walk if I'm feeling up to it this afternoon, but that's the most I'll do.  Will see how I'm feeling tomorrow and will go from there.


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## scottsma

Nothing's going your way lately ,you poor soul.I'm so sorry your Granma was acting up.Not easy,but at least she still has some spark in her,and wasn't staring vacantly into space.It's hard to know how you would like her to be.Thank goodness she's in a safe environment looked after people who can cope.Not much happening in the fitness department here.We went up the coast,about an hours drive,and had a walk around an outdoor market, on the harbour.Today we brought all the rubbish down from the attic and took it to the council tip (dump)So that was a workout of sorts,going up and down the attic steps.Good job done.The charity van can't come until next Monday,so I've got time so sort .through some more stuff.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That's great that you have time to go through more stuff.  I've been purging some things lately too, but on a smaller scale than you have been doing.  I got rid of a couple of sweaters that no longer fit me, even though I loved them.  And I went through my gym bag and got rid of some workout clothes that are old or don't fit right or that I no longer wear.  That felt pretty good to get rid of some stuff.  I also tried on all my dresses to make sure that they still fit - there's one that's going to be tight if I gain any more weight, but it still fits okay for now, so I'm trying hard to watch my weight.

I should add what I'm trying diet-wise this week.  Since my arthritis got a bit angry with my cardio session last week, I figured I should try something new for my arthritis.  I've read that tart cherry juice can really help with arthritis pain, and I happened to glance in the juice section at the grocery store yesterday and I saw tart cherry juice concentrate.  It was pricey, but it's enough to make a bunch of drinks (it's 7 parts water to one part juice concentrate).  So once my stomach calms down a bit more (it's calmed down somewhat already), I've made myself a tart cherry juice and I'm going to try it.  I'm hoping it helps and that my stomach agrees with it too.

Yeah, unfortunately the spark that my grandma has seems to be part of the dementia too.  She was never mean, would never yell, certainly would never threaten suicide years ago before her mind started going.  She was so sweet, kind, just a happy person, would never say a mean thing to or about anyone.  Now she screams and makes faces at other people.  It's not her, it's the illness.  And we need to put her in a nursing home soon - she's currently in a memory care unit at an assisted living facility, but since her dementia is progressing, she's going to need more care than they can provide at her current facility.  So in a way she was right after all, she does get to leave her current facility - but where she's going, I think she'll hate even more, and she'll hate us for it, and then we'll really see that spark come out.   

Between my grandma and my workplace, stress is high for me!  I seriously need so much chocolate in my life right now.  I'm tempted to just go and buy a ton of it and stash it away where hubby can't find it.  Of course, that won't help me with my goal of not gaining any more weight.  There's always a catch!    I still want chocolate though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I didn't walk but I did get my chocolate.  Guts are still a little bit iffy but they seem to have called a tentative truce with the chocolate.    It got a bit drizzly so I didn't walk.  I'm aiming for a walk tomorrow, looks like the rain will finally end and it's supposed to be sunny and fairly warm tomorrow, looks ideal for a walk.

I'm still having a slight bit of arthritis pain after drinking my tart cherry juice.  Maybe it takes awhile to start working?  And I think all the rain we've had lately is contributing to my hips being achey lately.  Hopefully things will improve tomorrow when the weather is nicer.  (And if not, I've got more chocolate, ha ha.)


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## scottsma

I think you need to give the cherry juice at least a week.But watch out for symptoms that it might cause.Have you googled the benefits ?I always try stuff I think might help,what can you loose except a few dollars.? Re; Granma.I think we all have the devil in us somewhere hahaha.I always said I was going to grow old DIS-gracefully.But I'm to tired now.hahaha.Should have been naughtier when I was young enough to appreciate it.My choccy stash is in the dish towel drawer.I don't think hubby knows we have one of those.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm not drinking the cherry juice today.  My guts still aren't great and I probably shouldn't introduce something new like that when I'm not feeling well.  I'll try it again when I'm feeling better.

My guts woke me up at 3 AM with cramping.  That was not fun.  Fortunately I was able to get back to sleep pretty quickly.  They've been iffy all morning though.  I'm thinking they're still a bit mad about the Mexican food I ate.  Hopefully this isn't a taper fail!  Usually I feel worse than this with a taper fail.  I'm just keeping an eye on things for now.  If I continue feeling like this then I might have to go back up to 7 mg pred, ugh.  I don't want to have to do that.

So I'm on the fence about taking a walk today.  I think it will help my guts, so I'm probably going to try it, but I'll see for sure how I'm feeling this afternoon.  I don't want to be caught on the forest path and need a bathroom!  There aren't many bathrooms to speak of in that area - really they are only on the far ends on either side (you can leave the path on one end and there's a gas station right there, and on the other far end of the path there's a fast food restaurant, but for the rest of the path there's nothing - I'd literally have to run into the woods and squat!  Eek!).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Work continues to be very stressful and overwhelming.  My guts feel okay-ish, but I passed a small bit of blood in my stool this morning.  I'm thinking it's either a small fissure or maybe a new hemmie.  Either way, I'm not happy about it.  I haven't passed blood into the toilet in almost a year now!  I really wanted to continue that streak, but I guess my body had other plans.  That's really frustrating.

I feel sort of exhausted today.  I don't want to lift weights because I'm afraid I'll make the bleeding worse, I feel like I should give it at least a day and re-assess.  I'm thinking I should just rest today and see how I'm feeling tomorrow.  That's also frustrating, but I don't know what else to do.

Geez.  I knew this week was going to be tough, but this week is seriously awful!  I wish I could just hibernate until better times come along, but I'm going to have to just keep on pushing through.


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## scottsma

I would have a lazy week if I were you.You're having enough stress at work and now you're worrying about toilet issues.I think that's enough to be thinking about for now.Get on with some needlework and eat chocolate.Exercise can wait.When you're feeling a bit off,I honestly don't think you give yourself enough time to rest.take it easy and chill........lecture over.Hubby put new peddles on little blackie today.The bearings had gone.It could have bad if I'd been on a main road with traffic behind me.Luckily it was a quiet side street.And I didn't fall over.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I know, I hate to rest for longer than what seems necessary.  You know me, I get antsy and over-eager to get back to it.  Which isn't always wise of me.  I just looked at the weather report and it's supposed to rain from today through Friday, with Saturday looking like nice weather again.  So, I'm going to try to rest until Saturday.  If I'm feeling okay on that day then I'll take a walk or maybe even a bike ride, but I'm going to make myself rest until then.

The good news is, I haven't passed any more blood.  And I am going to speak with a person at work tomorrow about my workload and how overwhelmed I've been.  One of the issues lately has been that my boss is out - she had major surgery recently and has been recovering for nearly 2 months now.  Usually my boss helps me with my workload, but since she's been out, I've really had nobody to help me.  But tomorrow another manager is going to try to help me as best as she can.  So maybe there's some relief in sight.

I have my chocolate and I have my tart cherry juice.    And my crocheting and sewing too.  I'm glad you didn't fall over and that your bike has new pedals now!  I almost certainly would have fallen if my pedal came off.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm feeling a little rough again this morning.  I'm sure it's due to stress (the layoffs at work have officially started, one lady from another office got laid off yesterday).  I've had 3 bowel movements so far - the first one was fairly formed, but the latter 2 were loose - no blood though.  I'm a bit nauseous too so I took a zofran.  And, I've been coughing and sniffling again this morning, ugh.  So I'm sipping some orange juice to try to help those issues.  Some days (weeks, months, years), I just cannot win!

It's pouring rain here which matches my mood today and is giving me a slight headache.  I had thought that I lost my umbrella, which made me upset because it was my grandpa's umbrella, but then I found that I had left it at my desk at work.  So at least I found it.  I'm still in a mood, though.

In spite of feeling rough, I tapered my pred today.  Went from 6.5 mg to 6 mg.  So far 6 is the lowest I've been able to get without flaring up again, so we'll see what happens next week when I try tapering to 5.5 mg.  I'm not looking forward to that!

I was good and rested yesterday.  Ate bland foods too (rice and chicken) so I'm sure it's mainly work stress that's making me feel rough.  I'm going to rest again today.  I just need to survive today and tomorrow and then I can rest on the weekend and hopefully things will start to get better.


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## scottsma

I'm glad you're taking notice of what your body is telling you Cat.Good luck with your taper.You'll feel soooo much better when you can get off pred. all together.But you know that,of course.
After a bit of dithering,we went out on the bikes today,It looked like rain,but it didn't.I really enjoyed it.It's great cycling along the coast,looking out to sea.The road is atop a cliff,not sheer,and it's easy to get down to the beach,and there's a great view out to the horizon.There were surfers out today but it wasn't a good surfing day.Having been born and bred here we tend to take it for granted,but we are very lucky.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That sounds gorgeous, I'm jealous of where you get to go cycling!  I can ride my bike through some pretty areas, we have a  few lakes here that I can ride alongside of, and there's an arboretum where I can ride through.  But I'm nowhere near the sea, it's probably at least 1,000 miles away in either direction (so a bit too far to cycle to, ha ha).

Speaking of the sea, it's been a year since I went to Japan.  I want to go back!  I loved Japan so much and my guts loved it too.  That was the most well I felt all year.  So today I'm daydreaming about riding the shinkansen and eating onigiri while looking out the window at Fuji-san.  Sigh!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I've had a really rough week.  I woke up this morning and all I want to do is go to the gym.  So I'm going.  I know I said I'd rest today but you know me.    I'm feeling okay, guts are reasonably calm and taper is going fine.  I have a slight headache but it's been raining for like 3 days straight so I'm sure that's why.  I feel a bit exhausted just because of the toll this week has taken on me stress-wise.  I know working out helps me relieve so much stress, so I'm really looking forward to hitting the gym today.

I'm also so looking forward to the weekend!  I need a couple of days to recover from this week, that's for sure.  Tomorrow's weather looks like it's going to be gorgeous - the rain will finally stop and they're saying it's going to be sunny and almost 60 degrees F tomorrow.  And very little wind.  Sounds like perfect bicycling weather to me!  I'm also hoping, if I have enough energy, to take Lily for a walk.  I might actually take her over to the forest path, as dogs are allowed there as long as they're on a leash.  So I'm thinking I'll have a late morning bike ride and then get Lily into the car and head over to the forest for a walk.  I'm going to take it slow and easy on the bike ride, since it'll be my first ride of the year.  I don't want to overdo things right away.  But I am so excited to get my bike out!  My bike is so pretty and fast and fun and I just love riding it.  (Did I mention my bike is neon green with bright blue tires?  It's seriously the most flashy bike ever, ha ha.)


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## scottsma

Yes,you posted a picture a couple of months ago.I agree it's gorgeous.Please give it the once over and check everythings OK.as it's been hibernating for awhile.I can tell you're excited.I would have liked to get out today,but it's just got windier by the hour.It's OK having the wind at your back,but sooner or later you have to ride into it.Have a great weekend and be safe.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh yes, absolutely, I'm going to put air in the tires and grease the chain and make sure everything's in good working order before I head out on my bike.  I have a small bag under the seat of my bike, and I keep a couple of tools in the bag just in case.  I've got a mini air pump attached to my bike too in case my tires should deflate.  I also always make sure to bring my cell phone and some emergency cash with me - if worse comes to worse, I could always call for a cab to take me and my bike home (my city is very bicycle-friendly and many cabs here have bike racks on them - city buses also have bike racks on them).  I always like to have a backup plan and to be prepared for the unknown, so if my bike or I should become incapacitated, I'll still be able to get home safely.

It's very windy here too today, and rainy.  It's cold and just plain yucky, it's a very good day to stay indoors!  So I'm fortunate to have a gym in the same building where I work, I won't have to go outside at all.


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## scottsma

Hubby carries our tools,but I have a small bag on the front for keys,phone and change etc.I can also cram my ball cap and gloves in.
I was wondering earlier if your hubby's cousin (?) had been in touch to do some training with you.? I remember you mentioning it a while ago.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Good memory!  Hubby's cousin has not yet contacted me, but it's only been a few weeks since we've discussed it and she's well aware that I've had ongoing health issues (she works in healthcare so she's quite an understanding person).  She's also on vacation right now, her facebook is suddenly full of photos from Florida.  April is still early days to even be bicycling here, we could easily still get more snow in April or even into May, so I'm sure she'll want to wait until a bit later in the spring or early summer before we start planning hikes or bike rides.  I remember last year, my grandpa died on May 14th, and it snowed on that day.  I'm only bicycling tomorrow because of the rare nice warm weather.


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## scottsma

My hubby was really impressed when I told him about the bike racks on taxis and buses.I can understand not being to keen about fitness when you're spring/summer is late starting.A few years ago,when our son was visiting from OZ we went up to Scotland first week in April, and snow drifts were at car height,so there's even a possibility we might get some.But we in this part of the country haven't had snow worth a mention for four years.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I actually have never taken my bike on a city bus, but I've seen others do it so I know it's possible.  Out of curiosity I just googled it and found very specific instructions for how to put your bike on a bus in my city.  Good to know!  I almost never ride the bus, but it's a good option to have as a backup plan just in case.  Here's the instructions in case you're curious:
https://www.cityofmadison.com/Metro/planyourtrip/bikeRacks.cfm

We get a bit of every type of weather here, we tend to have cold & snowy winters and hot & humid summers.  So we're in that weird phase right now where it might be freezing cold one day and feel like summer the next.    We don't really get much of springtime per se, we just get alternating winter and summer.  Today feels like winter, it's very chilly outside, but tomorrow it will feel much more like summer.  I have to say, though, that our past few winters haven't been nearly as snowy as normal.  I had bought snowshoes maybe 4 years ago, and I haven't been able to use them for at least the past 2 winters.  We just haven't gotten enough snow!  That's pretty odd for us, we're in a northern state and not far from Canada, so we usually get more snow.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did it!  Got my road bike out for a short ride.  It was not super easy at first, though.  As I said, I greased the chain and I was trying to put air in the tires.  But for some reason, I just couldn't get the tires to inflate properly.  I tried my small hand pump and I tried hubby's air compressor, and I was at it for at least 30 minutes, but I just couldn't get the tires to fill up.  Finally I got frustrated and got myself dressed and ready to go and brought my bike outside to the driveway.  The tires were still half flat so it was obvious I wasn't going anywhere.  I tried again in the driveway and this time, magically, the tires inflated right away.    I don't know why but trying it in my driveway always seems to work.  I've done that before too.

So after that I was able to have a good ride.  I did about 5 miles, I rode over through the park where the zoo is (the zoo was packed!) and that was a nice little ride.  I didn't want to overdo things since it was my first ride of the year and I didn't want to make my arthritis mad again, so I kept it short.  

It's a pretty gorgeous day out so I also walked Lily.  We just went for a walk down the bike path in my neighborhood, I had thought about taking her to the forest path but I decided not to as we'd have to get in the car to go there and I just wanted to walk and be done with it without too much fuss.  So she had a nice walk.

On our way home from our walk, a couple of young girls, maybe high school age or so, were smiling at Lily and they said hello to me and one of them then said, "Your dog just made our whole morning!"  So I asked if they wanted to pet Lily, and they did, and they were clearly in so happy that they got to pet a corgi.  It was really sweet.

I think it's supposed to rain again tomorrow.  If I can get myself organized then I'll try to have a weights workout at home.


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## scottsma

That was a really good day then.It made me smile.I'm hoping to get out tomorrow,the weather looks good.The rest of the week is pretty much booked.The charity shop is collecting the stuff tomorrow.We brought it down from the attic today and it's taking up a lot of space.They said they'd come between 8-30am and noon.The sooner the better,then we can get out on the bikes.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I woke up yesterday morning and I was sore from my bike ride.  But, I had expected to have leg or butt soreness - nope!  The soreness was all in my shoulders!  That was odd.  But, since I was sore, I decided to skip working out yesterday.  Don't want to injure myself so I listened to my body and had a rest day.  Did some cleaning with hubby and went grocery shopping and did laundry and all my usual weekend chores.

Work is already a big bag of stress so I'm going to hit the gym today.  I really need a workout!  I'm looking forward to lifting weights and offloading some of this stress, even temporarily.  I'm buried under a pile of work and I have to re-do some things that I did last week, ugh.  The one bright shining light in my day is the gym!  It's my happy place, it's where there are no spreadsheets, ha ha.  It's just me and my music and my body feeling good and healthy for a change.  I can't wait for my workout today!

Tentative plans this week are to lift weights Mon, Wed, Fri.  Hopefully a bike ride again on Sat, as the weather looks like it'll be really nice again.  Maybe a walk tomorrow or Thurs, depending on the weather (once again, it's supposed to rain a lot this week).  My dad and brother are going to see my grandma on Saturday, but I don't want to go, I can't risk having another bad visit with her on top of all this stress I'm already under.  I need some time away from my grandma before I go see her again, it's just too hard when she's having a bad day.  So instead I'm going to focus on me and have a bike ride on Saturday.


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## scottsma

Apart from your work stress you're sounding very positive.It's probably a good idea not to visit granma,you definitely don't need a stress overload.How has your pred taper gone this week ?.....The charity van came at 10-30am thank goodness.I think they got a shock when they saw how much there was,but it was all good stuff so they were quite happy.It's going to help a hospice,but I will never let so much stuff accumulate again.When I buy something,I will immediately take spare stuff to the charity shop.It's too easy to put it in the attic,out of sight.Managed to get out for a cycle too,so all in all a good day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

The work stress is really beating me down lately, though.  It's been maybe worse today than it has so far and that's really saying something.  I've spent a good chunk of the day buried under piles of work while trying not to cry at my desk.  Tomorrow won't be any easier, either, if anything it'll be harder.  The new big boss will be here tomorrow to meet with some of the managers and I suspect that more layoffs might be announced.  So we'll see what happens.  I'm not looking forward to it.

I did have a good gym session for the most part.  When I went down to the basement to change into my gym clothes, I went to use the bathroom - and I found that somebody had recently puked in there.  Great.  I know that stomach viruses are very contagious and can linger both in the air and on surfaces - I tried not to breathe and not to touch anything, but of course you can't touch nothing and you have to breathe.  I did wash my hands super well and made sure not to touch my face, but that wouldn't stop me from breathing in germs.  So, depending on what made the person barf, I may have been exposed to a tummy bug.  That made me worry a bit ever since.  I really hope I don't catch it, that's the last thing I need on top of everything else.

Aside from possible germ exposure, I had a good workout.  Did everything I wanted to and felt fairly strong.  My legs did feel a little tired once I got warmed up, but they were still strong enough to get through my workout just fine.  I had a few belches but other than that my GERD was quiet.  Arthritis was quiet too.

The weather report is making it sound like rain tomorrow but only in the morning, so hopefully I'll be able to take a walk tomorrow in the early afternoon on my lunch break.  I'm sure I'll need to get away from work, and the forest is my other happy place besides the gym, so I'd love to get out to the forest path for a nice walk to de-stress.

As for my grandma, yeah, I just can't handle any more stress right now.  I know she doesn't mean to do it, it's the dementia and not her, and I do feel kind of crappy about purposely avoiding her.  But I have to take care of myself first and foremost.  Honestly, even a good visit with her is somewhat stressful, because she can't remember anything that I told her even 10 seconds ago, so even if we're talking about nice things there's a lot of repeating myself and keeping the conversation simple enough so that she can follow it, etc.  I just can't see myself doing any of that right now.  What I need to do on Saturday is take care of me, and right now that means getting on my bike and going for a ride.

Pred taper is still going well - I went down to 6 mg last week Thursday and so far so good there.  The real test will be in a few days when I try tapering to 5.5 mg.  Awhile back, when I had tried to taper from 6 mg to 5, it was very problematic and I flared up, so I'm a bit worried about how this upcoming taper will go.

And of course, if I do end up catching a stomach bug, I won't taper until I'm recovered.  Hopefully I won't even have to think about that, though.  Hopefully I haven't caught anything and the basement barfer just had food poisoning or something non-contagious like that.  (And let's hope they don't strike again on Wednesday when I go back to the basement for another weights workout!)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, and I think I've said this before but if not - one of my favorite thrift shops also benefits hospice.    So I always feel good about donating there and shopping there.  Good for you for donating so much stuff to a good cause!

Your attic sounds like my basement, it's easy to put stuff down there and forget about it.  That was the bulk of the cleaning we did this past weekend, the basement was a huge mess yet again (mainly hubby's fault, my area was still relatively neat but you could barely walk through his area).  I got really mad about it on Saturday when I was trying to put air in my bike tires - we don't have a garage, but we have a walk-out basement, so we keep things like bicycles and lawnmower in the basement.  I could barely get my bike out and there was barely any room for me to try to get air in my bike tires in the basement, so I told hubby that we needed to clean up and throw a bunch of stuff away.  We did!  We threw away lots of unnecessary things (old boxes, etc) and did a lot of cleaning & organizing.  So for the time being, it's neat and clean and organized again.  How long it stays that way remains to be seen.  (I give it 2 weeks tops!)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hmm, I'm having a rough morning.  Last night, between 1 AM and 3 AM, the power went out in our house at least 3 times.  I woke up 3 times, that's for sure.  We have a white noise machine that we turn on when we go to sleep, and of course when the electricity goes out the white noise machine turns off.  And every time it turns off, I wake up.  So I slept very poorly because of that, and my guts don't like it when I sleep poorly.  So I'm having a rough guts morning.  It was just enough that I called in sick to work.  I don't think I could deal with all that work stress on top of my guts feeling like this today.  So I'm staying home and resting.  No walk for me today but that's okay, I think rest is best today.  (And if I'm honest, I really didn't want to be in the office today anyway with the big boss being there.)

I don't think I actually caught a tummy bug, though.  I'm mildly nauseous and had some d but that's very typical of me when I don't sleep well.  It doesn't feel like a bug, it feels like my guts are just unhappy about the lack of sleep.  If I can manage to nap today then that should help.


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## scottsma

Take it easy and watch some trashy TV in your PJs,but knowing you you'll find something to keep you busy.I had a walk into town to pick up some scripts and do a bit of shopping, then we went out on the bikes this afternoon.I was a wee bit tired but it's a nice day and we might not get out again this week as we've stuff to do every day and friends visiting.
I did get a lovely soft suede waistcoat/gillet.It's dark green with brass studs on the corner of the pockets.It cost all of £1.....I have seven now,in different colours and fabrics,but I wasn't going to miss it at that price.So all in all a productive day.Feel better soon and catch up with your sleep if you can.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Still not feeling well today.  Starting to wonder if this is a taper fail.  I'm having all the usual symptoms - diarrhea, some nausea & no appetite, a lot of cramping including cramping that's waking me up at night, fatigue, chills, etc.  Ugh.  Called in sick to work today and going to call my GI when his office opens at 8 AM (it's not quite 7 AM here now).  

Fitness is on hold until I can get this figured out and feel better again.  In the meantime, I fortunately just recently bought more yarn so I have plenty of crocheting to keep me occupied.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I still feel like crap.    Called my GI yesterday and talked to his nurse and she said she'd get the message to him, but I didn't get a call back.  I'm going back up to 7 mg pred because I need to be functional.  I was up at least 3x last night with diarrhea, and then later cramping woke me up.  I'm so sick of this!

Still feeling horrible so I'm calling in sick to work, again (thank goodness for family medical leave - I can't be punished for calling in sick more often than the average person because of my chronic illness).  Going to try to get myself feeling well enough that I can at least work tomorrow and then have the weekend to rest some more.

Obviously no fitness for a little while.  I have been crocheting a lot.    I finished the blanket I was working on, thinking about starting either a scarf or trying to make a sweater vest today.  I saw a girl on a TV show wearing a really cute, long, loosely knit sweater vest and it looked like something I could make.


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## scottsma

Ah,Cat !!! you were doing so well with your taper.Do you think it is to blame for you feeling unwell now ? Maybe it's not that at all,but if your G.I isn't getting back to you,you'll have to use your own judgement I suppose.I get that you need to function properly.Please give yourself time,and I don't mean a few days.As soon as you feel really well,add a few extra days before you resume your fitness regime.
We've had a run out to a market town about 45mins drive.I went to pick up a book I've had on order mainly (don't like e books)but of course I had to look in the charity shops.I got a nice black vertically quilted jacket,a good brand,for £10 and a huge multi coloured scarf for £2-95.The book cost more than both of them together.So I'm a happy bunny today,but sad that you're poorly again of course.Sending hugs.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It was right around 6 mg the last two times that I had taper fails, so I'm certain that that's what's happening again.  Talked to my GI on the phone today and the current plan he came up with is to split the dose of my LDN.  I'm currently taking 4.5 mg at bedtime.  GI wants me to try 2.5 mg twice a day.  He said that he read somewhere (I never read this statistic) that 10% of people on LDN will experience nausea, diarrhea, etc.  So he wants to rule out that LDN is causing my issues and he feels that splitting the dose will alleviate any chance of it being the cause of my symptoms.  So presumably I'll try this and try to taper again and have the exact same taper fail issues.  The plan then is to lower my dose of LDN, probably down to 2.5 mg per day.  Some people do better on a lower than usual dose (4.5 mg is what is recommended for IBD, but that dose doesn't work for everybody and some people benefit much more from an even lower dose).  So, that's the plan.  And if lowering my LDN doesn't work then I'm going to push for sulfasalazine.  I'm on Lialda and I don't think it does a whole lot.  Sulfasalazine is a bit stronger - also has a higher risk of side effects, but I'm willing to try it.  Sulfasalazine also helps joint issues so it could help my arthritis too.

I'm feeling okay-ish now but I think that's because I've barely eaten today.  I've had 3 glasses of chocolate almond milk and a few mouthfuls of rice and that's it.  I feel pretty weak due to lack of nourishment, but at least I'm not cramping nor nauseous.  I'll take whatever improvement I can get.  And since I've gone back up to 7 mg pred, I should continue to feel better since that seems to be the magic number for me.

Ha ha, I actually do like e-books - they help me not be a hoarder.    Anything that helps me reduce clutter is a good thing!  I do still read plenty of regular books, but when it's an option I usually opt for an e-book.

My plan is to go back to work tomorrow after being out sick the past 3 days.  I think I can manage one day of work and then rest up all weekend.  I've been doing a lot of crocheting, I finished the blanket I was working on and started making a scrap blanket (using up my scrap yarn and making many colored stripes) for my youngest niece.  I have a feeling I'll be working on that blanket a lot more over the weekend.


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## scottsma

I hope there's not to much stress at work Cat.Take lots of deep breathes and close your eyes and count to 10,but not while your walking of course.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I was so crampy and felt awful again this morning, so I ended up calling in sick again.  I just couldn't muster up feeling like I was able to work.  Ugh.  I think/hope I'm finally on the downhill side of this, though.  Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll be feeling a lot better.

A development - instead of splitting the dose, we're tweaking my LDN dose.  After talking and emailing with my GI, I'm wondering if 4.5 mg is just too high of a dose for me.  The "low dose" part of LDN is very important, ideally you want the dose to be very low.  I don't understand the science behind it, but at any rate, I'm trying a lower dose than I've been at to see if that helps at all.  Going to try 2.5 mg.  Got a call from the compounding pharmacy and it's ready for me to pick up, so I'm going to drag myself out of the house tomorrow to go get that.

The weather is looking lovely and I'd really love to get outside, but rest still seems best right now.  I'm sure it'll start raining again as soon as I'm feeling better.


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## scottsma

I'm glad you decided not to work....I hope the new LDN script is the answer to your troubles Cat.I know you were excited to get on it and thought it would work miracles for you.So here's hoping a little tweek will make a difference.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I did hope that LDN would be a miracle for me, and so far it isn't.  It has done some good for me, like I can definitely tell that it's made a difference, but it's not a miracle.  I was hoping that it'd be the thing that would help me get off of pred and stay in remission, and so far it has failed to do that.

If 2.5 mg LDN doesn't make a big improvement for me then I'm going to push my GI to try sulfasalazine.  I've tried almost all the mesalamine formulations (Asacol, Asacol HD, Delzicol, Pentasa, Lialda) and they don't do a whole lot for me, but maybe sulfasalazine would help a bit more.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I was so crampy and felt awful again this morning, so I ended up calling in sick again.  I just couldn't muster up feeling like I was able to work.  Ugh.  I think/hope I'm finally on the downhill side of this, though.  Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll be feeling a lot better.


Stress definitely plays a factor in your health, so I wouldn't doubt that what's going on at work is causing some of your problems right now.  My health was pretty good until the last 3 months when stress at work went up due to turnover and my anxiety worsened.  Mental health plays a huge factor in physical health and my physical health is definitely suffering.  I was seeing an ENT for vertigo/dizziness and hearing issues and that has worsened in the last 3 months (I'm seeing a specialist ENT this coming week; I believe I have undiagnosed Meniere's disease instead of the migraine-associated vertigo because I have more symptoms of MD - plus, I don't have migraines anymore).  Not only has the vertigo worsened, but I'm having issues keeping my hormones controlled again, which caused the ovarian cyst so I've made an appointment to see an endocrinologist who specializes in PCOS next month.  I'm also seeing a new psychiatrist on the same day.  I've also used my EAP program at work to get 3 free appointments with my old therapist which has really helped.  I'm already noticing an improvement in my mental health.

Anyway, I hope things at work calm down soon so you can start feeling better.  I'd feel pretty bad, too, if I felt like my job security was threatened.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks, MissLeopard.  Yeah, work has absolutely been a nightmare of stress lately.  It's sort of been a perfect storm of stress.  Our old regional president, who I really liked, was basically ousted, and we got a new regional president, who I don't really like (she seems very gruff).  So my workload has increased a lot because I've been continuing to do my usual spreadsheets, plus I've been doing new spreadsheets for the new president - and I found out that she doesn't even like spreadsheets.  Oh, great, since spreadsheets is basically what I do, that's just fantastic and does make me worry about my job in particular.  My boss has been off for 2 months because she had major surgery, so usually she helps me when I get stressed or overwhelmed, but without her I've just been quietly becoming very overwhelmed.  My one co-worker in my department is purposely screwing up at times because she wants to be laid off, and my other co-worker was first busy with a huge project and now is on vacation so she hasn't been able to help me with anything.  It's just all been a gigantic mess.  

I'm sorry to hear your work situation has been stressful too.  It really sucks when you spend a big part of your day (life, really) at a place that causes such stress.  But I can't not work, I need not only the income but of course the insurance too - my husband works as a chef and he gets zero benefits at his job, so we both rely on my insurance.  If he got insurance then I could possibly quit or go part-time and we'd be okay financially, but the insurance thing is why I have to keep working full-time.  It's really hard sometimes but it'd be impossible to live with a chronic illness and no insurance.  (Yes, I do sometimes fantasize about moving to somewhere like Canada where they have single-payer universal health care.)

At any rate, I picked up my 2.5 mg LDN just now, so I'll start that at bedtime tonight.  I've had zero appetite for days now and I've lost about 6 lbs, so I picked up some potato chips while I was out.  Sometimes when nothing else sounds appetizing, I can eat a few chips.  So I'm trying that.  I also got some yarn, bought myself some chocolate (no desire to eat that right now though which is very sad because I love chocolate), and for good measure I bought myself roses too.  When I feel so crappy like this, I tend to buy myself presents.  I've heard the term "survival bribe" - where you buy yourself presents or do nice things for yourself in order to keep on going and keep doing what you have to do to get through the day.  I guess I needed a bunch of survival bribes today.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, I forgot to add - MissLeopard, I've dealt with vertigo as well.  Mine was due to labyrinthitis (inflammation in the inner ear, sometimes due to a virus and sometimes due to unknown causes - mine was unknown causes).  Vertigo is absolutely horrendous, my least favorite symptom EVER.  It made me barf so much (my second least favorite symptom), it was just the worst that I've ever felt.  At least in an IBD flare, I can take myself to the bathroom - with the vertigo, my husband had to take me to the bathroom the first few days, and after that I'd sort of pinball myself off of the hallway walls until I made it to the bathroom, and often by the time I got there, I'd be so nauseous from all the movement that I'd have to barf.  It really, really sucked.  So I definitely feel for you, I know a little bit about Meniere's and it's not something that I'd wish upon anybody.  I hope you can get that diagnosed and treated so that the vertigo isn't too horrible.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Oh, I forgot to add - MissLeopard, I've dealt with vertigo as well.  Mine was due to labyrinthitis (inflammation in the inner ear, sometimes due to a virus and sometimes due to unknown causes - mine was unknown causes).  Vertigo is absolutely horrendous, my least favorite symptom EVER.  It made me barf so much (my second least favorite symptom), it was just the worst that I've ever felt.  At least in an IBD flare, I can take myself to the bathroom - with the vertigo, my husband had to take me to the bathroom the first few days, and after that I'd sort of pinball myself off of the hallway walls until I made it to the bathroom, and often by the time I got there, I'd be so nauseous from all the movement that I'd have to barf.  It really, really sucked.  So I definitely feel for you, I know a little bit about Meniere's and it's not something that I'd wish upon anybody.  I hope you can get that diagnosed and treated so that the vertigo isn't too horrible.


Thanks.  I'm hoping that this new doctor will be able to provide more insight into why I'm having such a hard time with the vertigo.  It used to be once in a while, but now it's a constant thing and affects me daily.  We have a lot of interior construction going on at work due to renovations and the changing paths to other wings is causing a lot of problems with low light so my vertigo gets worse in those conditions - especially moving from low light to regular light.  My former ENT diagnosed me with migraine-associated vertigo and sent me off to a neurologist who didn't really do much except a brain MRI with and without contrast and it showed no irregularities - except one that I picked up on.  It looked like my left ear canal was larger than the right and that's the ear that has been affecting me the most.  From my research, Meniere's disease (aka endolymphatic hydrops) causes build up of fluid in the ear, so I wonder if that is what is causing the weird picture?  

In any case, I really didn't like that the neurologist seemed to only want to prescribe medications rather than providing a referral for vestibular rehabilitation, which I think would be more useful.  He first prescribed me a calcium channel blocker that is used for hypertension and, while it worked at first, it stopped working in the long run and my vertigo came back with a vengeance.  He wanted to put me on Klonopin, but another ENT put me on that and I felt so high I couldn't function.  It's not supposed to be used long-term, either, so I didn't feel comfortable using it for fear that it would cause addiction.  I actually talked the neurologist into prescribing Topamax instead because I've heard it can help with migraines (even though I actually don't have a headache, per se, anymore), but that was a big mistake.  It made me so nauseous and zombie-like, I stopped taking it after 2 days.  I cancelled our appointment that was supposed to be on 4/4 and made an appointment with the neurotologist for 4/13.  Because my anti-anxiety medication can be used as a vestibular suppressant (Ativan), I've been using it when my vertigo gets really bad because it also worsens my anxiety.  I feel like I'm going to fall sometimes which makes me anxious - especially when I'm walking down the hallways at work.  Ativan carries some risk of dependency, too, so I don't want to use it too much.  I'm very hopeful the neurotologist will be more willing to try something like diuretics to see if there actually is a build up of fluid in my ear instead of trying to cover up the symptoms.  Unfortunately, there is no cure for MD, but I believe there are better treatments than benzodiazepines.  I am pretty sure I do not have MAV because it's been about 7-8 years since I had a migraine headache.  Plus, the sensorineural hearing loss I've been diagnosed with is not a symptom of MAV - that's more along the lines of MD.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had been given a referral for vestibular rehab myself when I was dealing with the labyrinthitis, but apparently there aren't many PTs who actually do that sort of therapy.  I think there was only one within my insurance network who was in my city, and her waiting list was something like 4 or 5 months long.  By the time my appointment actually came around, my vertigo was gone, so I cancelled the appointment (in the meantime, I had looked up online how to do some of the exercises, so I was doing those at home anyway).  

My left ear was the culprit, too.  I had had some issues with wax buildup in my ears, so I had cleaned them out with hot water, but maybe I cleaned the left one too much or something.  After that, I had weeks of crackling in that ear.  And then one week it all sort of snowballed very quickly.  I remember that the Monday of that week was normal, I felt fine.  Then that Tuesday, I felt a bit dizzy.  Wednesday I felt a bit more dizzy.  And Thursday, I woke up and everything was spinning - it felt like it was spinning at about 120 mph and at an angle, like a demented carousel that I could not get off of.  It was horrible!

The thing that really helped my vertigo was walking.  It really exhausted me but it did help me heal.  I was told that the more you walk, the more your brain can re-orient itself and the quicker the vertigo will go away.  I'm not sure if that's true for Meniere's or not, but it helped for labyrinthitis.  I had to walk with a cane for awhile, just for stability, but I walked as much as I was able to.  So that's my advice, not sure if it'll help but it probably won't hurt - walk as much as you can.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I had been given a referral for vestibular rehab myself when I was dealing with the labyrinthitis, but apparently there aren't many PTs who actually do that sort of therapy.  I think there was only one within my insurance network who was in my city, and her waiting list was something like 4 or 5 months long.  By the time my appointment actually came around, my vertigo was gone, so I cancelled the appointment (in the meantime, I had looked up online how to do some of the exercises, so I was doing those at home anyway).
> 
> My left ear was the culprit, too.  I had had some issues with wax buildup in my ears, so I had cleaned them out with hot water, but maybe I cleaned the left one too much or something.  After that, I had weeks of crackling in that ear.  And then one week it all sort of snowballed very quickly.  I remember that the Monday of that week was normal, I felt fine.  Then that Tuesday, I felt a bit dizzy.  Wednesday I felt a bit more dizzy.  And Thursday, I woke up and everything was spinning - it felt like it was spinning at about 120 mph and at an angle, like a demented carousel that I could not get off of.  It was horrible!
> 
> The thing that really helped my vertigo was walking.  It really exhausted me but it did help me heal.  I was told that the more you walk, the more your brain can re-orient itself and the quicker the vertigo will go away.  I'm not sure if that's true for Meniere's or not, but it helped for labyrinthitis.  I had to walk with a cane for awhile, just for stability, but I walked as much as I was able to.  So that's my advice, not sure if it'll help but it probably won't hurt - walk as much as you can.


There is actually a vestibular rehabilitation program in my metropolitan area that is affiliated with a large rehabilitation group, but there are also other programs that are connected with a balance/hearing clinic that I originally wanted to go to, but the referral has been bouncing around from my primary care and is in limbo at the moment, so I'm tired of waiting.  Apparently, the clinic requires HMO insurees to get prior authorization before they can even get an office consultation, which I think is ludicrous.  I can't wait forever, so I looked up "neurotology" in my area and found this doctor who is covered by my insurance, too.  The funny thing is, when I called to make an appointment, my information was already in their system because they are connected to the other doctor!  I told them I'd never seen that doctor and was still waiting for the referral to go thru, but it was very helpful because I didn't have to give my information again.

For exercise, I've been riding my beach cruiser around.  Sometimes, I ride it very easily while my mom walks the dog behind me, but I've also taken to riding for cardio for at least 15-30 minutes starting out and then I'll build up the speed/duration.  I have to be kind of careful because bike riding requires good balance, of course, and I have been kind of clumsy lately.  In fact, when I bought the bike back in January, I fell off it and nearly hit my head.  Apparently, that's how I christen bicycles - it happened with the 7-speed bike that my mom bought me for my birthday 2 years ago.  I never felt safe on that bike because it doesn't have coaster brakes like cruisers or other bikes do, so I would try to brake and instinctively pedal backward instead of using the handlebar brakes!  My back and butt (excuse my frankness) always hurt from riding it, too, so I kind of stopped riding for a while.  Since buying my cruiser, I'm riding more often and much more confidently.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Bicycling definitely does require good balance - I remember the first time I got on my bike after my adventures in vertigo land, it felt so good to be riding again!  I was still a little dizzy at that time but I was able to successfully ride without falling.

I've got a 7 speed cruiser bike as well.  It's fine, but I also have a fixed-gear road bike and that's my favorite bike.  I love it!  It's so fast and beautiful (it's neon green with bright blue tires) and it's just pure fun to ride.

On the subject of fitness, I'm finally feeling pretty good today.  Still a slight bit of cramping and pain, but it's much improved.  It's also a gorgeous day outside.  The hubby and I went out to buy a new toilet because our current toilet was dying (first it kept running, and when hubby fixed that, then it started clogging constantly).  Our house was built in the 50's and remodeled in the 70's, so the toilet is at least 40 years old.  It's time for a new one.  So we got our new toilet and hubby's working on installing that.  While he started with that, I took Lily out for a walk.  I felt pretty good - a slight niggle of pain towards the end of our walk, but that just seemed to be my guts warning me to wrap it up, and I was almost home by that point anyway, so it was fine.  It's seriously gorgeous out, sunny and 77 degrees!  It's weird that it's only early April, usually it'd still be much cooler than this at this time of year here.

I'm going back to work tomorrow and I'm sure it's going to be supremely stressful - I've been out sick for days, so there's going to be a ton of work for me to have to catch up on.  I'm not planning anything yet, but if it's another nice day and if I'm feeling up to it, I would like to go take a lunch hour walk on the forest path.


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## MissLeopard83

It was a good day here, too.  I took a nap for about 2 hours and then woke up and took a bike ride for about 20 minutes.  My legs are definitely not used to the harder pedaling, though, because I noticed that pedaling was getting harder and harder as my ride continued.  The first time I rode faster, my right hip was hurting the next day and I ended up taking 600mg of Advil.  I have trochanteric bursitis and I think I aggravated it.  It didn't stop me from riding again, though, and I've noticed that my hip doesn't seem to hurt when I ride now.  Hopefully, that continues.

I really hate that the weekend is over.  I have two doctor's appointments this week - one I'm really looking forward to, though, because it's with the specialist ENT (aka neurotologist).  I'm hoping it goes well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Good luck at your appointments!  I have some sort of arthritis in both hips (GP says osteo, and I saw a rheumy who said inflammatory).  My right hip has always been worse than the left, and that hip was hurting recently when I did 30 mins on the stationary bike in the gym.  But when I had my first bike ride of the year recently, my hips didn't give me any trouble.  Usually low-impact exercise like that is easy on my hips, so I'm not sure why it started hurting on the stationary bike.

I'm still feeling pretty good today but the weather is now looking iffy.  They're saying 67 degrees, which is good, but possible thunderstorms, which obviously is not good.  So if it's storming then I won't take a walk - I'm hoping it doesn't storm.  I'd really like to take a walk today.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Weather is looking good and I'm still feeling up for it, so I'm just about to head out for my walk.  It's been a busy day at work, but oddly enough I don't feel overwhelmed.  There's more work than I can do in a day right now, so I'm just sort of in a "I'll get done what I get done and everything else can wait" sort of mentality.  It's oddly mentally healthy for me!    Or maybe I've just stopped caring?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Wow!  So, the weather looked great when I headed out for my walk.  It was sunny and gorgeous, even warmer than they said - about 75 degrees F.  Gradually, over the course of my walk, it got less sunny and more stormy looking.  By the time my walk was almost done, the skies looked very threatening.  Fortunately I made it back to my car and back to the office just in time - literally just as I sat down at my desk, the thunder and rain started.  Phew!  So, I had a good walk and missed the thunderstorm by just a few minutes.


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## scottsma

Same here.We went out on the bikes heading inland.It was cool and breezy,but ok.When we turned toward the sea to head home the clouds were black and ominous.We just got home,and I managed to get the washing off the line,when a short sharp shower started.If it looks like rain my hubby starts looking for shelter,where as I would rather push on and try to get home.....I did a sharp turn while out,and nearly came off.My left handle bar scraped down the inside of my thigh.I have an interesting and very painful bruise.Glad your feeling gung-ho regards work.When all's said and done you can only do so much,but the more you do the more they'll give you to do.Do your best to safe guard your job,but remember,you're just a number to the powers that be.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Your bruise sounds like something I would do, I'm an expert at giving myself weird bruises.    Once, a few years ago, I walked right into one of the weight machines in the gym and gave myself a big bruise on my thigh.  It went from purple to sort of reddish-brown.  The following week, I walked into the exact same machine again in the exact same spot!  I got a new bruise right on top of my old healing bruise.  So then it was purple on top of reddish brown.

It's much cooler here today, high temp only about 50 degrees F (it's only in the 30s right now, feels like winter).  It's drizzly too.  I don't think I'm quite up for a gym workout just yet, and with this weather it doesn't look like a walk is happening, so I think today is going to be a rest day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It didn't even get as warm as 50 degrees today, it's been in the 40's all day and still overcast & rainy at times.  Brr!  A good day to stay indoors, it feels more like winter than like spring.  Tomorrow is looking better, should be in the 60's and sunny.  I think a walk is in order tomorrow followed by some sushi.  Yum!

No plans yet beyond tomorrow, I'm just going to see how I'm feeling and play it by ear.  I seem to be doing a little better each day but of course I don't want to push myself too much just yet.  I do have a day off of work on Friday, they're giving us a half day off for Good Friday and I always try to take a full day off instead when a half day is offered.  So I have a 3 day weekend coming up and I'm looking forward to that.  Hubby works Fri & Sat, so I even get 2 days all to myself, which I love!  I'm a huge introvert and really cherish my alone time.  Sunday of course is easter so we'll have to go to hubby's parents' house and I'm sure all our nieces & nephews will be there, ugh.  Those kids are chaos personified and they always seem to be sick & contagious with something (I always get sick after seeing them).  So I'm not really looking forward to Sunday, but Fri & Sat should be nice and allow me to have some calm before the storm of children.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Good luck at your appointments!  I have some sort of arthritis in both hips (GP says osteo, and I saw a rheumy who said inflammatory).  My right hip has always been worse than the left, and that hip was hurting recently when I did 30 mins on the stationary bike in the gym.  But when I had my first bike ride of the year recently, my hips didn't give me any trouble.  Usually low-impact exercise like that is easy on my hips, so I'm not sure why it started hurting on the stationary bike.
> 
> I'm still feeling pretty good today but the weather is now looking iffy.  They're saying 67 degrees, which is good, but possible thunderstorms, which obviously is not good.  So if it's storming then I won't take a walk - I'm hoping it doesn't storm.  I'd really like to take a walk today.


I had my follow-up with my GP today and it went pretty well.  She agreed to try me on some new medication for the anxiety I've been experiencing since I've been using a lot of my PRN Ativan and I'm worried about getting dependent on it.  I did some research to see if there was something I could try in addition to my antidepressant and discovered that Buspar is often paired with my antidepressant and people have had very good results from it.  I asked her about it today and she gave me a low dose to take 2 times a day and I am going to start it tonight.  It's not fast acting - it usually takes 1-2 weeks to feel any difference, but it will take 4-6 for the clinical effect.  I have an appointment with my new psychiatrist on 5/17, so she said he could taper it up or down at that appointment.  

I am very hopeful that this will help me.  My anxiety has been pretty bad lately.  This morning, I had a panic attack at work - hyperventilating, racing thoughts, and nausea.  I have intermittent FMLA for my anxiety disorder, but I hate to use it unless absolutely necessary.

For some good news, I was just informed that I was awarded a scholarship thru work for my Master's program!!!!  The award ceremony is on 5/3!!!  :dance:


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I have some anxiety as well.  They prescribed me a low dose (0.5 mg I think) of lorazepam back at the start of this flare but I don't like taking it as I know it's addictive.  I only take it when I absolutely need to.  I haven't had a panic attack in years, fortunately.  I have a weird phobia - I can't stand to be around dead, taxidermied animals.  I'm not sure exactly why, but their eyes in particular really bother me.  It just freaks out my brain that something dead is staring at me.  In my college days, I definitely had a few panic attacks anytime I'd encounter a taxidermied animal (museums were something I just could not do).  I remember being about age 20 and curled up sobbing on the floor of the Field Museum in Chicago because dead animals were all around me.  Not a great time!  Over the years I've become more acclimated to taxidermied animals.  I still definitely hate them, and they still give me the chills and a very uneasy feeling, but I no longer go into full-blown panic meltdown mode when I'm around them.

I'm feeling lazy today but I'm going for a walk soon.  It's been a busy week at work but I'm getting more acclimated to my new projects and I don't feel as stressed as I was.  I'm feeling okay today, just a bit lazy.  I'm not really in the mood for a walk but I know it'll be good for me, so I'm going to just go walk anyway.

Diet-wise I've been doing so-so.  I was a bit naughty yesterday and had some fried food (shrimp tempura).  That made my guts a little bit grumbly, but not too bad.  Today I'm trying to do better, I had some candy and a donut which wasn't good but I'm having sushi for lunch and dinner (I love Wednesdays, ha ha).  It's $5 sushi day at a local grocery store so I'm going to get my usual spicy shrimp rolls for lunch, and then hubby and I are meeting a couple of friends for dinner at a sushi restaurant.  Our friends are a husband & wife, they're going through some tough times right now so we're treating them to sushi.  It turns out the husband doesn't even like sushi, oops!  But the wife loves it so at least that's good.  She's a fellow IBD sufferer, too, so she and I have some things in common.  So that'll be nice, I don't have a lot of actual friends that I actually hang out with in real life (I'm a massive introvert and am perfectly fine being alone, people exhaust me).  So for a change I'll be social and we'll treat our friends to a nice dinner.

If I'm still feeling okay tomorrow, I think I'd like to go to the gym.  I'm finally feeling like I might be up for some weight lifting.  Friday I'm off of work and if the weather is nice, I'd love to go for a bike ride.  Unfortunately, it looks like rain is in the forecast for both Friday and Saturday, ugh.  So we'll see.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I have some anxiety as well.  They prescribed me a low dose (0.5 mg I think) of lorazepam back at the start of this flare but I don't like taking it as I know it's addictive.  I only take it when I absolutely need to.  I haven't had a panic attack in years, fortunately.  I have a weird phobia - I can't stand to be around dead, taxidermied animals.  I'm not sure exactly why, but their eyes in particular really bother me.  It just freaks out my brain that something dead is staring at me.  In my college days, I definitely had a few panic attacks anytime I'd encounter a taxidermied animal (museums were something I just could not do).  I remember being about age 20 and curled up sobbing on the floor of the Field Museum in Chicago because dead animals were all around me.  Not a great time!  Over the years I've become more acclimated to taxidermied animals.  I still definitely hate them, and they still give me the chills and a very uneasy feeling, but I no longer go into full-blown panic meltdown mode when I'm around them.


My phobia is heights.  I think it has to do with the vertigo because I can't even go down stairs - just looking down makes me feel like the room is spinning.  I have the appointment with the new ENT tomorrow, so I am really hopeful!

I started on the Buspar last night and took it again this morning.  I was reluctant to start it because I am so sensitive to medications and get all kinds of crazy side effects.  I haven't noticed any sedation from it, which is good and I seem to have less brain fog than usual.  I don't know if that's from the medication, but it's nice regardless!  Anyway, the only thing I've noticed is minor heart flutters (feels like little bubbles in the chest).  This has happened with other medications and usually goes away in about a week or so.  It takes time for my body to adjust.  If it doesn't go away in 2 weeks time, I'll ask my doctor about it.  It could just be a weird manifestation of anxiety, too, so I'm not too worried about it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Good luck tomorrow!  I hope your appointment goes really well.

I had a very nice walk, glad I pushed myself to go for a walk.  The weather was gorgeous, there were a lot of birds and even a couple butterflies and one dragonfly!  Although it seems super early in the season for butterflies and dragonflies, usually it's at least May before I start seeing bugs like that.  And while walking on the forest path, I ran into an old friend - a former co-worker who retired last year.  He's got UC and he was always really understanding when I would vent to him about my issues, so I was really sad when he retired.  But he's really enjoying his retirement so I'm happy for him.  He was out bird-watching in the forest when I happened to walk by him, so we chatted for a little while and I caught him up on all the changes that have been happening at work.  That was nice to run into my old colleague.


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## scottsma

It being Easter weekend we won't be cycling as the roads and everywhere else will be busy.There may be some snow too.We might go a buy a couple of new sofas as the sales are on.We've always had leather suites in the past,having always had dogs,but I fancy fabric with some new throws,as we're both clumsy with spills etc.
Like you Cat,I'm an introvert.Probably moreso,as we don't have any family.I'm very approachable and chatty to people,but happy to say goodbye.Enjoy your weekend.Keep well too.


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## MissLeopard83

I didn't go for a bike ride last night because my bursitis was bad again and I stayed late at work to make up for leaving early today.  My hip feels better, so I may try to ride again when I get home from my doctor's appointment.

Continuing from the new medication, last night, I had a really vivid nightmare that woke me up.  My grandfather hasn't been doing well lately and I dreamed that he was dying of cancer and his teeth fell out during the dream.  It scared the crap out of me because the cancer bit could, in fact, happen since he has had cancer before.  I started thinking about it on my way to work this morning and ended up crying because of how real the dream was.  I hope that doesn't continue because I'm worried it will make my anxiety worse.  I'm not sure if it's caused by the Buspar or my overactive imagination (I've had vivid dreams before starting the medication but Buspar can cause them, too).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Carol, snow!  Yikes!  We're getting a bunch of rain this weekend but no snow in the forecast.  It can snow here as late in the season as May, though, so you never know.  Last year my grandpa died on May 14th, and I remember that it snowed a little bit that day.  Then on the day of the funeral it was very warm, about 80 degrees and we were all wearing black and roasting warm.  So the weather can do anything it wants to at this time of year I guess!

I have a dog as well but she doesn't go on the furniture, so our furniture is reasonably safe from pets (my cat does go on the furniture but she doesn't shed much, and she usually barfs on the rug and not the furniture).  And of course I crochet a lot, so we have throws on basically every piece of furniture we own.    Have fun couch shopping!

MissLeopard, I lost my grandpa last year so I can definitely understand your fears about your grandfather.  My grandpa had a lot of health issues too, he was on dialysis 3x per week for kidney failure and he also had heart issues, diabetes, was in a wheelchair due to not being able to have a hip replacement (his heart wouldn't have survived the anesthesia), vein issues, skin cancer, etc.  I worried about him a lot for the nearly 10 years that he was very ill (from the time that he survived a cardiac arrest in Nov 2006 until when he passed away in May 2016).  In fact, I think his death was what had set off my flare last year - my grandpa died in May, in June we had to put my grandma into a memory care facility, and that was all hugely stressful and emotional, so in July I flared and in August I was hospitalized.  I'm still clawing my way back towards health (and still trying to get off of pred).  And now of course my grandma isn't doing so well either, I think we've talked a bit about this previously - she's had a couple of episodes where she stops breathing and at least once her heart also stopped.  So now I'm worrying about her.  So I'm right there with you in worrying about my grandparent, I can absolutely relate to how you're feeling.  And I hope your grandpa is okay for a long time to come yet.

Fitness update:  I'm thinking about dialing back my plans today.  I was hoping to hit the gym on my lunch hour, but my GERD has been acting up this morning.  I did have some orange juice this morning so I presume the acidity of that is what set things off.  My GERD tends to act up anyway when I work out, so going into a workout with my GERD already active just sounds like a recipe for disaster.  I don't want to barf in the gym.  So I'm thinking that it's wisest to not go to the gym today.  Walking usually doesn't set off my GERD, it's not intense enough and I'm upright the whole time and I'm not using my abdominal muscles to any large degree.  The rain looks like it might be done for now, so I'm thinking about having another walk instead.  Or if it does rain some more, I'll just have a rest day instead.  In the meantime, I'm having a few tums and a zantac to try to get things quieted down as much as possible.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> MissLeopard, I lost my grandpa last year so I can definitely understand your fears about your grandfather.  My grandpa had a lot of health issues too, he was on dialysis 3x per week for kidney failure and he also had heart issues, diabetes, was in a wheelchair due to not being able to have a hip replacement (his heart wouldn't have survived the anesthesia), vein issues, skin cancer, etc.  I worried about him a lot for the nearly 10 years that he was very ill (from the time that he survived a cardiac arrest in Nov 2006 until when he passed away in May 2016).  In fact, I think his death was what had set off my flare last year - my grandpa died in May, in June we had to put my grandma into a memory care facility, and that was all hugely stressful and emotional, so in July I flared and in August I was hospitalized.  I'm still clawing my way back towards health (and still trying to get off of pred).  And now of course my grandma isn't doing so well either, I think we've talked a bit about this previously - she's had a couple of episodes where she stops breathing and at least once her heart also stopped.  So now I'm worrying about her.  So I'm right there with you in worrying about my grandparent, I can absolutely relate to how you're feeling.  And I hope your grandpa is okay for a long time to come yet.


He's had every issue imaginable.  Right now, he's got something going on with his spine that causes him an unimaginable amount of pain.  My family celebrates Christmas Eve at my paternal grandparents' house and, in the middle of opening presents, I swear he turned white and you could see in his face that he was in pain.  He stopped opening the present he was holding and asked my grandmother to help him.  I was playing Santa and was standing right in front of him when the change occurred.  It broke my heart.  

For some good news, my appointment with the neurotologist went better than expected!  She was totally awesome and passed every test that I use to measure doctors when I first see them - she introduced herself, made eye contact thru all of the visit, listened to EVERYTHING I said (and I talk A LOT during appointments), and believes that we need to pursue the Meniere's disease diagnosis!  She said that, because the migraine medication was not working, going the opposite way towards MD may be the solution.  She  - without me asking - put me on a low-dose diuretic, asked me to control my salt intake to 2g a day or less, and have 2 more tests done (electrocochleography and another audiogram).  The low sodium diet is definitely going to be challenging!  Everything has salt in it!  i was reading labels when I got home to familiarize myself and was astonished by how much sodium is in all the stuff I eat regularly.  But, if it means feeling better, it's worth it!  Anyway, I am so happy to finally feel like I'm on the right track!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, sodium is in everything, particularly foods that have been processed in any way.  I bought some "low sodium" turkey bacon recently and was reading the label - I guess they just mean it's slightly lower sodium than regular turkey bacon, because it's still got a ton of sodium in it!  Fortunately (?) for me, I tend to have borderline low sodium anyway, and it drops into the "low" category whenever I'm using the bathroom a lot, so I need to eat a fair amount of sodium just to keep my level within the normal range.

I'm glad you had a good appointment and are hopefully on the right track!  Good luck on those tests, I hope they are enlightening and can confirm what you're suspecting.

Aw, your grandpa sounds a lot like mine was.  I know my grandpa was in a lot of pain too.  The physical pain and symptoms he could usually handle - what he couldn't handle was my grandma's dementia.  He told me many times that he was only continuing to live because of her, but towards the end he also was getting tired of how her dementia makes her act.  They fought a LOT - to the point that, when my grandpa died, my grandma sadly said, "Now who am I going to fight with?"  My grandpa was on dialysis for nearly 10 years, and towards the end, he was talking about just stopping dialysis because he was getting to the point where he couldn't deal with her anymore.  Stopping dialysis obviously would have meant death.  Ultimately he didn't stop dialysis - I know this because he often took a medical cab to dialysis, and the cab showed up that morning that my grandpa was found to have died in his sleep (we think it was his heart, as he had heart issues and he had been talking about left arm pain a day or two prior to when he died).  But yeah, I know he was in a lot of physical pain all the time too.  In some ways it was a relief when he died, because at least he isn't in pain anymore.  I miss him, though.  Give your grandpa a big (gentle) hug next time you see him.  And cherish every moment left that you have with him.  I try to do that with my grandma too because I'm sure she doesn't have a lot of time left.

I didn't end up having a walk today.  It's quite cool outside.  I'll see how the weather is tomorrow and how I'm feeling and will go from there.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Yes, sodium is in everything, particularly foods that have been processed in any way.  I bought some "low sodium" turkey bacon recently and was reading the label - I guess they just mean it's slightly lower sodium than regular turkey bacon, because it's still got a ton of sodium in it!  Fortunately (?) for me, I tend to have borderline low sodium anyway, and it drops into the "low" category whenever I'm using the bathroom a lot, so I need to eat a fair amount of sodium just to keep my level within the normal range.
> 
> I'm glad you had a good appointment and are hopefully on the right track!  Good luck on those tests, I hope they are enlightening and can confirm what you're suspecting.
> 
> Aw, your grandpa sounds a lot like mine was.  I know my grandpa was in a lot of pain too.  The physical pain and symptoms he could usually handle - what he couldn't handle was my grandma's dementia.  He told me many times that he was only continuing to live because of her, but towards the end he also was getting tired of how her dementia makes her act.  They fought a LOT - to the point that, when my grandpa died, my grandma sadly said, "Now who am I going to fight with?"  My grandpa was on dialysis for nearly 10 years, and towards the end, he was talking about just stopping dialysis because he was getting to the point where he couldn't deal with her anymore.  Stopping dialysis obviously would have meant death.  Ultimately he didn't stop dialysis - I know this because he often took a medical cab to dialysis, and the cab showed up that morning that my grandpa was found to have died in his sleep (we think it was his heart, as he had heart issues and he had been talking about left arm pain a day or two prior to when he died).  But yeah, I know he was in a lot of physical pain all the time too.  In some ways it was a relief when he died, because at least he isn't in pain anymore.  I miss him, though.  Give your grandpa a big (gentle) hug next time you see him.  And cherish every moment left that you have with him.  I try to do that with my grandma too because I'm sure she doesn't have a lot of time left.
> 
> I didn't end up having a walk today.  It's quite cool outside.  I'll see how the weather is tomorrow and how I'm feeling and will go from there.


Thanks for letting me post on your thread.  I didn't want to open my own because I don't have IBD, but I still like coming here because I feel like I have some friends.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Of course!  You can always post here, and hey, I'm still technically undiagnosed myself so I can't say for certain that I have IBD either.  No worries and I'm always glad to chat with you in here.    Please continue to keep me posted on how you're doing and how your grandfather is doing, too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Fitness update:  I had a really great 3-day weekend.  Friday I did a lot!  I found some garage sales to shop at, and at one I got a bike trailer.  It's like a stroller for little kids that you attach to the back of a bicycle, except of course I am not going to use it for kids.  I had been hoping to use it for Lily or for riding my bike to the grocery store and filling the bike trailer with groceries.  More on that later.

After my garage sale shopping, I took Lily for a walk.  I got her in the car and we went to the forest path.  It was a bit warm that day and Lily hates warm weather, so we didn't walk as far as I usually go, but we did have a nice walk nonetheless.  We even saw a deer!  That was pretty interesting because the forest path sort of cuts right through the city - the path itself of course is forested but there is city on either side.  There's a creek that goes alongside the path, and on the opposite bank, I glanced sight of a deer lying down.  At first it looked like it was dead because it wasn't moving, but then I saw that it's head was up and it was looking right at me.  It was a big doe and she was completely unbothered by my presence, just keeping her eye on me but not running away or even getting up.  I watched her for awhile and she was just so calm, it was really cool.  Lily didn't even see the deer.

Saturday I was extremely active.  I started off by taking Lily on a walk through the dog park.  Then I felt like lifting weights - I felt good and like my muscles wanted a workout.  So I lifted weights at home using my own equipment and that felt quite good.  Then, hubby and I decided to test out the bike trailer.  I put Lily in and we headed out for a short ride.  But she didn't seem to like it, which is odd.  She loves riding in the car and in the kayak, so I figured she'd like riding in the bike trailer too.  But she was whining and woofing at me the whole time, which made it pretty clear that she wasn't happy.  So we had a very short ride because I turned around after about a mile.

So, the bike trailer was only $10 and I can still use it on grocery runs, like I said, so it's not a waste.  But it is disappointing that my dog doesn't like it.  Oh well!  It is easy to attach or detatch to my bike (I put it on my cruiser bike, not my road bike) and I'm sure I'll get some use out of it.  And hey, I could always ride it to local garage sales, too.    Ha ha.

Sunday was easter of course.  I walked Lily in the morning so that she wouldn't be too hyper about riding in the car.  After our walk, we took her to hubby's parents' house.  My 5 nieces and nephews were there and Lily had fun running around with the kids.  It was a mostly nice time, and I brought my own food, so I was able to eat safely.  The only issue was that hubby brought up politics and then there was a bit of an argument (hubby's dad voted for our current president and obviously we did not).  So that part wasn't great but it almost made me nostalgic.    I haven't been in an argument like that over politics since before my grandpa died!  My parents and grandparents used to argue politics all the time, and I mostly hated it, but it does make me miss my grandpa now.

Anyway.  I'd like to lift weights again today and I'm feeling pretty well, so I'm going to head to the little gym on my lunch hour.  I might walk Lily tonight if I'm feeling up to it, too. 
 Tomorrow might be a rest day - it's supposed to rain so no walk tomorrow.

Taper-wise I'm going to play it really safe.  I had told the lady at the compounding pharmacy about my issues with tapering, and she said some people need to take it really slowly, like tapering by 0.5 mg once per month!  I see my GI on May 1st, so I might just stay at 7 mg until that appointment and ask him his thoughts on a super slow taper like that.  Since I've failed just about every other way I've tried to taper, that might be the way I have to go.  So for now, I'm staying at 7 mg.


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## scottsma

What a great weekend you had.I can almost feel the smugness.Funny you should mention the trailer.Some fellow rode past the house this morning with a child in one, and hubs and I discussed using one for a grocery shop.Maybe Lily needs a few more short rides and maybe let her out for a little walk during it ? It's a great idea anyway.and for that price you can't lose.It's been a quiet weekend here Went sofa hunting yesterday,but of course the shops were closed.We had a couple of hours walk today,but it wasn't exactly speed walking.hahaha.Roads have been to busy for the bikes,although there's been plenty out and about.I worry to much.Good idea doing your taper monthly.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, honestly it's a little bit of a relief that Lily didn't like the bike trailer.  She weighs about 40 lbs so she's a little bit heavy to haul behind my bike like that!  I definitely felt that it was much more difficult to get up even a small hill with Lily in the bike trailer.  So I think as long as I don't buy a ton of groceries nor a lot of heavy items, it'll be fine for taking on grocery runs, but I am a little bit glad that Lily didn't like it.  (She is a bit overweight still - she's supposed to be about 35 lbs max - she was 50 lbs when we got her 6 years ago and she was 39 lbs the last time the vet weighed her, so she's moving in the right direction, just very slowly.)

If you can find a bike trailer for cheap, definitely do get one!  I think they cost well over $100 (probably closer to $200 or even $300) brand new, so to find a used one for $10 was a great deal, especially since mine had all the parts included and the tires do hold air so nothing needs replacing.  And it is easy to pop on or off of the bike, so it's not like it's something that has to stay on your bike at all times, it's very easy to remove.  There are a few grocery stores within easy bicycling distance from my house, so I definitely will put mine to good use even without Lily's involvement.  I bet you'd enjoy it for grocery shopping as well if you get one - especially since bicycling is easier on you than walking.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had my workout and it went mostly fine.  My guts were a little bit unhappy.  They've been a bit gassy all day but I've had solid stools so I'm not too worried about it.  Hubby is a chef, so sometimes he brings home food that the restaurant would have thrown out otherwise, and of course it's not always things I can eat.  A few weeks ago he brought home a giant plate of meatballs - I wisely didn't touch those.  But the other day, he brought home some guacamole.  It mainly consists of avocado, with some tomato and onion.  I'm supposed to avoid onions on the low-FODMAP diet, but I've been naughty and had some guacamole.  It's yummy, but I think it's giving me gas and a little bit of upset.  I did buy some avocados, so I'm going to just have plain avocado from now on instead of guacamole.  That's technically not allowed on low-FODMAP either, but I know avocado doesn't upset me unless I eat a ton of it (the high fat content bothers me if I eat a lot).  Garlic and onion are the two things on low-FODMAP that I'm supposed to avoid entirely - everything else I'm just supposed to keep to a minimum (hence the "low" FODMAP instead of "no" FODMAP).  So I guess I'll keep on avoiding garlic and onion!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well.  I tried eating the guacamole one more time just to see how my body would respond.  What a surprise, guess who feels like crap today!  Ugh.  I've already had 3 bathroom trips just this morning and my guts are not happy with me.  I definitely will be avoiding onion from now on (and guacamole in general) because this just isn't worth it.

Fortunately I was already tentatively thinking that today would be a rest day, so it is.  I'm being gentle on my belly today and eating very blandly and making sure to drink a lot of water to keep hydrated.  My only big issue besides the guacamole incident is that work continues to be very stressful.  Even when I do everything correctly, I'm made to feel by our new leadership that I'm doing everything wrong.  It's not great.  And there are still whispered rumors about layoffs or office closures, so we're still not really sure what's going to happen.  I'm just trying to put all that stuff out of my mind, but sometimes that's easier said than done.  Sometimes it's all I can do to not cry at my desk.

If I'm feeling better tomorrow, I'd like to lift weights again, but of course it'll all depend on how I'm feeling.  For today I'm in recovery and rest mode.


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## scottsma

You're so lucky being married to a chef,and I don't know how you can resist the doggy bags he brings home.But you're sensible,mostly.hahaha.I understand your reluctance to haul Lily around in the trailer.Why torture yourself.We've been cycling this morning.There was a really cold breeze off the sea but I soon warmed up.I really enjoy cycling,but it's only a poor substitute for Alfie.My whole life changed when we lost him.I wouldn't be cycling if we still had him, as we were out a lot with him.Sometimes all day.But my back wouldn't let me do it now,so it's pointless looking back.Lot's of really good memories though.Enjoy your day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Aw, that's sad and sweet about Alfie, he sounds like he was a really special dog.  I'm out a lot with Lily as well, but I'd still be into fitness even if I didn't have her.  And during the warmer months I'll probably take more solo hikes than hikes with her - she hates the warm weather, she's a cold weather snow-loving dog.  She tends to walk slowly and very unenthusiastically when it's too warm out for her liking.

I've gotten used to hubby being a chef, he was a cook in the army prior to us meeting.  So back in those days, he got accustomed to cooking for like 200 guys.  After he got out of the army, we met and started dating, and he'd cook for me which oftentimes ended up being ridiculous.    He couldn't quite make the transition from cooking for 200, to cooking for just 2, so we'd end up with huge amounts of food, ha ha.  Fortunately he got better over the years at portion size and the amount of food that he cooks for me!  And since I know that basically everything on the menu where he works is NOT belly-friendly for me, I tend to just avoid eating anything that he brings home.  The guacamole was the exception but I'm definitely avoiding that in the future too.

I am feeling a little bit better as the morning has gone on, thankfully.  I'm still resting and eating bland today, not going to push things at all right now.  I had a rice krispy treat earlier (one of my go-to safe bland foods) and that is sitting fine in my belly so far, so that's encouraging.  Will see how I'm feeling tomorrow and go from there.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ugh.  I woke up with a pretty miserable cold.  And when I say I woke up, I mean I woke up repeatedly throughout the night because my throat hurt so much, and in between I slept restlessly with lots of odd dreams.  Not fun.  So I called in sick to work and am resting today.  I'm very congested and my throat feels awful.  The most activity I'm doing today is sitting on the couch and crocheting.  The way I feel today, I probably won't do any exercise for at least the rest of the week.

I saw my nieces & nephews on easter, and those kids always get me sick!  I'm sure it was probably one of them (I know my oldest niece was just getting over some sort of virus).  I also have a co-worker who has had a nasty cold so I could have caught it from her too.  Ugh, I hate being around contagious people!  My immune system is such garbage, I catch everything that's going around.  Bleh!


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## scottsma

Aw Cat,I think you knew you'd pick something up from the kids at Easter,pity it wasn't a chocolate egg.No cycling today,to cold,but maybe tomorrow.Had a walk into town for a few bits and got a smart,unworn navy jacket for £1.I can't understand why it was so cheap,but it was on the sale rail and I wasn't going to ask in case it was a mistake.I got a black one at a different shop but for the same price a few weeks ago.I like to be colour co-ordinated.I wouldn't care but I rarely go any where "smart".
Look after yourself and don't be in a hurry to get back in the groove.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm definitely not in a hurry.  My cold is still in full swing.  Fortunately, my throat has stopped hurting so much, but I'm still full of mucus and coughing and blowing my nose a zillion times a day.  I am heading to work today after calling in sick the past 2 days - I figure I can handle one day, take care of whatever is urgent, and then have the weekend to continue resting.  So that's the plan.  I haven't even thought of fitness.  I've been resting up and crocheting a lot.  I usually crochet blankets and scarves (it's easiest for me to crochet in straight lines, ha ha) but I've started working on making hats, and I think that's going quite well, I've figured out a good way to make hats (basically I'm still going in a straight line, but in a spiral, and then I stitch up the top).  I made something like 4 or 5 hats already and I'm working on another one - I have a lot of scrap yarn left over from other projects, and that's been perfect for making hats.  So that's all I've been doing, is lying in bed or on the couch, watching netflix, and making hats.

I won't even think about fitness until next week at the earliest.  The way I feel right now, I know I need at least the weekend to continue to rest and recover from this cold.  Fortunately I still have plenty of yarn!    So I won't run out of things to crochet.  I did finish the Japanese drama that I was watching, though, so I need to find a new show to watch.


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## MissLeopard83

Being sick truly sucks.  I went to Moe's last night - my fave restaurant - and got severe food poisoning.  It hit me almost immediately, so I'm pretty sure it was staph-related.  I was so sick last night - stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and profuse sweating.  I emailed them last night and got a response this morning that the regional manager checked the ingredients and couldn't find any problem - essentially calling me a liar - and didn't offer any apology or offer to make it up.  So, needless to say, I'm reluctant to return to this location (all stores are franchise-owned).  I've never gotten sick at this restaurant before, but I never want food poisoning again.  I am so glad I went ahead and called off work for today last night because my stomach is still very sore - almost like it's bruised.  

This is the exact response I got from her:



> Thank you for letting me know about your visit to one of my stores. I personally went to the Moe’s today and checked expiration dates and temperatures on all food product and everything was fresh and being held at correct temperature. We had no other complaints from customers being ill yesterday but I will forward this information to the Moe’s Corporate Quality Control Department. Thank you again for taking time out of your busy schedule to inform me of your concerns.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, MissLeopard, that sucks!  I've had food poisoning in the past and it was horrendous so I really feel for you.  The worst was when I was about 14 and was on vacation with my parents.  We were in Las Vegas and ate at one of those really cheap buffets.  I got so sick, it felt like my insides cramped up so hard that they turned into a rock.  I was lying in bed in the hotel room and couldn't hardly move.  My parents and brother left me alone in the room to go sight-see (they didn't get sick, only me) and they left the TV on with a Munsters marathon playing.  That was such a miserable time, that for the rest of my life I've hated the Munsters and I hate Vegas.

That sure sounds like food poisoning to me, I have a friend who works in a hospital and he said that he can tell if someone has food poisoning if they're sweating.  Once my husband got a bit sick in front of this friend and the friend was eating the same food, and he just kept on eating because my hubby wasn't sweating so friend knew it wasn't food poisoning.

I'm doing a bit better today.  I was able to drag myself out of the house this morning.  I love garage sales and there was a town-wide garage sale going on just outside of my city.  I got some good bargains and had fun, and I ran into a former co-worker and caught her up on all the changes that have been happening at work.  It was a nice morning.  Then I stopped for take-out at one of my favorite Japanese restaurants, so I'm having a lunch of shrimp tempura and udon noodles.  I wanted something that was like soup, for my cold, and the udon is in a nice warm broth, so that's perfect.

Still no fitness plans in the works as I'm still coughing and sniffly and my throat still feels a bit raw.  Poor Lily is wondering why I'm not taking her for a walk as the weather is lovely today.  I'm just not up for a walk quite yet, I need more rest.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Oh, MissLeopard, that sucks!  I've had food poisoning in the past and it was horrendous so I really feel for you.  The worst was when I was about 14 and was on vacation with my parents.  We were in Las Vegas and ate at one of those really cheap buffets.  I got so sick, it felt like my insides cramped up so hard that they turned into a rock.  I was lying in bed in the hotel room and couldn't hardly move.  My parents and brother left me alone in the room to go sight-see (they didn't get sick, only me) and they left the TV on with a Munsters marathon playing.  That was such a miserable time, that for the rest of my life I've hated the Munsters and I hate Vegas.
> 
> That sure sounds like food poisoning to me, I have a friend who works in a hospital and he said that he can tell if someone has food poisoning if they're sweating.  Once my husband got a bit sick in front of this friend and the friend was eating the same food, and he just kept on eating because my hubby wasn't sweating so friend knew it wasn't food poisoning.
> 
> I'm doing a bit better today.  I was able to drag myself out of the house this morning.  I love garage sales and there was a town-wide garage sale going on just outside of my city.  I got some good bargains and had fun, and I ran into a former co-worker and caught her up on all the changes that have been happening at work.  It was a nice morning.  Then I stopped for take-out at one of my favorite Japanese restaurants, so I'm having a lunch of shrimp tempura and udon noodles.  I wanted something that was like soup, for my cold, and the udon is in a nice warm broth, so that's perfect.
> 
> Still no fitness plans in the works as I'm still coughing and sniffly and my throat still feels a bit raw.  Poor Lily is wondering why I'm not taking her for a walk as the weather is lovely today.  I'm just not up for a walk quite yet, I need more rest.


Your parents don't sound like very nice people.  I know you've said you've had problems with them, but that just bothers me that they would leave you alone in a strange place by yourself while you're sick to go sight-seeing.  If my child was sick, I'd cancel my plans to make sure they were taken care of.  So sorry you had to go thru that.  

I'm feeling much better - I actually felt better yesterday and was able to get some errands done.  My stomach stopped cramping.  The worst thing about this was that the symptoms started getting worse when I was out riding my bike with my mom after we got home from the restaurant.  I felt "off" right away after eating, but I felt even worse exercising.  To top it off, I went home and took a shower, thinking that would make me feel better, but the stomach cramps intensified and I was in pain in the shower.  I didn't know if I'd be able to get dried off and get dressed.  All I wanted to do was lay down, but that wasn't an option.  It was miserable.  I went from the shower to the toilet and stayed there for at least an hour with severe cramping, nausea, and vomiting.  I thought it was over after the sweating and vomiting, but ended up getting sick again after midnight.  I am so glad I have Zofran!  I never want food poisoning again!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My parents have definitely made some questionable choices when they were raising me (the one that sticks out in my mind is, I broke my nose when I was 11 while on a different family vacation and they didn't take me to the ER as they said there was nothing a doctor could do - not true, a doctor could have set it properly, but that didn't happen, so ever since I've had a crooked nose and a deviated septum and sinus issues and who knows what else going on with my nasal area).  I could vent all day about my parents but I'm sure you'd get bored quickly with that!

I agree that zofran is wonderful stuff.  I don't know what I'd do without it, it's been a lifesaver for me so many times.  I'm glad you're feeling better and I hope you continue to feel better and don't relapse again!  That sounds like a really miserable experience.

Fitness update - I didn't work out yesterday, but as Carol might have predicted, I did overdo things slightly.    Hubby and I decided to do some work outside in the yard.  I was going to do "just a little" work in the yard, but of course that turned into like 3 hours of me pulling weeds and picking up dead leaves and sticks and planting new primroses and various other things.  I definitely felt like I overdid things, so I made sure to rest up after the yard work was completed.  I feel mostly okay today.  Still coughing though, and first thing this morning I coughed so much that I hurt my back a little bit!  It feels like I just pulled a muscle maybe, but it was not fun.  And that might be due in part to the fact that I overdid it on the yard work yesterday.  Oops.

So today I'm resting for real, no yard work!  Still no fitness plans on the horizon as I'm still full of mucus and coughing a lot.  And of course I need to make sure my back is okay before I even think about fitness.  So it's rest for a few more days at least.


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## scottsma

Even when I'm not feeling well,I still potter about.I have to be really,really,sick or under doctors orders before I lie around all day.The weather's not good for cycling.Windy with short,sharp showers.Had a walk yesterday,shops today,hair cut tomorrow,dentist Thursday,so I won't be idle.
I had to smile at your parents "bad decisions". You obviously weren't spoiled,but that's as it should be.My parents were much the same,but I felt safe and knew I was loved,as I'm sure you did (do).Take it easy.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Honestly, no, I didn't feel as though I was loved, not at all.  I definitely was not the favorite and I often felt invisible.  My brother was always the favorite as he is all the right things - he was planned (I was an oopsie and they sure let me know it), he's the right gender (my dad clearly wanted a boy), he's blonde haired and blue eyed (I'm brown haired and brown eyed), he's charming and charismatic (I'm mousy and shy and awkward).  I actually tested my parents when I was 13 - I got head lice at the very beginning of the summer and I saw it as an opportunity to see if they even noticed me at all.  I made rules for myself - the rules were, I'd scratch when I felt an itch, and if I felt a bug I'd pull it out and crush it and flick it away, but I wouldn't say anything about having lice unless directly asked.  I figured it would take a week or two for them to notice that I had lice.

Nope.  I waited literally the entire summer, 3 whole months, and nobody noticed me even once.  I was already suffering from crushing depression to begin with, and that just made it even worse.  Finally at the very end of the summer, my mom and brother also caught my lice.  My dad bought some lice killing shampoo and I figured I'd just sneak some and end the experiment as a dire failure.  The real kick in the teeth was, my dad told me, "You should use this shampoo too, just in case."  Just in case!  Because to them I clearly didn't have lice, even though all I did all summer long was itch and pick at my scalp - nobody noticed.  That was the year my family really broke my heart.  I don't tell my parents that I love them, because I'm not sure that I do, and it all goes back to that extremely sad little girl who was begging just to be seen but was denied even that.

Like I said, I could vent about my parents all day.  I'll end that vent for here for now!  Otherwise I'm going to cry at my desk (for like the 10,000th time).


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## scottsma

Ah that's really sad Cat.But at least you were kind enough to share your head lice with your brother.Have you ever thought of writing them a letter telling them of how you felt and still feel.? Even if you don't send it,it might make you feel better.
I'm really sorry,I didn't mean to upset you with my last post.I wasn't aware of the circumstances.As the saying goes,You can choose your friends but not your relatives.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Honestly, no, I didn't feel as though I was loved, not at all.  I definitely was not the favorite and I often felt invisible.  My brother was always the favorite as he is all the right things - he was planned (I was an oopsie and they sure let me know it), he's the right gender (my dad clearly wanted a boy), he's blonde haired and blue eyed (I'm brown haired and brown eyed), he's charming and charismatic (I'm mousy and shy and awkward).  I actually tested my parents when I was 13 - I got head lice at the very beginning of the summer and I saw it as an opportunity to see if they even noticed me at all.  I made rules for myself - the rules were, I'd scratch when I felt an itch, and if I felt a bug I'd pull it out and crush it and flick it away, but I wouldn't say anything about having lice unless directly asked.  I figured it would take a week or two for them to notice that I had lice.
> 
> Nope.  I waited literally the entire summer, 3 whole months, and nobody noticed me even once.  I was already suffering from crushing depression to begin with, and that just made it even worse.  Finally at the very end of the summer, my mom and brother also caught my lice.  My dad bought some lice killing shampoo and I figured I'd just sneak some and end the experiment as a dire failure.  The real kick in the teeth was, my dad told me, "You should use this shampoo too, just in case."  Just in case!  Because to them I clearly didn't have lice, even though all I did all summer long was itch and pick at my scalp - nobody noticed.  That was the year my family really broke my heart.  I don't tell my parents that I love them, because I'm not sure that I do, and it all goes back to that extremely sad little girl who was begging just to be seen but was denied even that.
> 
> Like I said, I could vent about my parents all day.  I'll end that vent for here for now!  Otherwise I'm going to cry at my desk (for like the 10,000th time).


That truly sucks.  How could anyone ever tell their child they weren't wanted?!?  You are their flesh and blood!  How hateful...  Sorry, I don't want to make the situation worse, but I cannot imagine how it feels to hear you weren't planned and then you are basically ignored.  :ymad:


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks guys.  Carol, it's okay, no worries.  I don't think a letter could contain everything that needs to be said.  I often think I should just write a memoir or something (I have a lot more stories, that's really just the tip of the iceberg).  I haven't told my parents any of that.  I kind of don't want to.  I think I'd rather just write a book anonymously under a pseudonym, release all of those bad memories and painful times out into the world, and then move on - if they happen to read my book, fine, and if they don't, fine.  A friend of mine wrote a couple of books and she said it's quite easy to self-publish on amazon (apparently you can make a kindle version or an actual physical copy of the book through amazon, she's done both).  So that's something I'm strongly considering doing.  I know it's going to be hard emotionally to write out everything that's inside of me, which is why I haven't started yet.  But I'm reading a book by Cheryl Strayed right now and she is inspiring me - I'm paraphrasing, but she said that if you've got a book inside you that is yearning to get out, then you must write and write and write.  And I feel like that's what I have to do.  I just need to be brave enough to start.

No, MissLeopard, I don't believe in any sort of god nor religion, but it's okay.  Even though my life certainly has had no shortage of crappy times, I don't think there's any sort of afterlife waiting for me.  I think this life is all I've got, so I need to be creative at times and find ways to be happy and okay, because this is what I've got to work with and this is it, there isn't anything more from what I can see.  So I do things that make myself happy, like go to the gym and buy myself presents, and along the way I try to do little things to make others happy too (I donate a lot of the things I crochet, for example).  The universe seems like a cold and indifferent place and I feel like it's up to me to make my own happiness and my own purpose, so I do that as best as I can.

Wow, this thread got a bit serious.  I didn't intend for it to be so, sorry for bringing you guys down with my sad memories!  And hey, if I do write that memoir (it might take me awhile), I'll let you guys know.  That way, if you're feeling too happy, you can just read about my childhood.    Yay.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Thanks guys.  Carol, it's okay, no worries.  I don't think a letter could contain everything that needs to be said.  I often think I should just write a memoir or something (I have a lot more stories, that's really just the tip of the iceberg).  I haven't told my parents any of that.  I kind of don't want to.  I think I'd rather just write a book anonymously under a pseudonym, release all of those bad memories and painful times out into the world, and then move on - if they happen to read my book, fine, and if they don't, fine.  A friend of mine wrote a couple of books and she said it's quite easy to self-publish on amazon (apparently you can make a kindle version or an actual physical copy of the book through amazon, she's done both).  So that's something I'm strongly considering doing.  I know it's going to be hard emotionally to write out everything that's inside of me, which is why I haven't started yet.  But I'm reading a book by Cheryl Strayed right now and she is inspiring me - I'm paraphrasing, but she said that if you've got a book inside you that is yearning to get out, then you must write and write and write.  And I feel like that's what I have to do.  I just need to be brave enough to start.
> 
> No, MissLeopard, I don't believe in any sort of god nor religion, but it's okay.  Even though my life certainly has had no shortage of crappy times, I don't think there's any sort of afterlife waiting for me.  I think this life is all I've got, so I need to be creative at times and find ways to be happy and okay, because this is what I've got to work with and this is it, there isn't anything more from what I can see.  So I do things that make myself happy, like go to the gym and buy myself presents, and along the way I try to do little things to make others happy too (I donate a lot of the things I crochet, for example).  The universe seems like a cold and indifferent place and I feel like it's up to me to make my own happiness and my own purpose, so I do that as best as I can.
> 
> Wow, this thread got a bit serious.  I didn't intend for it to be so, sorry for bringing you guys down with my sad memories!  And hey, if I do write that memoir (it might take me awhile), I'll let you guys know.  That way, if you're feeling too happy, you can just read about my childhood.    Yay.


Sometimes, you just have to vent!  Don't feel bad.  I don't want to analyze you since I'm no counselor, but I would probably feel the same way about God if my parents treated me like yours treated you.  I will keep you in my prayers.

I would think writing about your experiences would be freeing, so I support the idea of writing stuff down.  Even if you never publish it - if all you did was write it and burn it - it would feel like letting go of those painful memories.  For me, the best way to deal with traumatic experiences and depression was to get some help in the form of a CBT therapist.  It changed my outlook on things and made me understand that I did have control of my feelings.  Not sure if it's something you might be interested in, though.  Everyone deals with issues differently.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My turn to analyze.    You seem to imply that I hate god or am mad at god, both of which are inaccurate (and that is something that atheists hear a lot).  You don't hate santa, right?  Or the tooth fairy?  You just don't believe those things exist and they simply have very little bearing on your life - hate doesn't even come into the picture because you'd have to believe in them in the first place to have an emotion about them.  That's what god or any deity is to my life, I simply don't see any evidence for any deity and don't believe in any deity, and it has very little bearing on my life.  I'm a very analytical person, I like data.  And I simply don't see any data that can quantify anything pertaining to a higher power or afterlife or anything supernatural.  I just like reality and things that can be proven.  Nothing to do with my parents or my childhood, I promise.    No hate, no anger, just simple lack of believe because of lack of evidence.

As for therapy, they made me see a therapist last year when I was hospitalized for my flare, and she was terrible.    She didn't actually listen to me very much and she just kept telling me that I should meditate, as if that was the answer to all my problems including my flare (hmm, nope).  I am sure there are good therapists out there who could probably help me, but I'm sort of soured on the thought of it ever since the "yay forced meditation" lady.  I don't think my brain is built for meditation, I have one of those brains where it's like 100 thoughts are happening all at once, all the time - to try to get my brain to be quiet is an exercise in futility.  And I already have other ways to get my brain to quiet down somewhat (exercise - when I'm in the gym and I'm paying attention to my form and counting my reps and focusing on my body, it's like there's no room left for other thoughts, so that's as close as I can get to meditating).  So yeah, therapy isn't happening for me at the current time because of a bad experience, but maybe in the future when I'm ready for it I'd be willing to give it another try.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> My turn to analyze.    You seem to imply that I hate god or am mad at god, both of which are inaccurate (and that is something that atheists hear a lot).  You don't hate santa, right?  Or the tooth fairy?  You just don't believe those things exist and they simply have very little bearing on your life - hate doesn't even come into the picture because you'd have to believe in them in the first place to have an emotion about them.  That's what god or any deity is to my life, I simply don't see any evidence for any deity and don't believe in any deity, and it has very little bearing on my life.  I'm a very analytical person, I like data.  And I simply don't see any data that can quantify anything pertaining to a higher power or afterlife or anything supernatural.  I just like reality and things that can be proven.  Nothing to do with my parents or my childhood, I promise.    No hate, no anger, just simple lack of believe because of lack of evidence.
> 
> As for therapy, they made me see a therapist last year when I was hospitalized for my flare, and she was terrible.    She didn't actually listen to me very much and she just kept telling me that I should meditate, as if that was the answer to all my problems including my flare (hmm, nope).  I am sure there are good therapists out there who could probably help me, but I'm sort of soured on the thought of it ever since the "yay forced meditation" lady.  I don't think my brain is built for meditation, I have one of those brains where it's like 100 thoughts are happening all at once, all the time - to try to get my brain to be quiet is an exercise in futility.  And I already have other ways to get my brain to quiet down somewhat (exercise - when I'm in the gym and I'm paying attention to my form and counting my reps and focusing on my body, it's like there's no room left for other thoughts, so that's as close as I can get to meditating).  So yeah, therapy isn't happening for me at the current time because of a bad experience, but maybe in the future when I'm ready for it I'd be willing to give it another try.


I absolutely did not mean to imply that you hated God at all and I apologize if I gave you that impression.  I've known people who said they thought He didn't exist because they didn't see any help when they needed it so they tended to believe no one was there.  I don't mean to force the idea on you at all and I respect your beliefs.

I'm with you on the meditation bit, though.  When I first started seeing a counselor after being diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and PTSD, I saw a "crock" therapist (if you can call him that) who gave me some tapes and said to listen to them and try to center my thoughts.  I thought, "What rubbish is this?"  I listened to it one time and, honestly, the meditations made me more anxious.  When I told him this, he said either I wasn't doing it right or I needed to listen more.  I told my mom that he wasn't helping and she pulled me from his services.  I work much better when I'm able to talk thru my problems and gain some feedback.  I've worked with other therapists who will just sit there, analyze what you say in their heads and then say, "Alright.  See you in 2 weeks?"  I learn nothing from that and it's a waste of my time.  CBT is the only thing that works for me and my anxiety has improved so much since then and a proper combo of meds.  Exercise does wonders, too, and I love to go on bike rides.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sorry if I inferred incorrectly, it's just that I tend to hear a lot of things like that - many people misunderstand what it is to be an atheist.  I didn't mean to project that onto you though, sorry about that.

That's awful that that counselor didn't believe you about the meditation tapes making you more anxious!  I think listening has to be the #1 skill that a therapist needs, and it sounds like that guy sure didn't have any listening skills at all.  My hospital therapist didn't either but they only made me see her once (if I had been hospitalized for longer then they would have made her come back to see me again, but fortunately I was only hospitalized for 5 days due to my flare).  

I love bike rides too!  It doesn't look like I'll be able to get on my bike anytime soon, though.  Rain is in the forecast from tonight through Sunday, ugh.  And I'm feeling worse today.  I woke up around 12:30 last night coughing and couldn't stop coughing for awhile.  I nearly puked, that's how much I coughed.  It was hard to get back to sleep after that, too, so I'm tired today.  I also woke up with a horrendous headache, one of those sinus headaches that gets worse if you tilt your head forward and has sort of a pinpoint of pain behind the eyeball.  And to top it all off, one of my pets died this morning - I had a pair of male gerbils, and when I checked in on them this morning, I saw one of them was having a seizure and that gerbil died shortly afterwards.  My gerbils are very old, about 2 years and 7 months, which is quite old for a gerbil.  But it's still sad of course to lose a pet, and they're social animals, so now my one remaining gerbil is alone and will surely be lonely without his brother.  So between the coughing and the tiredness and the headache and my poor gerbil, I'm having a rough day.  I don't see exercise in my near future, and any outdoor fitness has to wait until at least next week due to the rain anyway.  Ugh.  It's one of those days where I just want to hibernate until a better day comes along.

Oh, and this is weird - so I got an IUD inserted in December.  My GP put it in and he trimmed the string so that I couldn't even feel the string when I inserted a finger.  But, last week I was taking a bath and cleaning my lady parts, and I felt the string.  Like, I felt at least half an inch of the string.  So I guess my IUD shifted?  I've been having cramps in that area too, the cramps just started yesterday though (and I haven't really had cramps since shortly after the IUD was inserted, so that's worrying to me).  I'm not really sure what's going on with my IUD.  I am thinking I'm going to email my GP and let him know what's going on and ask his advice.  Yet another fun issue to deal with.  This is so not my week.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Sorry if I inferred incorrectly, it's just that I tend to hear a lot of things like that - many people misunderstand what it is to be an atheist.  I didn't mean to project that onto you though, sorry about that.
> 
> That's awful that that counselor didn't believe you about the meditation tapes making you more anxious!  I think listening has to be the #1 skill that a therapist needs, and it sounds like that guy sure didn't have any listening skills at all.  My hospital therapist didn't either but they only made me see her once (if I had been hospitalized for longer then they would have made her come back to see me again, but fortunately I was only hospitalized for 5 days due to my flare).
> 
> I love bike rides too!  It doesn't look like I'll be able to get on my bike anytime soon, though.  Rain is in the forecast from tonight through Sunday, ugh.  And I'm feeling worse today.  I woke up around 12:30 last night coughing and couldn't stop coughing for awhile.  I nearly puked, that's how much I coughed.  It was hard to get back to sleep after that, too, so I'm tired today.  I also woke up with a horrendous headache, one of those sinus headaches that gets worse if you tilt your head forward and has sort of a pinpoint of pain behind the eyeball.  And to top it all off, one of my pets died this morning - I had a pair of male gerbils, and when I checked in on them this morning, I saw one of them was having a seizure and that gerbil died shortly afterwards.  My gerbils are very old, about 2 years and 7 months, which is quite old for a gerbil.  But it's still sad of course to lose a pet, and they're social animals, so now my one remaining gerbil is alone and will surely be lonely without his brother.  So between the coughing and the tiredness and the headache and my poor gerbil, I'm having a rough day.  I don't see exercise in my near future, and any outdoor fitness has to wait until at least next week due to the rain anyway.  Ugh.  It's one of those days where I just want to hibernate until a better day comes along.
> 
> Oh, and this is weird - so I got an IUD inserted in December.  My GP put it in and he trimmed the string so that I couldn't even feel the string when I inserted a finger.  But, last week I was taking a bath and cleaning my lady parts, and I felt the string.  Like, I felt at least half an inch of the string.  So I guess my IUD shifted?  I've been having cramps in that area too, the cramps just started yesterday though (and I haven't really had cramps since shortly after the IUD was inserted, so that's worrying to me).  I'm not really sure what's going on with my IUD.  I am thinking I'm going to email my GP and let him know what's going on and ask his advice.  Yet another fun issue to deal with.  This is so not my week.


Oh, the "therapist" was TERRIBLE.  He had no business being in social work because his listening skills were nil.  I don't remember much that happened back then (I think the PTSD made my brain block out a lot of stuff) but I do remember that he would talk about his band and how they were performing in a nearby town - that's not appropriate banter for a patient's appointment.  I'm supposed to do the talking - that's what my mom was paying him for.  I think I saw him a total of 3 times and never went back.  I ended up transferring to a therapist that my psychiatrist recommended but he was one that just sat there while you talked and didn't give any feedback.  

I didn't start seeing my current therapist until 2011 and I saw her for about 2 years and then went from July 2013-Feb 3016 without any therapy appointments.  Unfortunately, with the tree coming through my roof (it's slowly in the process of getting fixed) and stress piling up at work, I was at wit's end.  My anxiety and depression was really out of hand!  Also, my GYN doc put me on a hormone patch because I have PCOS but it literally made me act bipolar and I was on it when this stuff happened so it exacerbated my symptoms.  I made the decision to discontinue it and went back to normal within 2-3 days.  I cannot take any artificial hormones and I told my doctor I am not interested in them anymore - they make my body go out of whack.  

I am sorry to hear that you are having a rough week.  It's always difficult when a pet dies - no matter the size.  I've had hamsters before and grew attached to them, too.  I wish your cold would go away.  Have you tried cough suppressant like Delsym or Mucinex?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I took some generic Walgreens store brand cough syrup earlier and I've had bunches of cough drops over the past week.  Those work so-so but I think I just need to ride this out.  I usually try not to take any sort of pain meds, but the headache got bad enough that I had some tylenol earlier and I think that helped a bit.  I just never know if something is going to interact with my other meds or make my stomach feel worse or whatever, so I try not to take anything if I can avoid it.  

I think part of the issue is that pred makes my already crummy immune system even more crummy.  That makes it really hard to fight off even a cold.  I think this is a particularly nasty cold, too.  Other people at work have caught it and some have coughed for weeks.  And then of course there's the fact that I'm not very well-rested because of being up coughing in the middle of the night - that's surely not helping me recover.  I think tonight I'm going to take a hot bath - maybe the steam will help my sinuses - and try to go to bed as early as I can.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Wow, the weather really doesn't want me to exercise!  The 10 day forecast now has 10 days of rain.    It's not going to rain straight through for 10 days, but there's at least a good chance of rain every single day.  It was already pouring rain as I drove to work this morning.  Fun.

I didn't wake myself up from coughing last night, yay!  I did wake up around 5 AM with a very stiff & painful neck, though.  Seems to be related to my headache - usually when I get headaches, it always starts in the sinuses, then wraps around the back of my head and goes down into my neck.  Sure enough, taking some more tylenol got my neck feeling better.  Hopefully this headache goes away for good soon.  The rainy weather probably isn't helping, I tend to get barometric pressure headaches sometimes too when it rains.

I am still coughing and sniffling so still no fitness plans on the horizon.  I'd be a worthless coughing mess in the gym or even just on a walk (not that I can walk in this rainy mess anyway), so I know that the only exercise there would be an exercise in futility.  It's more rest for me until I finally get over this stupid cold.

No plans to taper pred just yet either, I see my GI on Monday so I'm going to ask him about it then.  The lady at the compounding pharmacy suggested I might try a super slow taper, like going down by 0.5 mg per month, so I'm going to ask my GI about that.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm slowly getting better.  Last night I didn't wake up at all - no coughing and no neck pain!  I actually slept all the way up until about 7 minutes before my alarm went off.  So I feel pretty well rested today, that helps a lot!  Guts are quiet and headache seems mostly gone finally, but I'm still coughing a bit and still very congested too.  So still no exercise for me just yet.  Which is fine because it's still raining.


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## scottsma

I would wait at least a week Cat.It's good that you're improving but you'll still have the virus.You need to be 100% or at least 80.Same with your tapers.Take it slow.
We had a great ride out today.We went further than planned and it was cold and showery,but enjoyable.Hope we can get out tomorrow, as it's another holiday weekend and the weather is going to improve.So that means lots of people out and about.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sounds like you're having the opposite weekend as what I'll be having here - it's not a holiday weekend here and it's going to be cool and rainy.  I think the high temp on Sunday is predicted to be only 45 degrees F, brr!  This morning it's quite chilly out too, it's mostly raining but there were some ice pellets mixed in with the rain and a co-worker said she thought she saw it snowing at one point.  Yuck!  So it'll be bad weather here and no holiday, I'm definitely going to be staying in.  I have plenty of yarn, plenty of sewing to do, and a new video game too, so I'll be all set for lazy day distractions.  I plan to bundle up in a blanket and just hang out in the house.  I'll probably venture out to buy groceries, and I might go to some garage sales if the rain stops for a bit, but that's as ambitious as I'm going to get.


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## scottsma

That sounds like my kind of weekend.Apart from the sewing that is.My hubby has to be doing stuff and as I'm his buddy I have to go with him.Not complaining though.He's very good and understanding when I'm sick and he's quite happy to do what I want to do.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I know you don't like sewing but I love it.  I've been sort of slacking on my sewing lately so I think I'm going to try to catch up on some of it this weekend.  I have a dress that needs to be taken in as it's too big on the sides, I have some pants that need some work done on the pockets (women's dress slacks often seem to have either fake pockets or really small pockets, so I usually re-do the pockets so that they're normal size and can actually hold things).  I have a skirt that needs hemming and I also have some cute fabric that I haven't decided yet what I want to do with it, so I need to look through my sewing patterns.  I've been meaning to organize my patterns anyway so I'll probably do that too.

Your husband sounds like me, you know that I always have to be keeping busy too.  Even when I'm not feeling well, I'm still crocheting.    And when I am feeling well, of course I'm exercising as much as I can.

On that note, I'm still coughing and very congested - I feel fine otherwise, but I know I can't exercise like this, so I'm continuing to rest.  Hopefully this darn cough and mucus goes away soon!  I'm starting to get a bit impatient, I want to at least take a walk but I can't yet.


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## scottsma

I'm surprised you have such a back-log of sewing to catch up on.Even I haven't got that much.In fact I haven't got any.
I'm watching a three day bike race on T.V.It's the  Tour De Yorkshire which is a take off of the Tour De France. Yorkshire isn't very far from us,about 80 miles.We've been there a few times for caravan holidays.Loads of people along the roadsides cheering them on.Lots of hills,so I'd be useless.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm not great on hills either.  My cruiser bike has 7 gears, but it's a fairly heavy bike (and made even heavier when the trailer is attached to it) so that's a lot of work to lug a heavy bike up hills even when it's in a low gear.  My road bike is much lighter and faster, but it's a single-gear bike, so it's also a lot of work to get that bike up hills.  There are a few monster hills in my city, too, so I have to plan bike ride routes out ahead of time so that I don't end up using up all my energy just trying to get up one giant hill!

See, if you had a sewing or a crochet to-do list, you could make yourself some throws before you get your new couches!


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## scottsma

I'd be to embarrassed to put them on show.hahaha.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Aww, ha ha.  Everybody who learns to sew or crochet makes a mess of it at first, that's for sure - the first ever scarf that I crocheted, it ended up being weirdly wavy because I couldn't figure out what tension the yarn should be, so at first I pulled it really tight and then later on I didn't, so half of it is sort of straight and the other half is wavy.    It was not cute, at all, and it was not supposed to be wavy!  Ha ha.

On that note, I bought more yarn today.  Help, I think I have a yarn addiction.    They had the nicer yarn on sale for the price of the cheapo yarn, so I stocked up and have enough to make a (yet another) blanket.  It's really pretty colors, too, very vibrant.  I bought it in reddish-purple, a bright blue, and a sort of teal green color.  I'm already planning a blanket with stripes of those colors.  

Cold-wise, I'm coughing less this afternoon and my voice sounds almost normal again!  I think I'm finally on the tail-end of this nasty cold.  Still going to rest up all weekend just to be safe, and because the weather won't let me do much of anything anyway.  Hopefully at some point next week I'll be able to at least start taking walks again if nothing else.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I rested all weekend, didn't even leave the house at all yesterday (Saturday I did go to a few garage sales in the morning but that's it).  I did tackle part of my sewing pile, but of course there's always more to sew.  I did a little bit of crocheting, too, I finished up a scarf and also made a hat.  It was cold and rainy all weekend anyway so it was a good weekend to stay indoors.

I'm getting a bit better every day.  I'm still coughing and sniffling a little bit, but I'm doing much better than I was.  Still, I'm not 100% yet, so fitness is still off the table for the time being - which is fine since it's still cold & rainy today.  I'll re-assess every day.  Tomorrow I think it's finally supposed to stop raining, so it's possible I'll take a walk tomorrow if I'm feeling up for it.  We'll see.

In other news, hubby has quit his chef job - his last day is tomorrow.  So that's good, no more dangerous belly-unfriendly foods coming into my house.  He's now got 2 part-time jobs now and he's hoping that one of them turns into a full-time job (it sounds promising).  So, his schedule is changing around a bit, but I think that's a good thing.  He's expressed that he'd like to go to the gym more once he gets settled into his new routine with his jobs.  I of course would love to get back to the gym more as well!  So hopefully that will happen.


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## scottsma

My groin is still a bit sore but not as bad.I was indoors Fri. & Sat. with gut trouble so we had a walk yesterday.Went on the bikes today.It's another long weekend, so we went earlier before the crowds emerged.I enjoyed it,but felt a bit clumsy.It didn't make my groin worse so that's OK.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm glad you didn't make yourself worse!  It sounds risky to me to go for a bike ride when you're still having some soreness in that area.  You always tell me to slow down and rest more, so now I'm going to tell you the same thing.    Might be best to stay off the bike for a bit longer to make sure that you don't aggravate anything.

It was finally supposed to stop raining today, but it's still raining this morning!  Ugh.  Well, that's okay, because I'm still a bit congested.  I'm not really coughing anymore, but I'm clearing my throat a lot.  I'm still not completely over this cold but I am improving every day.  So for today at least I'll avoid exercise.  Tomorrow it's supposedly going to be sunny and no rain, so I'm thinking I might attempt a short, slow walk tomorrow.  Depending on how I feel, of course, and also depending on whether the weather report for tomorrow is a lie like it was today.


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## scottsma

Hahaha,thanks for your advice but it came to late.I went for a grocery shop this morning,and didn't really feel up to it.But I pulled myself together a bit,so despite some stiffness and low grade pain,we went for a cycle again today.And I'm glad I did.I couldn't sit indoors all afternoon doing nothing.......And as for me telling you to take it easy,well you have more going on than I have.......but I am a lot older.hahaha


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## Cat-a-Tonic

You sound so much like me all of a sudden, you know of course that I have a hard time sitting around doing nothing too.  I get antsy and I start to feel worthless if I'm not doing something purposeful.  I've been crocheting a lot lately to feel worthwhile and stave off the antsiness.  I recently figured out how to crochet hats.  Now all of a sudden I have a whole basket full of hats that I've made.    Fortunately hats are always in demand, I can always donate those to a cancer center.  I think I'm going to make even more hats and make a big donation all at once.  I have a bunch of scarves made up that I can donate too.

I think it finally stopped raining!  It's still overcast, but thank goodness, the rain seems done (knock on wood!).  It's been raining for about a full week straight now, I know the plants need it but they don't need that much!  I'm really looking forward to the possibility of taking a walk outdoors tomorrow.  I'll of course stick to the paved forest path as I'm sure non-paved trails will all be very muddy due to the amount of rain we've had.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had my walk!  It felt so good to get outdoors.  It's been awhile, both due to my cold and due to the weather.  I've still got a little bit of a lingering cold, but walking didn't seem to make it any worse.  The weather was gorgeous and everything in the forest is flowering - tons of bluebells & violets especially.

I did feel a bit stiff though, probably because I haven't done any form of fitness in a few weeks now.  My right hip (the bad hip) gave me a bit of pain, too.  I'm sure that's just from being sedentary for so long, though.  I'm tentatively hoping to take another walk on Friday.  If that goes okay and I continue to improve, I might see about going back to the gym for weight lifting next week.

Taper-wise, I had talked to my GI on Monday.  I told him about what the lady at the compounding pharmacy said - she told me that some people need to taper pred super slowly in order to successfully get off of it, she suggested I try tapering by 0.5 mg once per month.  My GI agreed that I can try that - he's not super happy that I'm going to be on pred awhile longer, but he's happy that I'm still trying to get off of the darn stuff and haven't just given up.  So, I've been on 7 mg for a few weeks now, I'm planning to taper in about 1 more week.  Will go down to 6.5 mg.  I'm going to taper towards the end of next week - I always try to do that, that way if I have a taper fail, I'll at least have the weekend to try to recover.  So yeah, every 4 weeks or so I'm going to try tapering.  I'm hoping that this is finally the solution to me getting off of pred without flaring up again.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Today was $2 pants day at a local thrift shop (really it's all bottoms on sale for $2 - pants, skirts, shorts, capris - and it's all types of pants including jeans, trousers, workout pants, etc).  $2 pants day is one of my favorite days, I look forward to it like it's xmas.    That's why I didn't walk today, because I had to make sure to get to the pants sale.  I had a pretty good haul - I got one pair of jeans, one pair of workout capris (in purple! - usually I go for black), two pairs of work-appropriate trousers for the office, and two really cute skirts, one black and one fuchsia pink.  I never used to wear dresses or skirts, I hated them.  Then I had to go to a fancy banquet thing for work a couple years ago and I felt *so* uncomfortable wearing a dress all evening.  So I told myself I was going to work on that discomfort and wear dresses & skirts more often.  Now I feel pretty good wearing a dress or a skirt here and there!  But since pred made me gain a bit of weight, my old skirts didn't fit around my waist anymore.  Thanks, pred.  So I was really glad to find two skirts today that fit perfectly and look really cute on me.  That was a nice little boost of self-esteem.

I'm doing a little better all the time.  Still slightly congested but my sense of smell is back and I only needed 2 cough drops today!  (I've gone through 2 or 3 bags of cough drops over the course of this cold.)  Definitely still planning to take another walk tomorrow, the weather is looking good and I'm feeling up to it.  And hopefully back to the gym next week too.  Next week is going to be a bit stressful, I think.  Our new regional president at work is going to be in the office 2 days next week (I still haven't officially met her yet, so I am wondering if that might happen next week).  And, my boss is finally coming back to work - she was out for 3 months after having major surgery, and she's finally returning next week.  I really like my boss but it's going to be challenging as she catches up on the last 3 months and everything she missed and what we need to do as a department going forward.  So I'm thinking it's going to be an interesting and stressful week next week, and I'll need to go to the gym just to offload some stress.  So that's the tentative plan.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Not feeling super great this morning.  Yesterday evening my dog wasn't feeling well.  Hubby said she didn't have pep in her step when he walked her.  She vomited up her dinner and was having trouble with trying to poo - she'd try, but nothing would come out.  Then she vomited again, and I had hubby clean that up - and he said there was something green in it.  He couldn't tell if it was plant material, or plastic, or what, but obviously she had sneakily eaten something that either wasn't food or didn't agree with her.  So that was worrying!  As a result, I was worried all night about Lily and couldn't sleep well, and this morning my guts are a bit upset because I was so worried.  Fortunately, she seems to be on the mend this morning.  She was able to poo first thing this morning, yay!  That means no blockage which is obviously a very good thing.  And no more vomiting since bedtime yesterday.  I'm keeping her off of food for now, just to be safe, and this evening if she's still doing okay I'm going to give her just a small bit of white rice and plain yogurt (that's what I've given her in the past when she's got an upset tummy and that's always gone down well for her).

So now I'm trying to get my tummy calmed down too so that I can maybe still have my walk later today.  It's always so worrying when our animals are sick!  I'm just going to eat bland low-residue foods today and I may skip my walk depending on how I'm feeling.  Since Lily is feeling better, that's taken away a lot of my worry, so I already am feeling a little bit better.  I've just had one episode of d and gas so far, so it's not too bad.  And it's a Friday, so I've got a couple of days I can rest after today if need be.  So, we'll see how I'm doing this afternoon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I think I am going to skip my walk after all.  I'm just not feeling up to it.  Just a bad guts day from worry and not getting enough sleep.  Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.


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## scottsma

It is very worrying when pets are sick so I'm very happy to hear that Lily' seems to have sicked up that green thing and is on the mend.But of course you've made yourself ill with worry.Also next week at work looks like it could be stressful too.I hope you don't have to have time off as I think you really need to be there with what's coming up.
You had a good day shopping though.Like you (were) I don't own a skirt or a dress but as I'm not expecting any posh social events ever,I don't intend to worry to much.I can be smart in good pants and tops,if I need to be.In fact,I was very smart this morning when I went into town.I bought a black sweater (new) with zips on the front of the hips.I love it,and I love black.We've been on the bikes again,3rd time this week.It was a sunny day so I put sun cream,factor 30,on the backs of my hands but forgot the tops of my ears.My hairs very short now and I do suffer sun burn at the beginning of the season......Have a good weekend and relax best you can.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ouch, sunburn on the ears is no fun!  I once was going swimming so I lathered sunblock all over myself, but I didn't think to do the part in my hair, so I got a bad sunburn there!  That was not fun and it looked like I had crazy dandruff when the sunburn started to peel and flake off.  Now I make sure to wear a hat when I'm out in the sun because I do not want to do that again.  Getting vitamin D from the sun is good for us, but obviously getting burnt is not.  I hope your ears heal up soon!

I will definitely rest as much as I can, and will be keeping a close eye on Lily as well (there is a 24 hour emergency vet close by if she gets worse, although they're very expensive, but hey, that's what credit cards are for, right?).  I unfortunately can't rest the entire weekend and just do nothing - I do need to run a couple errands tomorrow, I need to pick up a refill of my LDN as I'm almost out.  Fortunately my local compounding pharmacy is so good, I called in the refill yesterday as they always ask for at least 48 hours notice, and I got a message saying it's already ready this morning (that was less than 24 hours)!  But of course they're on a different side of town from where I live & where I work, so I don't have time to go pick it up today.  So tomorrow I'll go get my LDN.  And the compounding pharmacy is right near a craft store where they tend to get in new and interesting yarn that I can't seem to find in other stores, so of course I'm going yarn shopping tomorrow right after I pick up my LDN.    I'm not feeling so unwell that I can't go buy some yarn, ha ha.

And my parents are coming down for a visit on Sunday, ugh.  They drain my energy and they always want to go out to eat, which I'm not always feeling like doing, especially potentially unsafe restaurant food.  But hopefully they'll let me pick the restaurant and I can just order something small and safe and pick at it a bit.  Maybe my appetite will be back by Sunday, too - I sure don't have an appetite today.  (I'm doing better as the day goes on but I think this is going to take a few days to recover from.)

So yeah, aside from errands and my parents, I'll rest as much as I can.  And will crochet with my new yarn of course.    Carol, if you lived closer, I'd totally give you a handmade throw for your new couches.  I have 2 completed that are without owners yet, although I know one of them is going to my childhood best friend, I'm just not sure which one yet.  One throw is in shades of blue and the other is in shades of red.  My friend has 2 little boys, so I think I'm just going to ask the boys which color they like better, blue or red, and I'll give their family whichever color throw they pick.

MissLeopard, if you're reading this, how is your grandfather doing?  I've been keeping you and your family in my thoughts.  May 14th will be the first anniversary of my grandpa's passing, so my own grandpa has been on my mind a lot lately too.  He loved Winnie the Pooh, and last summer I would go to his grave and read Pooh stories.  Now that the weather is warming up, I'm going to go do that again soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had an okay weekend.  Didn't rest as much as I would have liked.  I was fairly active both days.  Saturday, hubby and I got up early and went to some garage sales.  Then we ran my errands (compounding pharmacy and yarn shopping).  And then we did some yard work.  Hubby mowed the lawn and I trimmed the hedges and pulled a few weeds, and together we dug up some tiger lilies and moved them to another part of the yard.  That all was fairly exhuasting!  I felt sore and tired afterwards, and my fitbit registered that as a workout.  So I guess I had a workout after all on Saturday!

Sunday my parents and brother came to visit, we had lunch and then walked around a lot at the botanical gardens.  And then hubby and I did grocery shopping that evening.  So I did a lot of walking yesterday.

I'm feeling okay today, fortunately.  I probably overdid things a bit over the weekend, but I'm not paying for it today.  And I'm feeling like I'd like to get back to the gym, so I'm planning to do a weights workout in the little gym on my lunch break today.  I won't push myself and I'll keep it fairly low intensity to ease back into things, but I'd like to start lifting again as it's been about 3 weeks thanks to this stupid cold I've had.  (I'm still slightly congested, but if I could do a yard work "workout" without getting any worse, then I feel confident that I can lift weights today without making myself any worse.)

Tomorrow we're having a luncheon to welcome my boss back to work, so I can't do anything on my lunch hour tomorrow.  But if the weather is nice, I might walk Lily after work.  She's still on the mend but seems to be a little better every day too.  My parents were commenting that she looked a bit under the weather yesterday, but then my brother got out the dog treats, and her face immediately lit up, and then everybody said that she suddenly looked just like her old healthy self again.    She is extremely treat-motivated.

Wednesday and Friday I'm tentatively thinking about doing weights workouts.  Maybe a walk on Thursday.  No plans yet for Saturday.  Sunday is the anniversary of my grandpa's death, so I'm planning to go visit my grandma and also go to my grandpa's grave.  So probably no workout that day.


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## scottsma

Busy weekend and busy week ahead for you.We have Tiger Lilies out back too,I have some on the balcony in a large pot,and have just put supports in in case the wind topples them.It's really cold and windy here, so looks like we might not get on the bikes for a few days.We have the sitting room to re-decorate so will probably make a start with the prep.and moving pictures and ornaments etc.I wish the fairies would come during the night and do it for me.I'm really not in the mood.But it will be nice when it's done.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Redecorating is definitely a lot of work, I don't envy you there!  If you can find fairies to redecorate for you in the middle of the night, please send them my way when you're done with them.  

Just got back from the gym.  I'm definitely not back to my old self 100% yet.  My body got tired pretty quickly.  My arms gave out before I was ready for them to give out, and then during my cool-down (walking on the treadmill), my legs felt very shaky.  I'm thinking that tomorrow I won't walk Lily, instead I'll rest and recover, and then try this again on Wednesday.


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## scottsma

The fairies will have to go to respite by the time they're finished here.
It's disappointing when your body lets you down eh ?
I know when I haven't been cycling for a few days.I really feel it.I know it's not high impact exercise like the gym and weights but at least I do something to try to keep fit.I know I'm a lot fitter than folks my age,and I'm strong (apart from my back).I think it's a frame of mind.I won't allow myself to fall into decline and act like an old person.hahaha


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My boss is back!  I'm so happy!  She's a very nice boss and I missed her a lot.  Now I just have to survive with our new regional president being in the office this afternoon and tomorrow.  And then I'm thinking I'm going to taper on Thursday.  I've been at 7 mg for slightly over a month now, so once I get this work stress out of the way, I'll taper to 6.5 mg pred and stay at that dose for a month.

My body lets me down regularly of course so I'm used to it.  It's slightly frustrating but nothing new.  All I can do is dust myself off and pick myself up and try again tomorrow.

Bicycling is great exercise, don't worry about comparing it to weight-lifting.  The important thing is that you're being healthy and staying active and that's great!  

As for acting like an old person, I've seen first-hand how damaging it can be to fall into a mindset of "I'm old, therefore I can't do ____".  My grandparents did that for basically my whole life.  I can remember being a little girl, like 6 or 7 years old, and my grandma would tell me that she's old and is probably going to die soon (well, I'm 37 now and she's 84 and still alive!).  That really bothered me when she'd say such things, she should have just enjoyed her life and not worried about her age.  My grandpa also took on the mindset of, "screw it, I'm old and going to die soon, so I'm not even going to attempt to be healthy".  So he'd eat a ton of fast food and do basically no exercise, and as a result his health was very poor.  I definitely don't want to fall into that sort of mindset.  I'm going to exercise as long and as often as my body allows me to, and I will eat reasonably healthfully (most of the time - there's always room for chocolate though!).


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## scottsma

There are no happy days without chocolate that's for sure.Sounds like this could be a good week for you Cat,I hope every thing goes right for you.I know you've been anxious for a while.
We've done 6 miles this afternoon.The sun came out and it was good.Hubby always takes a small thermos of coffee and I take weak juice,and we take time to sit somewhere nice for a short while.That's all the life I need to keep me happy,and chocolate.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That sounds like a really nice bike ride.  I've done similar in the past - I only bring water because anything else will make my GERD unhappy when I'm exercising, but I will sometimes ride into the Arboretum, then sit on a bench or in the grass for a while and look at nature and watch the other bicyclists and joggers go past before I get back on my bike and go home.  

And yes, chocolate.    Just had lunch with my boss and she bought us all chocolate chip cookies.  I can't have too much chocolate, again because my GERD doesn't like too much of it, but a small bit each day is definitely needed.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I just got back from the gym.  Had a much better workout today!  My body didn't give out on me nor feel shaky like it did on Monday.  I felt strong and quite good.  Even my GERD was quiet.  I was able to do everything I wanted to do and I even was able to increase the weight a little bit or add in an extra rep on a few things.  A very good workout for sure.

So the plans are to do weights again on Friday.  Not sure yet about tomorrow, might be a rest day or I might take a walk.  If the weather is nice on Saturday, I am thinking about riding my bike to the grocery store.  Debating whether or not to do that ride with my bike trailer - the store I'm thinking of riding to, it's more like a specialty store and I usually just buy a few smallish things there.  My cruiser bike has a basket, which would probably be enough by itself, but if I decide I want to buy more than about 3 things, then I'd need my bike trailer as my basket is fairly small.  So we'll see what I feel like doing on Saturday.  There are a few other shops nearby that grocery store that I could go to as well, if I had my bike trailer on the bike, so I might have a leisurely shop around the neighborhood and fill up my trailer with goodies.  And then get really tired pedaling home a heavy trailer full of stuff, ha ha.


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## scottsma

Glad your workout went well for you.Best to have a rest day in-between though.

I know what you mean about shopping.It doesn't matter if you just need bread,the bigger the bag,the more you stuff in.......But it will be good excersise to cycle with  the weekly shop in the trailer.hahaha just kidding,Don't do it. !!!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha, I don't think I could fit my weekly shopping into the bike trailer!    And I'm sure I wouldn't be able to budge my bike if I tried that.  This would just be a few specialty things, like goat cheeses and of course chocolates.    And there's another shop nearby where they sell fancy kitchen things so I might go wander through that shop too and buy a new wooden spoon or something small like that.  I would not be buying tons of things nor a lot of heavy items.  The only thing that might take up a fair amount of space is, I am thinking of putting a small cooler in the bike trailer - that way my chocolates won't melt on the ride home.  But a small cooler shouldn't weigh too much so I think that'll be okay even if it is a bit bulky in size.  

I'm feeling pretty good today and the weather is looking okay.  A bit overcast but rain is not looking likely and it's going to be fairly warm.  I think I am going to take a lunch hour walk today.

I tapered my pred this morning.  Went from 7 down to 6.5 mg (I have 2.5 mg tablets and 1 mg tablets, so I now am taking one 2.5 mg and 4 of the 1 mg tablets).  So far so good but it's only been a couple of hours.  I think I should be fine at this dose - my last taper fail happened when I got down to 6 mg, I had been okay at 6.5, so I'm pretty confident that I won't have a fail this month.  (I hope!)


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a really good walk.  The weather was gorgeous, absolutely perfect.  I still felt a little bit stiff on my walk - I think I just haven't been walking enough lately.  But other than that it was fine and I felt quite good getting out in the fresh air and sunshine.  It had been overcast earlier, but the sun came out, so I got a little bit of vitamin D in the areas of the forest where the sun was able to shine through.


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## scottsma

We've been cycling again.It's still quite cold and breezy at the coast.While we were having our break I said to my hubby (Les) "I've just realised that I'm doing anything rather than start the decorating" and it's true.We've had the paint well over a week and usually I would be wanting it done,especially with new sofas coming.As we have dental / doctors apts. early next week,we have set the date to start for Thurs......unless something better side tracks us.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

For what it's worth, I also hate painting.  It's a hard job and so messy!  Even if you try to be neat about it, nope, paint is still going to get on places that you don't want it to get on.  Hubby had to practically beg me to paint with him last time we painted a room in our house.  And if you have any weird corners or spots where you have to get into a weird position to paint, that's no fun at all.  My joints were not happy with me last time we painted.  Fortunately most of our house is painted now, but unfortunately the master bedroom still needs to be painted and I know that's going to be a huge job.  Ugh.  Good luck with your painting, I hope it's not too awful!

I think I've talked hubby into doing my bike ride plans tomorrow, taking the bike trailer to the specialty grocery store.  At first he was complaining about how long of a ride it would be, but then I reminded him that it's only about 2 miles from our house to the store.    Sooo, not actually a long ride at all.  And he wouldn't be hauling the trailer, I'll be doing that.  After that he stopped complaining, so I think he's on board with the idea.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a good workout yesterday.  My GERD was a bit more active than usual but that was my co-worker's fault (and my own fault too).  The receptionist at work was off yesterday and I'm usually the one who fills in for her, so I was stuck sitting at the reception desk all day.  I needed another co-worker to fill in for me so I could take my lunch break, and we agreed on a particular time.  I have to make sure I don't eat anything for at least 2 hours prior to working out, so with 2 hours to go I ate, and I ate a little bit more than I usually do.  Then my co-worker had a change in plans and ended up covering me a half hour earlier than we had planned.  So because of the time and the extra food, my GERD was a bit grumpy, but it could have been a lot worse.  It wasn't too bad, it was totally tolerable and I was able to do my workout without having too much of an issue.  So it worked out okay.

Hubby's skipping our bike ride after all.    I'm still going, just had lunch so now I'm in my 2 hour waiting period and will go on my ride after that.  Hubby decided he had to go see a movie instead so he's off doing that (he loves those superhero movies so he's at Guardians of the Galaxy, I'm not such a fan of those movies so I opted not to go).  Well, that's fine, now I can go on the route I'd like to take without having to explain to him why I'm taking a particular route, and I can be as leisurely as I want on my shopping.  The weather is gorgeous, we spent the morning going to garage sales and I'm really looking forward to my bike ride.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Aaaaand fail.    I got everything set to go, got the bike trailer on, started riding.  But it's suddenly very hot out (about 84 F!) and also quite windy, about 15 mph winds blowing against me the whole way there.  Riding into that wind with the trailer and with the heat took a ton of energy.  I nearly made it all the way to the grocery store, but the combination of hauling the bike trailer (which not only adds weight but a lot of wind resistance) and the wind and the heat tired me out terribly.  Add all that to the fact that there's a large hill that came just before I got to the grocery store, and I was like, nope, screw it.  I turned around and headed home at the bottom of that hill, I just couldn't do it.  Too tired and didn't want to make myself sick (sometimes heat plus over-exertion makes my stomach very unhappy, and that hill just looked like a recipe for disaster).  I can tell that my stomach isn't happy but I think by turning around I spared myself the worst of it, and hopefully resting for the rest of the day will allow me to not have any bad trouble with my belly.

So I headed home without going to the store.  With the wind at my back, it was much easier riding home.  This has been eye-opening - if I can't use the bike trailer as a dog carrier nor a grocery getter, I don't think it's going to work for me.  Good thing it was only $10.  I might just get rid of the darn thing.  I love riding my bike, but I didn't love it today, and that trailer was a big part of the problem.  Plus I was on my cruiser bike, which is heavier.  I think from now on, I'm just going to ride my light little road bike because it's so fun and I don't tend to over-exert myself on that bike.  I have a firm belief that fitness should be fun, because of course if it isn't fun you aren't going to continue with it, and today wasn't fun.  So no more bike trailer for me and back to very limited use of my cruiser bike.  From now on it's just me and my road bike, and I'll get groceries when I'm in the car.  Experiment failed, lesson learned.  But hey, what is the point of life if I'm not trying & learning new things, right?  Can't win them all.  And, I have SO much respect now for people who do haul little kids around in bike trailers!  I don't think I could do that!


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## scottsma

At least you got a bit of exercise and you know for sure that the trailer is not for you.With the summer coming somebody will want it.I had a weird stomach yesterday,but got the room stripped ready to paint.It's 8-50am and Les is phoning our This time next week it will be done.Not that it will take a week of course,but it will prob.need two coats and we have other stuff going on during the week.Enjoy your day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sorry to hear you had a bad belly day, hopefully it's just one day and doesn't continue longer than that.  Have fun painting!

I had an okay day yesterday.  Started off by visiting my grandma in the morning.  She's really losing it.  She had at least a moment where she was under the delusion that her parents are still alive and that she is going to go visit them soon (they both died when she was 18, she's 84 now).  So that was a pretty substantial thing that she thought they're still alive.  She also told me she's really looking forward to dying because she misses my grandpa so much.  I don't think she's going to last much longer.  Of course that would be very sad but in a way it might also be a bit of a blessing - I know her dementia will only continue to go downhill, and I fear the day when she doesn't know who I am (she often forgets my name and/or how I'm related to her, but she so far always knows that I'm her person).  My heart breaks a little bit each time she declines mentally.  Of course my heart will break when she passes, but if she passes before she completely loses her mental faculties, maybe that would be for the best.  I don't know.  It's just a hard situation all around.

So after that visit, I needed some quiet time to think and decompress.  I went to my grandpa's grave.  It was looking a bit shabby, with some overgrown grass and some weeds (many dandelions).  I had brought some gardening tools, so I made sure to trim all the grass and pull the weeds.  I also wiped some dirt off of his headstone.  Everything looks good now.  He was very meticulous and placed a lot of value on appearances, and I know he'd have had a fit if he had seen weeds and overgrown grass and dirt on his headstone.  I could hear his voice in my head as I was cleaning and gardening.  I think he'd be happy with the results.  I'll make sure to continue visiting his grave semi-regularly throughout the warm months to make sure it still looks good (can't do much gardening in winter obviously).

So I got home and stress-ate something I shouldn't have - I had fried shrimp, french fries, and a root beer float.  Yum, but my belly doesn't always like fried/greasy foods, and the dairy and carbonation also aren't my friend.  So things were a little bit upset after that.  Still, I managed to pull myself together a couple hours later and lift weights.  I really needed that.  I just used the barbell and dumbbells I have in my home gym, and that went fine.  In fact, I recently got some new weights, so I got to try those out.

After lifting, I went crazy and also walked the dog.  I probably overdid things a bit.  I'm sure I did, in fact, because last night and this morning my lower back was fairly stiff and painful.  I sat with my heating pad on my back for about 30 mins prior to leaving to go to work, and that really helped, so I think I'm okay now.

And because of my back, and also because of the weather (thunderstorms in the forecast), I'm taking a rest day today.  Tomorrow, presuming I'm feeling okay, I'll go to the little gym on my lunch break for a weights session.  Not sure about Wednesday - I'd like to walk, but they're forecasting rain for that day as well.  Thursday more weights - if I can swing it, I'd like to ride my bike to the big gym after work.  That's my favorite workout ever - ride my bike to the gym (about 3.5 miles each way) as a warm-up, lift weights at the gym and also do my stretches, then ride home more leisurely and slowly as my cool-down.  Again, that's all dependent on the weather and how I'm feeling.  That's as far as I've planned for so far.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Work continues to be stressful.  We're still hearing rumors that there are more job cuts coming.  Fortunately, the gym continues to be a good source of stress relief.  I just had a workout and I feel pretty good now.  And I think my taper to 6.5 mg pred was successful - last time I had a taper fail, I had tapered on a Thursday and flared the following Tuesday.  This time, I also tapered on a Thursday, and now it's Tuesday and I'm still feeling pretty good.  Hopefully the once per month taper will continue to work well for me.

My back is still feeling pretty good too so I didn't seem to injure anything too badly (it felt like cramps in my lower back muscles, so I think I just overdid things that day).  We've had sporadic thunderstorms here lately, but fairly nice weather in between the storms (warm and sunny, although windy).  So I'm hoping that tomorrow the weather will cooperate and allow me to have a walk.  Weights Thursday, and a walk on Friday if I can't have one tomorrow (and maybe walks both Wednesday and Friday if the weather behaves both days, but I don't know what the odds of that happening are).  Hopefully weights Saturday too.  I'm trying to get hubby to go back to the gym with me but he's being sluggish and unenthusiastic about it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Holy cow.  What a stressful day.  Long story short, work = crazy stress and weird rumors.  Nobody really knows what's going on.  I may be fine or I may be out of a job soon and I don't know what to believe or what to think.  I have spent a good chunk of the afternoon crying because of stress and worry.

So of course I had to get the @#$%& out of the building when I had the opportunity.  On my lunch hour, I zoomed over to the forest path and had a long walk.  It was in between thunderstorms, so it wasn't raining, but it was quite humid and pretty windy.  Still, I was happy to get into the forest for a bit, and everything smelled lovely because of this morning's thunderstorms.  My walk through the forest cheered me up a bit.  Now instead of actively crying at my desk, I just feel like crying.    Yay, improvement.

I absolutely need a workout tomorrow too so I'm already gung-ho about going to the gym to lift weights.  I can't wait.  I'm going to push my muscles until they're totally fatigued, in the hopes that physical exhaustion also quiets down my over-thinking mind too.

I'm also going to work on updating my resume "just in case."  Ugh.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I ate something I shouldn't have yesterday - pizza.  It's just not my friend.  Even if I take a dairy digestive enzyme, it still bothers me a bit.  And it's not just the cheese, it's also the grease and the sauce.  The tomato sauce really gets my GERD riled up, and the grease is not friendly to my digestion nor my GERD.  But I was stressed because of the situation at work, and I just wanted to eat a big slice of pizza (I had two, eek!).

I'm not paying for it too badly, but I am having some trapped wind pain today.  I've been trying to pass gas to relieve it but I can barely get anything to come out.  It's not too bad, though.  I was still able to hit the gym today, and I think my workout helped a bit.  I'm still having a little trapped wind pain, but it's feeling better than it was earlier (and I haven't passed any gas at all since earlier, but I did belch a few times in the gym, so maybe that helped?).

I'd love to get out on my bike this weekend, but it's looking like the weather isn't going to cooperate with me.  I'd like to walk tomorrow too, but it's suddenly become colder (in the 50s F, where it was in the 80s the past few days) and it's been pretty rainy and quite windy too.  It's looking like a good weekend to stay indoors.  So I'll stay in and lift weights on Saturday, but I might not do much more than that for the next 3 days.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I ate something I shouldn't have yesterday - pizza.  It's just not my friend.  Even if I take a dairy digestive enzyme, it still bothers me a bit.  And it's not just the cheese, it's also the grease and the sauce.  The tomato sauce really gets my GERD riled up, and the grease is not friendly to my digestion nor my GERD.  But I was stressed because of the situation at work, and I just wanted to eat a big slice of pizza (I had two, eek!).
> 
> I'm not paying for it too badly, but I am having some trapped wind pain today.  I've been trying to pass gas to relieve it but I can barely get anything to come out.  It's not too bad, though.  I was still able to hit the gym today, and I think my workout helped a bit.  I'm still having a little trapped wind pain, but it's feeling better than it was earlier (and I haven't passed any gas at all since earlier, but I did belch a few times in the gym, so maybe that helped?).
> 
> I'd love to get out on my bike this weekend, but it's looking like the weather isn't going to cooperate with me.  I'd like to walk tomorrow too, but it's suddenly become colder (in the 50s F, where it was in the 80s the past few days) and it's been pretty rainy and quite windy too.  It's looking like a good weekend to stay indoors.  So I'll stay in and lift weights on Saturday, but I might not do much more than that for the next 3 days.


Hope you feel better soon!  I thought I'd update you guys since I let you know that my balance has been poor lately and I was worried about falling.  I have been referred to a PT program that deals exclusively with balance disorders and I have been diagnosed with both central vertigo and vestibular-ocular reflex disorder.  I do not have a reason for either but it's good to know that the vestibular rehabilitation program may help with my balance.  I've been scheduled for 4 weeks, twice a week, with exercises to do at home 4 times a day.  If it works, it could be lengthened further, but this is like a "testing period."  It's not Meniere's disease or Superior Canal Dehiscence like my ENT thought - those have been ruled out. After doing some research, it sounds like vestibulocerebellar syndrome and I'm going to ask my doctor at our next appointment if that might be the cause.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I remember that you were having issues with vertigo and balance, I'm sorry to hear that's still ongoing.  I hope the exercises help!  When do you start PT?  Are you still able to ride your bicycle with these issues?  I hope so, I know you love riding.  How's your grandfather doing?  I've been keeping you in my thoughts because I remember you saying he wasn't very well.  My grandma isn't very well either, her dementia is getting worse all the time.  I saw her this past weekend, and she informed me that she had been trying to plan a visit to go see her parents at "home" (I think she meant her childhood home).  She seemed to think that her parents were very much alive, but they both died 65 years ago.  So that was pretty troubling to me.  That's a pretty big thing to forget about.  I don't think my grandma is going to be around much longer, she also told me that she's really looking forward to dying so that she can see my grandpa again (her words).  I just hope she goes peacefully and painlessly like my grandpa did (he died in his sleep).


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I remember that you were having issues with vertigo and balance, I'm sorry to hear that's still ongoing.  I hope the exercises help!  When do you start PT?  Are you still able to ride your bicycle with these issues?  I hope so, I know you love riding.  How's your grandfather doing?  I've been keeping you in my thoughts because I remember you saying he wasn't very well.  My grandma isn't very well either, her dementia is getting worse all the time.  I saw her this past weekend, and she informed me that she had been trying to plan a visit to go see her parents at "home" (I think she meant her childhood home).  She seemed to think that her parents were very much alive, but they both died 65 years ago.  So that was pretty troubling to me.  That's a pretty big thing to forget about.  I don't think my grandma is going to be around much longer, she also told me that she's really looking forward to dying so that she can see my grandpa again (her words).  I just hope she goes peacefully and painlessly like my grandpa did (he died in his sleep).


The PT sessions start on Tuesday and will last for 4 weeks - twice a week (Tues and Thurs).  I'm having to adjust my work schedule from 8:30-5 to 8-4:30 which will be rough but I have to do it!  Fortunately, my boss is very understanding and had no problem with it.  I'm still able to ride my bike, but my coordination is rather impaired, so I have to be very careful.

As for my grandfather, he is staying pretty much the same lately.  He's in the late stages and babbling quite a bit - nothing he says is coherent.  It is really difficult and I must admit that I avoid my grandparents' house.  My grandmother has really bad anxiety and it makes my anxiety worse.  We never really got along well and I'm much closer to my paternal grandmother.  I still love my maternal grandfather, but it's so hard to see him in the state he is in.  

I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I've never even had maternal grandparents - my mom's parents both died when she was a teenager (breast cancer and colon cancer) which was well before I was born.  I've only ever known my dad's parents, and of course my grandpa died last year so now I just have my grandma and that's it.

I'm feeling pretty awful today.  Did not sleep well at all.  Still having pretty bad pains in my lower abdomen, it still feels like gas pain.  I have been able to pass gas but that hasn't done much to relieve the pain.  I'm now thinking that the stress of this week, specifically stress at work (we're still in danger of all losing our jobs) is at least contributing to this if not causing it.  I'm pushing myself to go into work today because I'm already covering for another person who is off.  But I honestly don't know if I'm going to make it through the whole work day.  The smart thing to do would be to just call in sick.  I don't want to lose my job though and I feel like the more I'm out, the more they can view me as disposable.  So I'm going in anyway when I really don't feel up to it.  I'm exhausted and in pain.  Wish me luck.

Obviously I'm not going to exercise today.    Will see how I'm feeling tomorrow and go from there.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I've never even had maternal grandparents - my mom's parents both died when she was a teenager (breast cancer and colon cancer) which was well before I was born.  I've only ever known my dad's parents, and of course my grandpa died last year so now I just have my grandma and that's it.
> 
> I'm feeling pretty awful today.  Did not sleep well at all.  Still having pretty bad pains in my lower abdomen, it still feels like gas pain.  I have been able to pass gas but that hasn't done much to relieve the pain.  I'm now thinking that the stress of this week, specifically stress at work (we're still in danger of all losing our jobs) is at least contributing to this if not causing it.  I'm pushing myself to go into work today because I'm already covering for another person who is off.  But I honestly don't know if I'm going to make it through the whole work day.  The smart thing to do would be to just call in sick.  I don't want to lose my job though and I feel like the more I'm out, the more they can view me as disposable.  So I'm going in anyway when I really don't feel up to it.  I'm exhausted and in pain.  Wish me luck.
> 
> Obviously I'm not going to exercise today.    Will see how I'm feeling tomorrow and go from there.


My mom always tells me to get myself to work - even if I'm unsure if I'll make it.  Most of the time, I start feeling better mid-day and I'm able to work the entire shift.  Hope you have the same results.  You are right, though.  The more you call in sick, the more leverage they will have to terminate employment.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I always try to push myself to go to work, too.  There's been so much change at work lately and it's honestly sounding to me like the most likely outcome is that they will close our office and lay us all off (they may offer for us to move to the Illinois office, but I am not moving to IL, just not a fan of that state at all, I'd rather take severance and find a new job).  So I don't know that pushing myself to go in is going to make any bit of difference.  But for now I'm still employed and nothing is official yet, so I'll just do what I can day by day.

Which, today, wasn't much.  I managed to work for an hour and got the most urgent, important stuff taken care of, then I got another co-worker to cover for me and came home sick.  I managed to nap for a bit but I still am in a fair bit of pain.  Sent a message to my GI asking what I can do - I'm not going to increase my pred dose again (I had just tapered to 6.5 mg as of 8 days ago, and I don't think this is a taper fail, but then again I just don't know anymore).  So I won't increase my pred and I can't take pain meds due to being on LDN.  My heating pad is helping a tiny bit but not much.  My abdomen is tender to the touch so that's not good.  For now I'm just monitoring my symptoms.  Fortunately I don't have anything worrying - no vomiting, no fever, etc.  So I don't think it's anything like a blockage or abscess or anything like that.  I've been using the bathroom pretty regularly so I am confident in saying that I'm not blocked.  But I don't really know the reason for this pain.  Could extreme work stress by itself cause pain like this?  I don't know.  I usually don't tend to have bad pain, so that by itself is a bit worrying.  I've almost got my doctor bills from last year paid off, so I really don't want to go to the ER and rack up another big bill, but I will go in if it gets worse or if my GI says to or anything like that.

Ugh.  I think I'm just going to rest all weekend.  Fitness is not in the cards (again!).  Hate my stupid broken body so much.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I mostly rested and I'm doing a lot better.  Not 100% back to my version of normal yet, but a lot better than I was.  The pain is almost gone.  There's still some pressure in my lower abdomen, presumably in the colon, when I do things like bend over forward (things like putting my shoes or socks on is a bit challenging at the moment as it's just not comfortable to do).

I didn't exercise at all today, I only left the house once and that was only because I needed to get the oil changed in my car.  Other than that, I've been home, and I've been alternating between resting and chores.  I vacuumed, did a load of dishes, did 3 loads of laundry, took out the garbage, and tidied up a bit.  But in between I took lots of breaks and sat and crocheted a lot.  I had just started a new blanket and barely had any of it done, and this weekend I reached just past the halfway point on the blanket!  So that's a lot of crocheting.  I meant to do sewing too, but I didn't do any.

I think I'm going to rest at least one more day.  It's supposed to rain again tomorrow so just as well.  It's still pretty chilly here too, 50s F and overcast and windy and sometimes rainy.  Sweater and jacket weather for sure.  So I'll see what I'm feeling up to.  When I do feel up to exercising again, I'll ease back into it by taking walks at first before going back to lifting weights.

And the good news is, since I'm feeling markedly better, this doesn't seem to be a taper fail!  I think it was just stress and/or the pizza that I ate (probably mostly stress as work has been pretty horrible lately).  I'm going to take some steps to combat the stress of work - step one is, I'm going to update my resume.  Not sure what the other steps are yet but fitness is definitely in there too.


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## scottsma

It's good that your gradual taper is going well Cat.It's a shame that you've not been to well,but it looks like you know why,at least.The sooner your stress work problems get sorted the better. I did 5mls on the bike today.I haven't been cycling for 10 days,because of weather and decorating,and it was a struggle if I'm being honest,but enjoyable.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I bet that was a challenge!  Hopefully you can cycle more regularly now that the redecorating is done.  Although it sounds like your weather has been like ours is lately, rainy, windy, cool, and just not nice to be out in.

Doing a little better today but there's still some lingering belly issues.  I'm having occasional waves of pain and slight nausea but not too bad.  I had some fruit earlier and my belly is still not sure if it wants to accept that or not (it was fruit that's normally safe for me, a small handful of blueberries and a peeled mango).  I'm going to eat bland for the rest of the day just to be extra safe.  I had made a baked potato casserole for dinner yesterday - that's peeled potatoes, ground lamb meat, turkey bacon bits, Brussels sprouts (which is a safe veggie for me as long as it's cooked), and goat cheddar.  All those ingredients are safe, and it sat well with me for dinner yesterday.  I've got leftovers of that for my lunch today, so I know that'll be relatively bland and safe.

I won't start exercising again until I'm feeling no further waves of pain.  I don't want to push myself too soon.  It's supposedly going to rain this afternoon and tomorrow, so I'm tentatively hoping to take a walk on Wednesday if I'm feeling better by then.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I feel like I've taken a couple steps back today.  A fair bit of nausea this morning, enough that I had to take 2 zofrans so far just to be functional at work.  I feel a bit dizzy too and just generally unwell.  My guts feel unsettled, although I've only had a couple bathroom trips so far.

I'm feeling frustrated today and sick of this nonsense.  I had contacted my GI last week about the pain I was having, and his response was to take tylenol.  Gee, that's super helpful.  Everything is just so frustrating to me right now.  Sometimes I cry a lot about my illness, and other times I get to the point beyond that where I'm just so frustrated that I feel like I can't even have any further emotions about it because I've already used up all my emotions.  I'm feeling like that today.  Just rolling my eyes and sighing at how stupid my body is.

It's now looking like rain for tomorrow too.  Which is fine because I guess I'm not feeling up for a walk yet.  My new goal is to be feeling better by this coming weekend.  The weather report is looking nice for the weekend, and it's a holiday weekend so I get Monday (Memorial Day) off too.  I'd really like to be able to do something outdoors, either a walk or a bike ride or maybe even take the kayak out.  So that's the goal.  Trying to get my body to a better place than it's in now.  Easier said than done, though.  Ugh.


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## scottsma

The kayak sounds like a good idea.But that's 'cos I'm assuming that you can just float around if you don't feel too energetic ? It must be soul destroying for you,never knowing what each new day will bring.Of course,none of us do really,but it seems you never get a long enough break to feel the benefits.I'm feeling ok lately.I started taking apple cider vinegar with honey,a few weeks ago.Apparently it's very good for GERD,which I don't have,but you do.After laundry and shopping,I did another 5ml on little blackie today.It's been quite warm and it's going to get warmer as the week goes on.We also have a holiday weekend coming up,so the coast will be crawling with people and their kids.Bless them....(not).Take it easy Cat.Just take each day as it comes and get through it best you can.x


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, I've read about apple cider vinegar and GERD.  There is a theory that GERD is actually too little acid production instead of too much, so the apple cider vinegar is meant to introduce more acidity to the stomach or something along those lines.  I tried it briefly and it made my stomach feel horrible, so I quit that pretty quickly.  I'm quite confident that too little acid is not my problem.  I can tell when I've got too little acid - for a short while I was on a double dose (80 mg) of Nexium, and that was too much acid suppression for me.  I started not being able to break down any of my other meds, so everything was going right through me undigested and I'd see a lot of full tablets in my poo.  I went back down to the standard dose (40 mg) of Nexium and then I could break down my meds again.  So a normal dose of Nexium, plus 600 mg ranitidine daily and Tums as needed, is how I function best with my severe GERD.  It's not too much acid nor too little.  I still have a few symptoms, but it's totally tolerable and I'm quite functional at least GERD-wise most of the time.

Yes, we have a 2 person kayak, so hubby can paddle us if I get tired or sick.  We never take it out in rough or challenging waters, we stick to calm little creeks and steams and ponds.  So yeah, I think I could do that.  It is still kind of a lot of work, though - paddling in itself is a lot of work, and the kayak is very heavy and we have to lift it up on top of the car and then lift it off of the car and carry it over to the boat launch and so on.  So I don't know if I'll be feeling up for all of that or not.  I also have a one-person kayak which is inflatable, so it's obviously much more lightweight and portable, but again there's a lot of work in paddling it, and also in inflating and deflating it.  I just got that kayak last summer, and I discovered that deflating it is actually the hardest part.  My arms were so tired from paddling, that I couldn't grip the valve cap very well to let the air out, and it was a huge effort just to get the stupid cap off to deflate the thing.  Literally, I was almost crying from the effort.  So I don't know which would be easier on me, both kayaks sound challenging at the moment.  But I don't want to have another lazy weekend of just crocheting and not much else.  Ugh.  I don't know, we'll see.  It's only Tuesday so hopefully I'll improve in the next few days.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I think I inspired myself.    I thought about it, and if I can't kayak, I could still put on my swimming suit and go out to the beach and sit in an inflatable innertube/pool float and at least get some sun and fresh air and relax outside.  That would be easier on me than kayaking.  So I've been looking at pool floats online and I'm going to a couple stores tomorrow to check some out.  I also found a cute beach cover-up at the thrift shop today for only $3 so after I get my pool float, I'll be all set.  I used to do that a lot when I lived closer to my parents, my mom and I had a couple of innertubes and we'd take them out to the beach and just sit in them for an hour or two and chat and get some sun.  So I think I could do that now too, just by myself.  I have a couple small dry-bags for kayaking, so I'm going to bring one of those and I can put a paperback book into it and do some reading while I lounge on the water.

At my pharmacy I get points which I can then use to buy whatever (they sell a lot of stuff besides just medicines), and I looked on their website - they do have a couple of innertubes.  So if I find one I like there, I can use my points to get it and it'll basically be free or almost free (I think I still have to pay tax on it).  So yeah, a $3 cover-up and a free innertube sounds pretty good to me!  I might need to pick a more light-hearted book to read while I'm lounging, though.    I've currently been reading Devil's Knot, which is about the West Memphis 3 case (in a nutshell, it's a true story about a triple murder of children which resulted in 3 innocent teenagers being wrongly convicted and spending nearly 20 years in prison), which is not exactly light-hearted reading.  I read a lot of true-crime stuff, in particular I'm a big fan of reading about Dillinger.  But I might need to look through my bookshelf and find something less awful to read about for a relaxing lake lounge day.  Hubby is off Saturday and Monday, but he works Sunday, so I think I might have my lake lounge that day (hubby sunburns very easily and I can't see him wanting to go with me to lounge on an innertube).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm still having a bit of abdominal pain here and there, but now I'm in the mindset of, f*** it.    Tomorrow is looking like it's finally going to be a nice day - the rain is supposedly going to stop (for a day anyway) and it's supposed to be sunny and 70 degrees.  And I'm going to take a walk.  I'll walk slowly if I have to, I'll take a shorter walk than usual if need be.  But I just am getting frustrated and antsy so it's time to get outdoors in the sunshine already.  Somebody at work said that the local weatherman said that we've had 20 days with rain in the month of May so far - since it's the 24th of May, that means we've only had 4 non-rainy days this month!  No wonder my mood is so crummy lately, between my guts and the weather I just can't catch a break.

The weekend was looking nice when I checked the forecast yesterday, but now they're saying rain for at least one if not two days out of the 3-day weekend.  Great.  It's just not my week!  I went to the store today and got 2 pool floats to try out (they were cheap, and now I can invite a friend to lounge & float with me if I want to).  And then I looked on the city's website, and I found out that the cute little beach that's right along my bicycling path?  Yeah, so that's closed for the whole year due to construction.    Hmph!  There's another beach relatively nearby, but it's not as nice.  I had been thinking, maybe I could throw my towel and pool float in my bike trailer and ride to the beach - nope, now that's looking less likely as the other beach isn't as easy to get to by bike.  The beach that's closed, that's right on the bicycle path and would be very easy for me to get to - the other nearby beach, I'd have to ride down city streets most of the way to get there and I don't like riding in traffic.  So, hmph.  This week was just designed to annoy me.

No further word on the job situation.  My boss always seems worried about it though every time I talk to her, which is not exactly filling me with a lot of confidence.  So I've still got that worry in the back of my mind.

Anyway, so yeah, I'm still not doing stellar but I'm going to walk tomorrow because I am in a mood and need to get away to the forest to offload some stress.  No further plans yet, I'm going to see how I feel after my walk and go from there.


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## scottsma

I was hoping to get a ride in today but "LIFE" got in the way.I bought a rug ( in anticipation of the new sofas eventually turning up ) but it wasn't right so I had to return it. I managed to get what I wanted though,but a 2-3 wk wait.So I'm definitely going to the quarry tomorrow.I wish I could get out of the house (bathroom) earlier in the morning when It's cooler and quieter.It's been very warm and it's forecast up to, and over  the weekend.It's usually close to lunch time before I feel "safe" to go out.
I hope your weekend goes as you'd like it to.You've got lots of choices.Feel better soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm an afternoon and evening exerciser too.  My guts and my GERD are both usually a bit too riled up in the mornings to do any sort of exercise.  I've tried hitting the gym in the mid-morning, but even then my GERD is just not happy about it at all.  I need to let my body fully wake up, then give it some safe food and plenty of time for that to leave my stomach and digest, and by then I'm able to safely exercise without issues.  So yeah, it's afternoons or evenings only for me too.

I'm slowly putting together plans for the long weekend.  Saturday I think I'm going up to visit my parents, and Sunday it sounds like my dad and I are going to go visit my grandma.  Monday is the holiday that I have off and hubby is off too, but so far that's the one day we don't have plans yet.  Fitness-wise, I'll see how I'm feeling and will maybe have a walk or even a weights session in the evenings after my visiting is over.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a really good walk.  The weather was perfect, sunny (no rain!), very light wind, not too warm and not too cold out.  I had a really nice time.  Work is still worrying - we're still trying to find out whether or not our office is actually going to be closed soon.  But at least I can deal with the stress when I can get out for an hour and have a walk in the forest.


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## scottsma

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I had a really good walk.  The weather was perfect, sunny (no rain!), very light wind, not too warm and not too cold out.  I had a really nice time.  Work is still worrying - we're still trying to find out whether or not our office is actually going to be closed soon.  But at least I can deal with the stress when I can get out for an hour and have a walk in the forest.


It's taking far too much time,this work problem.It's about time they got sorted.No wonder your guts are up one minute and down the next.They owe it to the staff not to keep them stressing.Enjoy your weekend.Clear your mind and rest your body.
It's 10am here and already 22c so we're off on the bikes soon before it gets too hot.We'll not get out over the w/end because the riff-raff will be clogging the streets AGAIN !!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It is definitely taking too much time, I think we found out in February about the merger and it was April when we were actually merged, and now it's nearly June and we still don't know much of anything.  My boss has been trying to find out more info, but she was basically told that upper management has no comment at this time.  Ugh.  It's been months of stress and not knowing what's going to happen.  It's really not a good situation to be in at all.  I just want to know one way or the other.  If I'm out of a job, just tell me already!  Ugh.  Not knowing is the worst.

But fortunately my guts are doing better every day and I was able to have 2 walks yesterday!  I had my lunch hour walk through the forest, and the weather was just gorgeous.  When I got home from work, the weather was still gorgeous, and hubby hadn't walked Lily as he was mowing the lawn and making dinner instead.  So I took Lily for a walk.  She was moving a bit slowly, she hates warm weather (she loves cold and snowy weather the best, she dislikes weather that's even slightly warm).  So we had a good walk even if she was a bit putzy and slow.

Today I'm still doing okay, so I think I'm going to go to the little gym on my lunch hour for a weightlifting session.  Since it's been about a week since I last lifted, I won't push myself too much.  I'll just ease back into it.  But yesterday's 2 walks encouraged me, I think I can have a good gym session today.

Tomorrow is probably a rest day as I'm going to visit my parents.  Sunday I'm visiting my grandma, but not until mid-afternoon as my dad is not a morning person.  So I'm thinking I can get in a workout around noon in my home gym, and still have plenty of time to get to my grandma's facility which is about 45 minutes away.

I don't think I'll be able to take many walks in the near future though as there's more rain in the forecast.  Rain today, Sunday, and Monday according to the weather report.  I was hoping to get outdoors more on my long weekend, but that's not looking like it's going to happen.


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## scottsma

We had a great bike ride.It's 25c but there was a lovely cooling breeze.It was nice just to wear a t-shirt and leggings.I was laughing to myself earlier.I was altering some bootlace straps on a couple of vests.I had previously had them knotted as they drooped in front.So I thought I'd do them "properly".Hahaha They'd have be better left in knots.I thought "Cat would be horrified and would disown me". But at least I tried eh? There's no hope for me in the sewing dept.now I'm afraid.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

There's no harm in trying!  Believe me, I fail all the time when I sew, you'd laugh if you could see some of the silly mistakes I make.  But I always try to make sure to figure out what I did wrong, so that I (hopefully) don't make that same mistake again.  And that's why I buy a lot of cheap clothes at garage sales, thrift shops, etc.  If I try to alter a garment but fail miserably in some way, at least I'm not out a lot of money.  So I'd say keep trying!  I promise I will not disown you.    And I'm encouraged that you tried in the first place.

Change in plans already.  I'm not going to the gym today.  A little while ago I had a horrendous gut cramp!  It was very strong and painful and came on out of nowhere.  I ran to the bathroom and passed a bunch of gas but only a tiny bit of stool.  It seems to be over now, but my guts feel tender and sore (I don't think they were fully healed yet from last week's bout of pain).  So, I'm going to rest and stay out of the gym in an effort to heal my stupid guts.  I don't know why that cramp happened, fortunately it was only one.  But I didn't eat anything that would have upset my guts.  Maybe I did overdo things with taking 2 walks yesterday?  I'm not sure.  Ugh, frustrating.  But I'll be good and do what's best and rest.  Will re-assess in a day or two.  I accept that my guts are the boss of what I do.  I don't have to like it, but I accept it.  My guts say rest, so I'll rest.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> It is definitely taking too much time, I think we found out in February about the merger and it was April when we were actually merged, and now it's nearly June and we still don't know much of anything.  My boss has been trying to find out more info, but she was basically told that upper management has no comment at this time.  Ugh.  It's been months of stress and not knowing what's going to happen.  It's really not a good situation to be in at all.  I just want to know one way or the other.  If I'm out of a job, just tell me already!  Ugh.  Not knowing is the worst.


Is there any way that you can just outright ask someone in HR if they can provide more answers?  I think this is just ridiculous that they are making everyone wait.  If downsizing is going to occur, you could be looking for a new job while they ride out the last months.  I can't believe how some businesses treat their employees.  It's not right to keep making you wait like this...


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## Cat-a-Tonic

They don't know any more than we do, unfortunately (my boss checked with them - I'm sure they'd like to know too, since their jobs would also be gone if our office closes).

Normally I'm treated pretty well at work - I like just about everybody (some people have their quirks, but I at least know how to work with/around those quirks).  Everybody treats me well, my boss is very nice and I like my co-workers.  It's just this merger, the people keeping us in the dark aren't even in the same state as we are.  Everything was fine until the merger, now everything's so uncertain.  I'd rather stay with the company if possible, because I have decent insurance and I've worked here for like 14 years so I get a good amount of PTO each year.  But this stress is seriously doing a number on all of us, it's just ugh right now. 

Instead of the gym, on my lunch hour I did one of my favorite de-stressing things that I do when I can't exercise.  I went to the craft store and bought more yarn.    It was all on sale too!  I got some really pretty yarn and it makes me happy.  I also got some fabric.  Hubby and I use those cheapo re-usable shopping bags that they sell at most grocery stores, but many of them are falling apart now.  So I decided that I'm going to start sewing bags, as that'll be more long-lasting and sturdy, so every time we throw away a falling-apart bag, I'll sew a new one to replace it.  So I got some cute green fabric (nothing too girly so that hubby will be okay with using it) and I can make at least 2 bags out of it.  Hubby's car is larger and newer so we tend to use his car more when we grocery shop, and as a result his reusable bags are falling apart more.  So I'll make him some new bags to use.  That'll be a nice, quick weekend sewing project (not that I don't also have like 1000 other sewing projects already!).


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## scottsma

Your passing gas brought to mind an article in the newspaper earlier this week.A dog owner noticed hid dog had a distended belly and was in pain.Fearing it was torsion he rushed to the vets.The vet advised an x-ray and just as he was about to start the poor dog emitted a huge amount of gas that almost felled the staff  :ack: with the smell.The dog's owner was relieved, but  having had to pay £200 for prep and sedation,said "That's got to be the most expensive fart in history".


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## kenvh

Cat a tonic.. Just an off topic question, since i did read a lot of posts of u out of interst in my simular case. Did u have a positive calprotectin test?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kenvh, no, my calprotectin came back at 49 and they told me that anything 50 or over was considered a "positive" result.  So I was just on the borderline, and I was on steroids at the time (budesonide), so I'm wondering if I would have had a positive result if I hadn't been on steroids.


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## kenvh

Ow yeah, definitly. Budosonide brings the levels ways down if ur inflammation is on that spots where budosonide works, wich is ileum and first colon part mainly. Dont u reconsider taking another sample without meds?? Does budosonide help u a lot?? Where do u have pressure and pain? I get attacks that i can feel my intestine burn. One or two fingers under navel belly button. I had calprotectin 277, 48 and 141. So its not because there is a negative one that it cant raise again. Its a sample of that moment of inflammation. It goes up and down all the time.


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## kenvh

Cat a tonic.. What are ur basic symptoms.
Mine are..
Burning pain at intestines when inflammaion hits.
diarrheah or constipation
Gurgling
Night sweats.. Specially when flaring.. Also burning intestine then and rumbling.
Fatigue
Dizzyness .. Altough its probally meniers syndrome. I got tinnitus pressure ears and more.
Nausea

Do u get stiff sore intestines after having a lot of burning going on?
Its like multiple big spots for me. Can u relate?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kenvh, my symptoms are pretty similar to yours when I'm flaring.  I get a lot of diarrhea (10, 20, sometimes even 30+ times per day).  Abdominal pain, especially in the lower abdomen - feels like it's mainly in the colon.  Lots of cramps, urgency, nausea.  Dizziness and weakness, and fatigue.  I get night sweats, sometimes I have blood in the stool, unintentional weight loss, being woken in the night with pain or urgency.  I also have extra intestinal manifestations, in particular I have arthritis in both hips.

Yes, I definitely will get another calprotectin test done next time I flare.  I don't want to test it again right away because I'm still on steroids from my flare that started last year in August - I'm on prednisone and having a hard time coming off of it.  Budesonide worked well for me for multiple flares over the past few years but then it didn't work for my flare that started last year.  I ended up being hospitalized back in August because I had lost 17 lbs in a month and I wasn't able to digest anything - even eating one banana sent me running to the bathroom 10+ times.  It was the most severe flare I've ever had, and I think budesonide just wasn't strong enough for it.  So at that point they hospitalized me for 5 days, they put me on IV steroids and a liquid elemental diet, and when I was discharged I did the liquid elemental diet for 2 weeks and went from IV steroids to oral prednisone.  I'm doing a lot better now than I was but I'm still struggling to get off of pred.  I had started at 40 mg and I'm down to 6.5 mg now so I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

Fitness update:  I didn't lift weights at all but I did take several walks during the long weekend.  I also did some yard work which was pretty exhausting.  I'm hoping to get back into lifting weights at some point this week.  It's looking like more rain for a good chunk of the week, so I'll try to get out for walks when the weather cooperates, but I might be stuck indoors for the most part.  I might get my rowing machine out, it's a bit taxing on the abdominal muscles which can in turn make my guts unhappy, but it's usually okay as long as I don't overdo it.  Sometimes I'll just do rowing for 20 minutes or so while I'm watching TV in the evenings, so I'm planning to start doing that again on days when it's rainy.

Carol, you'd be proud, I did a lot of sewing over the weekend.    A lot of it was just fixing things that needed repairing, which isn't very fun to sew so I had put it off and ended up with a rather large pile of stuff that needed repairs.  So yesterday I sat myself down and just did a whole bunch of repairing.  I hemmed a pashmina scarf that was fraying, I put patches in hubby's jeans that had holes, I fixed a couple of straps on tops and on a dress.  I also made a couple of things new - I sewed hubby a new tote for grocery shopping, and I made myself a skirt.  And I also went through my fabric and planned out what I'm going to sew next.  Hubby's going to be out of town working at a convention for the entirety of this coming weekend, so I'll have a whole weekend to myself and I'm really looking forward to that.  I'm going to do so much sewing and crocheting!    Hah, I'm such an introvert and I really look forward to having some alone time.  I'm not going out, I'm not seeing friends nor family, I'm staying in and enjoying the blissful quiet.  I surely will venture out to grocery shop and walk Lily, but that'll be about the only times I leave the house.


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## scottsma

Well done you,for catching up on the sewing.You put me to shame.although I will say I never allow stuff to mount up.But that's because I don't work of course.You're very like me in the introvert way.I love my own company,but alas don't really have any time alone,due to hubby being retired.But I also love him and we don't have a problem spending all our time together.Good Idea of yours,having a row in front of the TV.Just take it easy,you don't have to win the race.We had a cycle today.Hubby said "you need a waterproof,it's going to rain" I should know better than to take notice of him.Half an hout into the ride,I was sweating like a Sumo,so I had to take it off,I had a black t-shirt with a big silver butterfly on,not very sporty.It was breezy and cool,but very refreshing.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, I'm similar with my hubby.  Most people exhaust me but he doesn't, I can spend all my time with him and be perfectly happy.  But I also do really enjoy just being alone.

Yeah, my life is hectic with work and pets and hubby and hobbies, so things do sometimes pile up.  And a pile of mending/repairs is just not fun, and also not urgent, so it sat for awhile.  I'll never not have a sewing pile, there will always be things to sew!  But the pile had grown bigger lately so I decided to tackle a bunch of it.

And it's a good thing I have sewing to keep my mind off of things, ugh.  Work is becoming even more stressful.  I think that at least one of my projects is being reassigned to someone else (not in my office).  All the signs seem to be pointing to the fact that my job is probably going away soon.  I really think they're going to shut down our office and lay us all off.  It's so scary.  I hate the thought of it!  Wish I could take a walk today to combat that stress, but of course more rain is on the way.  Ugh.

In addition to wanting to get back into weights this week, I think I'm also going to try to have a punching bag session this week.  I need to offload some stress!  And punch something!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ugh.  The stress is doing a number on my guts, again.  I have had 3 or 4 bathroom trips already this morning.  Guts are not happy.  I'm dialing things back, no plans to weight lift now, I'm just hoping to walk as much as I can this week.  The weather looks good for today & tomorrow, so I'm planning lunch hour walks both days.  I need to escape to the forest and just breathe in the calm peacefulness and breathe out the bad stress.  The Japanese have a phrase which translates to "forest bathing", which literally means go to the forest and just take it all in, bathe yourself with nature and calm and quietude.  I'm definitely doing that as much as I can.  That sounds like just what I need.

My peaceful weekend is getting slightly more eventful but that's okay.  My aunt (who has Crohn's) and my uncle are going to be in town, I haven't seen them in well over a year.  So I'm going to try to see them at some point over the weekend.  My aunt is the one family member who truly "gets" what I go through with my illness - and she's not even a blood relative, she's married to my mom's brother so she's an aunt by marriage.  But she's still family and she gets me and I get her.  So we'll hang out, hopefully.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had my walk and it was lovely.  The weather was gorgeous, the sun was shining, there are all sorts of pretty purple flowers blooming in the forest, and there were lots of birds and butterflies going about their business.  It was really nice.  I'm hoping to have another walk tomorrow, the weather is still looking good for that day.  Unfortunately though it then looks like rain on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.  Ew.    It's been raining so much lately!  I'm getting pretty sick of it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I also walked Lily yesterday after work.  That was a pretty nice walk although she was lagging quite a lot.  It's getting warmer out and she doesn't like that at all.  She acts like it's torture to be taken on a walk in warmer temps (not dangerous temps, just average for this time of year, warm but not hot).  She loves snow & cold, and she really hates summer and heat.  Poor Lily!

And I had a lunch hour walk today.  After my 2 walks yesterday, I felt quite tired and a bit achey, so I had a bath with epsom salts yesterday evening.  I'm not sure if the epsom salts actually helps or if it's just the heat of the bath water that makes me feel better, but at any rate, the bath helped and I feel much less achey today.  Not sure if I'm going to walk Lily again tonight, I might give her a rest day as it is warmer out today than it was yesterday.  Plus I don't want to make myself achey again.

Diet-wise I'm still trying to stick to a modified version of low-FODMAP with an emphasis on trying to eat a Japanese-style diet, which is easier said than done.  I tried making myself spring rolls for lunch today (not the fried kind), but the wrappers stuck together and they all sort of fell apart when I tried to get them unstuck from each other.  So that was sort of a fail (I ended up eating them with a fork).  Now I know why the Japanese use those little green divider things in bento and sushi style lunches.  I'm going to go to the Japanese market soon and look for those and also look for mirin, which I need to make ramen eggs.  Yum!  (They're hard-boiled eggs with a slightly runny yolk and they're then marinated in soy sauce and mirin - which is sake/rice-based cooking wine.  They're delicious by themselves or in ramen).  So, I'm learning from my mistakes and improving at packing healthy lunches.  It's a work in progress for sure.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I found mirin at the Japanese market (it's a teeny tiny little shop but it's the only Japanese shop in town).  I don't think I'll have time tonight, but I'm hoping to try to make ramen eggs at some point over the weekend.  Hubby has gone out of town for work and he won't be back until Sunday evening, so I will have lots of time to myself, but there's lots to do too.  My aunt and 2 uncles are coming to visit me tomorrow - it's my mom's 2 brothers and the younger brother's wife (she has Crohn's).  My mom's older brother, he has dementia so he doesn't get out much as he can't drive anymore.  His dementia is much different than my grandma's, his is much more spatial (he gets lost easily).  But, at xmas he was so pleased with himself because he could remember that I have a cat and that my cat's name is Lydia.  So he asked me 3 or 4 times how Lydia is doing, and each time I could see on his face how happy he was that he could remember such things.  And then when my aunt told him that they'll pick him up and bring him with to my house and that he can see Lydia, he was apparently overjoyed!

So I'll see the 3 of them tomorrow.  But that means that tonight and tomorrow morning, I have to clean my house.  Of course hubby left it in quite a state, he's been doing some crafts of his own but he never cleans up afterwards.  So I have to clean up his mess, plus he hasn't done his usual chores because he's going out of town, so I have to do all that too (he usually does the dishes but now I have to) plus my own chores (vacuuming, laundry).  I'm not super happy about that.  I work full-time and I always find the time to take care of my chores, so I get grumpy when he uses work as an excuse to not do his chores.  He could have done the dishes and tidied up before going out of town.  Hmph.

Fitness-wise, I'm going to squeeze in workouts where I can.  I'm feeling pretty good today and I think I'd like to do a weights workout today.  So I'm planning to hit the little gym on my lunch hour.  Then I might take Lily on a quick walk after work if I have enough energy, and then after that I'll clean my house!  Phew!  That sounds like a lot.  I'll skip the walk if need be, I don't want to overdo things.  But I think I can manage that.  I hope.


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## kenvh

Its nice to follow ur topic cat a tonic


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## scottsma

Cat,you made me feel tired just reading your post !!! If you get done all that you're planning, you deserve a medal.I've been a wee bit out of sorts the last couple of days.I have been out and about though (after lunch).Yesterday I managed an 8 mile bike ride,again after lunch.I'm planning a quiet weekend with my book.I'll think of you.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Ken!  I'm glad you enjoy my nonsensical ramblings, ha ha.

Ha ha, thanks Carol.    I feel like I have more energy and focus when it's just me by myself - that's the magical power of introversion, I guess.  So I tend to plan more when I know I'll be alone.  I should have added in my post above that the weather report changed a bit, it's apparently now not going to rain today after all.  Which is why I'm now tentatively planning to walk with Lily in addition to everything else.  I feel like I have to take advantage of the nice, non-rainy days when I'm feeling well enough to do so.  So I might overdo things a bit, but hopefully tomorrow I'll still be feeling okay enough when my aunt and uncles visit.  And then after the visit, I can relax somewhat.  My chores will have already been done, and the rain will have started by then, so after the visit I can relax and rest a bit - maybe I'll crochet or sew, or maybe I'll just play video games or watch movies.  I won't be busy all weekend, I swear!  Just busy for the first part of the weekend.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hmmm.  I had my weights workout and for the most part I felt pretty good.  But right at the end, as I was doing my stretches and my cool-down, I had some disconcerting lower abdominal pain.  Feels like the same pain that sidelined me a couple of weeks ago.  That's a bit frustrating.  I had let my GI know about the pain, and he advised me to take tylenol, which was zero percent helpful.  But maybe he'll take more notice if I let him know that it's apparently now a recurring pain.

Because of the pain, I'm now thinking I won't walk Lily after work.  I'll just do my best to clean the house and I'll rest if need be.  I'm already feeling a bit better, it's eased up quite a bit, but it's worrying nonetheless and I don't want to push myself.  So yeah.  Slightly frustrated but trying to work with/around this odd pain.


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## scottsma

I would make a note of the pain Cat, and what you were doing when it came on.
You probably do that already.Also,note if the Tylenol doesn't help.Enjoy your visit with your family.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I let my GI know.  I'm sure a lot of it is stress-related as I've had a lot of stress lately, but I need to be functional so that I can go to work and receive more stress... wait, no, that's not it...

It's been a rough weekend.  I woke up yesterday and today with my guts very unhappy, bad mornings both days.  I had more than my usual number of bathroom trips and a couple of them were just pure liquid.  Still having some pain and just generally feeling unwell.  It's been quite warm here, so warm that I had to put on the central air conditioning just so that I could sit with my heating pad on my belly without overheating.  My aunt and uncles and I went out for sushi for a late lunch yesterday, but I still wasn't feeling very well so I barely ate anything.  You know I'm not doing well when I can't even eat sushi!  Ugh.

Today I wasn't going to leave the house, but then I did.  I reached out to an old friend to offer her my support, because I knew generally speaking that she wasn't doing well, and then I found out that she actually has cancer.  Double ugh.  That stopped my pity party that I was having for myself in its tracks.  You know me, I crochet, so I did what I could - I brought her a blanket, a hat, and a scarf.  That felt totally inadequate, like I really wish I could just tell her it's going to be okay, but I can't do that and all I could do was give her a blanket instead.  And I cried with her a bit and gave her like 5 hugs.  She's having surgery this coming week so I'll be worrying about her until (and after) that.  

So, I switched from crying about myself to crying about my friend.  All in all a pretty tough weekend both physically and emotionally.  I think I'm doing a little better this afternoon, but I think I thought that yesterday afternoon too.  So we'll see what tomorrow morning brings and go from there.  The very hot weather is fortunately supposed to cool down a bit to more normal temps, so I'm hoping to do some walking this week as apparently weight lifting is just not happening for me these days.  At least I can walk without an increase in pain, I can't say the same about weights right now.  So we'll see.  If I have to rest some more, then I'll rest some more.  There's always more crocheting to do.


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## scottsma

So,not a good weekend.I think,if I were you,I would try to NOT plan things,and just see what turns up.Sad news about your friend,and I agree,what can you say that will make it better.I've been in that situation, and it's best to just listen and advise them to get through one day at a time.I'm not feeling 100% either.This will be the third day in a row that I haven't been out.The weather today is just awful,so I'm quite happy to be indoors.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm doing a little bit better today.  Still had a pretty rough morning, but I pushed myself to go into work anyway.  And I think I will survive the work day without going home early.  I decided to stop at the store on my way to work and pick up a snack, in the hopes that I might have an appetite at some point today.  Teddy grahams (not sure if you have those in the UK, but they're tiny graham crackers shaped like bears) were the only thing that sounded good to me.  So I bought a box of the chocolate chip ones and I've eaten a small handful of them, and I still feel okay.  I still don't really have much appetite, but at least I'm able to eat a little something.

Our weather is looking to be nice all week, so of course it's frustrating that I'm still not feeling so great.  I don't think a walk is happening today, I just don't have the energy.  I lost 1.5 lbs over the weekend and I have barely eaten, so my energy levels are way down just because of that.  Once I'm able to eat a bit more normally (and digest a bit more normally), then I'll think about taking a walk.  For now I'm still in resting mode when I'm not at work.


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## scottsma

It's still raining here.Have cleaned out and tidied the fridge and freezer and am going for a big grocery shop,in the car.Looks like the rain will be here for a good few days,so no cycling for me.Hubby's out now dodging the showers,but he will find shelter,whereas I would rather push on and get home.I mean,who knows how long you'd have to stand under a tree or in a bus shelter ?


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## kenvh

Cat a tonic... How many days do u work in a week? U work full days? How many days do u call sick and how many days do u leave early at work?
I wonder if i should do the same thing when im back to work.
The fatigue and pain is too overwelming most of the time


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ken, I work full-time, 40 hours a week (5 days a week, 8 hour days).  I work an office job so I sit a lot and it doesn't drain too much of my energy, although my job has been stressful lately because they might close our office.  I tend to call in sick anywhere from 1 to 5 days per month, depending on how I'm feeling of course.  I'm in the US and we have a thing here called Family Medical Leave, which basically says that your employer can't punish or fire you for taking time off to care for either a sick family member or to care for yourself and your own serious illness.  I'm not sure if there are things like that in other countries or not.

Carol, I don't blame you there, I also hate bicycling in the rain, that's just miserable.  Oddly enough I kind of like walking in the rain, just because it reminds me of Japan.  We walked so much in Japan, no matter the weather, and I actually have some really good memories of walking around Tokyo and Kyoto in the rain.  But, I don't walk Lily in the rain, because she hates it.

Speaking of Lily, the weather is gorgeous today.  I'm either going to take a lunch hour walk or walk Lily after work, I haven't decided which yet.  My guts are still slightly iffy but a lot better than they were the past few days, and I have somewhat of an appetite again.  So I'll see how I'm feeling in a few hours when it's lunchtime and will go from there.

I shouldn't spend money with my iffy job situation, but it was a hard few days, so yesterday after work I went to the store and I bought myself chocolates (dark chocolate peanut butter cups, yum!), and flowers (yellow and fuchsia, which is a very striking color combination), and cheese (goat brie and goat gouda).  I guess I needed a lot of treats to reward myself for surviving a tough few days!  And now I'm thinking that the next blanket that I crochet, I want to make it in yellow and fuchsia.  I've been inspired.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I ended up taking 2 walks yesterday.  I was feeling a bit sad and just wanted to get outdoors and do some walking.  So I walked on my lunch hour, and I walked Lily after work too.  That was mostly nice, although there was a really drunk guy in the dog park (I've seen him before and he was drunk then too - yesterday he actually had an open bottle of beer with him and smelled strongly of alcohol, and was yelling and slurring his words - fun).  Fortunately hubby was with me, so I didn't feel very nervous, and our neighbor who has corgis was there too, so the 3 of us together tried to avoid the drunk guy as much as we could.

I'm feeling sad because my friend is having her cancer surgery today and I'm worried for her.  Today is a big, scary day for her.  And on a less personal note, one of my favorite singers overdosed and seems to be in a coma (I listen to a lot of Korean pop, so this is a Korean singer, who goes by the name of Top - he's had a rough time lately in the media and it sounds like he attempted suicide).  So those situations together made me sad.  Walking helped a bit.  But I'm back to being sad this morning.  Waiting to hear news about my friend and about Top too.  Hope they're both okay.

I think I'm going to take another after work walk with Lily today, but no lunch hour walk this time.  I'm going to treat myself to a bit of shopping and sushi instead on my lunch break.  Tomorrow I'm going shopping too, because tomorrow is $2 pants day, which as you know I look forward to like it's xmas.    Friday they're saying scattered thunderstorms, but if the weather holds then I'll try for another lunch hour walk.  It's supposed to be super warm (like 92 degrees F!) on the weekend, so I'm thinking I'll mostly stay indoors in the air conditioning!  Although I could try out my pool float at the lake, just float around near the beach.  And I was invited to my uncle's birthday party, which apparently is being held outdoors on Saturday afternoon, so I'll be out in the heat for at least a little bit I guess.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

That singer I like, he regained consciousness a few hours ago!  The reports coming out of Korea are saying he's much improved.  Phew!  No news yet about my friend's cancer surgery, but it was pretty major surgery so I'm sure she's focused on just getting through the worst of the pain & recovery right now.

I didn't do any walking yesterday.  I might walk Lily this evening, although they're now saying scattered thunderstorms tonight.  Hmph.  I saw so many people on bicycles yesterday, it really made me want to ride my bike.  But I'm afraid of making my body angry again, so I didn't.  I kind of hate that, when my body dictates what I do (and don't do).  Frustrating.

My guts are doing a lot better although now they're pretty constipated because I took a few zofrans when I wasn't feeling well.  Other than that, I'm feeling okay.  Still not brave enough to weight lift nor ride my bike, though.  For now I'm just going to continue to walk as much as I can as that is pretty safe and gut-friendly.


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## kenvh

Cat a tonic. A lot of things u say i can reflect myself on. Really.
The body dictating what u will do today.. A walk or riding the bike. 
I try to walk everyday. It makes me feel human again. Or a bit at least.
Its funny u mentioned the statement of not getting fired policy and medical leave.
I have a simular thing in this country. I will not abuse it. But i wont feel bad again for using it!! I got 4 immune diseases now wich is enough.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ken, yes, I try to never feel bad or guilty for having to call in sick, either.  I don't abuse it either but when I do need it, I try not to feel bad about it.  Yes, walking makes me feel good too.  The more I walk, the better I feel (usually).  

Wow, yes, 4 illnesses is enough!  I think I have 3 right now - presumed IBD, and I also have severe GERD and I have arthritis in both hips.  Not sure which type of arthritis, my GP said osteo but I saw a rheumatologist who said inflammatory.  So who knows.  I think 3 is enough for me!


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## kenvh

Cat a tonic, that seems also enough if u ask me.
I wonder..do u also have almost vomiting sensations?
2 out of 3 meals i got this. Almost immediatly i have vomiting sensation.

If u have a flare at night, and couldnt sleep... Do u call sick in the morning?
Do u also got hot flashes troughout the day?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ken, I get a lot of nausea sometimes, but not after 2 out of 3 meals like you describe.  I tend to get nausea first thing in the mornings, I have no appetite and sometimes even have a hard time packing my lunch bag because it's hard to look at food in the mornings.  Usually I'm feeling better by afternoon, though.

I don't really get hot flashes, but I do get night sweats when I'm flaring.  Usually cold sweats but sometimes hot sweats too.  Yes, if I flare at night and can't sleep, then I usually call in sick to work.  Having a flare itself drains my energy, and if I didn't sleep well on top of that then I'm likely to be absolutely worthless at work, so it's best in those situations for me to call in sick and try to get some sleep and recover as much as I can. 

Carol, you're going to laugh at me.    Today was $2 pants day, and I had my best haul ever - I came away with 13 items!  2 skirts, 1 pair of fleece-lined leggings (for winter - I wear them under a skirt when I go ice skating), and 10 pairs of trousers for work.  I've gained some weight thanks to pred, and went up a pants size.  But not all brands of pants are the same size, even if the label all says size 8.  The past few $2 pants days, I've tried on tons of size 8 pants and almost none of them actually fit me, which was very discouraging.  But I know there's one brand which is both good quality and fits true to size - a size 8 fits me perfectly in that brand.  And they had tons of that brand in the store today!  So I bought them all.  I tried them all on to make sure they all fit, and they all fit perfectly and look really cute too.  That was such a great boost of self-esteem!  It's so frustrating when things don't fit, even when the label says they should, so today was pretty excellent that I found so much that does fit.  Now I just need to keep my job and I can actually wear all those pants to the office, ha ha.


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## scottsma

Ah that's excellent Cat.13 items,wow.We also have "size" differences over here,but being "vertically challenged" ( ie: short) I always have to take hems up.Sometimes I'll take them to the seamstress in the shopping centre,but mostly I use iron on hemming tape.And no matter how hard I try,which I usually don't,I can't cut a straight line for toffee.We managed a bike ride today.I was really unwell early on,but I made the effort and I'm glad I did.My sofas are being delivered tomorrow,so we might not get out unless they come early......kenvh,I often feel terribly nauseous,but it's usually through bad B.M. pain and not due to food.And I also get terrible sweats at the same time.Today was one of those days.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Carol, can I ask how tall you are?  I'm 5'8" which is not especially tall for a woman, but I guess just tall enough, as sometimes pants aren't quite long enough for my legs.  I'm the shortest one in my family though - my brother is the tallest, he's 6'6"!  Fortunately though the pants I bought yesterday are all long enough.  But, I'm going to have to do a whole bunch of sewing anyway.    Women's dress trousers never have proper pockets, they're always tiny or faux pockets, so I always take a bit of fabric and extend (or create) pockets.  So now I've got 10 pairs of pants' worth of pocket-extending to sew!  I was thinking of mostly staying in on Sunday anyway, as it's going to be very warm that day, so I think I'll stay in the air conditioning and do a bunch of sewing.

Million dollar idea:  Make women's dress trousers that have actual proper pockets!  Make them fit well, run true to size, be flattering no matter the shape of the woman, and make them have real pockets that can hold actual things in them, and you'd make a fortune.

Tomorrow is shaping up to be a busy day.  I've been invited to my uncle's birthday party in another city which is about a 90 minute drive away.  And, my grandma's facility is about halfway in between me and my uncle's house.  So I'm thinking that I might leave earlier in the day and see my grandma in the late morning for a bit, then have a picnic lunch, and then head over to my uncle's party.  It's going to be quite warm out though so I don't know if doing that much is wise.  I'd be indoors in the air conditioning at my grandma's, but then my picnic lunch and my uncle's party would both be outdoors.  It's going to be like 90 degrees F which is very warm, and it'll probably be humid too.  My guts tend to hate heat and humidity, and the longer I'm out in the heat & humidity, the worse I tend to feel.  So, maybe I should just skip the visit and the picnic and head straight for the party later in the afternoon.  I don't know.  I really do want to see my grandma though.  So I'm torn on what to do.  I guess I always do have Sunday to recover, if my guts knock me down for hanging out outside in the warm weather.

At any rate, I probably won't take any walks over the weekend.  It's supposed to be a heat wave for 4 or 5 days at least, ugh.  I'll be indoors in the air conditioning for the most part.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Ken, I get a lot of nausea sometimes, but not after 2 out of 3 meals like you describe.  I tend to get nausea first thing in the mornings, I have no appetite and sometimes even have a hard time packing my lunch bag because it's hard to look at food in the mornings.  Usually I'm feeling better by afternoon, though


Have you ever been tested for gastroparesis?  I just saw my new GI doctor and described very similar symptoms and she said it sounds like GP and is sending me for a gastric emptying study.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I haven't been tested for gastroparesis.  I don't think I have it, I suspect it's just another fun IBD symptom, but it probably is best to at least rule out gastroparesis if nothing else.


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## scottsma

Enjoy your weekend Cat.It's pouring with rain here so I'll be at home all day,enjoying my new sofas.It was such a faff getting them in,but the guys were very nice about it,and I gave them a tip.Didn't need to as the delivery charge was almost £80,but it was worth it.
I am a giddy 5ft 2ins and shrinking with age,so you can see why I need to shorten pants.And although I'm not overweight I have always had a struggle to keep in shape.Another six ins on my legs would have been nice.But you have to be happy with what you're given.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, I have a friend who is only 4'10" and she has a really hard time with weight.  An extra lb on her is so much more than an extra lb on a taller person, any extra weight is much more noticeable on her because there's such little area for the weight to go compared to a taller person.  So I definitely understand that as I've seen my friend struggle a lot with that.

I mostly stayed in all weekend as it was ridiculously warm and humid out, and my guts just do not like that.  Fortunately, the birthday party on Saturday got moved indoors into the air conditioning!  Phew!  I was a bit worried about that.  It was my uncle's birthday, and he had really wanted to sit outdoors, but it was just too warm outside.  We would have been miserable.  I also saw my grandma on Saturday morning before the party, and she kept trying to hold my hand but then she'd exclaim that my hands are so cold - I had the air conditioning on in the car, and I had to crank it up because of how warm it was out, so my hands got really cold!  

Sunday, I also mostly stayed in.  I did a whole bunch of sewing - got all my pants pockets sewed!  Now I have 10 new pairs of pants that I can wear to work, yay!  And 2 of them are capris, so I'm wearing one of those today already (dressy capris are allowed at work, and it's still too warm out to wear long pants).

I'd love to take a walk, but it's going to be ridiculously warm and humid for another few days at least.  They're saying that the humidity will go down probably on Thursday, and the heat should go down somewhat shortly after that.  So maybe Thursday I'll take a walk.  Until then, I'm going to continue to stay indoors as much as I can.  I don't want to make my guts mad, they start to cramp like crazy if I'm out in the heat/humidity for too long.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

The weather has spontaneously become a little nicer!  We had pretty strong thunderstorms from yesterday evening until this morning (poor Lily, she was not happy).  The rain seems to have cooled things down, it's only about 80 degrees F here which is still a bit warmer than I'd like, but it was supposed to be 90+ F so it's cooler than it was supposedly going to be.  I'm going to head out for a walk shortly!  I didn't think I'd get to take a walk today, but I'm feeling pretty well and the weather is actually cooperating, so I'm going to take advantage of it.

I'm hoping to get as many walks in as I can before Friday.  I'm going to taper my pred that day and I'm just not looking forward to it.  I'll be going down to 6 mg, and the last several times I've gotten that low, I've flared up again.  You know how they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly but expecting different results?  Well, I guess by that definition I've gone insane.    But I have to get off of the darn pred, so I have to try.  I've been on 6.5 mg for just over a month now, so it's time to try.  Ugh.  I'm not excited by the prospect at all though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had my walk.  It was good, but still too warm for me!  And VERY humid.  At first it was overcast, so it was humid but I could handle it because it wasn't too terribly warm, but then the sun came out.  I was sweating buckets after that!  Fortunately my guts feel okay still, but I became a sweaty mess.


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## scottsma

the weathers the same here today so we're going along the coast on the bikes hoping for a cool breeze.We cycle up to the Marina yesterday which was good.Just a few cyclists and dog walkers about so nice and quiet.there is a lovely park over the road from the Marina with ponds and meadows and seats where we have a break.I'm very lucky to have such a variety of places to go very close by.Even the shops are only a 10min walk although the outlets are about 3miles and the city (Newcastle) is about 8mle.It's about 20 yrs since I visited the city,if not more.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sounds like some lovely options for bike riding!  I also have some good options, the zoo and the arboretum are only about 2 miles from my house, and there are several lakes and a creek that I can ride alongside of.  There are at least 3 grocery stores I can ride to.  And of course my favorite place to ride to is the gym, which is something like 3.5 miles away.  Although I haven't gotten on my bike lately due to my guts and the weather, but I'd love to have a bike ride soon.

It's looking like today and tomorrow are still going to be too hot and humid.  And then on Friday I taper my pred.  So I might not be able to do exercise for the next little while, depending on how my guts respond to the taper.  Fortunately I have plenty of craft projects to work on if my guts rebel against the taper.  I'm really not looking forward to tapering!


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## scottsma

I think it's sensible to take it easy for a day or two when you do your pred. decrease.
It seems to be going OK so best not to jeopardise things.It'll be worth it.
We didn't get out on the bikes today.Got a call to say the new rug was ready to collect,called in at the auction house and did a shop at the retail park.posh food,well a step up from the supermarket,and 2 pairs of jeans and a pair of PJs.It's quite warm and will be for a few days.Deffo going cycling tomorrow as docs appt. on Friday.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Good luck on Friday!  Sounds like your decorating is going well if you now have the couches and new rug.  Yes, I'm definitely going to take it easy for a few days at least, and I'm tapering on Friday so that I'll have the weekend to rest if it goes badly.  It's finally looking like Sunday might be nice weather - not too warm and not raining.  So, if I'm feeling like a human on Sunday, I might see about taking a walk.  If not, I'll just rest.

Funny you should mention new pajamas, I have a sewing pattern for pajamas and some really cute fabric, so I am hoping to make those soon.  I also just bought some new socks - all the warm winter socks just went on clearance, so I got a bunch for cheap.  Obviously I don't need them right now, but I'll need them soon enough.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I didn't do any exercise yesterday but I did a bunch of crafts.  I've been working on sewing shopping bags - the reusable bags that they sell at most grocery stores seem to fall apart after a year or two of normal use.  I feel like fabric bags would last longer and are cuter too.    So I've been sewing some bags for myself and that's going quite well.  I made 2 cute bags yesterday (red & white fabric with rainbow handles).  I also framed some clovers.  I find a lot of 4 leaf clovers (and sometimes 5+ leaf clovers) when I'm walking with Lily - that's one of the benefits of exercise that they never tell you about, ha ha.  So I collect a lot of lucky clovers and press them in books, and when they've dried, I put them in little picture frames with scrapbook paper as the background.  They're really cute.  I've given them away as gifts and have sold a few online too.  So I made a handful of those yesterday evening while I was watching TV.

It's still looking too hot today & tomorrow (plus more storms tomorrow) to do any walking, ugh.  Tomorrow's taper day, so I'm just going to distract myself some more with crafts - up next, I'm going to finish crocheting a hat, frame more clovers, and take in a really cute trench coat that I got for $5 which is just slightly too big on me.  The coat is a bit too long too, so I'm thinking I'm going to hem it.  It's going to be really cute when it's done!  You know when you try something on and it's like, this has so much potential and would be so cute if only ______.  Well, with sewing I can fill in that blank and bring out the potential.  I love doing that!

Also on my sewing pile is to make that pair of pajamas, make a dress, make a fleece hoodie, and make a chopsticks holder.  I bought a cute fabric handmade chopsticks holder when I was in Japan, and I just love it, and I think I could make one myself.  So much sewing to do!  Hopefully that'll distract me away from whatever my body does the next few days in reaction to the taper...


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## scottsma

For goodness sake woman calm down !!! I'm exhausted just reading about it all.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha!    I feel like that stuff is so relaxing, it doesn't take much energy at all.  I did my sewing and clover framing while sitting in my comfy chair and watching TV yesterday (I have a small TV next to my 2 sewing machines, and I have a comfy wingback chair that I sit in to sew).  That's the stuff I do to unwind.


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## scottsma

I'm a big reader.I've never been without a good read all of my adult life.But as you know,me and arty-farty don't go hand in hand.But it's good that we're all different otherwise we'd still be wearing animal skins.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I like to read a lot as well, especially when I'm feeling unwell.  I like reading about people having adventures.  I also have a touch of schadenfreude and I like reading about people whose lives are much worse than mine!  Eek.  Lately I've been focusing on the latter, I've been reading about the West Memphis 3 and in particular about Damien Echols.  He spent 18 years on death row for murders that he did not commit, so his life story is fascinating and tragic.  He's a gifted writer and wrote 2 memoirs, so I'm reading the first one now and I have the second one ready to go once I finish reading this one.  What have you been reading lately, Carol?

I officially tapered this morning.  It's still too early to say how it's going to go.  I'm determined not to go back up in dosage.  But that might mean that rough times are ahead.  As usual, I'm just trying to distract myself away from even thinking about that possibility.  Hubby and I have a busy day planned tomorrow - we're going to go to some garage sales, we're going to the book store, and we're going to the comic book store.  Then at some point later in the day we're going to see a movie.  And of course I'll be sewing at some point too or working on framing more clovers.  Hubby works on Sunday, so I'll walk Lily if the weather is okay and if I'm feeling okay, and I'll do a lot more sewing and other crafts that day.


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## scottsma

Cat,we have a "what books have you been reading" thread.I  know lots of folk will be interested in your reads.I like social history'like you,about people worse off than I am.I also like travel books.I love Bill Bryson and have read most of his books in the last 20yrs.I've even been re-buying them from the market,to read again.We're just back from a cycle ride,about 5 miles.I was in town this morning for a docs.apt.(walked) and I got a nice jacket from the charity shop.It's a spring/autumn wear.Light grey with a diagonal zipper,big collar and epaulettes on the shoulders.It was £5-95p.Not sure what that is in dollars but it was CHEAP !!! I'm very pleased with it, but to be honest I really didn't need ANOTHER coat.hahaha Sounds like a good weekend for you.It's forecast very warm for hear,so I might stay indoors.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I went to google and found a USD to GBP converter - looks like £5.95  is about $7.61, so yes, that's still quite cheap here too.    I didn't need another jacket either, I have several dozen at this point covering every possible weather scenario, but I just bought that long trench coat a few days ago too (the one that's slightly too big so I'm taking it in).  Even though I didn't need it, you just can't go wrong with a good jacket!  

I also didn't need any more craft supplies, but that didn't stop me from going to the craft store today anyway.    I got more yarn, more fabric, and some stampers and stamp pads.  I've been trying to send more cards lately, mostly thank you cards, so sometimes I use a cute stamper on the envelope.  I found some really cute stampers with little birds on them today, and I already had butterfly ones.  So that will help me when I'm sending out cards.  I'm a bit old school at times!  I like sending snail mail, I like sewing, and I like listening to record albums.  Last weekend I had gone to my uncle's birthday party, and one of my other uncles brought 2 big boxes of records to give away.  He asked if anybody still owns a record player, and I piped up because I actually own 4!  (A regular one hooked up to the stereo speakers, a large but portable player, a smaller portable player for 45s, and a USB record player for converting albums to MP3s on the computer.)  So I got to take home the 2 boxes of albums.  I've been listening to them ever since, it's been really nice - there was some good stuff in there, Bowie, the Beatles, etc.  Records are nice because they sort of force you to listen to the whole album - you can't just click "next" like you could on a CD or MP3 player.  It sort of forces you to sit back and relax and just listen to music, ha ha.  It's nice when I'm sewing or crocheting to listen to albums.


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## scottsma

Cat my darling,I think you might have a serious hoarding problem.hahaha


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha!  No comment...  

Seriously though, I definitely do have hoarding tendencies.  My dad and grandma are both hoarders so it seems to have a genetic component.  I try not to hoard.  But there are things that I like buying often, like clothes and craft supplies.  I do try to get rid of things as I'm bringing in new things into my house, so that it doesn't get out of control like it is with my dad and was with my grandma (now that she's in a care facility, she can only hoard what is brought in to her, so I try to bring her very little).  When I'm buying new clothes, I get rid of older clothes that don't fit anymore or that I haven't worn in awhile, and with my craft supplies, I tend to give away a lot of the things I make - like, I crochet a lot of hats, scarves, and some blankets, and I give almost all of those away either as gifts or to charity.  So it's not too bad.  I do need to keep an eye on my hoarding tendencies, though.  I know it could potentially get out of hand otherwise.

As for the record players, I just like them.    They make me nostalgic, I listened to a lot of records when I was little.  And we did get rid of about half of the records that I got from my uncle - we took them to the resale shop and it turns out that a few of them were fairly rare, so we got some nice spending money there (I promise I didn't buy any more yarn with that money, ha ha!).

I've had a so-so weekend.  I slept really poorly on Friday night, and I had a pretty bad headache all day on Saturday.  Not sure if that's from tapering pred?  I felt extremely exhausted all day on Saturday, I even took a 2 hour nap but didn't feel any more energetic after that.  And my guts were not super happy with me, although they weren't terrible either.  Today has been better, my guts were not so happy in the morning but have gotten better as the day has gone on.  Headache is mostly gone and I feel much more well-rested today.  I didn't take a walk, but I have been active around the house.  I did 2 loads of laundry, a load of dishes, I did yard work (trimmed the hedges and did little things like filled up the bird feeders), I did a bunch of sewing too.  So I've been active, and not feeling too bad at all today.  I'm still going to be cautious for the next few days or so.  The weather has improved, though - it's no longer in the 90s F (way too hot!), it's now in the low 70s F which is so much nicer.  I got a bit sweaty doing the yard work, but didn't feel like I was going to die.    It's supposed to be similar temperatures for the next week at least, so that'll be great, but more rain is coming.  So I'll see how I'm feeling and if it's raining, and will take a few walks here and there when I can.


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## scottsma

25-30c here.I stayed indoors all weekend and got some reading done.I felt I really needed to make the effort to get out today so managed a bike ride early on,before it got too hot.I have a busy few days ahead with hair & doc.appts.and on Thursday the charity shop is coming for more stuff.My leather sofa,cushion covers a few ornaments and clothes etc.
That's twice he's been in a couple of months,but as I said last time,I feel liberated.Hope to get out between apts for more cycling. I hate appts.etc. interfering with my day to day routine.But needs must.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I googled, and it looks like 30 C is 86 F, so that's definitely warm!  We've had similar and even higher temps lately, although it's fortunately finally cooled down here.  I hope it cools down for you as well!  I can't get anything done outside when it's that warm.  And my guts really hate high heat & humidity.  I hope you can get some cycling done when it's not too terribly warm out.

I did even more chores after my last message yesterday.    I did another load of laundry, I vacuumed, took out the garbage, and went grocery shopping!  Phew, all of that was pretty exhausting.  Guts still feel okay for the most part so that's very good.  I think I will aim to walk Lily this evening if it's not raining then (supposedly we're going to get scattered storms today).


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## scottsma

Sounds like you might be over doing it Cat.And you know what happens then,don't you.?
It's far to warm to excert yourself.....Lecture over.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It's not so warm here anymore - it's only in the 60s/low 70s F, which my guts are fine with.  It's when it gets into the 80s and 90s (like it's been for the past week or so) that my guts are unhappy with.  But yeah, I probably did do too many chores on Sunday!

I didn't walk yesterday.  It was intermittently storming so I stayed in as I didn't want to get caught in a thunderstorm.  It looks like more storms today too.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to take a walk!

Hubby is going out of town for work again all weekend, I'm so looking forward to that.  I love having some alone time.  Of course I'm going to sew and crochet, ha ha.    I might also take a bike ride if I'm feeling up for it.  And I'll probably take some walks too.


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## scottsma

10c  cooler than yesterday, thank Zeuss.Far more comfortable.Walked into town for some shopping and a haircut this morning,then did 8ml on Little Blackie this afternoon.As well as doing the laundry and ironing and doing the floors,so I'm feeling quite smug.Got a doc.apt for 9-45am tomorrow so trying not to eat too much today,so that I don't have a stressful start to the day.We're expecting heavy rain from the States tomorrow,thankyou.But it has to pass over the Pennine Hills (down the spine of the country ) to reach us,so it might fizzle out before it gets here.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I hope your appointment went well and hopefully the heavy rains miss you!  Sorry about that, ha ha, we've had lots of rain here lately so I guess you're getting our second-hand rain.  

Speaking of which, it's finally supposed to stop raining here, but just for today.  More storms in the forecast tomorrow, ugh.  I have some errands to run on my lunch break, but I'm planning to walk Lily tonight after work.  I'm feeling okay and it would be nice to sneak in a walk before yet more rain comes along.  So that's what I'll do, and then I guess tomorrow I'll just try to stay dry as they're predicting a lot of rain.  Hopefully another walk on Friday if the weather holds out.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hmmm... might have to scratch my walking plans this evening after all.  It's raining!    It wasn't supposed to rain today, this was supposedly going to be the one non-rainy day, but it's raining anyway.  It was supposed to be sunny but it's cloudy.  I'm very grumpy about that!  It's not raining very hard, but still, it wasn't supposed to do this today.  Ugh.  Oh well, guess I'll stay in.  Again.


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## scottsma

That's what happens when you plan ahead Cat. Just go with the flow.....How's the taper going ?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

So far so good on the taper.  My guts have been a bit gassy lately but I think that's because I had some dairy the other day - even if I take one of those lactose enzyme tablets, I still get gassy when I eat dairy.  Other than that, I can't complain.  I'm having formed stools, pretty much no cramping, some mild nausea but only in the mornings which is typical for me anyway.  I think the taper is a success!  Which is quite surprising because I've tried and failed to get down to 6 mg in the past.  I guess the pharmacist at the compounding pharmacy was right about tapering by 0.5 mg once per month, this seems to actually be working!

It's pouring rain today which I knew it would from the forecast.  I was woken up by thunder and it looks like it's going to rain all day.  So definitely no walk today.  Tomorrow and the weekend are looking like no rain or at most very little rain, so I'm hoping to walk then.

Diet-wise I'm doing well (aside from the dairy gassiness).  I've been packing healthy lunches for the most part and trying to stick to a Japanese-esque diet.  Yesterday I had sushi and ramen eggs for lunch, yum!  Although I did have pancakes for dinner.    (I had pancakes when I was in Japan though so that counts, ha ha.)  Today's lunch is homemade spring rolls - the filling is rice noodles, salmon, ginger dressing, and fresh mint from my garden.  And I have been eating a lot of fruit lately too.  I spent an exorbitant amount, like $8, on cherries.    And I've already finished eating them, it only took me 3 days!  I need to go to the store today and buy more cherries.  I've eaten them every day lately and they don't seem to upset me at all.  And they're so yummy!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm so tired today!  Not sure why, I think I slept well.  Sometimes though when I dream a lot, I tend to be very tired the next day.  And I think I had a lot of dreams last night.  I don't remember much, but I know I was dreaming just before my alarm went off, because there were people in my dream who were talking, and when my alarm went off, the people were like, "What's that?  Oh, it's wake-up time!"  And then I woke up.   

I am thinking about a lunch hour walk today.  I'll have to see if my energy levels have improved by then, because right now I'm dragging.  But maybe getting some food in me will help, so we'll see.  If I'm still dragging at lunchtime then I won't walk.

I'm so excited to have a weekend all to myself.  I even bought myself a new Lego set to put together, ha ha.  It came in the mail yesterday and hubby saw it and he was jealous of my cool new legos, ha ha.  I also of course have plenty of yarn and fabric.  So I'll be busy all weekend even if I am alone.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm still tired, but made myself take a walk anyway.  I'm glad I did, it's a nice day and it was nice to be outside.  The forest is filling up with butterflies and fruit now - I saw lots of wild raspberries and strawberries growing, and lots of butterflies flitting around too.  There's a little creek that runs through the forest, and we've had so much rain lately that the creek has turned into a rushing river.  It's usually calm but today it was not calm at all!  It was quite the change.  The forest seems to like all the rain, though, everything was very lush and green.

I'll probably rest up tonight.  I'm hoping to feel more energetic and be more active tomorrow.


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## scottsma

Doesn't nature do the soul a power of good though.?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, it definitely does!  That's why I like the forest path so much, it's so much nicer than walking in the city.

I felt pretty good on Saturday morning.  I ran some errands and walked Lily.  I then ate something that didn't agree with me.    Hubby was out of town all weekend, and I'm not much of a cook, so I made a pasta salad from a box.   I'm not sure if it was the seasoning or what, but it did not agree at all and my guts are still unhappy with me.  I've had some urgent watery d and cramping and just generally feel unwell.  I mostly rested yesterday, I crocheted with my heating pad on and did not leave the house.  I couldn't fall asleep easily last night, too much cramping, and I ended up calling in sick this morning.  Hopefully one more day of rest will get me feeling better.  Bleh.


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## scottsma

Oh,oh,that's not good Cat.feel better soon.I managed to squeeze a 8ml bike ride today.I really didn't feel up to it, but rain is forecast the rest of the week,so I made the effort.I think it was because I hadn't eaten enough.Stupid me.Sometimes I forget to eat when I'm busy,and it drains my energy very quickly.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Not eating has a big effect on my energy levels, too.  And we also have more rain in the forecast, ugh.  I think by the time I'm feeling well enough to walk, it'll be raining a lot.  Oh well.

On that note, I called in sick again today.  I'm doing better today than yesterday, but I woke up exhausted and crampy and just not feeling well enough to drag myself into the office.  I was as productive yesterday as a sick person can be - I rested in bed or on the couch and watched netflix and crocheted the whole day.  I made a scarf and 3 hats!  I think that's a new record for me.    Usually it's a good day if I can finish one hat, so to finish 3 plus a scarf, that's a ton of crocheting.  So I felt quite productive and worthwhile, even though I was resting.  I'm not going to crochet quite as much today!

Hopefully soon I'll be feeling well enough for a walk.  That's the goal, but I'm not going to push myself to walk before I'm feeling well enough to do so.  I'll keep on resting as long as my body needs it.


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## scottsma

Cold and rainy today, so just pottered around the house and did lots of reading.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Doing a bit better day by day but still not feeling up to walking.  I went back to work today.  Mornings are still challenging with nausea, bathroom trips, weakness, no appetite, etc.  As the day goes on those symptoms gradually improve.  So once I get past the morning yuckiness then I'm at least functional.

I made 3 more hats yesterday.    I had bought a small cabinet recently for my craft room, and it's now stuffed full of handmade hats and scarves.  In a few months once the weather starts to turn colder, I'll donate a bunch of them to a cancer hospital.  I know that hats are always in demand for cancer patients.

We've been having some very strong thunderstorms off and on here, so I don't know when I'll be able to walk again.  It depends on the weather and on how I'm feeling.  Saturday I'm going to visit my grandma and I'm looking forward to that.  I made a photo book for her birthday next week, so I'm going to bring her that book as her birthday gift.  I'm sure she'll love it, she loves looking at photos.

I actually get a 4-day weekend coming up - they gave us off of work both Mon and Tues next week for Independence Day (4th of July).  I'm hoping that I'll be feeling well enough and that the weather will cooperate so that I can take some walks and be active.  That's the current goal.


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## scottsma

It's been wet and miserable here since Monday,so no cycling.Just wandering 'round the shops spending money needlessly.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Pretty wet and miserable here too.  We had thunderstorms overnight last night and more coming today.  Tomorrow looks like the one non-rainy day in the forecast, so I'm going to try to get out and walk as much as I can.  I'm guessing we'll probably take my grandma outside for a walk, but those are usually just a short, slow shuffle through the parking lot (she uses a walker now and has become frail and very unsteady on her feet).

Aside from tomorrow, the long weekend looks like it'll be rainy.  Hmph!  I might end up doing a lot of shopping as well...


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## Cat-a-Tonic

The weather held out this afternoon - it's supposed to rain, but not until later in the day now.  So I snuck out for a quick walk at lunchtime.  It was very muggy and humid because of all the recent rain, but it was still nice to get out for a walk.  My guts felt okay the whole time, too.  Definitely a success!  I'm going to continue trying to get walks during breaks in the rain.


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## scottsma

That's good news Cat.Enjoy your weekend.I hope your visit to Gran for her birthday goes well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a pretty active long weekend!  Saturday was the only day I didn't take a walk.  I had a very good visit with my grandma that day, she was in a great mood and was mentally coherent enough to even understand my dad's bad jokes.    Afterwards I had dinner with my dad and brother.  The visit, travel time, and dinner took up the bulk of the day, so I didn't have time to walk that day.  It also rained that day - wasn't supposed to, and maybe it didn't rain at home, but as soon as I got on the highway to head to my grandma's facility, it started pouring so hard that I could barely see the road ahead of me!  That was a bit scary.  Fortunately everyone slowed way down.  We did manage to get my grandma out for a short, slow walk in between rain storms, but I don't really count that as a walk as we probably made it about 100 feet down the parking lot and then turned around and shuffled back.

Sunday hubby had to work.  I took Lily on a walk that day.  Monday and Tuesday we were both off.  We walked on Monday quite a bit, walked Lily and ran some errands and walked around stores.  We had a bit of a windfall, I had an old accordion and hubby managed to finally sell it, so we had a few hundred dollars in cash from that sale.  We ended up buying lobsters and had those for dinner on Monday - yum!  Tuesday we also walked Lily, and we took a bike ride too!  I had wanted to go to the zoo, because there are baby lion cubs at our local zoo.  It was open on the holiday, and the zoo is only about 2 miles from our house.  So we rode bikes there, wandered all around the zoo, saw the cubs, and rode home.  That was a lot of activity for one day!

I'm feeling fairly well guts-wise.  My jaw is giving me troubles lately, though.  I think I have TMJ.  It was pretty bad about 10 or 12 years ago, I remember a few mornings waking up and my jaw was just locked, I couldn't open nor close it.  And a lot of pain while chewing, a lot of clicking in the jaw, etc.  It was my left jaw back then, and it's my left jaw now too.  It hasn't locked like that yet, but there has been a ton of pain lately.  We went out for sushi last night for dinner, and every time I went to open my mouth to take a bite of sushi, it was just tremendous pain.  It was pretty horrible.  I googled, and there really isn't a good treatment for TMJ from the sounds of it.  It said to do things like, take tylenol for the pain, try not to clench my jaw, etc.  Ugh.  It went away for 10 years, so I'm hoping it goes away again soon!

Fitness goals for the week are iffy.  It's looking like it's going to be very warm out (90+ degrees F) and then bad storms again tomorrow.  Friday it's finally looking like it'll cool down and stop raining.  So I'm hoping to be active outdoors again on Friday.  I'll do what I can until then.


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## scottsma

Sounds like a really good weekend Cat.I wish we had a Zoo close by,I'd be there every week at least.I saw your post about the baby bird.It's amazing how they survive when they're so tiny.It's been an awfully wet week so far,although we managed a ride on Monday.We planned a whole afternoons ride today but it's been heavy drizzle,so we just had a walk into town instead.Maybe tomorrow.The kids break up for summer vacation this weekend,7 weeks,sigh !!! so no matter where we go it'll be busy,especially at the coast.We do have a couple of summer fayres close by,this weekend and next.They're within walking distance.Lots of stalls and music and motorbikes and classic cars,some American,so I'll look forward to that.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, I love our zoo, it's free admission (I always donate a few dollars when I go there though).  It's not a huge zoo but it's quite nice for the size, and it's right on the lake shore and near the arboretum, so it's in a very pretty area.  I go there as often as I can.  Like you said, with the schoolkids being on summer break, it's very busy there this time of year.  The kids here get close to 3 months of summer break, they've been out of school for nearly a month already and won't go back until late August (I think - I don't have kids so I never pay close attention to those dates!).  The parking lots at the zoo are always full in the summer, so biking there is the way to go.  Have fun at the faires!


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Yes, I love our zoo, it's free admission (I always donate a few dollars when I go there though).  It's not a huge zoo but it's quite nice for the size, and it's right on the lake shore and near the arboretum, so it's in a very pretty area.  I go there as often as I can.  Like you said, with the schoolkids being on summer break, it's very busy there this time of year.  The kids here get close to 3 months of summer break, they've been out of school for nearly a month already and won't go back until late August (I think - I don't have kids so I never pay close attention to those dates!).  The parking lots at the zoo are always full in the summer, so biking there is the way to go.  Have fun at the faires!


Man, I wish our zoo was free admission!  The cost is over $15 just to get in the gate and then you have to pay more for the cost of the train ride, butterfly garden, feeding the giraffes, stingray bay, etc.  Of course, I usually end up going to the gift shop for a souvenir.  The last time my mom and I went back in January, I ended up with 2 stuffed animals which were pretty pricey, but they are adorable and very well made.  I came home and did some research and the same stuffed animals could have been bought online with FREE shipping for $10 less.    We also ate lunch at the cafe which was pricey, too.  I really wanted to go and have some fun because the following week, I had my tonsillectomy and knew I'd be laid up for 2-3 weeks (ended up being 3 weeks).


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I am also a sucker for stuffed animals, I have way too many.  The coolest zoo I've been to was Ueno Zoo in Tokyo (they have pandas!) and yes, I got a stuffed animal there, even though I didn't have room in my suitcase for one.    Our local zoo also has a train and a carousel which cost a buck or two to ride, but parking and admission are both free.  There is a small cafe at our local zoo too, but they only sell foods I can't eat (hot dogs, hamburgers, etc) so I never eat there.As for paying more for your stuffed animals than they would have been online - hopefully that extra cost went to help pay for the animals' care at the zoo?  I always try to not feel bad about paying a little extra for something if I know that the extra cost is going to a good cause.

I do kind of want to go to the Milwaukee Zoo soon, though, which is going to be pricey.  They have a Body Worlds exhibit there right now but it's plastinated animals instead of people, it looks very interesting.  And of course at Milwaukee you do pay for parking, entry, and there's a separate entry fee for the Body Worlds thing too, so that's going to get expensive.  I'm hoping I can talk hubby into taking me there at some point soon.

Fitness update:  It was storming most of the afternoon yesterday, but as I was heading home from work, the rain stopped and the sun briefly came out!  And more importantly, the rain had cooled things down considerably - it had been 90 degrees out but it cooled down to more like 70 degrees.  So I zoomed home and was able to walk Lily in between rain storms.  There were tons of mosquitoes and I got bit every time we stopped (if she had to potty or sniff something or whatever), and it was super humid out.  But aside from that, it was a nice walk, not too hot out, and we didn't get rained on.  Today it's looking to be hot and stormy again, so we'll see what happens.  I'll walk Lily if the weather allows, and if not, I'll try again tomorrow.


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## kenvh

Cat a tonic. Im still silently following ur replies. Lol. Its cool to read them. I got a question for u if i may ask. I got a friend living in the usa too. He is struggling with work offcourse because of multiple illnesses like me. I remember that u said that u had some social protection contract to protect getting fired at work. U can leave work and stay home on very bad days wich is logical offcourse! I do it too in europe. Is this social protection contract only for goverment jobs? Or what job do u do? How can he subscribe for such a social protection? Where can he get some info about this? He really needs this too. I would very much appreciate it if u could reply here and give some basic info for my friend. Thx girl!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kenvh, sure - it's called Family Medical Leave (or it's abbreviated as FMLA).  It means that you can take more time off of work (I think it's up to 90 days over the course of a year) due to a chronic health condition, without being punished for it.  I'm not a government worker and I think everyone is eligible to get it.  I believe you have to be employed for at least one year in order to qualify for it.  You do not need to have a diagnosis, your doctor needs to fill out some of the forms and I was told that what they need to see from the doctor is that you have a serious ongoing medical condition, even if it's not diagnosed yet.  Your friend should talk to his Human Resources department at his workplace, they can give him the forms to fill out and should be able to give him more information about FMLA.  I googled and found this link which should also be helpful to him:
https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/benefits-leave/fmla

Good luck to your friend!

Fitness update:  It was horrendously hot out all day yesterday, way too warm to even think about exercise, so I didn't.  It is looking to be cooler out today, and hopefully no more storms for a couple days at least, so I'm planning to walk on my lunch break today and maybe will walk Lily after work too.  Tomorrow I'm hoping to do something active, maybe I can convince hubby to go on another bike ride with me and I'll probably walk Lily at some point again then.  Sunday it's looking a bit warmer, so we'll see what the weather does.  I might go visit my grandma again that day, as it's her 85th birthday on Sunday.  I already gave her her gift, but I could bring her a small cake/cupcake.


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## scottsma

Managed 10ml cycle today.Bum's a bit numb hahaha.Thought we better make the effort before the weekend fayre etc.But there were lots of people about, it being the coast.I try not to moan about them to much ,as we have it to ourselves out of season.Enjoy your weekend....don't they come around quick ? or is it me just getting old.


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## kenvh

Thx cat a tonic. Appreciate it! I will send it to my friend. He will be happy with is information. Thx again


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Kenvh, you're welcome!

Carol, ha ha, no, weekends do not come around quickly!    Not when you work full-time like I do anyway.  It's been a short week because of the holiday, I only had to work Wed - Fri, but I still had to cram a week's worth of work into those 3 days, so it's felt like a long week.  It's certainly been a busy week.


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## scottsma

So it's an age thing then.I think most people over a certain age would agree with me though.The more time you have to waste,and I waste plenty,the quicker it passes.Don't worry Cat.your time will soon come soon enough, and the world will be over-run with woolly hats and stuff.hahaha.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ha, you think that the world isn't already overrun with my handmade hats and scarves?    Ha ha!  I'm only 37, I have to be at least 62 to take social security and 65 is the age when I can take medicare (not that I'm counting the days or anything...).  So that means I have at least 25-28 years left to work before I can retire.  Ugh.  I can remember being a kid and I wanted to grow up, and now that I'm grown up, I want to get old and retire and act like a kid again.  

I'm honestly not looking forward to getting old, though, not really.  My grandparents made it look like not fun at all.  My grandpa was very physically ill, and towards the end his mind started slipping (he lost the ability to do math, in particular - he used to do his own taxes every year, but the last few years of his life he couldn't even figure out how much to tip at a restaurant).  And my grandma is mostly gone mentally and is now starting to become physically frail, too.  I'm even seeing it in younger family members, my uncle is only 70 and he's got some dementia and is going downhill.  So yeah, I'd like to retire but without all the downsides of getting older!


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## hawkeye

Glad to hear you had a feed of lobster


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hawkeye, they were BIG lobsters too!  They were over 2.5 lbs each, one was almost 3 lbs!  And yes, I ate the whole thing (hubby ate the larger one but I still ate my whole 2.5 lb lobster).  Yum!

Fitness update:  The weather wasn't super cooperative over the weekend.  It was supposed to be not too warm, but it ended up being warmer than predicted.  So as a result, I stayed in for the most part.  I did a lot around the house - laundry, dishes, vacuuming, dusting, straightening up, gave the dog a bath, etc.  So I was active, but I didn't walk nor take a bike ride.

Once again it's looking to be warm and rainy this week.  I'll walk when I can.  It poured rain overnight, we actually had some flooding here today, but the rain has stopped for now.  If it's not raining in a few hours then I'll take a walk on my lunch hour today.

I've got a bike ride in mind for Sunday.  There's a thing called Ride the Drive - I think a bunch of cities in the US do this, including mine.  They shut down a bunch of streets downtown so that there's no car traffic, and everyone rides their bikes through the downtown streets.  There are things like bands and food vendors and activities too.  It's fun, I've done it in the past and I'm hoping the weather and my guts will allow me to do Ride the Drive this year too.


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## scottsma

Ride the drive sounds like a great idea,I'd love it.I was awake all of last night due to Restless Leg Syndrom.I sat in the lounge rather that wake hubby.Nearly went mad.I wasn't well at the weekend but managed a couple of shortish walks.Just sat around reading today but the weather's not good.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, Ride the Drive is great.  They changed the streets that are closed off this year, so I think in years past it was about a 6 mile loop and now it's more like 4 miles and not really a loop anymore.  So that's not great, although I'm a bit happy about it, because in the past there was a HUGE uphill on the 6 mile loop, and that's not part of the new 4 mile section of downtown.  That hill always absolutely killed me, my legs and lungs were always just dead tired afterwards, so I'm pretty happy about not having to ride up that hill this year!  I think I will miss being able to do the loop, though.  It was nice just being able to hop in anywhere in the middle, do a loop, and not miss anything.  Now it looks like it'll sort of be go down and back on one road, go down and back on another road, go down and back on a 3rd road.  Well, the 3rd road leads to home anyway, so it's not too bad, but it's a bit of a bummer.  A mixed bag I guess.

Was it perhaps something you ate that caused the restless leg syndrome to flare up?  I know I always have much worse RLS when I'm flaring, it seems like if my potassium drops too low then my legs keep me up half the night (with, of course, my guts keeping me up the other half).  Might also have something to do with low sodium too, I'm not sure.  I hope you feel better tonight and can get some sleep!

It looks like it's just too warm again for me to walk today, hmph.  I'm hoping it'll cool down by evening and maybe then I can walk Lily.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, and Carol, you'll like this.  That baby robin that I had befriended last week while doing yard work?  I saw him 3 times over the weekend!  And his mom was with him, I don't know where she was when I initially had picked him up and moved him out of our yard so that hubby could mow, but every time since, I've seen Birdie with his mom.    He was in my front yard, then when I let Lily out to potty he was in my back yard, and then yesterday as we were heading out to go grocery shopping, he was sitting in my driveway.  I had to gently coax him to leave the driveway so that we didn't squish him with the car!  It's so cute, Birdie seems to know me and he likes hanging around.  If I call out to him, he'll chirp back at me.  I'm a regular disney princess!    Ha ha.


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## scottsma

Ah,I love that.I hope he hangs around and maybe will feed off your hand.But they're very territorial so his parents might see him off soon.I know males will fight to the death in breeding season.We have gulls on a roof over the back.They've nested there for 30yrs that I know of.The young don't leave until 3mnths old.There are two this year and are wandering about the roof and testing their wings.They're adult size but still babes .We cared for  one for a few weeks last year.If they fall onto the roads,they get squished because they can't get out of the way fast enough.This years seem to be ok so far.Hopefully they'll fly towards the river and not the opposite direction.Our shed needed fumigating last year what with raw fish and gull crap.Hubby made a little beach for him with sand and seaweed and a washing up bowl of water. hahaha But hopefully NOT AGAIN this year.


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## scottsma

re: R.L.S.It's only the 4th or 5th time I've had it over the years but I've had it twice this last year.I've looked it up and I don't seem to be doing any thing to  cause it.My mum used to mention she had it sometimes and I think it can be hereditary.I hope I never have it again.I slept good last night but am still sleepy.
And hills.If you go up you have to come down and vice versa.You do round here anyway.
I'd rather struggle up first and get it over with then I know I've got an easy ride back.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm not sure if our robins will fight to the death like that.  I know there's a definite difference between British robins and American robins (they look quite different, they do both have red breasts but that's where the similarities end, and I think it's a totally different bird).  I've never seen or heard of them fighting like that here.  Some birds will get territorial for sure - we had a wren who nested in our yard one year, and although she was tiny, she was extremely fierce and loudly scolded anyone who got anywhere near her nest.  But I don't think our robins will do that.

I didn't end up walking Lily yesterday evening as it was still too warm and humid out.  Today I won't walk either.  I'm feeling "off" today.  My guts are okay but things just don't feel right, it's hard to describe.  I slept wrong and I just feel "off", I'm slightly headachey and slightly dizzy and slightly nauseous but none of those things are actually enough to make me feel bad.  But all combined it feels like my body is trying to tell me that something isn't right.  It's more disconcerting than anything.  So I'm going to play it safe and not do any exercise today.  Which is fine because it's likely going to be too warm and maybe stormy again today.  It's also looking to be very warm and stormy tomorrow too, so my goal now is to take a walk on Thursday.  And hopefully I'll be feeling well by Sunday for Ride the Drive!  I don't want to have to sit it out this year.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Aha, I think I've figured it out.  I'm coming down with a cold.  That would explain the headache and why I didn't sleep well.  My sinuses are getting stuffy which would account for the slight dizziness, and whenever my immune system turns on to fight a cold or virus, it also attacks my guts a bit - that would account for the slight nausea.

That's not good for Ride the Drive, though.    If I still have a cold when the weekend comes around, then I'll have to sit it out and rest instead.  Bleh.


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## scottsma

I know I feel much better in Spring/Autumn, even winter is preferable to muggy warm weather.I can never understand why people pay good money to go somewhere "hot" and lie on a beach all day.Spain is the place closest to the UK where all the kids go to get to get drunk and get up to all sorts of mischief,even the not so young.Retirees go and sit around drinking cheap alcohol and eating unhealthy food,and play bingo at night.I'm not a spoil sport and if they enjoy themselves,well that's good.It's just not for me.(or hubby,luckily)And having a chronic illness like ours,it would be silly eh?.I'm sorry you're feeling icky.Feel better soon.x


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I've never been a "go sit on the beach" person myself either (you know me, I always have to be actively doing something, I don't just sit around!).  Winter and summer are both a bit difficult for me.  Summer heat and humidity can make my guts very unhappy, but winter cold and snow can make my joints ache, especially my arthritic hips.  Last winter wasn't too bad, though, because it hardly snowed at all - we had a lot of rain and some ice, but very little actual snow.  I don't recall my joints acting up too much at all last winter.

I went out and bought a bunch of vitamin c drops, so that I can hopefully fight off this cold.  I also stopped at the thrift shop while I was out and found a super cute blue dress, with pockets (pockets are my favorite feature on a dress!).  It's a name-brand designer dress and it fits me perfectly and looks gorgeous, and best part was it only cost me $5!  It seriously might be my new favorite dress, I love it.  So I had that to cheer me up today.  And hopefully in a few days I'll be feeling better and can get back to walking and can still do my bike ride on Sunday.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, I've had an awful couple of days.  Whenever I catch a cold or virus, my immune system turns on to fight the virus, but it also attacks my digestive system while it's on.  And this time around has been one of the worst.  I'm actually wondering if I caught the flu instead of a cold, that's how bad it's been.  The abdominal pain has been horrendous and lots of bathroom trips, and I also had a sort-of fever last night which caused bad body aches, particularly in my lower back, and awful chills too.  I took a shower that was borderline-scalding hot and I was still shivering.  And I barely slept because of the back pain and the abdominal pain, I just could not get comfortable at all.

(I say a sort-of fever, because my normal body temp is in the mid 97s, and they always say that "normal" body temp is 98.6 degrees but that's not true for everybody.  So my temp got up to 98.4 yesterday and my body acted as though that was a fever, because really it is a full degree higher than my normal so it is a fever for me, even though by medical definition it's not a fever.)

I think I'm doing a bit better today - the fever seems to be gone at least.  I called in sick to work yesterday and today to rest and try to recover from this awfulness.  I'm not going to walk until I'm completely over this, and I definitely will not do Ride the Drive.  Ugh, oh well.  That's what I get for trying to plan in advance with a chronic illness!


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## scottsma

Aw that's a shame Cat,but you're being sensible staying put.We did a couple of hours on the bikes today but I found it hard work for some reason.It is quite warm out so that was probably it.I don't do well in warm weather as you know.Going out again tomorrow before the mad weekend.Not looking forward to the kids summer break,but it will pass.It always does.Then the xmas cards will start sneaking into the shops.hahaha Feel better soon.x


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hah, Carol, funny you should mention that.  I was actually just organizing some things in my craft room, including cards, and I came across some xmas cards.    Um, nope, definitely too early for those, no matter what the stores say!

I'm doing a lot better today than yesterday.  My fever is gone so I'm no longer chilled nor achey.  I just checked my temp and it was 96.4, which is a little low for me, but I'd rather it be low than high.  I'm still having some abdominal pains here and there, but not nearly as bad nor as frequent as they were yesterday.  I even have a little bit of my appetite back, but I don't quite trust it yet, so I'm eating very small amounts of very bland, safe foods for the time being.  And my capacity to eat isn't anywhere close to normal anyway, I tried eating a bowl of cereal with almond milk earlier today and could only eat about half of it before I felt too full and a bit nauseous and had to stop.  So I know I still have a ways to go before I'm recovered from this flu or virus or whatever it is, but I'm making good progress which is encouraging.  I'm still going to skip Ride the Drive just to be safe.  I'll probably go to work tomorrow - I think I'm feeling okay enough that I can make it through one day of work and then continue to rest and recover over the weekend.  My dad suggested that we all go visit my grandma on Sunday afternoon, so I'm going to play it by ear and may or may not go depending on how I'm feeling.  And of course I don't want her to catch whatever this is.  So we'll see about that.

Hot weather affects me badly too as you know, so I'm sure that was at least partially the culprit in your ride being more difficult than usual.  If I'm not hydrated well enough then that also can make a workout more difficult for me, and on a bike ride the wind can also be a killer.  Even my choice of bicycle can do me in, nowadays I almost always ride my road bike because it's lighter.  My cruiser bike is just too heavy for me I think.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm alive and did go to work today.  Sometimes when you're feeling ill but not terribly ill, a distraction is good.  So work is my distraction today, I've had a lot to catch up on.  I'm still not feeling great, but I continue to improve.  The abdominal pains are lesser and fewer, and I even had a fairly solid bowel movement this morning.  Fever is still gone.  Appetite and eating are not back on track yet though, I have a slight appetite but am still not able to eat very much without becoming nauseous.  I also don't seem to have much thirst so I have to sort of force myself to drink or I find that I start to become dehydrated.  That's not great.  I'm thinking I might cancel my visit with my grandma on Sunday.  I haven't decided for sure yet, but that's the direction I'm leaning in.  That way I wouldn't get her sick and I could stay at home and rest some more.  That sounds like the best plan right now.  I'm going to decide for sure tomorrow and then will let my dad know.  Fortunately he's the one person in my family who is actually supportive of me when I'm not feeling well.  My dad is the one person who will ask me how I'm doing, and when I automatically say I'm fine (even if I'm not fine, I always just say I'm fine), he asks me, "No really, how are you, really?"  He sees through the BS and the "I'm fine" mask that I put on every day.  And he's the only one who does that.  It's really odd to me that he's so supportive now that I'm an adult, because I really hated him when I was a kid.  But that's another rant for another day.

Fitness-wise, obviously I'm going to continue to rest and have no plans to do anything active whatsoever.  I know I need to heal and recover from this virus or whatever before I attempt to push my body in any way.  So my weekend is looking like it's going to be crocheting and maybe some sewing.  But hey, I've been getting a lot of crocheting done lately.    I have been making a lot of hats lately, with the intention to give a few as gifts and donate the rest to a cancer hospital.  I now have almost 3 full boxes full of hats!  And also one box of scarves.  I'm definitely making good progress at that, I am happy that I can crochet even when I'm not feeling well, and in turn do something nice for others.  That makes me feel worthwhile on otherwise worthless days.


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## scottsma

It always seems to be one step forward and two steps back doesn't it ? But I'm glad you're not pushing yourself and planning to rest over the weekend.I managed to get out again today on the bike.I really didn't feel like it but was glad I made the effort.I walked into town and back this morning for a few bits.We have friends coming on Sunday to go to the Life Boat summer fayre on the river so I wanted a few nibbles etc to have when they get here.Them and hubby might get fish and chips when we're out,depending on the length of the Queue.The forecast is for a hot spell and thunder storms next week.Make sure and have a restful weekend Cat,do what your body tells you.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I made a pretty quick recovery this time around.  Guts are still a teeny tad bit grumbly, but about 95% better than they were.  As you may have seen in the LOW thread, I went out and bought a new (well, used) car today.  That was very exciting!  So I am planning to go visit my grandma tomorrow, I'm feeling quite well and up for it and I don't think I'm contagious anymore as I had initially come down with this virus on Tuesday.  And my parents want to see my new car, ha ha.    I'm sure my grandma will be excited for me too although she'll forget all about it 30 seconds later.  Oh well.

I was fairly active after getting home from our car buying adventure.  Hubby worked on the new car (he put new brake pads on it) while I worked in the yard, then we had a nice dinner.  My eating still isn't quite back to normal yet, I think my stomach shrank from not eating hardly anything for a few days there, so I didn't eat much dinner but I felt quite full.  Hubby did eat a lot.  So we decided to walk off the fullness, and we took Lily for a long walk through the park.  That was very nice.  I'll take it easier tomorrow, my only plans are to visit my grandma in the afternoon, so I can sleep in and relax all morning.


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## scottsma

Well that was a good day !!! It rained yesterday so I had a lazy day (another one hahaha)
We have old friends coming today for a walk down to the river for the life boat summer fayre.It's very warm.I was just about to do some ironing and popped out in perspiration,so changed my mind.Safe driving......you haven't mention work worries recently ?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I am still having work worries, but for the time being things seem reasonably stable, so I decided that now is the time to buy a car (it was used, and it didn't eat up all of my savings and I paid 100% in full, so no car payments).  They are closing 3 of the branch offices at work but not our office, at least not yet anyway.  So for the time being, we're all focused on those 3 offices that are closing - they actually said they don't want to lay off anyone at this time, so we're all working on helping relocate those staff to other branch offices.  The offices will close at the end of August, so I feel like I'm reasonably safe at least until then.  So in the meantime I'm going to focus on making money and saving money to replenish some of what we did spend on the car.  And I figure if I do get let go, I will need reliable transportation to get me to job interviews etc - my old car was becoming louder and quirkier and not as reliable as she had been in years past.  It was a bit of a risky gamble to buy a newer car, but not too risky.  I tend to play it safe, and it seemed like a pretty safe thing to do.  If my old car had died and left me stuck, I'd have needed to scramble to find a new car.  By buying a newer car before my old car died, I avoid that emergency situation and have much better control over the situation.  So I think it'll all be okay!


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## scottsma

I agree,a reliable car is important for all sorts of reasons.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I would say I'm still not quite up to par after that virus last week - my eating and bowels are still just slightly off.  I still can't seem to eat very much, and my stools were a bit loose (then yesterday I took a Zofran so now I'm a bit backed up).  I feel mostly well, just a teeny bit of recovering left to do.

I did end up visiting my grandma yesterday.  It was mostly a good visit although she got snippy a few times.  I know that's the dementia and not her.  It's still difficult to watch her decline, though.  After I got home, I had to do my chores.  We were so busy on Saturday with car stuff that I hadn't done my usual weekend chores yet.  So I quickly took out the garbage and vacuumed while hubby did dishes and straightened up.  We also went grocery shopping and had to stop at the pet store.  I got some praying mantises and I had to get them some food (live crickets).  So yesterday was busy because of the visit and the chores.  I didn't end up walking Lily, but I was pretty active otherwise.

I'm hoping to walk Lily tonight after work.  Today is looking like the one nice day this week.  After this, it's going to get hotter out again and rainy off and on too.  So I'll do what I can when I can.  Pred-wise, I'm planning to taper on Friday.  I'm feeling okay aside from the last little lingering symptoms from the virus, so hopefully my taper will go okay (knock on wood).

My new car is great!  I'm thinking I might even be able to fit my bicycle in it.  The car is a hatchback and I've laid down the back seat to get more cargo space.  I can also at least partially lay down the front passenger seat.  So at some point soon I'm going to test it out.  If I can fit my bike in then I can take it to new places to ride, not just areas within a few miles of my house.  That will open up whole new adventures for me.  Hubby's having friends over on Saturday, so if the weather is nice on Saturday and if I can fit my bike in, I might take it somewhere new to ride.  Possibly on the forest path!  There's a lot of paved path and it's open to both cyclists and walkers (no cars).  I'm excited about that possibility.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did walk Lily last night.  It was slightly too warm and the mosquitoes were out, but overall it was a good walk.  Today it's way too warm and humid to do much of anything, and we're supposedly getting storms this evening, ugh.  That's how the rest of the week is looking, too.  Not ideal.  It's looking like Sunday will be the first not too warm nor stormy day.  I still want to go out and do something on Saturday, so we'll see if I'm able to have an adventure or if the weather keeps me inside.


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## scottsma

It was v.warm here at the weekend but we enjoyed our friends visit.Been cycling Mon.& Tues. as it was cooler at the coast.It's overcast today and thundery showers are a maybe,so not sure whether or not to cycle or hit the auction.Praying Mantis' sound interesting.They wont take much exercising hahaha.We have tropical fish indoors and goldfish out back.They started off as little tiddlers  and just got bigger.After having to buy three tanks to accommodate them it was cheaper to put them outdoors.Glad you got to visit Gran and I'm sure you know she doesn't mean to be snappy.Count to ten before you reply.(she'll probably forget what she said by then) Love the car......


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Fitness is on hold indefinitely.  My walking partner is very sick.    Lily had to have emergency surgery last night, and she more likely than not has cancer.  I wrote a much longer post about it in the LOW thread.  I'm devastated and so worried right now.


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## scottsma

Oh Cat,how awful !!!! I'm shocked.I will go to LOWs now.Sending hugs.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Lily is home from the emergency vet.  She's on restricted movement for 2 weeks, so no walking with her for at least that long.  After that time, her staples come out and then she can start taking short (like 5 min) walks.  I'm still so worried for her - no pathology results yet but she most likely has cancer.  But I'm also so happy that she's home.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Lily officially gets her staples out on Aug 2nd.  I'm hoping she'll be feeling well enough on that day to have a short walk.  And by then I should know her test results, so if she is feeling up for a walk but if it's positive for cancer, then maybe we'll walk around the pet store and pick out some treats and toys.  I'm also going to buy her some ground beef tonight to cook up for her dinner.  She needs a lot of pampering right now.


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## scottsma

I know how hard this is for you Cat,it's just horrible.That's why we won't have another, dog,well the main reason really.Even when I see an oldie out for a walk,I get heart ache,knowing what it's owners have to face soon.Alfie was dx'd with lymphoma at first and the vet phoned us while we were on holiday in our caravan.Kind of spoiled it for us,but Alf was unaware and he enjoyed himself.We had him for an extra 3 years,but it was always on our mind.That's the trouble with dogs,their live span is to short and no matter how many years they have, there comes the time when we have to say our last goodbye.It's the last kind thing we do for them.Please try and stay well Cat.Sending hugs.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Carol.  Lily isn't even particularly old - she's only 8, and corgis can live to be 15.  But if she does end up having cancer, I read that the type she likely has tends to affect large breed dogs aged 8 to 10.  Corgis, surprisingly, are considered a large breed.  She's short but she has a large chest and torso.  So yeah, she fits the type and the age - large breed, age 8.  But, I did read something encouraging yesterday.  It said that the larger the tumor, the more likely it is to be benign.  Apparently the biggest ones are more often benign.  I'm not sure exactly how big her mass was, but the vet described it as being very large.  So I've got a bit of hope.  Still waiting on those pathology results to be sure, though.  I'm going to call them this afternoon if they don't call me before then.

Wow, I'm glad you got another 3 years with him, that's quite good.  They told me, and my googling confirms, that if Lily does have cancer (hemangiosarcoma), that she'll have about 3 months left.  It's apparently a very fast-growing and aggressive cancer.  I'm still on pins & needles waiting for those results.  I had to ask my GP to refill my anti-anxiety medication (lorazepam) because it's been such a challenging time lately, I've been so anxious and crying a lot and not sleeping well ever since Lily got sick.  I'm trying to take care of myself but it's hard.  I do have a weekend of doing nothing planned - I'm just going to stay at home, take care of Lily, watch movies, maybe do some sewing.  Hubby was going to have friends over but I told him I don't want people in my house, so his friends are getting together elsewhere.  I also canceled plans the following weekend, a friend of mine was going to come over but I asked her if we could reschedule and she totally understood.  So yeah, I'm going to rest and relax and take care of Lily and that's it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I wrote a little more in LOW, but long story short - I got Lily's test results back just now, and it is cancer.  It's metastatic, it's already spread to at least one other organ.  She probably has a few months left at best.  I'm so, so upset.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I wrote a little more in LOW, but long story short - I got Lily's test results back just now, and it is cancer.  It's metastatic, it's already spread to at least one other organ.  She probably has a few months left at best.  I'm so, so upset.


I am so sorry to hear that it's bad news.  Sending hugs your way.


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## scottsma

Ah,Cat.I don't know what to say that hasn't already been said by all our crohnie family.
Shoulders back and deep breathes.Don't let her see your distress,let this be a happy time for her.Sending hugs.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

She's seen my distress plenty, I cry easily and I have a soft spot for animals anyway, so when it's my own animal in distress I turn into a big mess of ugly crying.  I am trying my best to make this a good time for Lily, though.  She is manipulating me for all that's worth, too.    She's a very smart dog and very food-motivated.  I had been giving her cooked hamburger and a little bit of her kibble.  Well, she decided she didn't want her kibbble, and then she didn't want hamburger either.  She only wanted treats.  So, I gave her a bunch of treats and she was happy as a clam about that.  She's dying of cancer so we've decided she can eat whatever she wants.  If she just wants treats then I guess she can just have treats.  I won't say no to my dying dog.  Especially after Saturday - she started having seizures that day.  She's on anti-seizure meds now and seems to be doing okay, but that's two days within the last week that we had to rush her to the emergency vet.  So she can have all the treats she wants, and next time we have to rush to the emergency vet, hubby and I are thinking that it will probably be time to put her down (the seizures likely mean that the cancer has already spread to her brain, so she's pretty far gone already).  It's been so hard, but we don't want her to suffer.  In the meantime, lots of treats for Lily.  

(I should add that her treats are actually dog food - for years we've bought the high end "soft" kibble - I think it's called Moist & Meaty - and have given her that as a treat.  So really it technically is dog food.  We also bought some steak yesterday and are going to see if she's interested in eating that.)

I actually have a fitness update!  Some of the equipment at hubby's workplace broke down, so everyone got sent home today.  So, he's at home looking after Lily.  I have been planning to spend every lunch hour going home to check on her, let her out to potty, give her treats, etc.  But today he's home, so I don't necessarily have to go home on my lunch today.  And the weather looks really ideal for walking.  It's going to be about 75 degrees and a bit overcast, so not too warm, but not rainy either.  And I desperately need some stress relief and just to collect my thoughts and be by myself in the forest for a little while.  So that's the plan, I will head to the forest path for a much-needed walk on my lunch today.  I'm really, really looking forward to that.  

Part of me feels guilty for not spending every available minute with Lily, but I know I need to take care of myself too.  I have not been taking care of myself very well since she got sick last week.  I've been so worried about her that my stomach has been a mess with nausea and pain.  I've had very little appetite and I've lost about 4 lbs.  So me taking a walk is the first step towards taking better care of myself during this extremely challenging time.  I'm going to attempt to eat more/better starting today as well.


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## scottsma

I didn't want to look at your posts in case there was bad news and sighed with relief that things are ok so far.Nothing we say is going to make things easier so I won't rabbit on.You know how we all feel.It's a good idea trying to have some time to yourself when you can.Could Lily manage a little walk ? Maybe you could take her in the car to the park for a short while.You know best of course.Chin up,try to be strong.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Lily can't really walk very well right now and is also not supposed to walk right now, so doubly no, unfortunately.  If she makes it past next week Wednesday then hopefully I can try taking her on a very short walk.  She gets her staples out from her incision from surgery next week Wednesday, and we were instructed to limit her mobility until then so that she doesn't pull out a staple or re-open her incision.  And, the anti-seizure medication has made her very wobbly, to the point that she is having a hard time walking.  She's very, very unsteady on her feet and they sort of slip or collapse out from under her at times.  When she goes outside to go potty, I have to help her down the 2 small steps by our door, and then I have to hold her up while she does her business as her legs sometimes sort of collapse out from under her.  But, the vet did say that she should acclimate more to the medicine over time, and it's only been since Saturday that she's been on the anti-seizure meds (she got her loading doses on Saturday after her initial two seizures).  So hopefully with each day that passes, she'll be a little more steady on her feet, and maybe once her staples are out then we can try a very short, slow walk to see how she does.  I was thinking I'd take her in the car to the pet store and walk her around in the store, and she can pick out whatever treats and toys she wants.

Speaking of the car, even my new car is making me depressed.  I purposely got a hatchback instead of a sedan (my old car was a sedan), so that I could just pop open the back hatch and put Lily in and go off on some adventures (hiking, etc).  It was supposed to be an adventure car for us.  And soon there's going to be no Lily, and certainly for the moment she is not up for having any adventures.  I know I can still take my new car on adventures by myself or with hubby, but it won't be quite the same without Lily.

My co-workers are amazing.  There are a couple of ladies at work that I'm friendly with who were both on vacation last week, so I caught them both up on what's been happening with Lily.  And they are both so kind and supportive.  They gave me their phone #s and told me to call them anytime I need to talk.  I also said I'm nervous about this upcoming weekend - hubby has to go out of town for work again from Fri - Sun, so it'll just be me and Lily, and if something happens, it'll be me by myself making the call on whether or not to put her down, which would be horrible.  So my two friends at work said they would come with me if I need them to, if the worst should happen this weekend.  That was so kind of them.  They've both lost pets recently themselves (one lost her dog and the other lost her cat) so they know what I'm going through.  It's nice to know that I have supportive people who are willing to help me out in such a horrible situation.

I'm going to have my walk soon.  It looks beautiful outside.  I'm going to put on my headphones and listen to my music and breathe in the forest air and let go of some of my worry and stress.  Obviously I have more than enough worry and stress to go around, but I'm going to try to let go as much as I can.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My walk yesterday was great.  The weather was nice and it made me feel better.  I don't feel as stressed or worried as I was.  I'm still of course worried about Lily, but not to the point that there's a pit of pain in my stomach like there's been.  So that's improvement.  I'm going to try to walk more when I can.  I do need to go home on my lunch break most days though, to feed her and let her out to potty and generally check on her, so I'm not sure exactly when I'll be able to exercise.

She's doing well, fortunately.  (As well as a dog with terminal metastatic cancer can be, anyway.)  Still no further seizures.  Her appetite is good.  She didn't want to eat kibble or hamburger the other day, but she's eaten a ton of treats, steak, and some carrots.  Poor thing, her anti-seizure medicine makes her very unsteady on her feet, sometimes her feet just slip out from under her and she falls over, especially when she's excited.  She got very excited about eating a carrot this morning and was trying to run towards me and fell.  I was like, it's okay, just lie there and I'll bring the carrot to you!  So she laid there and ate her carrot.    She's such a good dog.


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## scottsma

Ah bless her....at least she hasn't got far to fall.Good that she's eating no matter what it is.I'm glad you found walking eased your stress a wee bit.Like I've told we had Alf for an extra three years after his mis-diagnosis of lymphoma (Joey's dx)He did have cushings and it was me who told the vet.(thankyou internet)It was like the "sword of Damacles" hanging over our heads,but he and we, had a good three years mostly.Even dogs and pets who live their full life span without illness will depend on us to make the decision for them when it's time.....Did an 8ml cycle today.Too many people about though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Carol, I'm glad you had Alfie for so long after his mis-diagnosis, but how horrible to get a cancer diagnosis when that wasn't really it!    I'm glad you could figure it out though.  I'm quite confident that, unfortunately, Lily's diagnosis is accurate.  I did some reading about spleen tumors (hemangiosarcoma) in dogs, and they may as well have written those articles specifically about Lily because all of her symptoms fit perfectly.  And they did pathology on the tumor that they took out of Lily - they looked at it under a microscope and confirmed that it is definitely cancer.  I wish it was a mis-diagnosis for her, but I know it's cancer and we're just taking it day by day.  I know tomorrow isn't guaranteed for her.  Heck, a minute from now isn't guaranteed for her.  So I'm just going to try to enjoy every minute that we do have with her while she's still feeling okay and not suffering in any way.

Lily seems to be doing okay for the most part today.  She's a little less wobbly which is good.  She's been drinking a lot more water - she started drinking more right after her surgery, and then a few days later when the vet put her on the anti-seizure med, she said that makes dogs drink more too.  So she's been drinking a LOT of water lately.  That's one of the reasons that I'm now going home every day on my lunch hour, because she can no longer hold her bladder for 8 hours while hubby and I are at work (she can't even seem to hold it for 8 hours while we all sleep - she was whining at 4 AM today to be let out to potty, fortunately hubby is an early riser so he got up and let me sleep).  We put a puppy pee pad in her crate just in case she has an accident, and it looked like there was a bit of urine on the pad when I went home today to check on her.  So she got a fresh pad and I took her out twice to make sure she was as empty as possible before I headed back to work.  She peed twice and pooped 4 times in the 30 minutes that I was home!  But, like I said, she's been drinking a lot, and she's eating a lot as well as long as it's the food she wants to eat.  She'll eat her treats, and steak, and carrots as long as I keep putting them in front of her.  The sad part is, she was quite overweight when we got her.  She was 50 lbs and she's supposed to be about 35 lbs at the most.  So over the years we've been getting her to lose a couple lbs per year.  She just got down to 36 lbs as of the day of her surgery when the vet weighed her, so she was so close to her ideal weight - and now we don't care, we're just happy that she's eating and we'll feed her whatever she wants to eat.  All that time and effort to get her weight down and now it's all for naught.  Oh well.

Fitness-wise - the weather is actually quite nice out, it's not too warm at all, it's almost jacket weather.  It might be really nice weather for a bike ride this evening.  I'm thinking about going home, taking care of Lily's food and water and potty needs, and then maybe hopping on my bike for a short ride.  I feel a little bit guilty about not spending every available minute with Lily, but I need to take care of myself too, and fitness needs to be a part of that equation.  And, she'll get her dose of anti-seizure meds with her dinner, and that makes her drowsy.  So she'll probably just nap anyway while I'm on my bike ride.  So, that's the tentative plan.


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## scottsma

I think that's good that she's going to the loo plenty.Far better out than in.And what does it matter if she has an accident in the house.It doesn't now,but of course she will probably feel ashamed so it's good that you can get home at lunchtime.As to taking care of yourself.Of course it's important,but you can't spread yourself to thinly.You have Lily and work and a house to run,so don't push yourself to hard.It's not good for you.You need to be well to care for your little girl


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a good bike ride yesterday evening.  I needed that more than I even thought I did.  I only went about 5 or 6 miles.  I rode past the dog park, and I saw one of our usual group of friends (there are a few of us humans who often meet up together there with our dogs).  I had been hoping to see my neighbor who has 2 corgis - they are Lily's best friends.  I didn't see her, but I saw another lady from our group, so I stopped my bike and told her that she probably won't see me at the dog park again, or for a long time at least, because Lily is dying of terminal cancer.  This lady was very sympathetic.  And, she had my corgi neighbor's phone number.  So I got that although I haven't called her yet.  It's funny, the dog park is such that most people just know the dogs' names.  I know some of the humans' first names but none of their last names and none of their phone numbers.  It's always all about the dogs.  So anyway, it was nice talking with her, I felt like I needed to inform the dog park group about Lily, and she's going to tell the others when she sees them so that everybody knows why Lily and I don't come to the dog park anymore.  (Although I am going to buy a wagon, and hopefully if she's having a good day at some point after she gets her staples out, I can cart her to the park for a final visit or two.)

After that, I rode hard and fast away from the direction that my dying dog was in.  I kind of just wanted to ride away from the fact that she's dying, but I know I can't run away from reality.  I felt really emotional but also drained, like I'm sick of having so many emotions, and I started to get angry about it.  A cyclist passed me at one point, and he said, "Nice day for a ride" and I really wanted to reply, "F* you!"  I had such anger out of nowhere.  I'm angry that my dog is dying.  I'm really angry!  Somehow I went from sadness straight to anger.  I don't know if that's progress?  I know both are part of the grief process, and I guess I'm already grieving because I know she's dying, but she's still alive so I feel a bit weird.  Like, I don't want her to see me sad or angry.  So I guess when I got away from her on my bike, it all came out and I nearly took my anger out on another cyclist (who didn't deserve it, and I did manage to keep my mouth shut).

So yeah.  I think I need to do more fitness out of the house/away from Lily in the upcoming days & weeks, because it seems to help me at least start to process my feelings.  It's therapeutic.  Unfortunately, more rain storms are coming this afternoon/evening, so I don't think I can get away for outdoor fitness tonight.  Hopefully tomorrow.


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## Tony H

I know exactly how you feel about feeling angry Cat , at first I was in the verge of crying all the time ,
the day before yesterday nearly lost it with a driver that cut me off , 
It seems funny for me  to be going through the stages of grieving esp when Joey is still alive ,
hopefully you are feeling better after the cycle and that Lily is still stable and recovering from her surgery .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I wrote a long response and then the forum had an error message and ate my reply, ugh.  So here's the short version  Tony, I'm sorry to hear you're also in the anger phase, but it's good in a way to know that I'm not alone.  Not that I would ever want anybody else to go through this, it's absolutely terrible that we're both in this same boat, but at least we can support each other through it.  I don't feel like the anger phase is any easier than the crying phase - I'm still full of lots of emotions that I'm having a hard time dealing with.  Lily is recovering well from her surgery, the staples on her incision come out one week from today.  I just ordered online a soft cloth wagon for Lily.  I'm going to put blankets & cushions in it so that it's nice and comfortable, and then when her staples are out I can put her in the wagon and take her on a few more trips to the dog park, if she's feeling up to it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm even more angry now.  In talking with my hubby last night, I told him that I've reached the anger stage.  He told me he's already hit acceptance, and that every day that we have with Lily now is "frosting on the cake".  That just made me more angry!  It's only been like 9 days since she got sick!  How can he already have hit acceptance??  She's still alive FFS, he can't have hit acceptance yet.  Meanwhile I'm over here, angrier than ever about how unfair it is that my dog has cancer.  Resentful of my friends who have healthy dogs.  And just mad at life in general for being so crappy sometimes.  Ugh ugh ugh.

I guess that's just how hubby is, though.  Like, if there's a cold going around and we both catch it - he'll be sick for half a day and then be fine.  Meanwhile I'll be sick for like 3 weeks.  So I guess he's like that mentally too, he can bounce back from just about anything very quickly it seems.  He cries for a few days and then he's fine.  Meanwhile I cry for a few days, get angry, want to punch things, cry some more, repeat, repeat, repeat...

I didn't do any fitness things yesterday because we had some pretty torrential rains.  Some of the streets were flooded and I had to find alternate streets to drive on just to get home from work yesterday.  Then I got my umbrella and galoshes just to take Lily out to potty once I was home.  Fortunately though it's looking like it's not going to rain again for at least a little while.  I don't know if or when I'm going to do more fitness things.  I'm still full of angry emotions and I know I should find an outlet for them or they're going to come out at inappropriate times.  But I also don't feel like doing much.  So we'll see.

Oh, and get this.  So I've been posting a lot about Lily's deteriorating health on facebook.  Hubby's mother is on facebook so presumably she's seen at least some of my posts, and I know that hubby has told her on the phone that our dog has cancer.  So I know she knows.  She and hubby's father are renting some cabin somewhere next month and they want us to come up there for a "vacation" (staying with my in-laws does not sound like a vacation to me!).  I didn't want to go anyway, especially since we found out that hubby's sister is bringing her 5 rambunctious kids up there for basically the whole "vacation".  (That sounds even worse to me!)  So we're not going.  But hubby's mom still wants us to come.  And I'm like, you do know that my dog is dying, right?  I'm not leaving her in the care of others and I'm also not driving her several hours away from her vet.  I'm just not doing that.  But they don't seem to understand why we aren't coming, and hubby's mom told hubby that she wants to call him to discuss the "vacation".  It's like, seriously?  I don't want to vacation with my in-laws, I don't want to vacation with a pile of kids, and my dog is dying.  Are those really not enough reasons for someone to understand why I don't want to go?  Ugh!  Do not impose your weird crummy "vacation" on me!  It's not happening!  (There's that anger again.)


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## Tony H

Hey Cat a lot of older people (Im not old 57 [emoji4]) don't

 see dogs the way we do now ,
our pets are part of the family and they don't understand that ,
Its hard to have to put up with in laws and even worse their children at a time like this ,
Best thing is to be straight out and tell them No ,
If they don't like it thats their problem 
Every day with Lily is precious to her and even more so to you , 
Just back from the vet with Joey and she was very surprised at the reduced size of the lumps on his neck ,hopefully we will have a few more weeks with him ,
hope Lily is doing well .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm glad Joey is doing reasonably okay, and I hope you do get at least a few more good weeks with him.  Yes, she definitely is my family.  I don't have kids, so my hubby and my dog and cat are my family.  And I like my pets much more than I like my in-laws!  I don't think my in-laws have ever much liked me either though.  When hubby and I got engaged, we announced it first to my parents and they were very happy and called hubby "son" and hugged us and all that.  But then when we announced our engagement to hubby's parents, they were watching TV, and they were like, "Huh, you're engaged.  Oh.  Okay.  Tell us more at the commercial."  And they went back to watching TV.  So yeah, I've never been close with them anyway.  I don't care if they think less of me if hubby and I don't go along on this stupid "vacation."  My dog is my priority.

Lily is doing okay.  She's been a bit lethargic, but I'm sure that's because her medicine is still making her drowsy.  She's still a bit wobbly too but that's improving every day.  She's eating well.  Hubby gave her steak and carrots for breakfast this morning, and we noticed something funny - she ate her carrots first!  I think she likes carrots better than steak.    What a silly girl she is.

You're right, 57 is not old!  I'm 37 so I know I'm fairly young still.  My grandma is 85 and has dementia.  Every time she asks me how old she is, and I tell her she's 85, she's like, "Wow!  That's old!"  And then she asks my dad how old he is, and he says he's 64, and she again says, "Wow!  You're old!"  And she repeats that with me when I say I'm 37.    So I think age is just a perspective thing anyway, since my grandma seems surprised at how old every single person is, regardless of their actual age.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Lily is still eating well and seems to be feeling reasonably well.  But, I was petting her yesterday evening, and I found a new lump.    It's on her ribcage in the right armpit area - I'm guessing it's a lymph node?  She doesn't have a lump in the left armpit area, only on the right side, I kept checking both sides to make sure I wasn't imagining things.  It seems like her cancer is really spreading fast, which makes sense because hemangiosarcoma is an aggressive and fast-spreading cancer in dogs.  But it sucks, a lot.  I have mostly left the anger phase and went right back to depression & crying.  After I found the lump last night, I went into the shower and just cried.  I'm losing my dog so quickly.  When they said that average survival rate with this cancer is 3 months, I sort of assumed I'd have 3 months with her.  But it's only been 1 week since her diagnosis of cancer, and we've learned that it's already spread to probably 3 new spots at least - it started in the spleen, the vets confirmed that the cancer spread to the omentum (the fatty layer that covers the intestines), they think it spread to the brain hence the seizures, and now my guess is that it's spread to the lymph nodes too.  With all of this happening, there's no way she's got 3 months left.  I'd be surprised if she has one month left.

I was thinking about taking a bike ride tomorrow morning.  But since I went back to the crying phase, my guts went back to feeling unhappy (they were not happy for the whole time that I was previously in the crying phase).  I'm right back to nausea, no appetite, and some abdominal pain.  So I don't know if a bike ride is wise.  Probably not.  I'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow, but it's looking like the plan is to rest when I'm in the crying phase and exercise when I'm in the anger phase.  My guts feel better when I'm in the anger phase, but I also feel like I want to swear at and punch everybody, so I need an outlet for that, which is exercise.  But right now, in the crying phase, I just need to get through it.

I'm exhausted too and I can't sleep in.  Lily's been waking up at about 4 AM every day lately because she has to urgently go potty, she can't hold her bladder for longer than that even though we take her out to go potty right at bedtime (10 PM).  Hubby is going out of town this morning and won't be back until Sunday night, he and his boss have an event they're going to go work at which is several hours away.  So it's just me and Lily.  I don't want anything bad to happen this weekend, but I'm also mentally preparing myself in case I do have to have her put down (hubby has told me to do what needs to be done and not to wait for him to get home if that situation should occur).  My mom and brother are coming down for a visit tomorrow, so at least I won't be alone the whole time.  And I have several friends on standby who have offered to come with me if I do need to take Lily in to be put down.  Just thinking about that makes me cry, I have some good supportive people in my life.  But I'm still slightly terrified about being alone with hubby so far away all weekend.  I'm just going to do my best to take care of Lily and myself and get through it.  And hopefully she'll be okay all weekend and I won't have to do the difficult thing without hubby.

So yeah.  I see some naps in my future this weekend.  And probably a lot of resting, watching movies, crocheting, maybe some sewing.  I don't really have any spending money since we spent so much on vet bills, so I'll likely mostly stay in, and will go on a bike ride if I'm feeling up for it.


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## Tony H

Thats a lymph node all right Cat ,Joey has  lumps there as well , allI can say is that I'm thinking of you and Lily and sending prayers and good thoughts and strength to help ye through this .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thank you Tony.  I'm sending you and Joey hugs and happy thoughts as well.  It's so, so difficult going through this (and watching our furry friends go through this).  I hope both of us and our animals can have a calm, peaceful, pain-free, symptom-free, good weekend.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

No fitness updates today.  I didn't do anything very active over the weekend aside from some chores around the house (I took out the garbage, did some laundry, etc).  Since we've spent so much money lately on vet bills, I stayed in and didn't spend any money.  I did a bunch of sewing (I already have plenty of fabric and patterns, so didn't need to buy a thing).  My mom and brother came over and they took me out to lunch, and said their goodbyes to Lily.  And on Sunday, my neighbor with 2 corgis (Lily's 2 best friends) came over with her dogs so that Lily could see them a last time before she goes.  I don't think Lily has got much time left.  I don't think she's in pain, but she doesn't seem totally comfortable or content, either.  She's been sighing heavily when she lies down.  She's also having diarrhea.  She just sounds and looks tired and like she's close to being done, I think.  She'll see the vet again on Wednesday, she gets her staples out on that day.  I'm going to ask the vet about the lymph nodes.  I have a feeling the cancer is spreading a lot and I'd like to hear the vet's opinion on that.

I'm also still exhausted.  I got up at 4 AM both weekend days to let Lily out to potty, since I know she can't hold it for 8 hours anymore.  I also ended up waking up at about 2:45 this morning and let her out and then had trouble falling back to sleep.  The sleep disruptions plus the stress and sadness over the fact that my dog is dying has really fatigued me.  

So yeah, I mostly stayed in and sewed.  I made myself a cute oversized fleece hoodie - it's so warm!  And I started making a cute top with this fabric I got a little while ago, it's teal green with cute birds on it.  Didn't finish that one yet but got all the pieces cut out from the pattern.  Sewing is good, it distracts me from things.  And I need distractions right now.  I have a feeling that a lot more sewing is in my near future.

The weather this week is looking like it'll be nice.  I'm hoping to take a walk and a bike ride this week.  Not sure when just yet.  I have to play things by ear because I'm not sure how Lily will be doing on any given day (or any given hour, minute...).


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## Tony H

Can't really say much Cat apart from that you and Lily are in my thoughts.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I don't think Lily has got much time left.  I don't think she's in pain, but she doesn't seem totally comfortable or content, either.  She's been sighing heavily when she lies down.  She's also having diarrhea.  She just sounds and looks tired and like she's close to being done, I think.  She'll see the vet again on Wednesday, she gets her staples out on that day.  I'm going to ask the vet about the lymph nodes.  I have a feeling the cancer is spreading a lot and I'd like to hear the vet's opinion on that.


Unfortunately, that's how we knew our dog needed to be put down.  She was miserable and nothing that we were doing was of any help.  Of course, it's not an easy decision by any means, but we knew that she would go on our terms and we could be with her at the end.  She was going blind and deaf and her pain level was intolerable.  She was having many accidents in the house, too, because she couldn't control her bowels anymore and her quality of life was poor.  It's a personal decision that only you can make.  We were glad that our dog was relieved of her suffering, but it's also hard to take in that she was gone.  The house felt so empty for a month until we got another dog at my insistence (I have never been able to be without a dog for long and it was very hard for me).  Our current dog could never replace the former one, but it's nice to have a dog in the house.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It sounds like it was time for your dog, I'm sorry you had to go through that.  Lily isn't quite there yet.  She's not having accidents in the house, she's having diarrhea but so far it's all outside in the yard (I am letting her out to potty every few hours and she lets me know if she needs to go out urgently).  And she's still very interested in food and treats - she perks right up when I just say the word "treat".  And I don't think she's in pain, she's more just lethargic and she knows there's something going on and she's not feeling like her usual self.  So I know it's not quite time yet.  But the time is coming, very soon.  I know I will have to give myself at least a few months at least, if not maybe a year or more, once she's gone, before I get another dog.  I've entertained the idea of maybe getting a new dog soon, but I know I can't do that.  When I think of it, my first thought is, I don't want another dog - I want MY dog!  I want Lily!  But, Lily is dying.  So I think I will need to fully deal with that first before I do anything about getting or fostering another dog.  When I'm ready, which might not be for a long time, then I'm planning to foster to ease myself back into things without a commitment right away.  In the meantime I'm going to give my cat so many cuddles and catnip and treats.  (My cat is 14 but healthy, hopefully she has at least a few years left.)

I think part of it is that Lily is still reasonably young (she's only 8) and she's only been sick for just shy of 2 weeks.  Prior to the Tuesday before last, she was a healthy, normal dog.  She got so sick so suddenly.  I feel like I'm still a bit in denial maybe, because it's still hard to wrap my head around.  She's my hiking buddy, we go on adventures together.  And now she's dying.  My brain can't quite work out how that happened.  We should be going on hikes, not thinking about cremation.

But, I am thinking about cremation.  I ordered online a small pendant in which a small amount of ashes can be put into.  I'm going to put a bit of Lily's ashes in the pendant, so that she can still go on hikes with me.  I think I'm going to scatter the rest of her ashes at my grandpa's grave, because they were good buddies.  He really loved Lily.  I'm almost glad that he's gone, because he would have died of heartbreak if he knew Lily was dying of cancer.  I like the idea of the two of them being laid to rest together.

Tony, how's Joey doing?  Give him some treats and pats for me.


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## Tony H

Hey Cat Joeys not too bad , he's getting spoilt rotten , we went into a friend s home tonight and he had a big portion of lasagna ready for Joey which he demolished very quickly ,
The worst part is that he seems fed up a lot of the time, thats hard to see when you are used to this 24/7
but he still gets a little exited for most human food which is nice ,
saying prayers and positive thoughts for Lily snd yourself .


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> It sounds like it was time for your dog, I'm sorry you had to go through that.  Lily isn't quite there yet.  She's not having accidents in the house, she's having diarrhea but so far it's all outside in the yard (I am letting her out to potty every few hours and she lets me know if she needs to go out urgently).  And she's still very interested in food and treats - she perks right up when I just say the word "treat".  And I don't think she's in pain, she's more just lethargic and she knows there's something going on and she's not feeling like her usual self.  So I know it's not quite time yet.  But the time is coming, very soon.  I know I will have to give myself at least a few months at least, if not maybe a year or more, once she's gone, before I get another dog.  I've entertained the idea of maybe getting a new dog soon, but I know I can't do that.  When I think of it, my first thought is, I don't want another dog - I want MY dog!  I want Lily!  But, Lily is dying.  So I think I will need to fully deal with that first before I do anything about getting or fostering another dog.  When I'm ready, which might not be for a long time, then I'm planning to foster to ease myself back into things without a commitment right away.  In the meantime I'm going to give my cat so many cuddles and catnip and treats.  (My cat is 14 but healthy, hopefully she has at least a few years left.)
> 
> I think part of it is that Lily is still reasonably young (she's only 8) and she's only been sick for just shy of 2 weeks.  Prior to the Tuesday before last, she was a healthy, normal dog.  She got so sick so suddenly.  I feel like I'm still a bit in denial maybe, because it's still hard to wrap my head around.  She's my hiking buddy, we go on adventures together.  And now she's dying.  My brain can't quite work out how that happened.  We should be going on hikes, not thinking about cremation.
> 
> But, I am thinking about cremation.  I ordered online a small pendant in which a small amount of ashes can be put into.  I'm going to put a bit of Lily's ashes in the pendant, so that she can still go on hikes with me.  I think I'm going to scatter the rest of her ashes at my grandpa's grave, because they were good buddies.  He really loved Lily.  I'm almost glad that he's gone, because he would have died of heartbreak if he knew Lily was dying of cancer.  I like the idea of the two of them being laid to rest together.
> 
> Tony, how's Joey doing?  Give him some treats and pats for me.


Yes, you will know.  Dogs have a special way of telling us they are ready.  Ours was actually telling us for at least a week but we couldn't let her go just yet.  She wasn't eating or anything and was sleeping all the time.  It's good that Lily is still interested in food and treats.  That's a good sign!  I agree that she's not there yet.  I hope you get to spend a lot of time with her while she's still able to enjoy things.  Even though she may be sick, this is the most precious time.  I will never forget our dog.  I miss her all the time and made a photo album of pictures with her in it and I still cry sometimes when I think about her (I think I just made myself tear up ).  We got her right before I was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and PTSD so I leaned on her for comfort quite a bit.  Being without her is HARD.  I loved petting her, smelling her fur, and holding her paw.  She was precious.  Her name was Lucy and we had her from 1998-2013.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Tony, what a great photo of Joey!  He looks so happy.  I'm trying to take as many happy photos of Lily as I can, too.  I know that soon, all I'll have is photos and memories.  I'm glad to hear he's still eating.  Is lasagna his favorite food?  You've mentioned it a couple of times now.  I don't think I've ever given Lily lasagna, but maybe I should!  She loves all people food except for stuff like lettuce.  I know she likes meat and cheese.  I just don't want to make her stomach upset, maybe I'll buy a small lasagna and give her just a couple of bites to see how she seems to be feeling after that.

It's been two weeks today since Lily got sick.  She's getting her surgery staples out tomorrow.  I have a list of questions to ask the vet, so I'm hoping that she can give me a better idea of how much the cancer has spread (lymph nodes) and approximately how much time Lily might have left.  They initially generically said that most dogs average 3 months after surgery, but she's had seizures and I think lymph node involvement since then, so I don't think she has anywhere close to 3 months.  She's not feeling too badly, though.  Mornings seem a little bit rough, she's lethargic and sighs a lot in the mornings.  She'll lie down, sigh, get up, move 3 feet away, lie down again and sigh again, repeat.  That's how mornings are going lately.  But then she seems to improve by late morning, and afternoons & evenings she's a bit antsy because she hasn't been allowed to go for a walk since her surgery.  We'll be allowed to try short (5 minute) walks once the staples come out tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes.  I do have a wagon for her now if she tires out.

I'm coping okay for the moment, too.  I went on a bike ride yesterday evening.  My legs felt quite strong and I rode fast and far until I tired out.  I rode through the arboretum.  It's a very pretty place with lots of trees, it's like a big forest in the middle of the city.  There's not a lot of wind in there because there are so many trees, and there are few cars driving through there on a weeknight, so it's a pretty ideal place to ride.  It is hilly though, so I got tired out from the hills.  Towards the end of my ride, my GERD was letting me know that it was not happy.  So I headed home and had some more ranitidine to calm that down.

Poor Lily, she didn't know what to think.  Usually when I put on my exercise clothes, it means that I'm going to take her for a walk.  So she saw me putting on exercise clothes and got excited, and I had to tell her, no, I'm sorry, you're not cleared to walk yet!  Poor Lil.  Of course there are more storms in the forecast for Wed - Sun, so I don't know when I'll be able to walk her with her wagon once her staples are out.  We'll just play it by ear and see how she seems to be feeling and what the weather is doing.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Lily got her staples out today and she did great, didn't squirm or anything.  We've been given clearance to start walking her again - obviously starting with short walks.  We're not sure what her energy level is going to be like, so we're going to give it a try tonight.  The weather looks like there's a slight chance of storms, but it probably (hopefully) won't be raining.  We will probably just go once around the block to see how she does.  If that goes well, then maybe after a couple days of that, we'll go on a somewhat longer walk and will bring the wagon along then in case she tires out along the way.

The vet didn't sugarcoat anything, though (which I appreciate).  She said we're in hospice mode now.  She's seen this type of cancer many times before and it's almost always aggressive and most dogs don't tend to live longer than the 3 months that they tell everybody.  With Lily's seizures, she almost certainly won't make it to 3 months post-op.  But, the vet did say that most dogs with this type of cancer don't tend to experience much pain at all.  It's a relatively low-pain type of cancer.  So that's good to know.  As of today she's 15 days post-op.  So we're just going to try to appreciate every day that we do get.

A friend of mine went through cancer a few months back - I had crocheted a blanket and gave it to her to support and comfort her before she had her surgery.  And, fortunately, the surgeons were able to get my friend's cancer all out with just surgery, so no chemo nor radiation needed.  Phew!  Now, my friend is supporting me - she sent Lily a care package which arrived yesterday.  It had a cute toy and some yummy treats.  Lily was very excited to receive new treats!  And I was so touched by my friend's support.  It was really nice of her.  I can't imagine what my friend was feeling when she was going through cancer, but I know she knows some of what Lily is going through, even if Lily doesn't understand it herself.  And she surely understands some of what hubby and I are feeling, too.  So it was nice to have the support of somebody who's been there & done that (even though of course it was awful that she had cancer too).

So yeah, that's the fitness plan and the Lily plan, a short walk each day and building back up towards longer walks, with the wagon as a back-up plan.  She's been quite antsy the past few days especially, I know she's really wanted to go on walks.  She'd see me getting ready to go on a bike ride, and she'd get excited because she thought it was walkies time, but it wasn't and that broke my heart trying to tell her that she wasn't allowed to walk yet.  I really wonder how much dogs understand about situations like this.  Does she know she's sick?  I'm guessing she doesn't know that she's dying.  She probably just knows that she's been to the vet a lot lately but that she's also getting a lot of treats and yummy food lately.  I would guess she doesn't even correlate the two as being related.  But who knows.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I took Lily for a walk around the block yesterday and she did great.    The weather was nice and she seemed to be feeling pretty well.  We didn't need the wagon, she was able to do a walk around the block without getting too tired out.  It was a bit warm out though and she definitely did seem tired and warm by the end of the walk, so I'm glad we kept it short and simple.  (The whole walk took about 10 mins tops, and that included time for her to stop and sniff things frequently.)

Today it's been pouring rain all morning, with more rain in the forecast for this afternoon & evening, so unless it magically clears up, we won't take a walk tonight.  Tomorrow is looking like better weather, cooler but not rainy which sounds ideal to me.  I'm planning another walk around the block with her tomorrow.  Will see how she's feeling during the weekend and what the weather is doing then, and will plan accordingly.


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## scottsma

I'm so happy to hear Lily enjoyed a walk Cat.It will have done her a power of good after being restricted for so long.I hope the weather is kind enough to allow her to enjoy lots more.Eating and sniffing about in the open air,that's what dogs love best of all.And hugs and treats too of course.I hope you are looking after yourself too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm trying, but it's still hard to focus on myself.  I had lost about 4 lbs when she got sick, and I've been making myself eat, so I've gained back about 2 lbs.  Being able to walk with her again, even if it's just short walks, does make me feel a lot better.  It gets both of us outside and active which is huge.  And I'm so happy that she's doing well enough to be able to walk, so that just by itself makes me feel better.  I know she's still dying, but in the meantime she's doing okay so I'm not as worried as I was.  It's like we both get to take a little bit of a breather in the midst of all this horribleness.  We know the horribleness will come back worse than ever, and soon, but for now we're in the eye of the storm and things are reasonably calm.


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## Tony H

Great that Lily was able to get out for a short walk , no matter how sick they are it does them good to get out .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Tony, yes, it for sure does them good (and us too!).  How's Joey doing today?  Still eating well and feeling reasonably well, I hope?


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## Tony H

Hi Cat he's not too bad , he gets bursts of energy every now and then, he's still in love with food , all you have to do is open the refrigerator door and he's at your side waiting for treats,
hopefully the weather will pick up again and he can go for a swim again ,
I think he knows something is wrong with him and it's getting to him ,
but it's great to still have him with us and hopefully we will get a few more weeks with him .
I hope the mood changes are down to the prednisone and its not pain .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Tony, I also hope it's not pain.  Did your vet give you any pain meds for Joey?  Lily seems to be in a low mood mainly in the mornings too - I think I've mentioned this already, but she'll sigh a lot and just sort of lays around and looks at us with sad eyes.  But, if I so much as say the word "treat" then she perks right up - the ears go up and the eyes get wide and all of a sudden she's in a much better mood.  So hopefully she's not feeling too badly.  It's still something that I can remedy with treats anyway.  I don't know if she knows that she's sick, it's hard for me to even guess at how much she understands of the situation.  (The vet did say that Lily's type of cancer only affects dogs, humans apparently don't get hemangiosarcoma, so it's impossible to say for sure how she's feeling as there's no human comparison.)  I'll just keep giving her lots of treats for as long as she wants to eat them, and cuddles and walkies and whatever else she wants. 

On that note, we weren't able to have a walk yesterday as it rained for much of the day.  Today is also dreary and drizzly and quite cool - it feels like autumn already.  It's like we skipped August & Sept and went right to October.  The trees suddenly are starting to change color, and I could hear geese honking this morning, which I only hear when they're either flying south for winter or flying back up here to the north during the spring (and they never fly south this early!).  So it really feels like autumn, so much for summer!  It's drizzly and miserable to the point that a walk with Lily probably won't happen tonight, either.  I'll make sure she gets plenty of treats and cuddles to make up for it.  Hopefully tomorrow we can go on a short walk.  If the weather is still bad over the weekend, I think I'm going to put Lily in the car and take her to the pet store.  We'll walk around in there for a bit and she can pick out treats, toys, whatever she wants.  There are several pet stores in town and I think all of them allow dogs on leashes in the store, so if the weather is bad all weekend then maybe we'll just go to a couple different pet stores!  At least that way she can get out of the house, go for a car ride, have a bit of an adventure and walk around a bit, sniff new things, maybe meet other dogs, etc.


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## scottsma

Cat,I hope you don't mind me saying this.Because Lily isn't exercising much and getting lots of treats are you worried about her gaining weight ? I know it seems silly at this time in her life to worry about weight gain,but it might cause her discomfort in her poorly places.Idon't know.It was just a random thought.Maybe the cancer will cause her to lose weight and the extra weight will even things out.I hope I haven't offended you.I honestly don't mean to.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Carol, no worries, you haven't offended me.  She has gained weight recently.  She's gained 3 lbs since her surgery 17 days ago!  I know she's going to gain weight.  She was 50 lbs when we got her nearly 7 years ago.  And we've tried for 7 years to get her to lose weight, because she should be more like 35 lbs.  She was 36 lbs as of the day of her emergency surgery, so close!  And yet so far, because now we don't care.  She was at 39 lbs at her vet appointment on Wednesday.  And I'm fine with that.  She was walking and feeling just fine when she was 50 lbs, so I don't care much if she gains more weight.  I just want her to be happy, and food definitely makes her very happy, so she can eat whatever she wants.  She only has at best a couple months left anyway, so I'm going to let her enjoy her remaining time as much as she can.  As far as we know, the cancer was in her spleen (which was removed, they took out both the tumor and the spleen) and is definitely in her omentum (the fatty covering over the intestines), probably in her brain, and maybe in her lymph nodes.  The omentum would be the most worrying one in terms of discomfort, if she gains weight in her belly then I would think that might put her in some discomfort.  For right now, though, making her happy with food outweighs the potential that she might be in discomfort later.  And, I mean, she's got cancer, at some point she's going to be in discomfort regardless.  So it's something I'll monitor, but I'm not too worried about her gaining weight at the moment, I'd rather keep her feeling happy in the short-term because all we have left is short-term.

And she is pooping a lot, too, and her digestion doesn't look to be the best.  For awhile she was having a lot of diarrhea, that seems to have slowed up significantly and her stools are more formed now.  But, hubby in particular is feeding her a lot of carrots, and they don't seem to digest well for her.  We see a lot of chunks of orange in her stool lately.  I know that when my digestion isn't the best and I'm pooping a lot, I tend to lose weight, so I would not be surprised if a similar thing happens with Lily (or at least if she maintains her weight).  We are going to ease up on the carrots and try other things, like green beans, to see if those digest better.  I know plain yogurt is good for dogs' digestion too.  So we'll try a few things like that.  Once again, my grocery shopping list for my dog is longer than my list for myself and hubby!    But I wouldn't have it any other way right now.  She's the priority, for whatever amount of time she has left.


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## scottsma

Actually Cat, to contradict myself, it's maybe a good sign that she's putting on or maintaining her weight.We think of human cancer patients as being fragile and gaunt towards end of life.Is it the same for our furry friends,I don't know.Enjoy your weekend best you can.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> And she is pooping a lot, too, and her digestion doesn't look to be the best.  For awhile she was having a lot of diarrhea, that seems to have slowed up significantly and her stools are more formed now.  But, hubby in particular is feeding her a lot of carrots, and they don't seem to digest well for her.  We see a lot of chunks of orange in her stool lately.  I know that when my digestion isn't the best and I'm pooping a lot, I tend to lose weight, so I would not be surprised if a similar thing happens with Lily (or at least if she maintains her weight).  We are going to ease up on the carrots and try other things, like green beans, to see if those digest better.  I know plain yogurt is good for dogs' digestion too.  So we'll try a few things like that.  Once again, my grocery shopping list for my dog is longer than my list for myself and hubby!    But I wouldn't have it any other way right now.  She's the priority, for whatever amount of time she has left.


Another thing you may want to try is pureed pumpkin in a can - NOT the pie mix!  Our dog gets anal gland blockage and the vet recommended pumpkin as a fiber supplement to keep things flowing well.  The fiber may help bulk up her stools a little more and make things regular.  It's also really good for them as it has a lot of beta carotene and Vitamin C.  I'd recommend getting organic, too.  A lot of specialty pet stores sell cans branded for pets, but it's not necessary.  Just buy the stuff on the grocery store shelf.  Glad to hear she's doing pretty well!  

http://www.akc.org/content/health/articles/can-pumpkin-help-with-dog-diarrhea/


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks for the suggestion about pureed pumpkin!  Adding it to my grocery list right now.    She's been pretty flatulent tonight, so anything that helps her digestion is VERY much appreciated right now!

I am going to have to share the pumpkin between the cat and the dog, now that I think about it.  My cat loooves pumpkin.  She's 14, and the first October that we had her when she was about 6 months old, I was carving a pumpkin and putting the slimy pumpkin guts into a bowl.  My cat came up and started eating the pumpkin guts like it was some great treat!  She's a very odd cat, she also really loves citrus.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

So I found the canned 100% pumpkin puree.  And my cat didn't like it!    Lily liked it just fine, though, so I've been giving it to her.  I also got plain yogurt which both of them seem to like quite a lot.  And Lily is getting steak and green beans too.  We also went to a local pet store on Sunday, and when they asked if I was looking for anything in particular, I said I'm just looking for treats because my dog has cancer and I want her to have lots of treats.  Well, they gave her tons of free samples!  She was in hog heaven, ha ha.

We've had a few walks around the block but now we're going to have to figure something else out, and it's not because of anything that Lily did.  There's a house around the corner which has a fenced yard.  I had never seen dogs in that yard before, but then at one point over the weekend I saw 2 big pit bulls in that yard.  They were barking and snarling at Lily as we walked past.  And then, very suddenly, they both shimmied right under the fence!  They very fortunately did not attack us once they got to us, they actually seemed very unsure of what to do and just stood there.  It was pretty scary though when those two big dogs came under the fence at us!  So I don't want to see those dogs again.  We'll go walking a different route from now on!

Stress-wise I'm feeling horrendous.  Work has once again been a nightmare, I'm doing so much work and I'm doing it well, but because of the actions of others I'm made to feel like I can't do anything right, and I'm repeatedly reminded that I'm the lowest rung on the ladder (I had clawed my way up to second-lowest rung, but then the one person who was below me changed jobs and I had to absorb a lot of her work and I was told nobody else could absorb certain duties because it's beneath them).  I'm going to start looking for a new job once Lily passes away.  I can't deal with such nonsense anymore, it's not good for my health.  I need to deal with my dog's cancer and death first, then my job stress.


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## scottsma

Sending hugs Cat,catch you later


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## Tony H

Sending support and hugs and kisses for Lily .
Don't let work upset you Cat , all they are are narrow minded people who are not worth the effort,
You can always get another job , just put yourself and Lily first and enjoy your time with her .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Tony, I know I can always get another job, it's more the health insurance that I'm worried about.  If I quit my job and start a new one, usually the new health insurance from the new job doesn't kick in until a few months.  So I'd potentially be without insurance for a little while and that would not be good.  If I flared or something I could easily rack up many thousands of dollars in medical debt.  My hospitalization last year, which was 5 days/4 nights in the hospital and a colonoscopy plus a few other tests (mostly blood and stool tests) cost over $27,000 before insurance.  So that's the part that worries me, I'd have to basically just deal with it or go into serious debt if I flared during those few months without insurance.  Certain meds I might have to go without, too - like, I pay $10 per month for Lialda right now, but without insurance I know it costs over $500 per month and obviously I cannot afford that.  Sooo, we'll see.  I'm weighing my options right now.  Hubby suggested that we get an Obamacare plan for a few months until the new insurance would kick in, but I know those plans can be pricey too.  I need to do some more research on my options.

Fitness-wise, I was exhausted yesterday after getting home so did not walk Lily.  I'm hoping to take her on a walk tonight, probably with her wagon and we might head towards the dog park to see if her friends are around.  Today is 3 weeks since her surgery.  Her lymph node tumor in the right armpit area has gotten noticeably bigger in just the past week or so, so I know the cancer is growing rapidly and I'm sure she probably doesn't have much time at all left.  But, she doesn't seem to be in pain and she's still eating with great gusto.  This morning, she did the "happy dance" (jumping on alternating feet) as I brought her her breakfast, and then after she ate she did her "happy roll" (rolling on the carpet and going, "grr, grr, grr") which she only does after she's eaten a meal that she really enjoyed.  So I know she's still very much enjoying eating!  She's had an exorbitant amount of treats and food lately and she's loving every minute of that.  As long as she seems to be not in pain and still enjoys her food, I know she's doing reasonably okay.

Tony, how's Joey doing?  I hope he's also still eating and enjoying his lasagnas!


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## Tony H

Sorry Cat we take universal free health for granted here and we don't realise how hard ye have it in the US ,
Nice to hear that Lily is still enjoying her food and rolling around making happy noises ,Joey does that as well ,
Joeys has had a few good days but like Lily I think the growths on his neck have started to enlarge again,
I will give it a few days and increase the pred as the vet suggested,
Its funny because as the pred becomes less effective the more Joey seems be be more like his old self ,
Hugs and kisses to Lily and strength to you to help you through this .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I really wish we had universal health care here.  It would make changing jobs so much simpler and easier!  Having health insurance directly tied to an employer, it means that changing jobs changes everything about your healthcare.  If I get another job, I don't know what insurance plan I'd be offered, how much I'd have to pay out of my paycheck for it vs what the employer would pay, what the deductible would be and the out of pocket max, and if I could still see my same doctors, or if I'd have to change doctors, etc.  It's kind of a terrifying thought because there are so many unknowns!  If we had universal health care, I could change jobs without worrying about any of that stuff.  But everything to do with healthcare in this country is just such a big cause for worry when you've got a chronic illness.  It's a terrible system that punishes the sick on so many levels.

Give Joey a big hug for me as well.  I'm glad to hear he's still feeling reasonably well and somewhat like his old self.  I've been seeing shades of Lily's old self come out in recent days, too.  She's started barking again when I get home from work - she used to do that every day, the she got sick and didn't bark hardly at all (I think barking hurt her belly where the incision is).  Now she's back to barking regularly, which is good because I think that means she's feeling better.  She's just started playing with her toys again too, she had no interest in toys for a couple weeks after her surgery, but on Sunday she picked out a new squeaky ball at the pet store and she's been playing with it a bit here and there.  There's a lot of little things like that.  Enjoy having your old Joey back for as long as you have him!  I'm enjoying my barky, playful, happy, hungry Lily for sure.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I should add that - if I were to get laid off from my current job, I could cobra my current health insurance (basically, I'd pay 100% of the healthcare premiums but I'd get to keep my same plan for something like 6 months or a year or until I got a new job).  If I quit my job, I cannot cobra my coverage, hence the gap in coverage until it kicks in with the new employer.  There have been some shakeups at work lately, so part of me wants to hang on and maybe get laid off - I'd probably get a decent severance package as well as being able to cobra my coverage.  So, there's that.  It's a hard situation to know what the best thing to do is.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a much better day yesterday.  I think both my boss and I were in terrible moods on Monday and we sort of affected each other.  There's been a lot of stress at work lately, like I said!  But my boss is usually quite good.  We just both had a bad day.

Hubby and I walked Lily yesterday evening, and that went quite well.  We brought Lily and her wagon to the paved path section of the dog park, and most of her friends were there.  One of the ladies called our neighbor who has corgis, so she brought her dogs over as well, so then almost the whole group was there.  Of the group who wasn't there, there is one guy who has 2 dogs, and one of his dogs has the same type of cancer that Lily has.  I'm hoping we can bump into him next time we go to the dog park.

Lily had a great time seeing her friends.  She did get quite warm and tired out, so we alternated putting her in the wagon and letting her walk.  She drank a lot of water and had to potty a lot, including she had some watery diarrhea.  It was a bit warm out though (probably about 80 F) and it was her first time back at the park since before she got sick 3 weeks ago.  So I'm presuming it was probably a combination of warm weather, exertion from walking, excitement at seeing her friends, and maybe what she's been eating lately (so many treats and people food).  She seems fine aside from that episode of diarrhea yesterday.

I think I will take her walking again tonight, but we'll be more brief - I think maybe just up the street and back (avoiding those pit bulls that can get under their fence, of course).  It's supposed to rain tomorrow and maybe Friday as well, so we'll walk again when we're able to.  Hubby is going to be away working again all weekend, so it'll just be me and the pets.  I'm going to do a lot more of my usual - sewing, crocheting, etc.  If the weather is nice then I might go hiking by myself for a couple of hours, as I think that would be too much for Lily to go hiking with me.  I have to get used to hiking solo without her anyway, and getting out into nature and being alone with my thoughts helps me de-stress a lot.  So, that's the tentative plan, if the weather cooperates and if I'm feeling up to it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Lily and I walked about 2 blocks down and back (so 4 blocks total) yesterday and that seemed about a good amount of walking for her.  She was fairly tired out afterwards.  It looks like rain this afternoon/evening, so no walk tonight.  Maybe tomorrow evening.

Today's a bucket list day for Lily.  Our favorite football (American football, not soccer) team is the Green Bay Packers.  Lily always barks when they score a touchdown.  I had been hoping that she'd at least survive long enough to watch the first pre-season Packer game, and that game is happening tonight!  She's going to get a lot of treats and we'll watch the game together while we eat some yummy stuff, I think that will be really nice.  Hubby's going to make me a belly-safe pizza (I use a small amount of alfredo sauce instead of tomato sauce because of my GERD, and goat cheese because it's safe for my lactose intolerance) and Lily will have some yummy steak.

The weekend is looking quite nice and there's a forest park nearby that I actually haven't been to yet, so I think I'm going to check that out and do some hiking.  The yarn store is also not far away from this particular park, ha ha, so of course I am thinking I'll stop and do some shopping too!


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## scottsma

I hope Lily's team win for her and I'm so happy to hear she's enjoying life best she can.Enjoy your weekend both of you.


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## Tony H

Hope you and Lily enjoy the game Cat .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Our team did indeed win.    It was only a pre-season game so it doesn't really count, but it was still a fun game to watch and it was nice that we won.  Lily had lots of treats during the game and then she zonked out and took a nap.  I guess the excitement of football coming back was just too much for her.  

It's chilly and rainy here today.  It wasn't supposed to rain today so that's a bit of a bummer.  Probably no walking tonight because of the weather.  I'll probably just stay in tonight and do some sewing.  There's always plenty of things to sew.  Will try to be active the rest of the weekend as the weather looks like it should be pretty good.


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## Tony H

Hey Cat how’s Lily and yourself doing ?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Tony, she's feeling well.  Seems to be in no pain and still really enjoying treats.  I made this video of her yesterday evening.

https://youtu.be/Sm2WFgQYGxI

As for me, I woke up with a headache but otherwise I'm doing okay.  How are you and Joey doing?


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## scottsma

I loved the video Cat,it made my day.Lily looks as fit as a butchers dog and nowhere near her age.Long may it last.


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## Tony H

great video Cat 
Lily looks in great form ,
Joeys not too good Cat , very listless and fed up , I upped his dosage of pred last night but I think the time is coming close to make the decision.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Tony, I'm sorry to hear that Joey is deteriorating more.  That's so sad.    I'm dreading that time for Lily, I know it's coming soon.  As you can see from the video, she's feeling reasonably okay for the time being.  Her energy level still isn't great, she's taking a lot of naps and doesn't walk more than a few blocks tops (this is a dog who hauled me up a 500+ foot high bluff last year and before she got sick she used to walk easily over a mile, sometimes 2 or 3 miles, per walk).  I hope that Joey is feeling okay, and I hope that when the time comes that it's peaceful for him.  Big hugs to both of you.

Carol, yes, I've never heard the phrase "fit as a butcher's dog" before but I'm presuming it means she's a bit chubby!    Yes, she is.  She's always been on the big side, she's never been a skinny dog.  Food is her #1 most favorite thing ever.  That's how I knew she was very ill, when she first got sick - she didn't want her dinner, and she didn't even want peanut butter, which is her most favorite treat.  As you can see, though, she's now eating very heartily again!  And is in no danger of wasting away, ha ha.  As for her age, she is 8 which is only middle-aged for a corgi (they can live to be 15).  If she makes it to Sept 15th, then she'll be 9.  Some people consider that to be a senior dog, but I consider it middle age.

I forgot to say earlier how my weekend was.  I didn't do much, I did do a whole bunch of sewing - I made a blouse, I started on a faux fur shrug (I'm going to crochet cuffs for that), and I made a tote for grocery shopping.  The weather was iffy so we didn't walk.  I did a bunch of chores around the house - laundry, dishes, etc.  And my parents took me out to lunch, which was nice.  They know I've been struggling emotionally with Lily's diagnosis and that sometimes I just need to get away from her (away from the situation, really), so they wisely got me out of my house for a bit and made sure I was fed.  That was very nice of them.  So I had an active weekend I'd say, I definitely kept busy.


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## scottsma

That phrase just means  healthy and fit Cat.Not chubby.I only insult people not dogs.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ah, I see, I hadn't heard that phrase before and wasn't sure how to interpret it, but knowing Lily, she eats any particle of food that falls to the floor so I interpreted it as meaning chubby.  Well, I think she looks a bit chubby anyway, ha ha.  

Neither she nor I are feeling great today.  I barely slept last night, my headache turned into a migraine and my guts are very unhappy about both the migraine and the lack of sleep.  So I stayed home from work today.  Lily is laying around sighing while I lay around crocheting.  She seems a bit more lethargic than usual, which I guess is expected as the cancer progresses.  Her appetite is still good though.  And she does perk right up when I so much as mention food or treats to her.  So she's okay.  We're just on rest mode today.


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## Tony H

enjoy your rest Cat and I hope that the migraine eases and goes away soon , isn't  it funny how one thing can set other symptoms , hope you feel better soon .


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## Tony H

Looks like Joey is losing the brave fight and will have to be let go in the next day or so .


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## scottsma

So, so sorry Tony.I can't put into words what I feel that will be of any help at all.This is why we won't let another furry friend break our hearts.Sending hugs to you and the family.


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## Tony H

Heading to the vets in a few minutes , 
sorry for bringing people down ,
He got sick last night a few times and we don’t want him suffering any more , 
He gave us nearly 8 years of joy , madness , frustration and endless  .


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## scottsma

It's the last kind thing we can do for them Tony.He'll be waiting for you over Rainbow Bridge wagging hid tail and as daft as ever.Hugs.


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## Tony H

Joey has gone  to the Bridge
Run free Joey Run Free
wait for me and we will run together again , always remembered always loved .


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## Tony H

Sorry Cat for posting that on this thread , ment to post it on low.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

No worries about posting it in here, Tony.  I'm so, so sorry for your loss.  My heart is breaking for you over the loss of your Joey.  But I know he had a wonderful life with you with lots of trips to the beach and lots of yummy food, great adventures and wonderful memories.  I know it hurts like crazy right now, but I know he had a great life with you and he isn't in pain anymore.  Big hugs to you, my friend.  Take care of yourself.  I'm giving Lily a lot of hugs and some extra steak tonight in Joey's honor and memory.


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## Tony H

Thanks Cat I appreciate that ,prayers and positive thoughts for you and the Beautiful Lily . 
Enjoy every day you have with her , we did with Joey and it was a good month we had to say good bye , he had swims ,chewed sticks on a beach which he loved and some small walks where he marked nearly every bush and pole within a 100 meters from out home , 
the cats cat feel safe again , although he never hurt them he sure loved surprising them with his lusty bark and his goofy run .

https://youtu.be/njdsZJxTuQY

Joey as a puppy getting the zooms with he used to get up to about 6 weeks ago

https://youtu.be/Lv3qhvFXsZI

and joey with his pal herbie who is waiting for him at the Bridge ,
Ill stop posting here now a Its getting me too upset 
I think if mods agree I might start a thread for departed pets so not to take over other threads like I have been doing 
Thanks everyone for the support esp since its away fro the main topic of the forum .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Of course, Tony, I think a departed pets thread in Members Only would be just fine.  There's also the candle room thread in the Support section.  

I loved that video of Joey getting the zoomies!  I love when dogs get the zoomies.  Lily rarely gets them, but I lucked into getting her on video just once getting the zoomies.  This was in 2014, there's a yearly corgi picnic in my state and she happened to get the zoomies while there were about 80 other corgis around!  She zoomed and then wrestled with another corgi.  She's the black & white corgi with the red harness in this video.

https://youtu.be/4FITcw0ERwk


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## Tony H

great video Cat


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It's been one month today since Lily's surgery.  So far she's still doing pretty well.  Her right armpit lymph node continues to get larger, but she doesn't seem to be in pain and still very much enjoys food and treats.  Hubby has a friend who sometimes needs a ride to work, and the last time that hubby drove his friend to work a few days ago, the friend gave us about 3 lbs of organic grass-fed steak just for Lily.  So Lily is eating REALLY well these days!

Fitness-wise I haven't done anything.  My migraine and my guts really kicked me down for a few days (the migraine lasted for 3 or 4 days) and I'm still in recovery mode from that.  I might take a short walk with Lily this weekend at some point if we're both feeling up for it.  She still has plenty of steak but is getting low on treats, so we might go to the pet store and pick out some new yummy treats.  Will see how energetic we both are feeling.


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## scottsma

Talk about spoiling a girl.Do you cook her meat or feed raw ? Over the years having had eight dogs of varying sizes and tastes I've done it all.Every food type both human and pet food was fed to our lot.A favourite for my G.S.Ds was raw green tripe (cow stomachs) I used to put it on a nail outside and cut it into chunks.I can still smell it 20yrs later.Yum !!!

I wouldn't worry about exercise just now Cat.As and when is my motto.You'll soon catch up when you feel up to it.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

We've been cooking Lily's meat just to be safe.  I have read that it's probably fine for dogs to eat beef raw, but with all of the contaminants and such from the processing, I feel safer cooking it.  I'd rather her not get sick from raw meat when she's already got so much to deal with.  And she seems to like it just fine when it's cooked - sometimes I'll add a cooked egg in with her steak, she likes that a lot too.

Tripe, eew!  I don't think that will be coming into my house.    I don't eat beef at all, I can't digest it, so I find even having steak in the house is a bit gross to me.  I definitely will not be purchasing tripe for Lily, just nope.

Yes, I think I'm going to catch up on a lot of exercise after she is gone.  The vet had advised us to plan to do things out of the house a lot once she passes, because the vet said that when her own dog died, her house felt very empty especially at first, and she found it was best for her to not be home except to sleep for the first few weeks or so.  So I think I'll be doing a lot of hiking and things like that away from the house once Lily is gone.  I have already started preparing for that - I went through my hiking backpack and organized it.  I'm all set for longer hikes whenever I feel the need to get away.


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## Tony H

Thats a good idea about getting out of the house , it really seems empty without J ,
Time for a few road trips i think


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## scottsma

This is why I took up cycling.My (our) whole life revolved around the dogs enjoyment.Hill walking,caravanning,coasts,forests was all for them.We enjoyed ourselves through them for fifty years and our whole life changed when Alfie went over the Bridge.We had so much fun and laughter an exercise.But the good thing about cycling is I won't be heartbroken when Little Blackie has to go to the recycling yard in the sky.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Yes, I think I'm going to catch up on a lot of exercise after she is gone.  The vet had advised us to plan to do things out of the house a lot once she passes, because the vet said that when her own dog died, her house felt very empty especially at first, and she found it was best for her to not be home except to sleep for the first few weeks or so.  So I think I'll be doing a lot of hiking and things like that away from the house once Lily is gone.  I have already started preparing for that - I went through my hiking backpack and organized it.  I'm all set for longer hikes whenever I feel the need to get away.


Yes, that was the hardest for me after our dog was put down - being in the house alone.  I didn't have a job and was just getting ready to start school at the state university so I had a lot of down time on my hands.  I already struggle with depression, so that was especially difficult to cope with.  About a week before school started for me, my mom finally relented and said she was ready for another dog (I think the house felt lonely to her, too).  About a month had passed by and we had done most of our grieving - I think it was easier for us because we selected the day that she would pass away and were able to be there with her thru the entire thing.  It gave us closure, but it didn't make the loss any easier since she had been with us for over 15 years.  Well, I ended up going to PetFinder since we knew we wanted another rescue and wanted a dog that was still young but not a puppy - especially since no one would be home during the day and we didn't need a dog chewing up furniture or shoes.  We found a 2 year old hound dog/doberman mix (they said she was Rottie, but she is a Dobbie for sure) named Ladybug who we renamed Daisy.  She's been with us ever since.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yeah, I know the house is going to feel empty, because for the 2 overnights that she spent at the emergency vet (once for her surgery and then another time when she started having seizures and they wanted to observe her for 24 hours after giving her the loading doses of the anti-seizure med), the house did feel really empty when she wasn't there.  I'm going to bring her with me in spirit when I go hiking.  I already know that I want to have Lily cremated, and I'm going to put a small amount of her ashes into an urn necklace so that she can go hiking with me.  I'm also putting a tuft of her fur into my hiking bag, and I had ordered a small notebook online that has her photos printed onto the cover.  I like having a journal/sketchbook when I go hiking, so now Lily will be on the cover of that (my grandpa is on the cover too).  That's currently how I'm planning to cope, I'm going to get out of the house but still bring her with me in small ways.

I know I won't be ready for another dog for awhile, for months or maybe years.  But when I am ready, I will get another rescue too.  Lily is a purebred pembroke Welsh corgi, but she's a rescue.  Her previous owner could no longer keep her, and none of her friends or family could/would take Lily, so then she put the word out at work that she had a dog to re-home.  Hubby and I had recently bought our house, which is right near a large dog park, and we were looking for a small-ish dog and we were actually thinking a corgi mix would be nice.  So I worked with Lily's former owner, and I heard though the grapevine that she had a dog that needed a home - and when I found out the details (corgi, she was 2 years old at the time so not a crazy puppy anymore but also not by any means an older dog, fully trained including crate trained) I said yes immediately.  It was like the perfect dog just fell into my lap!  I got so lucky finding Lily, and even with her cancer, I regret nothing.  She's been the best dog ever.

So, when I am ready, I'm going to put in an application to foster with a corgi rescue group.  But I know that won't happen for quite some time.  I might even wait until my cat goes.  She's 14.  I've been telling my cat that she has to hang around for awhile longer, hopefully a few more years at least, because I don't think I could handle losing both my girls at once.  And I can tell that my cat is giving me a bit more affection lately, maybe it's because she's feeling starved for attention because I'm focusing so much on Lily, or maybe it's because she knows I'm going to need to lean on her heavily in the near future.  Our only other pet besides Lily and Lydia (Lydia is my cat's name) is one very old gerbil.  My gerbil is nearly 3 years old, which is extremely old for a gerbil, so I don't expect him to be around much longer either.  It's going to be the Lydia show very soon.  She was an "only pet" and the queen until we got Lily.  So I'll let her be the queen again for at least awhile if not for the rest of her life.

Lily isn't feeling super well this evening.  She had a very big appetite, but was acting pretty lethargic.  Then she vomited up what seemed to be everything she had eaten this evening.  She's been resting ever since.  Hasn't vomited since so that's good news.  We were told that her anti-seizure med could make her nauseous, so maybe it's that, or maybe she just ate too much.  I'm a bit worried though because of course it could be the cancer doing this.  Cancer complicates everything!  And I don't want to see her feeling unwell, that sucks.  So we're just monitoring her closely right now.  I haven't given her any food since she vomited, but she's still drinking & peeing & pooing, so mostly everything seems okay.  I'll just try not to indulge her huge appetite quite as much in the future and will keep a close eye on how she's feeling.


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## Tony H

sending support to you and Lily Cat , hopefully today will be a better day for both of you .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Tony.  She hasn't vomited since last night, so that's good.  I think she's just been eating way too much.  When I came home on my lunch break today, she pooped 4 times in about 30 minutes!  And one of the bowel movements was so large, so much volume, I couldn't get it all into one bag.  So much poo.  So, we've eased way up on the amount of treats that she's getting tonight, and that seems to be working, except that she keeps bugging us for treats.  

So yeah, I think she's doing better and fortunately that one was an easy fix.  Phew!  I'll be more careful about how much she's eating from now on.  She'll still get plenty of treats, but just not quite as many because I don't want her to vomit again if we can avoid it.  Not fun for her and not fun for me.  (Also really not fun for hubby because I made him clean it up!)

Tony, how are you doing?  I hope you're reasonably okay - I'm sure things are still really tough and painful and sad right now.  Please take care of yourself.  I'm here if you need to talk at all.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Thanks Tony.  She hasn't vomited since last night, so that's good.  I think she's just been eating way too much.  When I came home on my lunch break today, she pooped 4 times in about 30 minutes!  And one of the bowel movements was so large, so much volume, I couldn't get it all into one bag.  So much poo.  So, we've eased way up on the amount of treats that she's getting tonight, and that seems to be working, except that she keeps bugging us for treats.
> 
> So yeah, I think she's doing better and fortunately that one was an easy fix.  Phew!  I'll be more careful about how much she's eating from now on.  She'll still get plenty of treats, but just not quite as many because I don't want her to vomit again if we can avoid it.  Not fun for her and not fun for me.  (Also really not fun for hubby because I made him clean it up!)
> 
> Tony, how are you doing?  I hope you're reasonably okay - I'm sure things are still really tough and painful and sad right now.  Please take care of yourself.  I'm here if you need to talk at all.


At least, with her going so often and so much, you know she's not obstructed.  If she were vomiting only, it would definitely be cause for concern since you said she had the cancer on her intestines.  That's very good news that she is still able to go relatively normal.  Have you been adding pumpkin to her diet?  Definitely make sure she gets plenty of water since pumpkin has a lot of fiber and will bulk up her stools.  If there is not enough moisture, it could cause impaction and you don't want that!  Regardless, I'm glad she's doing better.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

The cancer was found to have spread to the omentum, which I believe is technically its own organ and not part of the intestines.  I think I read that scientists just determined recently that it's its own thing, it's a separate organ.  But yeah, it's the fatty protective layer that covers the intestines, so it's very close to the intestines and might potentially affect how the intestines operate.  And yes, we've been giving her pumpkin regularly, and she seems to like it.

She gets plenty of water as well - she's been drinking a ton of water lately.  The phenobarbitol that she's on for the seizures, that makes her drink a lot, so we refill her water bowl 2 or 3 times per day (previously it was typically once per day).  So she's good on drinking water.  She also loves ice cubes as a treat, so I sometimes give her ice if she seems like she's a bit too warm.


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## Tony H

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Thanks Tony.  She hasn't vomited since last night, so that's good.  I think she's just been eating way too much.  When I came home on my lunch break today, she pooped 4 times in about 30 minutes!  And one of the bowel movements was so large, so much volume, I couldn't get it all into one bag.  So much poo.  So, we've eased way up on the amount of treats that she's getting tonight, and that seems to be working, except that she keeps bugging us for treats.
> 
> So yeah, I think she's doing better and fortunately that one was an easy fix.  Phew!  I'll be more careful about how much she's eating from now on.  She'll still get plenty of treats, but just not quite as many because I don't want her to vomit again if we can avoid it.  Not fun for her and not fun for me.  (Also really not fun for hubby because I made him clean it up!)
> 
> Tony, how are you doing?  I hope you're reasonably okay - I'm sure things are still really tough and painful and sad right now.  Please take care of yourself.  I'm here if you need to talk at all.


Hey Cat , its tough but the tears are not coming as much now , its still and always be the small things that get me most , like always getting the end of a sandwich and always giving him a piece of  anything i was eating , or last thing at night bringing him out for a small walk , but its part of life , the pain will decrease but the love will remain , I think apart for a parents love for a child the love we have for our furry friends is a very close second .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Tony, sending you a big hug.  I think I'm going to miss a lot of the small things, too.  And I know what you mean, I don't have kids (I am just not a kid person, I don't really like kids) so my hubby and my pets are my family.  It's like losing a member of the family.  And even though I know on a rational level that pets tend to die before their human counterparts, I just wasn't prepared to be losing her so early.  She's only 8, and corgis can live to be 15, so I always expected that I'd watch her grow old, you know?  Now I'll be lucky if I see her reach her 9th birthday next month (Sept 15th).  It sucks.  I know you lost Joey at the same age as Lily is so I'm sure you understand what I'm talking about.

And if she does make it to Sept 15th, you'd better believe she's going to have an amazing birthday party!  I'm going to invite her corgi friends and buy an expensive doggy birthday cake, there will be party hats and balloons and everything.  Wait, maybe not balloons, as she doesn't like them!  It'll be a party with everything except for balloons.  

Lily seems to be feeling pretty well today.  Still a bit lethargic but that seems to be our new normal.  No further vomiting and bowel habits are going back to normal.  Hubby said we should take her for a walk tonight - the weather is looking nice and she seems to be feeling up for it, so we'll bring her and her wagon over to the dog park and see if her friends are around.  We'll let her walk as much as she's comfortable with, and then put her in the wagon when she starts to tire out.


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## Tony H

Thanks Cat great that Lily is still able to take small walks and the cart is a great idea  , seems she is still enjoying life thanks to you and your oh ,
as you said its the young age thats gets you the most  , 8 is so young for a corgi ,
we have a grown up son and Joey was really like a second child to us 
I have had two younger brothers die a few years ago and the pain and loss is comparable ,
people might think Im nuts because of this but its the truth ,
Joey was a part of our family for nearly 8 years 
I saw him every day and he was at my side apart from my hospital stay last year and a five day holiday I had in Portugal , we even got him a doggy passport so we could take him with us 
Some days I have doubts about whether I put him to sleep too soon but even the vet said better a week too early than a day too late 
I miss him and I will always miss him but I know he will be in my heart forever .
sorry for rambling on your fitness thread again Cat .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I definitely agree, the pain is comparable to losing a family member.  Lily is my first ever dog so I've never been through this with a dog before, but so far it's a very painful process to know that your animal is actively dying.  I lost my grandpa last year, and I have cried more about Lily than I did about my grandpa.  To be fair, he was quite old and very ill and was ready (he had told me for awhile that the only reason he was sticking around was to be there for my grandma, and then a couple months before he died he told me that he was ready to go).  So I couldn't be totally sad about that, because I knew he was ready and that he was in a lot of pain and didn't have a good quality of life and he was old (84) and it was his time.  I was sad about it, but it wasn't a surprise.  

With Lily, it was totally a surprise, she's not very old and I feel like it's not her time yet, or at least it shouldn't be.  It's not right, you know?  With my grandpa, it was sad, but it was right - he had a long full life and his life had reached its natural end.  With Lily, it's sad, and it's not right - she's only lived half her life.  The only comparison I have for it in my own personal experience, is that when I was 19 I lost a very dear friend very suddenly - he died in a house fire.  Obviously it wasn't his time as he was also 19, that hit me very, very hard and still affects me to this day.  Lily's illness is a lot like that, it came on very suddenly and it's so unfair because both she and my friend have/had a lot of life left.  My grandpa's death felt fair, and Lily's and my friend's are very unfair.  That's just life though I guess.  Nobody ever said it's fair.  It just feels extremely unfair, though.

Anyway.  We had another walk yesterday, didn't take the cart as we only went a couple of blocks.  There's a small creek a couple blocks from my house, so we walked down to the creek and back.  It wasn't very far, but I could tell Lily was getting tired out on the way back from the creek.  Her energy and stamina are definitely taking a hit from her illness.  She stopped a lot to sniff things, which is typical for her, but when she was walking she was going pretty slow and was panting fairly heavily even though it wasn't particularly warm out (about 70 F) and we were not going at a fast pace.  She's never been a dog that enjoys warm temps anyway, though, she loves cold and winter and snow.  So even though 70 doesn't feel super warm to me, it seems to feel warmer to her.  (Oddly enough, she came from a warm place!  Her original owners lived in California, she came to Wisconsin when she was 2 years old and her former owners could no longer keep her so she became my dog.)

We'll probably walk again tonight, if she's feeling up for it.  Might take the wagon out again so that we can go to the dog park.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Didn't end up walking last night.  Hubby needed me to drop him off at his boss's place so that they could do some work in anticipation of a big convention this weekend (they are costume vendors so they go to a lot of renaissance fairs and sci fi conventions and things like that).  So that ate up a chunk of my evening, fighting rush hour traffic to get hubby over to his boss's and then fighting traffic again to get home.

Probably won't walk tonight either, I seem to be at the start of yet another migraine, ugh.  Woke up with a throbbing head and lots of sinus pressure.  My guts aren't super happy either which is exactly what happened with my last migraine.  In addition to that fun, I've had a few med switches lately - as of today, I tapered from 5.5 mg down to 5 mg of pred, and a few days ago I had to switch mesalamine formulations.  I had been taking name-brand Lialda, but then for some reason either my doctor or the pharmacy switched me to generic mesalamine (which, from what I've read, is closest to Asacol HD, which I did not do well on).  I've talked with a nurse at my GI's office, and they can switch me back on the next refill, but for a month I've got to take the generic and I'm not sure that my guts are super happy about it.  Add in a migraine and my guts are really not pleased with me right now!

So, no walking tonight, I'm just trying to survive today.  Will likely rest all weekend, which is frustrating because I had wanted to go hiking, but I know I need to do what's best for my body.  Right now that is definitely rest.  I do plan to venture out a few times - I need to go to the compounding pharmacy tomorrow morning to pick up a refill of my LDN.  And on Sunday, there's an event at a local pet store where free goody bags of dog treats are being handed out and other dog treats are on sale, so I'd really like to take Lily to that and get her some treats.  And, if I'm feeling up to it, I'd like to briefly check out the convention that hubby will be working at - his boss invited me to come, they have a free pass for me to get in, and I know that there will be a vintage kimono seller in the vendor area and I loooove vintage kimonos.  I love fabric, sewing, vintage clothes, and of course I love Japan, so it's like a lot of things I love all in one!  So wish me luck, hopefully I'm feeling well enough to do all of that.  Aside from those things, I'm going to rest and eat blandly until I start feeling better.


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## scottsma

I'm so happy that Lily is still toddling about and enjoying her food.Alfie used to love the pet supermarket,it was his favourite place in the whole world.Second was a river or lake to swim in.You've got a busy weekend ahead so I hope you start to feel better so you can enjoy it.It's a long holiday weekend here so we've been out on the bikes a couple of times as it's doubtful we'll get out again before Tues.I've not been feeling well either so we will probably just walk local.There's live music on at the park over the road on Sunday.
Have a good weekend Cat.and remember ....one day at a time.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, definitely one day at a time.  I'd get overwhelmed if it was any more than that!  We don't have a holiday weekend this weekend, but the weekend after is Labor Day so we will have a long weekend then.

Lily is definitely still enjoying her food.  Immediately after having her lunch today, she looked at me as if to say, "More?"  So I gave her some yogurt and she gulped that down and again looked at me to ask for more food.  She's a bottomless pit when it comes to appetite!  I don't want her to vomit again if we can avoid it, so I'm not giving in to her every single time she wants food.  But I also still do want to spoil her and want her to be as happy as possible, so I'm giving in to a lot of her food whims.  So far so good, we haven't had any further vomiting from her yet.

She is going downhill bit by bit, though.  I am not sure if the cancer has spread to her sinuses, but I'm guessing that might be the case.  In the past, she'd occasionally get a bit of sinus/nasal congestion and make a loud "snerk-snork-snerk-snork" sound to try to clear out her sinuses.  Before she got cancer, she'd maybe make that sound once or twice per year, it hardly ever happened.  Now it's happening almost every day.  It seems to happen after eating, especially after she has lunch.  It didn't happen today, but I think it happened every day this week aside from today.  She'll eat, and then immediately snerk-snork and sometimes she'll cough too.  It's very disconcerting.  I presume it's another sign that she's dying.  I hate that.

On a good note, I went to the pharmacy and got some extra strength acetaminophen, and my headache/migraine is much improved.  My guts are also feeling less grumpy, so I'm feeling better all around.  I'm definitely still going to rest for tonight at least, and will re-assess how I'm feeling tomorrow.  My migraines can last for days and can sometimes come back with a vengeance when it seemed like it was on its way out, so I don't trust it yet.  I could very easily wake up tomorrow feeling worse, so I'm going to rest and take it easy.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh good!  The pharmacy just called and they can refill my Lialda now!  Phew.  I did not want to have to take the generic.  Don't want to flare if I can avoid it.  It's nice when stuff actually gets done on a Friday afternoon!  I was not expecting to be able to get my Lialda so quickly, I'm quite happy.


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## Tony H

Good that you were able to get the right meds Cat , and than your migraine is easing up , no matter what they say with some drugs generic is not good enough ,
good that Lily is still eating well , its good that she is still enjoying her food , it was a good indicator with Joey when he couldn't eat his favorite food and started getting sick that it was nearly time ,
 I really hope that you get as much quality time with Lily as possible , its hard to know what to say but I'm  thinking of you and Lily and sending you my support .


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## scottsma

As I said earlier we had three good years with Alfie after he was dx'd with Lymphoma.I should say mis-dx'd !!! But he did have something,that's for sure.I dx'd Cushings through the web but by then it was too late.It was only the last 3-4 months that a noticeable deteriation showed up.I know we were very blessed to have him for so long but the daily anxiety made me physically and mentally sick.So you take good care of yourself Cat.We know when we first bring them home that we only have a short time with them by comparison,but for whatever reason it always comes way too soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Carol, I know that daily anxiety all too well, as I'm living it myself.  I'm sure it's affecting my health as well - my stomach is often in knots, I've lost a few lbs and don't have much appetite, I'm more tired than usual even though I am usually sleeping pretty well, etc.  I'm trying to take care of myself, but usually failing.  It's just a very difficult time and I feel like I just have to survive it.  That's all I'm doing right now is surviving.

My migraine is almost completely gone, and although my guts weren't happy this morning, they've calmed down now that it's afternoon.  I was actually thinking about going on a brief hike, but then I checked the weather report, and there's a rain storm headed right for us.  Ugh!  I swear I checked the weather report yesterday, and there was nothing about it raining today.  It was supposed to be overcast today, but no rain.  Oh well.  It's probably best for me to rest anyway.  And there's plenty of things to do around the house.

Tony, thank you, no need to say anything as I know you've been through the same situation that I'm going through with Lily.  I know you get it.  Fortunately she's feeling pretty well today, no snerk-snork sounds and her appetite is still very good.  I just fed her lunch, and immediately when she finished eating she looked to me to see if she could get more food.  So I gave her some treats and now she's napping.  Tomorrow we're going to the pet store to get a goody bag and some treats (apparently there will be treats for the humans as well, in the form of donuts - yum!).  I hope you're doing reasonably okay and taking care of yourself.


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## Tony H

Hey Cat thats put a smile on my face ,great that both of ye are doing ok and I know that look that Lily gives you after getting fed well
Im doing better but I find myself talking to Joey and forgetting that he’s not there anymore ,
I know that anxiety feeling as well waiting and hoping but its getting a little easier,
when we get his ashes back we will bury him in his favorite spot in the garden and will bury the ashes of our last golden Charlie next to him along with some toys and bits of wood for chewing ,
it will be like a pharaohs burial with all his favorite
 possessions .Hugs and kisses to Lily.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I tried to put a picture on here of Lily but it didn't work.  We did go to the pet store yesterday and got the free goody bag, and it was huge!  It's like half the size of Lily.    I got a photo of her next to her goody bag, and she's got a great big smile on her face.  I'll try again tonight to get the photo on here.

Health-wise I've been feeling crummy.  I've had diarrhea and low energy for the past few days.  Hopefully this isn't a flare.  I took a 3.5 hour nap yesterday and I still felt tired.  Feel very tired today too (slept very poorly last night).  Still just in survival mode.

No walking with Lily tonight as thunderstorms are predicted.  We'll see what the weather does tomorrow and how I'm feeling and how she's feeling.


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## Tony H

Feel better soon Cat ,
hope its not a flare , the worry and stress with Lilly can’t be helping 
Great that Lily got her goodie bag 
Feel better Cat and hugs and kisses to Lily


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm feeling a little bit better this afternoon.  I was able to eat and haven't had to run to the bathroom since this morning, so that is a definite improvement.  I'm going to rest up as much as I can to hopefully continue improving.

Usually on weekdays I go home every lunch hour to care for Lily - let her out to potty, feed her, and just generally check in on her.  Today, though, hubby was home, so I had a rare day of not needing to go home to care for Lily because hubby was already caring for her (usually he and I both work weekdays).  So instead of going home on my lunch break, I went to the park and sat outside - it was in between thunderstorms and I even saw a little peek of sun which was nice, although then the thunder started rumbling again.  It was nice to just go to the park and be by myself and soak in some nature and a bit of sun.  That definitely helped me feel a bit better.  I know I need to take better care of myself or I am going to flare.  I need to find more times like that to escape to the park/forest, getting outdoors into nature always does good things for me.  I have to make more of an effort to do that and not focus 100% on Lily - although it's hard not to focus on her because I know that she'll be gone soon, and I really want to focus on her as much as possible while she's still here.  So I need to find some sort of balance between focusing on her while also making sure my own stress gets relieved.  Easier said than done!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Guts feel better today.  I've had a bit of gas but otherwise I'm feeling much improved.  Unfortunately, my body just can't ever seem to let me just be okay.  I somehow tweaked my back - while I was asleep!  Ugh.  I woke up and there's a lot of pain in the left shoulder blade area.  Pinched nerve maybe?  The pain is going from my back into my left arm and up into my neck.  I can barely even turn my head to the left side.  Not fun.  And it makes me feel really old, that I essentially threw my back out by sleeping!  

Lily is doing okay, but I'm a bit mad at hubby.  Lily gets her anti-seizure med (phenobarbital) every 12 hours.  He completely forgot to give her her evening dose yesterday!  Neither of us realized he had forgotten it until this morning, when I saw that yesterday's half pill was still in the pill cutter (she gets 1.5 tablets every 12 hours).  I really hope she doesn't have a seizure because of this!  So far she seems okay, but I'm even more anxious about her than usual now.

On a good note, today is 6 weeks since she had her surgery, and she still seems to be doing reasonably okay.  Still eating voraciously and doesn't seem to be in pain.  And, her best friends invited themselves over yesterday!  A lady who lives a few blocks away has 2 corgis, and they are Lily's best friends, they play together often at the dog park in the neighborhood where we live.  Well, my neighbor was walking her dogs yesterday and they happened to walk past our house, and rather than go past, her 2 corgis were suddenly leading her up our driveway to our front door!  Lily saw her friends and started barking with excitement.  I looked out and saw corgis!    So she got to visit with her friends for a little bit.  That was very nice.  And how cute is it that Lily's friends just head right up to the front door and invite themselves over!  I thought that was adorable.


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## scottsma

Glad you're feeling better Cat and also that Lily is making happy memories for you.


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## Tony H

great that Lily had a good visit with her friends 
I find when I have a pain like you have in your back and back a really hot shower works wonders and failing that a diazepam (if you have available and prescribed) works wonders in relaxing the muscles ,
hope you feel better soon Cat .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Tony, I don't want to take meds if I can help it, because I'm on LDN and I'm not supposed to take anything that's opioid-based (LDN is an opioid blocker, so basically anything that's opioid-based, including stuff like imodium, can potentially make me really sick because it essentially would turn into poison in my body because I wouldn't be able to absorb it or whatever - that's my rudimentary understanding anyway, my doctor said I'd get "very sick" if I took anything that's an opioid).  I think I do still have some muscle relaxers left over from when I had whiplash from a minor car accident a few years ago, but I shouldn't try it.  I don't know if diazepam is opioid-based or not, but I'd rather be safe than sorry and just deal with the pain.  I'm at work currently, but when I go home I'm definitely going to put my heating pad on my back, and might take a hot bath too (obviously not at the same time!).  If the pain doesn't ease up in the next couple of days, I'm also going to try to get in touch with my massage therapist and see if I can have a massage.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Tony, I don't want to take meds if I can help it, because I'm on LDN and I'm not supposed to take anything that's opioid-based (LDN is an opioid blocker, so basically anything that's opioid-based, including stuff like imodium, can potentially make me really sick because it essentially would turn into poison in my body because I wouldn't be able to absorb it or whatever - that's my rudimentary understanding anyway, my doctor said I'd get "very sick" if I took anything that's an opioid).  I think I do still have some muscle relaxers left over from when I had whiplash from a minor car accident a few years ago, but I shouldn't try it.  I don't know if diazepam is opioid-based or not, but I'd rather be safe than sorry and just deal with the pain.  I'm at work currently, but when I go home I'm definitely going to put my heating pad on my back, and might take a hot bath too (obviously not at the same time!).  If the pain doesn't ease up in the next couple of days, I'm also going to try to get in touch with my massage therapist and see if I can have a massage.


Just to clarify, diazepam (aka Valium) is in the class of benzodiazepines.  It is not an opioid which include narcotic painkillers like Percocet, Oxycontin, Hydrocodone, etc.  It also includes loperamide (aka Imodium).  This link provides more detail:

http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/guide/narcotic-pain-medications#1

You can always ask your pharmacist if you're unsure of interactions or you can use drugs.com drug interaction checker (here is the link for interactions between diazepam and naltrexone):

https://www.drugs.com/interactions-check.php?drug_list=1684-0,862-441

Of course, Valium is highly addictive if abused, so I definitely understand your desire to abstain and use other relief methods.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks for clarifying!  Yeah, when it comes to pain, if it's at a level that I can tolerate and function at, then I'd rather just deal with it than take something for it.  Shortly before I got sick 8 years ago, I was kayaking a lot and was taking a lot of ibuprofen for the muscle soreness.  I'm not sure but I'd be willing to bet that all that ibuprofen at least played a part in me getting sick (with stress and possible food poisoning being two other factors at play during that time - the stress was, I had been downsized from a 10 person department to a 2 person department, so I still had a job but somebody still had to do at least some tasks from all those 8 people's jobs, and that person turned out to be me).  So ever since then, I've not been a big fan of taking any sort of pain meds.  I'd rather just deal with it than go through anything like that again.  I know that even a relatively benign med like tylenol can mess with the liver, so I tend to just not take pain meds unless absolutely necessary (and even then I pretty much only take tylenol and that's it).

The good news is that the back pain has eased up somewhat over the course of the day.  It's still hard/painful to turn my head, especially to the left, so driving has been a bit interesting.  I have decided I'm just going to get in a lane and stick with it!  No unnecessary lane changes for me right now.  And I'm not getting on the highway unless necessary.  Hopefully my heating pad and hot bath will help, plus I'm hoping that I can get a good night's sleep, and maybe tomorrow I'll be able to turn my head better.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My back pain continues to improve.  I am still having a bit of a hard time turning my head to the left, but it's better than it was.  There's still some pain, but not nearly as much as yesterday.  I think my heating pad & hot bath plus a good night's sleep really helped.

We've got a long holiday weekend coming up as Monday is Labor Day, so most people don't have to work that day including me.  I'm hoping to take at least one walk/hike.  I just got some new hiking boots and I'd like to try them out.  I probably will hike solo, without Lily, as her energy levels just aren't great and I don't think I can take the wagon on uneven hiking terrain (that's more of a paved path thing).  There's a few local parks that I've been meaning to explore, so I'd like to check out at least one of them.

Hubby is going to be away working again for the entire long weekend, so it'll just be me and the pets again.  I'll walk Lily if she's feeling up for it and if the weather cooperates.  I'll probably also do more sewing and crocheting.

Lily was snerking and snorking again this morning.  I can't see anything externally going on with her sinuses, but my guess is that there must be a tumor that's blocking some part of the sinuses or nasal area that she keeps trying to clear.  Poor pup.  I'm still making sure to give her tons of treats, and she hasn't vomited for something like 10 days, so she seems to be feeling reasonably okay otherwise.


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## Tony H

Sorry that Lily is having some discomfort ,
hopefully its only temporary ,
Hugs to Lily and support to you .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Well, I know that Lily is only temporary, so I guess any situations pertaining to Lily are also temporary.  (Gah, that's depressing.)  But, two weeks from tomorrow is her birthday!  She'll be 9.  I'm really hoping she makes it that long.  She's still feeling reasonably okay, so I'm fairly hopeful and optimistic about it.  I know things can change in an instant with her, but I have so been wanting her to make it to her birthday.  She needs one more birthday and I need her to have one.

I somehow managed to get some exercise today!    My co-worker needed help moving around a ton of boxes, some of them quite heavy, so I helped with that for a few hours.  It felt good.  I know I need to take better care of myself and make an effort to get to the gym.  It always just seems like such a low priority compared to Lily's needs right now.  But I will try to make it a higher priority.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I think my exercise yesterday (moving heavy boxes around for 2+ hours at work) ended up making my back feel worse again.  There's definitely been more pain today than there has been for the past couple of days.  So I'll probably take another hot bath tonight.  Going to rest up a bunch over the long weekend, too.

Lily was snerking and snorking this morning, which is new - usually she only snerks after her lunch, not after breakfast.  I've turned into that crazy person who is neurotic about every single sound.  I'm constantly asking Lily, "What was that sound?  What does that mean?  Are you okay?"  And she just gives me a look, as if to say, "You're crazy!  Now give me a treat!"  

She's still very excited about food.  She had tons of treats last night while the Packers were playing - we have her bark every time the Packers score, intercept, have a good play, etc.  The Packers played well last night, so there was a fair bit of barking happening, and she wanted a treat each time we had her bark.  So there were a whole lot of treats involved yesterday!  She's definitely gained some weight lately, too.  Which I guess I'm not even going to worry about, she was fat when we got her at age 2 (50 lbs) and we had gotten her down to 36 lbs just prior to her surgery, but she'll get to be fat again now.


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## Tony H

Hey Cat hope you and Lily are doing ok .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

We're doing okay!  She's about the same.  Still very excited about food and treats, but energy level isn't great and she's still having sinus issues.  

I went hiking on Sunday.  Walked about 2.5 miles through the woods & prairie to break in my new hiking boots.  Carried my daypack with me which weighs a lot.    I was quite tired at the end of that hike, and the next day my hips were feeling a bit sore.  I probably overdid things a little bit, since I haven't been hiking in awhile.  I'd like to do more hiking, though.  Hopefully my hips will grow more used to it the more I do it.

Lily's birthday is in 10 days.  I think and hope she can make it.  We're going to invite her best friends over for some doggy birthday cake.


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## Tony H

Good that ye are both doing ok 
You cant beat a hike in the woods to help clear your head


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> We're doing okay!  She's about the same.  Still very excited about food and treats, but energy level isn't great and she's still having sinus issues.
> 
> I went hiking on Sunday.  Walked about 2.5 miles through the woods & prairie to break in my new hiking boots.  Carried my daypack with me which weighs a lot.    I was quite tired at the end of that hike, and the next day my hips were feeling a bit sore.  I probably overdid things a little bit, since I haven't been hiking in awhile.  I'd like to do more hiking, though.  Hopefully my hips will grow more used to it the more I do it.
> 
> Lily's birthday is in 10 days.  I think and hope she can make it.  We're going to invite her best friends over for some doggy birthday cake.


Glad to hear Lily's still doing relatively well!  Every time you post, I start thinking the worst but I'm relieved when I read she's still kicking.  Hope she makes it to her birthday as I think it will be good for the both of you to have a fun celebration.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I know, I'm sure every time I post on here and on facebook there are people holding their breaths until they get to the part where Lily is still doing okay!  (I have one friend on facebook who rarely checks in on facebook, but she told me she's been checking it every day lately just for my updates about Lily.)  But on the other hand, if I don't post for a little while then people start to wonder what's up.    I can't not worry people right now, whether I post or not.  On one hand that sucks, I don't want to make everybody worry, but on the other hand it's sort of amazing.  I have so many people, including many I've never even met, who are all rooting for my dog!  It's crazy and wonderful to have support from all over the world.  So, thank you guys for your support.  It really means a lot!

So.  Lily is still doing okay.    Still getting tons of food and treats and enjoying every bit of that.  No further vomiting and she hasn't had diarrhea lately either, her digestion seems good in spite of all of the treats and people food.  Hubby got her some liverwurst and she's been really enjoying that.  I am going to look up recipes for a dog birthday cake and try to make her one over the weekend.  There is a local pet store that sells dog birthday cakes, but those cakes are kind of small and are quite expensive (I think the one I got her last year cost over $30!).  I feel like I should be able to make a pretty darn good dog birthday cake for under $30, so that's the current goal.  I also need to send out an invite to her friends (my neighbor's 2 corgis) to make sure they can come over on the 15th and have some cake too.  Only 9 days to go now until her birthday!  I'm optimistic that she can make it that long.  I'm also excited for Sunday - I like to watch Packers football with Lily, and the first game of the regular season is on Sunday.  She's going to get sooo many treats that day!  

Fitness-wise I haven't done anything since my hike on Sunday.  It's gotten colder here, it feels like autumn.  I'm hoping to hike again at some point over the weekend, if I can talk my hubby into it.  He's actually not working for one whole weekend!  But then the following like 3 weekends he'll be working again.    I got him a hiking daypack and filled it with some supplies, so all I need to do now is convince him to actually leave the house with me and go out into nature and hike for awhile.  We'll see if I can actually convince him to do that or not.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Lily's still doing okay.  (I'm just going to start out every post with that!)  She's such a silly ham, I sat on the floor yesterday evening and petted her a bunch, and when I'd stop petting for even one second, she'd start nudging my hand with her nose.    I printed off some recipes for dog cakes and dog-friendly frosting, so I might try some baking this weekend to see how things turn out.  I also sent out an invite in the mail today to my neighbor who owns 2 corgis (Lily's 2 best friends).  I'm hoping that my neighbor can bring her corgis to Lily's birthday party next week.  I'm going to make adorable party hats for them.    And there will be sooo many cute corgi photos.  I'm guessing that this will be Lily's last birthday - right now she's got about 1.5 months left if the vet was accurate (or 0.5 months left if the internet is accurate).  So I'm going to make this birthday count.  9 will be the best birthday ever.

If Lily makes it to Sept 23rd, and if she's still feeling reasonably well by then, I'm going to take her to the corgi picnic.  We probably won't stay the full time (it's a 4 hour event), but I'd like to go.  There's a dog park in south-central Wisconsin which is about a 45 minute drive away, and every year in late Sept they host a corgi picnic.  There's usually 75 or 80 corgis and their owners who show up, all the dogs play while the people socialize, and then everyone eats a big potluck picnic.  It's really fun.  It's still 2 weeks away, so I am not sure yet if she'll be feeling up to riding in the car that long and seeing that many other corgis, but I'm hopeful that she'll be well enough to go.  (Hubby will be working that weekend so it'll just be me and Lily, which is always a bit scary - if she were to have a medical issue, I'd have to handle it all on my own, which is a frightening thought.)

Speaking of hubby working on weekends, I was wrong about this coming weekend.  Hubby is only off Saturday, it turns out he's working Sunday.  I might go hiking on Sunday by myself then.  I could do a hike in the mid/late morning, and then relax while watching the Packers game with Lily in the afternoon.  Today is actually hubby's and my 15th wedding anniversary, and he's been talking about wanting to do some sort of anniversary-related activity on Saturday (we're both working today).  Most likely we'll go ring shopping on Saturday - hubby had lost his wedding ring in a creek while kayaking a few years ago, and we never replaced it, but lately he's been saying he would like to get a new wedding ring to replace the lost one.  Maybe we'll have a nice meal, too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hubby and I had a busy day of running errands and doing chores and visiting with his friend on Saturday.  I also baked a practice cake for Lily's birthday, and that turned out quite well.  She definitely enjoyed eating it!    It's got carrot and peanut butter in the cake.  I'll make another one for Friday.  Only 4 days now until her birthday!  She's still doing okay.  She continues to have sinus issues, but she seems happy and doesn't seem to be in pain and is still enjoying food a lot.  Hubby bought her a pork liver which we cooked for her dinner yesterday.  She liked that very much!

On Sunday, I went for a longish (3 miles) hike.  I had stumbled upon a really pretty-looking section of hiking trail awhile back and have been meaning to hike there, so I did that on Sunday.  It's more or less a loop, it starts in a residential neighborhood which is weird but then it quickly goes off into the forest and you can't hear or see the city anymore.  It also quickly goes up, up, uphill!  I got tired out in the first few minutes, it was a lot of uphill and was fairly steep in parts.  Fortunately after that initial big climb, then it wasn't so bad.  And it was very pretty, because it went so much uphill, that there were spots to look out at the surrounding area, and there was a lot of forest too.  It was mostly forest, except for a part where you go through a prairie.  The prairie was also really pretty, and I saw a rare bird (pileated woodpecker) going from one forest to the other when I was in the prairie.  That was really neat, I haven't seen that type of bird for probably 25 years!  They are not at all common here, but they're extremely cool to see.

So after the prairie there was another section of forest, and then the trail looped around and went back through the other side of the prairie and then downhill.  The trail ended in the same residential neighborhood where it started, but for some reason it ends about 3 blocks away from where it begins, so I had to check my map and make sure I turned down the correct street to where I had parked my car.    It was a really nice hike, though.  Challenging enough, especially at the beginning, super pretty, and I only saw a couple other hikers the whole time (it drives me crazy when there are a lot of people around when I'm trying to be out in nature away from people, so the fewer people I see while hiking, the better).  So far it's my favorite hiking spot!  I'd like to go back, maybe I can even convince hubby to go with me.


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## Tony H

Happy Anniversary Cat , great that you are getting out and about in beautiful forests and trails , it must be great to get away from civilisation for a while 
Hugs and Kisses to Lily


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Tony, thank you.  Yes, it's great and very much needed for me to get out into the forest and away from civilization for a bit.  I feel so calm and relaxed when I'm in the woods.  Part of me wants to never leave the forest!  And the exercise aspect of hiking in the woods also does a lot of good for me, it relieves stress and makes me feel better both physically and mentally.  I already am planning to do a lot more hiking once Lily passes away.

Lily is still doing okay.  We brought her to the dog park yesterday evening so that she could see her friends - her 2 corgi best friends were there as well as another dog that Lily is friendly with.  I know dogs are pack animals, and they do seem to form packs with their friends.  So it's really nice every time Lily is able to see members of her usual pack at the park.  She was coughing a bit at the park, which always worries me (the vet said that the type of cancer that Lily has often spreads to the lungs).  And of course she got tired out, as her energy levels aren't what they were pre-illness, but we had the wagon with us, so we walked to the park and then took her home in the wagon.  That's been working out really well.  She had a fun time at the park and had a leisurely ride back home in her wagon.

Lily's 2 best friends are officially coming to her birthday party, too.    That will be on Friday.  I'll post photos on here if I can figure out a way to do so (I used to post via photobucket, but they changed their rules and now I can't seem to post photos from their site).  Hubby unfortunately has to work on Friday out of town, so it'll just be me, Lily, my neighbor and her 2 corgis.  Oh well.  I'm going to make it a great birthday for Lily!  I think I'm going to make some treats for the humans, and of course birthday cake for the dogs.  Party hats for the dogs as well (Lily will only wear a hat as long as there are treats in front of her so I'll have to quickly snap some photos of that!).

So that'll be Friday.  On Monday, it'll be the 2 month anniversary of her surgery.  The internet says life expectancy is 2 months from the time of surgery, but both vets (regular vet and emergency vet) told us that 3 months is pretty typical - our regular vet did say that they really don't see many dogs at all who make it longer than 3 months, so I'm not expecting that Lily has much time left.  The important thing is that she's not in pain, not suffering.  The coughing and sinus issues seem minor and don't seem to be putting her in any distress or pain.  So we'll just keep going with her as long as she seems to be pain-free and feeling okay and eating well and having normal urination and bowel movements all that good stuff.  Just taking it day by day.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It's Lily's birthday.  She made it!  I'm so happy that she made it to her birthday.  And, hubby got the dates wrong, so he didn't go out of town this weekend after all.  He can see the fun (and help me wrangle the corgis) at Lily's party tonight, yay!  I'm so excited.  I made party hats for all the corgis, pupcakes for the dogs, and chocolate cupcakes for the humans.

Fitness-wise I haven't done much.  We've had a heat wave here this week, it's supposedly finally ending after tomorrow, so I might go hiking or bicycling on Sunday if it doesn't rain.  For now it's too warm to do much.  Haven't walked Lily either because she hates hot weather.  I'll wait for it to cool down before taking her on a walk.


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## Tony H

Happy Birthday [emoji324][emoji512][emoji322] Lily 
Enjoy the party Cat


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Tony!  I'm headed home shortly to frost the cupcakes and the pupcakes and get everything else ready.  Lily's friends are coming over in a couple of hours.  I went home at lunch and Lily seemed more lethargic than usual, but I did go home for lunch at an earlier time today than usual so that might account for it.  Her appetite was still good so hopefully I had just woken her from a nap and/or she wasn't expecting me home at that time so it threw her off of her usual routine.  I'll of course keep a close eye on her tonight to make sure she's feeling okay.  And I'll let you know how the birthday party goes.


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## scottsma

Another milestone Cat.Hope Lily's party was enjoyed by all.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

The party went well!  Lily's friends seemed to have a great time, Lily loved having her friends over, and hubby and I were able to chat with our neighbor/friend for a bit.  Many treats were had and all the guests seemed to enjoy themselves.  And Lily is still enjoying the leftover pupcakes a couple of days later.  

Our heat wave seems to have finally ended, but now it's raining.  If the rain lets up, I'm going to see if I can get my road bike into my car.  It's a hatchback and I've got the back seat laid down and I can also lay down the front passenger seat, so I think I can fit my bike in the car.  If I can do that, then I'm going to take it out somewhere new for a ride.


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## scottsma

Hope you manage it Cat,good fresh air and exercise will set you up for the week ahead.
Sorry you missed out on the job you were after, but  hey,their loss.There'll be others.


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## Tony H

Hey Cat hope Lily and yourself are doing ok


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Tony.  Lily is okay.  She's having a bit more coughing, the sinus issues continue, and the big lump under her right armpit seems bigger and different - previously it was sort of squishy, now it seems quite firm and dense.  But she seems to be feeling okay and is still eating lots and seems happy and in no pain as far as I can tell.

I'm not so great.  Sunday mid-morning (shortly after my last post in this thread) I got hit with urgent, watery d and cramps.  I'm still trying to recover from that.  I'm still having some d, cramps, nausea, fatigue, etc.  Not sure what set that off.  It's slooowly getting better.  It's made me depressed though.  I've been off sick from work due to this episode, I'm going to push myself to go in to the office Thurs & Fri at least.  Hopefully I can make it through 2 days.  I'm feeling very bleh though.

If I'm feeling better enough by Saturday, and if Lily is feeling okay, and if the weather is okay, then I'll be taking Lily to the local annual corgi picnic.  It's looking iffy, though.  They're saying it might be as warm as 90 degrees F, which is ridiculously warm, and Lily hates hot weather (so do my guts).  It would be sad to skip it, as I know it'll be Lily's last opportunity to go to a corgi picnic.  At this point I'm tentatively thinking that we'll go to the corgi picnic, but maybe only for an hour or so tops (it's usually a 4 hour event).  It's been a lot of fun in years past, there's typically about 75 or 80 corgis and their owners who all show up to a park and everyone brings a dish to pass, the dogs all play together and the owners socialize and eat a picnic lunch, and there's a raffle for charity too.  But if my guts are less than stellar and if it's hot weather, then I may skip the food and we'll just make a short appearance and then leave - for both my sake and Lily's.


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## Tony H

Hope you feel better soon Cat ,
flaring really takes it out of you mentally and physically ,
Rubs and Hugs to Lily .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Tony.  I don't think it was a proper flare, fortunately.  I didn't have night sweats nor pains waking me at night, and I have been doing a little bit better day by day.  Today was the first day for about a week where I woke up and didn't feel horrible right from the moment I opened my eyes.  I actually have a slight appetite back and my bowel habits are becoming more normal - less urgency, more formed stools.  So I think I'm okay, maybe it was a virus or something I ate or just a result of stress, who knows.  Heck, maybe it's the weather, my guts hate hot & humid weather, and we've had a heat wave here this week.

Since I've started feeling better, I am planning on taking Lily to the corgi picnic tomorrow.  We still probably won't stay more than an hour or two, since it's still going to be very hot out - Lily doesn't like hot weather either, and with her black fur and extra body weight (she's gotten a bit fat since her diagnosis with all the treats she's had!), I'm sure she won't be completely happy being out in the sun on a very warm day.  I'm going to bring a jug of ice water for her (and for me too) and will just keep an eye on her and on my guts as well.  We'll make an appearance for a bit, say hi to the other people and corgis, and then head out when one or both of us has had enough of the heat.  Fortunately, the air conditioner in my new car works great, so we can at least stay cool on the trip there and back.

Aside from that, we're probably going to stay indoors in the air conditioning for the rest of the weekend.  I'll be glad when this heat wave is over!


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## scottsma

Hope the pic-nic went well Cat.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

The corgi picnic went okay.  Both Lily and I got too warm, my guts got unhappy and she got tired out, so we left early.  I was a bit disappointed, too, the heat seemed to keep some people from coming to the picnic.  Normally there are 75-80 corgis, this year there were roughly 40-50.  And my neighbor who owns 2 corgis, she told me she'd be there, but she never showed up.  Hmph.

The rest of the weekend we stayed indoors, in the air conditioning.  Fortunately, today looks like the last really warm day.  I'm looking forward to cooler weather!  Tomorrow's supposed to be warm-ish and rainy, and Wednesday is supposed to be cool (today is another 90 degree day, Wednesday will be 68 degrees F according to the forecast).  Bring on Wednesday!

Hubby's planning to have some friends over on Saturday, so I'm already thinking about a hike.  Hubby and his friends play dumb games (like Dungeons & Dragons) which I don't care for, so I like to escape while they're over.  The weather is looking good, cool but not rainy for Saturday, looks pretty ideal for a nice hike.


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## Tony H

Hugs and rubs to Lily and support to you .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Tony.  We're doing okay.  Hubby made a roast rabbit for dinner yesterday, with cooked potatoes and carrots.  Lily loooves carrots, so I gave her most of mine.    She was very happy about that.  She's still doing about the same, somewhat lethargic but in no pain as far as I can tell and still eating lots.

I'm trying little baby steps to take better care of myself.  I've made a healthy packed lunch for myself 2 days of this week so far - baby carrots, grape tomatoes, olives, turkey pepperoni, goat feta cheese, fried tofu, avocado, and hard boiled egg, all with balsamic vinegarette dressing.  Sort of like a cobb salad without the lettuce, because lettuce seems to be the part of salad that bothers me the most.  I have seen little bits of either red or orange in my stool, so I know I'm not fully digesting either the carrots or the tomatoes (or maybe both), but I don't feel too badly.  I'm trying, anyway.  And now that the weather has cooled down a bit, I can hopefully go for more walks, too.

I see my GI this afternoon.  I'm going to tell him about all the stress I've been under lately, with my crazy job situation and with my dog having terminal cancer.  I don't know if there's anything he can do to help me in that regard, even though the stress definitely has affected my guts.  Maybe I need an antidepressant or something, I don't know.  I've already been prescribed Lorazepam for anti-anxiety, but I know that med is very addictive so I rarely ever take it.  So I don't know.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Slight change in plans.  My mother is coming for a visit on Saturday, so I'll go hiking on Sunday instead.  The weather still looks good for that day, so that should be fine.  And I can still avoid hubby and his nerd friends.  

I made another video of Lily today, it's really cute.  I'm going to try to remember to put it on youtube tonight so that I can share it with you guys.  I went home at lunch as I always do, to let her out and feed her and check in on her.  After I did all of that, I sat on the couch for a few minutes and was eating some belly-friendly leftover pizza (homemade pizza with no sauce - my GERD hates tomato sauce - and goat cheese because that's the only kind of cheese that my lactose intolerance can handle).  Lily was intently staring at my piece of pizza and was making little "grr. grr. grr." sounds.    So I took a video of that.  She's so silly, and food is still her favorite thing!  She really, really wanted me to share my slice of pizza with her.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Lily's gone downhill a bit more, becoming more lethargic.  Yesterday, I decided I was going to take a walk on the paved forest path, rather than do a full wilderness hike.  I started putting on my "taking a walk" clothes.  Normally, when Lily would see me putting on my walking clothes, she would freak out with happiness, because she knew it was walkies time and she would implore me with woofs to hurry up and get dressed already.  Yesterday, though, she just kept on resting.  Not so much as one single woof.  When she saw me walk out of the bedroom in my walking clothes, she just went straight into her crate, rather than freak out or look for her leash or anything like what she'd normally do.  Ugh, poor Lily.  I think the end is not far off now.  As of today, it's been 2 months and 2 weeks since her surgery.  The vet's estimate was 3 months, and it's looking like that'll probably be pretty accurate.

So, I went over to the forest path by myself and had a walk.  Sometimes I just need to get away from home and away from my dying dog, just be by myself and refresh and recharge in the forest.  It was a very nice day, not too warm and not too cold.  So I wandered through the forest for a bit.  Then, I came home, and I decided that I'm not done exercising for the day.  I haven't lifted weights since Lily got sick, but yesterday I got out my weight bench and my dumbbells and barbell and had a fairly short weights session.  I could tell that my body wasn't used to it, everything felt quite heavy and I got tired fairly quickly.  But it also felt so good to be lifting again!  I need to do that more.  So that's my goal, is to start lifting a few times a week and get myself back up to where I was before.  I feel logy and slow and chubby and tired, I'd like to use weights to transform myself into someone more energetic and muscular and happier.  Lifting weights does make me feel happy, I had forgotten how good it feels.  So, hopefully, you guys will be seeing more fitness posts in this thread going forward!  It is my fitness thread, after all.

I'm also trying hard to revamp my diet and to eat healthier.  I had started on that last week.  I think it's already helping, too.  When I was in Japan, I felt great the whole time, and my body loved all the food, so I'm trying to incorporate more of that into my everyday diet.  I even made myself onigiri (rice balls with salmon filling, wrapped in seaweed) for breakfast today.  I'm not very good at making onigiri, they're supposed to be a triangle shape but were more like blobs, but they were delicious anyway.    And I'm sure I'll get better at it the more I make them.


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## Tony H

Thinking of you and Lily , good that you were able to get out and clear your head .

Its so hard seeing them slow down and not seem to care about the things that they lived for , its good that she does not seem to be in pain , good thoughts and prayers to you and Lily .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Tony.  It is hard.  I've also noticed that, in the past she's always been very impatient to be let out of her crate first thing in the morning.  She's always standing right by the crate door and sometimes is whining.  But this morning, she was lying down and didn't get up until the crate door was opened.  There are a lot of little things like that which tell me that she's getting sicker and slowing down more.  And I knew this was coming, but it's still hard to see all the little signs that she's dying.

Anyway.  I'm still doing well diet-wise.  I'm trying to incorporate more fruits and veggies into my diet, as well as many of the foods that I had eaten in Japan (rice, fish, seaweed/nori, tofu, eggs, etc), and I'm trying to cut out some junk food, and so far that's going well.  My guts are almost suspiciously quiet and I'm only having about 1-2 BMs per day and they are formed and solid.  All is going very well on the diet side of things.  I just have to keep it going and not slip up.  When my guts are nice and calm, I sometimes get cocky and think that I can eat something that I really can't/shouldn't, and I end up paying for it.  So I need to remind myself to avoid that type of situation!

As for exercise, I was quite sore yesterday from Sunday's workout, but it was a "good" sore if that makes sense.  Like, when my guts act up or my arthritis, that's a bad pain, but feeling sore from a workout is a healthy, good pain.  I like it even if it makes me walk a bit slowly and stiffly, ha ha.    I'm still slightly sore today but not bad at all, and I'm planning to exercise again tonight.  I'll probably just do another brief and not too intense weights session in my home gym.  I don't want to push myself too much, too fast, now that I'm getting back into it.  I'd like to ease into it so that I don't injure myself or anything like that.  So, I'll listen to my body and won't lift too much or too heavy.  I'm excited, though, I really like getting back into fitness after basically having not been to the gym in months (not since Lily got sick, and she initially became ill in mid July).  Fitness helps me not only physically feel better, but mentally and emotionally, too.  It helps with stress and it just makes me feel like "ahhh!" like calm and happier.

The weather's being iffy this week, but if it's not raining tomorrow then I'd like to take a walk.  I'm planning to lift weights again on Thursday.  I'm not planning too far ahead, because I don't know what my health (or Lily's) is going to do.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I lifted weights yesterday and felt pretty good!  I felt stronger and like I had more stamina than I did on Sunday, it felt significantly easier and I was able to exercise for longer than I had on Sunday.  My hips (which both have arthritis) also felt pretty tight and stiff on Sunday, but they felt better and looser yesterday.  All of this is telling me that I need to keep going and get back into the rhythm of exercising regularly.  It's very encouraging!  

My GERD has been quiet during my recent workouts, too.  My GERD has a lot of triggers - it doesn't like tomato sauce, chocolate, greasy/fried foods, it doesn't like it when I lie down, and it doesn't like it when I use my abdominal muscles in any way, like if I'm exercising (even if I'm not specifically doing abdominal exercises, the ab muscles still are used at least to some extent in most exercises).  Previously, I'd take one 300 mg ranitidine tablet and a handful of Tums just to be able to work out.  That was working so-so, but I have found more recently that my belly just does not like Tums at all.  They cause me pain.  So, I decided to try to find another way to work out while appeasing my GERD but not taking Tums.  The solution I've come up with so far is, I've taken 2 ranitidine tablets instead of one before working out.  That's 600 mg which is kind of a lot, but ranitidine is a fairly mild and reasonably safe GERD med so I'm not too worried.  My GERD is classified as severe, but so far (knock on wood) the 600 mg of ranitidine has been working pretty well.  I haven't gotten the vurps during my 2 workouts that I've had so far.  So far so good with cutting out Tums!

Lily is about the same as she was.  Her appetite is still very good, thankfully.  I gave her a dollop of plain yogurt yesterday along with her lunch.  Then, when I came home from work in the evening, she had yogurt on her nose!  I was like, has that been there since lunch?  It turns out that nope, hubby had also given her some yogurt with her dinner, so it was from dinner and not lunch.  We're both spoiling her with food, that's for sure.  Oct 18th will be 3 months from the date of her surgery, and the vets both estimated she'd have about 3 months left (I believe one vet said that only about 10% of dogs with hemangiosarcoma make it longer than 3 months).  That's only 2 weeks from today, so I know Lily's time is running very short.  That reminds me, I saw a meme somewhere with a corgi, it said "Life is short and so are my legs."  That seemed very appropriate.

The weather is looking great today.  It rained most of the night, but now the rain has left for the moment anyway and it's sunny and going to be about 68 F today (about 20 C).  Not too warm and not too cool, it looks ideal for a walk.  Wednesdays are the one weekday that I don't have to go home at lunch to look after Lily - hubby works afternoons on Wednesdays, so he's home until lunchtime and he can feed her lunch and let her out to potty before he goes to work.  That means that I actually have free lunch hours on Wednesdays and can do what I want on my lunch break.  So, I'm planning a lunch hour walk on the paved forest path, and I'm really looking forward to it.  Being able to escape to the forest for an hour is wonderful and very much needed.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had my walk and it was really nice.  The weather was perfect!  But, I am stupid.    I forgot to put on my walking shoes!  I have a pair of walking shoes that I keep in my car at all times, they have the nice memory foam insoles and are really comfy and great for walking.  But I was an idiot and completely forgot to put them on, so I ended up taking my walk in my work shoes - which are ballet flats with zero support and which are not particularly comfortable for walking in.  Oops.  I realized my error after I had already been walking for a few minutes, and at that point I didn't want to backtrack all the way back to my car, so I just did my whole walk in my work shoes.  It wasn't too bad, but towards the end of my 40ish minute walk, my feet were definitely asking me where the memory foam is.    Next time I'll definitely remember to change my shoes!


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## scottsma

I'm happy to hear Lily is still paddling along nicely Cat. Just take one day at a time.You and she will know when it's time and let's it's a good way ahead.
Mentioning walking shoes.I asked my hubby if mine were still in the car just this morning.They are,but I haven't worn them since we lost Alfie.I used to do at least 6ml a day with him,more when on holiday in Scotland.My back dictates how far now and it has steadily worsened over the last couple of years.Luckily cycling doesn't affect it one bit.As to you walking in your flats,well I don't know how you managed that.The path must have been paved.?


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Carol, yes, it's a paved walking path that winds along a creek and through a forest.  A really nice little place to walk.  And yeah, Lily is still doing mostly okay aside from the increasing lethargy.  The tumor in her right armpit area, presumably a lymph node, is getting larger all the time.  I would estimate it's probably close to grapefruit size now.  We know the cancer had also spread to her omentum (the fatty protective layer that covers the intestines) and presumably to her brain as well, because she started having seizures shortly after her cancer diagnosis.  I don't know how big those tumors are, but presumably they're also larger now.  And she's still having some coughing and sinus issues.  This morning immediately following breakfast, she started trying to clear her sinuses again (she makes a "snerk-snork" sound).  My guess is that there's a tumor either in the sinuses or maybe it's the tumor in the brain pushing on the sinuses, so she feels like there's something in there that she tries to clear, but she can't because it's more than just mucus in there.

But, she's still eager to do tricks to earn treats.  She's got this trick which we call "get the kitty."  I can ask Lily a number of things, such as "who is your best friend?" or "where is the kitty?" or just "get the kitty!" - if I say any of those to her, she'll run off and find the cat and boop the cat with her nose to indicate that the kitty has been found.    Then she woofs happily because she knows that she gets a treat for that, ha ha.  Meanwhile, the cat looks extremely annoyed by the whole process.  So yesterday I said, "Where's the kitty?"  And she immediately found the cat and gave her a boop (and the cat gave Lily a swat) and Lily was so pleased with herself.  So it's encouraging that she's still doing stuff like that, she's still interested in finding her kitty in exchange for a treat.

Fitness-wise I will take a rest day today.  I was bad yesterday evening and had some cheese bread, and am paying for that now.  It did not sit well in my stomach - I'm lactose intolerant - and I didn't sleep well and have had some bathroom trips this morning and also have a mild headache.  So I'll rest today and will lift weights tomorrow instead.


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## scottsma

Yes,I think it's sensible to have a break day.We need to take notice when our bodies tell us to.It's all very well pushing ourselves  if we're at the peak of fitness but we're not.We can only do our best.I've been keeping up with all your posts Cat and myself and the rest of your  crohnie family are with you every step of the way.Hugs.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Carol.    Have you been riding your bike lately?  Has it gotten colder where you are?  It's gotten cooler here but still not too cold.  Yesterday was beautiful weather, perfect for walking.  Today it's a bit cooler, a jacket is definitely needed today, and it looks like it might rain.  So this is a good day to stay in and rest anyway.  Plus, you know me, I'm always doing something, even when I'm resting.    I've been crocheting a lot.  I've made a ton of hats, I've got about 5 totes full of hats.  I'm going to give a few away as xmas gifts, and the rest I'm going to donate to a group that collects hats for cancer patients.  So I'm always working on crocheting hats in my spare time (I recently made another blanket, too).  Plus there are always sewing projects to tackle too.  And I seem to always have a pile of books that I want to read.  I can't just be idle, I need to keep busy even when I'm resting!

Lily continues to give me little signs that she's slowing down (or maybe I'm just paranoid about every little thing she does?).  Normally, after she eats, she does what I call "happy rolls" where she rolls around on the rug and makes happy "rrr" sounds.  That's how she shows her satisfaction with what she just ate.  Today, after she ate her lunch, she flopped down on the rug and barely did half a roll and one half-hearted little "rrr" and that was it.  I'm not sure if this means she's tired, in pain, not satisfied with her lunch?  She had her favorite soft kibble, some treats and some plain yogurt, which normally she loves all of those things, and she did scarf them down with gusto.  She just didn't express her happiness after eating.  So I take that to mean that either she's not happy, or she's too tired to express her happiness (she was not too tired to eyeball my lunch the entire time I was eating, though).  I don't know.  Probably I'm just going crazy and reading too much into every little detail of what she does.  I can't not worry about her.  Hopefully she'll do the happy rolls properly after her dinner tonight, we'll see.


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## Tony H

Hey Cat when Joey was fading , he would not even go in to his bed to sleep and he stopped curling up , I think it was causing him pain  and he was fairly tired all the time , its good that her appetite is still good , that was the last thing to go with Joey  , I don't think you are going crazy , Lily is your dog and you will notice things nobody would , I really hope that you will get to see the happy rolls tonight , there is nothing as funny and heartwarming as a happy dog rolling around , hugs and rubs to Lily and support and positive thoughts to you . Take care .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thank you, Tony.  Hugs to you as well.  I hope you're doing as well as can be expected. 

Lily doesn't really curl up much - corgis are such a weird shape, the short and stumpy legs and then the long torso with the barrel chest, the odd shape of her doesn't really lend itself to curling up much at all.  But I do wonder if she's becoming more uncomfortable especially with the visible tumor in her right armpit area.  It's so big that it takes my entire hand to cover it (including fingers).  She doesn't seem to like lying on that side very much now and I'm sure it's because of that tumor.  But that's the only visible tumor and I know there is at least one more in her abdomen that I can't see externally, so that might also affect how she lays down and if she does the happy rolls or not.  I wish she could just tell me how she's feeling.  I feel like I have to try to interpret what every little behavior means.  It's hard to do.

She's still sleeping in her bed, so from your experience with Joey it sounds like that's a good sign.  She's always been crate-trained, she loves going into her crate to sleep.  I read somewhere that dogs who have been crate-trained, they think of their crate as being their den - deep down, dogs are still wolves in some ways.  Their crate is their safe, cozy place where they can be comfortable and relax and feel safe & secure.  And Lily always puts herself in her crate to wait for her treat when she sees that hubby and I are getting ready for bed ourselves.  That habit hasn't changed since she got sick, she still always goes into her crate on her own when it's bedtime, and then either hubby or I give her a treat and shut the door for her.  We once went out of town with her, stayed at my in-laws' house and did not bring Lily's crate.  We figured she'd just sleep on the floor.  Nope, she could not sleep without her crate!  She paced the floor all night and none of us got any sleep.  After that, we always make sure to bring her crate with us when we travel.  She loves her crate.  So I would take it as a major warning sign if she suddenly did not want to sleep in her crate.  Fortunately, so far that hasn't happened.  And I've made sure that her crate is very comfortable, with lots of blankets and cushions.  So hopefully she'll continue sleeping in her crate with no issues.

Anyway.  Hubby and I have been needing an emotional pick-me-up.  I found out that a comedian that we both like is doing a stand-up comedy show in our city this weekend.  I told hubby about it, and even though it's a little bit pricey, we decided to buy tickets to the show.  I am really looking forward to it!  I think I need all the laughter I can get right now.  And seeing live comedy is really fun, I've been to a few comedy shows in my day - the coolest one was, a couple years before he died, we had front row seats at a George Carlin show.  That was fantastic.  Live comedy, there's just nothing like it - you can't get the same experience as you would from watching comedy on TV.  It's so, so much fun.  So I'm hoping we have a really good time at this show, we both need to have fun and laugh a lot.


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## Tony H

Hope yourself and your hubby enjoy the stand up , laughter is really the best medicine , just checked out George Carlin on youtube , he was very good , im watching the one about religion .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Yes, George Carlin was a comedy legend.  He was very famous for many years.  It was pretty amazing to see him live, and to be in the front row (hubby was 2nd in line to buy tickets, he waited for hours) was just awesome.  If you look up Carlin's "modern man" routine - we saw him do that one live, that was really cool.  And his "7 words you can't say on television" is probably his most famous routine, although obviously it has swears so only watch it if you're not opposed to lots of swearing.

Lily did her happy rolls after dinner yesterday evening!    Sometimes she does happy rolls on the living room rug, and other times she sneaks off to the guest bedroom to do happy rolls (not sure why, she just seems to really like the rug in that room).  I had just gotten home from work and was changing out of my work clothes, and I could hear her from my bedroom - I snuck over to the doorway and watched her, she seemed very happy and did lots of rolling around.  That made me very happy.

As for me, I got hit with some fairly bad nausea this morning.  Guts are still unhappy with me.  I also still have a headache - it's been rainy here, and changes in barometric pressure can cause me to get a headache or migraine, so it's probably because of the weather.  It's still annoying, though.  I'm also exhausted.  Not going to exercise today either.  Will re-assess how I'm feeling tomorrow.


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## scottsma

We've been for a bike ride along the coast.Really enjoyed it too.It is getting cooler by the day but got up to 13c from 3c early on.I forgot to tell you Cat I got a hi-viz asics cycling jacket at a charity shop last week for £6.I had looked at them in the bike shop for £25-£30+ but they didn't have my size.I wanted to be able to wear a hoodie under it in the cold weather.
Lily's roll brought a smile to my face.Happy days gone by, except when Alf decided to roll in fox muck.Very potent !!!...Please try not to look to hard for bad health signs in Lily.We can always find stuff like that if we look hard enough.Just enjoy the good things with her.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Good job getting such a bargain on that jacket, Carol!  You know I'm all about thrift too.    I recently found an Armani jacket, in my size and fits me really well and is cute, for only $4 at the thrift store!  That's the best bargain I've gotten recently.  Probably couldn't/shouldn't ride my bike while wearing it, though as it's a bit fancy for that.  

Lily is about the same.  Still resting a lot but also still very interested in food.  I found some dog-friendly "ice cream" (it's more like frozen beef broth mixed with goat milk) at the store recently, and she's been really enjoying having cups of that.  Today marks 2 months and 3 weeks since her surgery.  If she makes it to Oct 18th, that will be 3 months since her surgery, and both vets said that most dogs with this type of cancer don't typically make it past 3 months.  So we'll see what happens in the coming days.  If she makes it past the 18th, I don't expect her to make it very far past that date.  But we'll see.

As for rolling, she's still been doing happy rolls, which is good - but I know what you mean about rolling in something stinky, I hate when she does that!  I've promised Lily that I'll give her no further baths for the rest of her life, but I also told her that I will have to break that promise if she rolls in something stinky.  So far she hasn't, but I keep an eye on her when she's out in the yard just in case!

Fitness-wise, I haven't done anything all weekend.  My guts have still not felt well enough for exercise, so I rested all weekend (aside from going to the comedy show, which was very funny).  That was frustrating to have to rest all weekend, especially yesterday, because it looked like a perfect day for hiking.  But I listened to my body and stayed in.  I sewed & crocheted instead.  I ended up crocheting a few hats over the weekend, and I sewed a big cozy infinity scarf for myself too.  Hubby said it looks more like a blanket than a scarf, that's how big it is!  It's extremely cozy and warm in shades of soft grey flannel, I love it.  I used 4 different pieces of fabric and patchworked them together into a scarf.  I'm going to wear it a lot this winter!

I'll just continue to play things by ear day by day, both when it comes to my own guts & fitness, and also when it comes to Lily.


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## scottsma

Armani, wow.I hope you're keeping it for "best".hahaha
Still enjoying little blackie.Hubby wants me to get a new  one that I can step through,but there's no way I'd part with my little friend.Unless of course I start to find it difficult to cock my leg over the seat to mount.Funny thing is,I can only do it with my left leg.
I'm glad you're not pushing yourself when you're feeling a bit off.And you must trust Lily to know when she's feeling a bit off too.Animals are far more in synche with their health than we give them credit for.....Your scarf sounds nice,it'll be needed soon and will be really cosy.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Carol, I no longer keep clothes for "best" because then I just never seem to wear them at all.  This article says it really nicely:

https://www.xojane.com/clothes/how-have-i-never-worn-this-dress-do-you-save-clothes-for-good

As for getting a new bike, there's no reason you can't keep Little Blackie AND get a second bike.  That's what I did.    I have a cruiser bike.  It's sort of big and heavy and I don't ride it often.  A couple years after I got the cruiser bike, I got a second bike - my nimble little road bike.  I looooove my road bike (I'm sure I've posted about it before, it's neon green with bright blue tires, it's beautiful).  So now my bikes live together in my basement when I'm not riding, ha ha.    They're both good for different purposes, too.  The road bike is for when I want to ride far and fast.  The cruiser bike has a basket, and I can also attach the bike trailer behind it if I so choose, so I can ride it slowly and leisurely to nearby grocery stores (not the one that I tried riding to earlier this summer that's up a giant hill, though!).  So yeah, if you think you might benefit from getting a second bike, and you have the room to store it, I say go for it.  I like having an option of which bike to ride.  I usually opt for the road bike, but not always.  So even if you usually opt to ride Little Blackie, there might be times when you'd like to ride a different bike instead.  Just my experience anyway.

I'm feeling a bit better day by day.  I think today is the first day where I haven't had any cramps nor nausea.  I don't trust it quite yet, though.  And, tomorrow I'm getting my flu shot anyway, and I know that it's not wise to do a workout on the day of getting the flu shot just because of the arm soreness, plus it's good to give my body at least a day to adjust to the vaccine.  So, my hope is to do a workout on Thursday or Friday, but of course I'll see how I'm feeling.

Lily continues to become more lethargic.  Poor girl just does not have the energy anymore.  Yesterday was like the one day this week where rain wasn't in the forecast, it was a very nice evening weather-wise, so hubby and I thought we'd take Lily on a short, slow walk.  Just two short blocks down to the creek and back.  By the time we had walked to the creek and turned around and were about a block from home, she was clearly exhausted - panting heavily and walking very slowly.  Poor Lil.    The rest of the evening, she rested in her crate.  When I went to check on her at one point, she looked at me but didn't even raise her head.  She was clearly completely exhausted by that short walk.  I guess from now on we will only walk one block and then back, and/or we will take the wagon with us (we didn't bring it yesterday because we figured she could handle such a short walk without it).  She still doesn't seem to be in any pain, and is still eating well - she scarfed down a cup of dog ice cream right after the walk.  But poor girl, she's just so exhausted nowadays, and it seems to get a little worse every day.  We're just keeping an eye on things.  I don't think lethargy by itself is indicative that it's time to have her put down, but if anything else comes up, like if she stops eating or acts like she's in pain, then I think it will be time.


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## Jelly loves Peanut butter

Hello Cat,  I keep reading about Lily and she sure sounds like a lucky dog!  I wish someone would pull me in a wagon sometimes. I think you will know when it is "time," so keep spoiling your sweet girl.  When I had Missy,  she stopped eating and couldn't walk and then I knew it was her time.  Even though she couldn't walk her stubby tail would have a fierce wag any time I walked in the room.  So on her very last day I made an appointment, 5 pm,  last one of the day.  I felt sick, wondering if I did the right thing. We sat outside most of the day, she loved the fresh air.  A little white butterfly kept fluttering by her and I all day,  didn't really think much of that.  Approaching 5 pm, my husband, kids, myself and Missy  all headed over to the vet, all sobbing most of the way. While we were waiting in the lobby, holding Missy on my lap and looking out the window, a small white butterfly flew over and fluttered right outside the window until we were called back. The kids (and me too!) were just  amazed by this little white butterfly! We knew we were doing the right thing for Missy.  So Cat, just take it one day at a time and your sweet Lily will let you know when she is ready. Best to you !


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks, Jelly.  I teared up reading about Missy's last day.  How sad and sweet about the butterfly!  I wonder if it'll snow on Lily's last day - snow is her favorite thing, and we usually don't get snow in October and often not in November either, I've really been hoping that she could see snow one more time before she goes.  Not sure if that's going to happen or not.  But as you said, I'll just keep on taking it one day at a time.  (And checking the weather report for snow...)

And yes, she's a bit spoiled, I bought the wagon specifically just for Lily.  It's a cloth wagon and it folds up for easy storage when we're not using it.  It has cup holders for her water and I put one of her blankets in it so that she's extra comfy when she's riding in style.    She might be getting a bit too spoiled now - she's gotten quite fat since her cancer diagnosis!  She's a corgi, and corgis are supposed to be about 35 lbs max.  She was 50 lbs when we rescued her when she was 2.  It took us nearly 7 years, but we got her down to 36 lbs.  She was only one lb away from her goal weight!  But then she got cancer and all that went out the window.  No more limiting treats, no more rule about no people food.  She's dying so she can eat whatever she wants (within reason, obviously we're not going to give her something which could make her ill like chocolate).  And, she's looking about the same as she looked back when she was 50 lbs.    She looks like a sausage with stumpy legs!  I feel a bit bad about that, but at the same time I'm not going to limit her treats at this point.  So she'll just be fat for whatever time she's got left.  I guess if I were given 3 months to live, I'd also eat whatever I want.  And at this point she's got a lot less than 3 months - her surgery was on July 18th, so October 18th is her estimated date of demise.  That's only 8 days away now.  On our short walk yesterday, I mentioned to hubby that there's only 9 days left if the vets are correct, and he seemed very surprised and saddened by that.  I guess he hasn't been obsessively counting the days like I have.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Lily continues to rest a lot.  Usually, when hubby and I turn off the TV and put away our phones & laptops, she knows that it's bedtime and she puts herself in her crate and waits for her bedtime treat.  If we forget to give her her treat and shut her crate door, she comes out of her crate and finds us and gives us a gentle nudge to remind us that she still needs her bedtime treat.  Last night was the first time ever that she didn't do that.  She stayed resting in her crate, did not come find me.  I eventually remembered that she hadn't had her treat, and I brought it to her and shut her crate door - she remained lying down in her crate as she ate her treat.  Another little sign that she's slowing down.

She also went right back to sleep this morning after getting up.  I let her out of her crate first thing at 6 AM and took her outside so that she could go potty, and then I gave her her breakfast and pills.  After eating, she zonked out and went back to sleep.  And I mean, she zonked out hard, literally she was snoring by 7 AM.  Poor Lil.  She has hardly any energy at all anymore.  I don't know how much time she has left - the vets' estimate gives her one week exactly from today.  I would suspect that she doesn't have a lot of time left, every day she seems to get a bit more lethargic.

As for me, I had my flu shot today so no exercise today.  I'll re-assess tomorrow how I'm feeling and will go from there.  I'll probably do some sewing tonight as that always makes me feel warm & cozy - it's chilly and rainy here today, a good day to stay in!  And I'm supposed to move my arm around to let the flu vaccine make its way through my system, plus that helps alleviate the soreness - I think sewing will allow me to move my arm enough without overdoing things.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm presuming it's because of the fact that we've had a lot of rain lately, but whatever it is - my hip hurts today!  I have arthritis in both hips, not sure which type (GP thinks osteo, and I saw a rheumy who thought inflammatory).  Normally my right hip is the one that tends to give me more pain, but today the left one is really angry with me.  I don't know if it's the weather, if I slept wrong, something else?  It's painful in the hip, in the butt cheek, and the pain is going down into the leg.  

So, whatever the case, I'm not exercising when I'm in pain like this.  I know my hips like exercise, but not when they're this angry.  I have to let it improve first before I can exercise.  Sooo, it's another rest day.  Hmph.

Lily might be getting worse, I don't know.  Our habit has been, I come home at lunch, let her out to potty and she urinates, then I give her lunch, and then after lunch she goes out again to have a poo.  That's how it's been for several months now.  Today, though, she didn't poo.  She looked at me with slightly sad eyes and headed right back for the house.  Maybe it's nothing, she doesn't like the rain so maybe she didn't feel like having a poo in the cold rain.  But it is slightly worrying when she deviates from the normal.  She is still eating with gusto though so I'll just keep an eye on her potty habits and make sure everything's okay in that regard.  I know she has cancer on her omentum so possibly that could be affecting things?  I don't know.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

My hips are feeling somewhat better today, thank goodness.  The rain has let up (for now, but it's going to rain all this evening and apparently all day tomorrow too).  I sat with my heating pad on my left hip yesterday evening and I think that helped also.  I'm planning to take a hot bath with epsom salt tonight, too, in the hopes that that will help.  I can never tell if it's the epsom salt helping or if it's just the heat from the bath?  I guess it can't hurt though so I'm going to do that.

I'm probably going to stay in all weekend.  Tomorrow we're supposed to get a cold front which is bringing some strong and frequent thunderstorms with it.  And then Sunday it's going to be cold and very windy.  Sounds like a great weekend to stay in and sew!  I'll exercise if I feel up to it.  Mostly though I think I'm going to sew, crochet, watch movies, drink tea, sit under a blanket, and just generally stay cozy and not go outside in the very icky weather that we've got predicted.  I have plenty of yarn and fabric and sewing patterns.  If I feel like taking a walk, it'll be on my treadmill!  I'm not going out in the cold and rain and wind.

Lily is still doing about the same.  And she did poo yesterday evening when I let her out, and then again this morning, so I'm no longer worried about her potty habits.  That fortunately seems all normal.  And her eating is still good, too.  She's still resting and napping often.  Hubby is once again going out of town this weekend and next for work, but the places he'll be working are close enough to home that he'll be able to come home in the evenings, he won't be away the whole weekend & staying in a hotel like he often does.  So, that's good.  I sometimes worry, what if Lily has another medical emergency and hubby is away?  I would have to have her put down without him being there, and that sounds scary and terrible and sad.  With him working at events that are only 30-45 minutes away from home, that makes me feel better.  If Lily has an issue, hubby can rush home.  Hopefully she won't have any issues this weekend, but it makes me feel better knowing that hubby isn't so far away this time.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I didn't end up doing any exercise over the weekend.  My guts were unhappy, especially on Sunday.  I had a few urgent watery BMs on Sunday morning.  Not sure why, I didn't eat anything unsafe.  I did chores around the house - cleaning, vacuuming, laundry, taking out the garbage, etc.  And I did make myself go to the grocery store once the worst of it was over with on Sunday later in the morning.  But that's the most activity I did.  I seem to have mildly injured myself, too.  I was cleaning out a closet yesterday evening.  I was making great progress, but when I went to reach for something, I felt a pain in my right shoulder or upper arm area.  It felt like I maybe pulled a muscle?  It doesn't hurt as much today, but it does hurt if I over-use it (like try to lift something even somewhat heavy).  So weight-lifting is off the table for a few days at least until my arm/shoulder heals.

Lily continues to become less energetic.  I was running the roomba mid-day on Sunday, and Lily was napping on the rug.  She was doing that thing where it appears she must be dreaming, and her paws were twitching.  The roomba bumped into her at least 5 times.  The first 4 times, she didn't stir, and her paws kept twitching.  Finally on the 5th time, she woke and raised her head, but then put her head right back down again.  Poor thing, it's like every day I see another new indication that she has almost no energy.  She's still eating, fortunately, but when she's not eating, she's resting.

The weather here is looking much better for this week.  No more rain in the forecast!  And the weather should warm up and be quite pleasant.  I'm tentatively thinking I'll take a lunch hour walk on Wednesday (Wednesdays are the one day of the week that I don't have to go home to care for Lily, hubby works later on Wednesdays so he handles her lunch and pottying before he goes to work).  And I'd love to go hiking on Saturday.  The weather looks beautiful and perfect for a hike, and the leaves are all changing colors, it should be gorgeous to get out into the woods for a hike.  I'm definitely looking forward to that!  This is, of course, all dependent on how I'm feeling and also how Lily is feeling.  Wednesday - 2 days from now - is her estimated date of demise.  Wednesday will be 3 months on the dot since her surgery.  So, we'll see how she's feeling day by day and take it from there.


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## Tony H

hey Cat hope you feel better soon , give Lily a belly rub from me , I really cant imagine how hard it must be for you having to deal with health issues and having to deal with Lilys sickness for so long  , sending good thoughts to you and Lily .


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## scottsma

Sending hugs Cat.I know it's been a tough 3 months for you sweetheart.
On the plus side,maybe Lily was having  the best dream ever and even being bumped by the Roomba wasn't going to make her give it up.I hope so.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks guys.  I'm just not with it today.  I don't have to go home on my lunch today either, hubby worked all weekend so he's taken off of work today and is home tending to Lily.  So, this morning I spent a bunch of time packing myself a really nice, healthy lunch.  And then completely forgot to bring it to work with me.  Just great.  Well, I guess I'll have it for dinner instead, it's in my refrigerator at home just waiting for me.  My brain is not working very well today.  It must be taking a cue from my guts.

Carol, that's a nice thought.  I always think, when her paws are twitching like that, that she's dreaming about chasing squirrels or bunnies.  She loves chasing them but never catches them.  Usually she dislikes the roomba though and doesn't sleep when it's running, and walks away when it comes near her.  So the fact that she slept at all while roomba was running, and then the fact that she didn't stir when it bumped her so many times, that's really disconcerting to me.  She's just not quite herself lately and I'm sure it's because of the cancer.

It really has been the longest 3 months.  And also the shortest - I feel like I tried to make the most of my remaining time with Lily, but in that sense I blinked and the 3 months are somehow almost over.  The stress and the worry lasted for ages but the fun lovely parts zoomed right on by.  Time sure is funny that way.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Hubby saved the day.  He brought me a lovely picnic lunch!  He brought me my lunch that I had made and forgotten, plus some fruit and water, napkins and cutlery, in a little picnic basket.  We went outside on my lunch hour and sat at a picnic table.  It was a little bit chilly (about 60 F with a bit of a breeze) but sunny and it felt really nice to be outside after so many days of rain.  That was really nice, I'm so happy he did that.  Made me feel a lot cheerier.  

My arm/shoulder is feeling better this afternoon, too.  I had a little pain in it this morning but almost none so far this afternoon (knock on wood).  I'm still going to give it another couple days or so before I do any exercise other than walking, just to be safe, but it's encouraging that it seems to be healing up so quickly.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Ugh.  So on Sunday, when I was having urgent diarrhea, I took one zofran.  Usually taking just one zofran slows things down but doesn't totally constipate me.  Well, this time it did totally constipate me.  I haven't really had a poo since Sunday.  This morning, I had a very hard poo that was difficult to get out.  After a lot of straining to get it out, I feel like I now have either a new hemorrhoid or fissure (or both?).  My backside feels very uncomfortable.  So, I guess I won't take a walk today after all.  Ugh ugh ugh.  It's always something, isn't it?  I can never just be okay.

Today is Lily's estimated date of demise but she's still hanging in there.  She was a bit playful yesterday evening, she had a bit of energy which was really nice to see.  And she's still eating a lot.  Her balance seemed worse yesterday and today, though.  She's on phenobarbital for the seizures, and that med affects her balance.  It seems like her balance is getting a bit worse, and I'm not sure the reason for that.  She's been on the same dose of phenobarbital for 3 months now, there's been no changes that would account for her worsening balance.  Maybe it's the presumed tumor in her brain that's affecting her balance?  I don't know.  At any rate, her little legs have been slipping out from under her more frequently the past couple of days.  But she still seems to be feeling reasonably well.  She was coughing again this morning and last night too, but that's no worse than it's been.  So, we'll just keep taking things day by day, and continue to give her lots of treats.


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## scottsma

I'm really happy to hear that Lily's doing good and has passed her due date.Every day is a bonus and hopefully she will be here to enjoy Thanksgiving and Xmas too.She's a fighter that's for sure.
As to you're problems,well I know exactly how that feels.I had the same problem a while ago and had to give my hubby a crash course in using the cooker.I was really ill and was very close to going to the hospital.I'd much rather have D., anytime.I've not been well since last Wednesday.Started with bad gut prob. then cystitis then a bad reaction to the anti-biotics therefore bad gut probs.again.I seem to be ok today,but I'm giving little blackie a miss for a while to make sure my bladder is back to normal. Oh deep joy eh.!!!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Carol, I'm so sorry to hear that you've been feeling so unwell!  I'm glad that it sounds like it's getting better, and I hope you continue to improve.  That's a wise decision, to stay off your bike until things have gotten significantly better.  I know it's frustrating, but it's best to heal up first and not exacerbate the situation by exercising (I know, you've said that same thing to me many times in the past!).

I'm still aiming to go hiking on Saturday.  That looks like it'll be the last nice day of the season.  It's going to be 70 degrees F and sporadic rain storms but later in the afternoon - I'm hoping to go hiking mid/late morning if my guts will cooperate with me.  After Saturday, it looks like it's going to get much colder and be rainy again.  So I definitely want to do this hike.  Hopefully my guts can play nice and will allow me to do that.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Phew, I'm feeling better today than yesterday.  Seems like it's a fissure and not a hemmie, which is good news for me - fissures seem to heal up pretty quickly for me, but hemmies can last for months and can bleed profusely.  I only had the teensiest bit of blood on the TP yesterday, which is how my fissures usually are.  And I'm feeling a lot less anal pain today, which is also how my fissures usually go.  Whew!  That's a relief.

Hubby's going out of town for work tomorrow, but he's not leaving until about lunchtime, so he can handle Lily's lunch duties tomorrow which means I won't have to go home on my lunch break.  So, I'm thinking about taking a lunch hour walk tomorrow.  The weather is looking perfect - sunny and low 70s F.  And since I feel a lot better today, I'm thinking that I'll be in good shape for having a walk tomorrow.  That'll be a nice warm-up for my longer hike on Saturday - for Saturday, I'm planning to do a hike on a trail that I've done once before, it's a 3 mile loop through a lovely forest.  It took me about 2 hours to do the 3 mile loop the first time I did it.  There's a lot of uphill and then at the end a lot of downhill, and I like to stop at times and take in the scenery and take photos.  The only downside is that there are no bathrooms along the entire 3 mile stretch of trail, so if I have to use the bathroom, I'm going to have to go off the trail and squat in the woods.   I hate doing that, but will do it if need be.

Lily's still doing reasonably well.  She was really treat-hungry yesterday evening, she kept woofing at me, and when I'd look at her she'd turn her gaze to the treats jar - that's her way of saying, "Hey lady, I want a treat!"  And I caved to her whims because she wasn't supposed to be alive as of yesterday.  It was 3 months on the dot yesterday.  She made it, and I'm so proud of her for making it this far.  And I'm glad that she doesn't seem to be suffering in any way - still no pain as far as I can tell, and obviously she's still got a big appetite.  No further seizures since the initial few that she had shortly after her surgery back in July.  I haven't even had to call the vet in a couple months now except for when we need to get a refill for her phenobarbital!  She's doing well, all things considered.  She's still resting a lot and coughing and having some sinus issues, but the fact that she's still woofing at me for treats, that's amazing and awesome.  Heck, the fact that she's still here at all is amazing.  As Carol said, every day with her is a bonus.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had my walk.  It's really nice weather, slightly cool and windy, but sunny and it felt so nice to be outside.  I felt sad, though.  I was thinking of Lily the whole way, and feeling sad that she no longer has the energy to go on walks.  It's just going to be me by myself walking solo from now on.  I was listening to "Fantome", which is Utada Hikaru's grief album, on my walk, which didn't help me feel any less sad.  It's a really good album but obviously it's pretty sad (Utada lost her mother to suicide and wrote a whole album about it to process her grief).  At one point, I went around a bend on the path, and I saw a corgi!  A couple of ladies were walking their corgi.  This dog's eyes lighted up and she trotted right up to me and sniffed my hand - then just as quickly walked away.  For some reason, that made me even more sad.  It reminded me that my own corgi is very fleeting and will be leaving me almost as quickly as that dog did on the walking path.  I had to stop myself from crying as I walked through the beautiful forest on a lovely fall day.

At any rate, I'm still going to do my hike tomorrow.  Exercise + getting out into the forest usually makes me feel much better (both physically and emotionally), so I'll just call today a fluke.  A longer hike through more challenging terrain will hopefully reset my brain and exhaust the sadness out of me, at least temporarily.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I ended up not hiking today after all.  My guts weren't super happy with me this morning, and it was just enough that I couldn't make myself go spend 2 hours in the woods with no bathrooms nearby, while walking uphill and carrying my fairly heavy daypack.  It just all sounded like too much.  So I've stayed home instead.  I'm hanging out with Lily (she's mostly resting but that's okay because so am I), crocheting, and playing some video games.  Tomorrow will likely be more of the same, but that was planned anyway.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be significantly colder, and rainy.  If I'm feeling a lot better tomorrow, then I'll see about taking a treadmill walk or lifting weights or whatever.


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## scottsma

We're going to attempt a bike ride today.First time for me since cystitis payed me an unwelcome visit.(10 days) The weather is a bit iffy but as long as it's not raining when we leave it'll be ok.As I've said before you're doing the right thing letting your tum decide what you can or can't do.All of my days start like that but I'm usually fine by lunch time.The trouble is I,like you, make plans for the following day and it rarely works out.But at least we CAN get out,unlike some poor folk who are house bound.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Carol, were you able to go on a bike ride?  Did it go okay?

This weather is being rough on my body.  We had summer-like temps on Saturday - it was 75 F and sunny.  Today, it feels like winter - it's at most about 45 F, cold, rainy, and windy.  It went from summer to winter in 3 days!  They're saying maybe snow flurries tomorrow.  I went from wearing a t-shirt and having the windows open, to wearing my winter coat and huddling under blankets.  Brr!  The drastic change has affected me in multiple ways.  I feel headachey, my sinuses are all screwed up, I feel exhausted too.  And for some reason my GERD is unhappy with me also - I had one piece of chocolate to try to get the headache to ease (sometimes the very small amount of caffeine in chocolate can help with that), but I got some pretty wicked reflux from just having that one piece of chocolate.  I know that chocolate is a reflux trigger for me, but it almost always takes more than one piece to get my GERD unhappy.  So, I don't think I'm in any shape to exercise today.  I'll re-assess tomorrow.

Lily is doing okay.  Still eating, still not in any pain as far as I can tell.  But also still resting a lot.  Her right armpit tumor is still getting bigger, though.  It's so large that the skin is stretched tight over it, and there's a little bald spot on it.  Just looking at it makes me sad.  She seemed sort of out of it today, too.  Didn't follow her normal lunchtime routine.  Normally, when I go home at lunchtime, we always do the same routine.  I let her out and she urinates, then I give her her lunch.  She eats and then tries to beg more food off of me as I prepare and eat my lunch.  She pesters me that whole time, and then when I'm done eating I use the bathroom, let her out one more time and she poos, then she goes back in her crate and I get in the car to go back to work.  

Well, today she seemed pretty lethargic.  She ate her lunch but without much enthusiasm, then went to rest instead of trying to get more food from me.  She rested instead of pestered until it was time for her to go out for her poo.  Then when we were outside, she just sort of stood there and looked a bit puzzled, like she wasn't sure of what to do.  It makes me wonder if the tumor in her brain is making her a bit confused?  Eventually, after much cajoling and prompting from me, she finally had her poo.  Normally she's so much more enthusiastic when I am home for lunch, she just seemed so down today.  I wonder if this means we're nearing the end.  Maybe I'm reading too much into it and she just wasn't feeling lunch like she usually does.  At any rate, it's maybe going to snow tomorrow, and snow is her favorite thing.  I hope that cheers her up a bit.


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## scottsma

It's so hard Cat.I don't know what's easier,Waiting for the end or the end itself.I know with Alfie especially,The end was far easier for me.Heartbreaking,yes,but deep down relief if I'm honest.A friend of mine lost at least three dogs suddenly (one at a time) and actually took to her bed with shock and depression.I've always made the decision to say goodbye to mine, but I always wonder if I could or should have kept them longer.I suppose guilt is part of losing a loved one,pet,family or friend........on a lighter note,I was cycling on Sunday and Monday.I was a bit tense on the rough but managed ok.Was in town yesterday,got a black sporty top for £I and a hair cut for 25 times that amount,hahaha.Rain today so going to the auction house for a mooch.


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## Tony H

so true Carol , waiting for the end is so hard , at least with Joey we had to make the decision fairly quickly , I still second guess whether or not we made the decision too quickly but in my heart I knew he was so fed up and lethargic that the time had come ,  the most important thing is that the whole family agree on the decision , its really hard to let go but you have to put quality of life first and then decide , anyway hope you and Lily are doing ok (as ok as you can be) ,
Anyway life does go on and I'm starting to look at puppies , I haven't convinced the family yet but there is a litter with puppies available just before Christmas but I think that may be too soon for us but it shows that the pain does fade but the love remains , still saying goodnight to Joey in his little kennel (ashes container) , am I nuts ? probably but do I care , nope , I still love my Joey but puppies are on the horizon .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Tony, I'm excited for you that you're looking at puppies!  Are they also golden retrievers or another breed?  I want to see puppy photos if you do get one!

I know what you mean about it probably being too soon, though.  I'm sure I'll get another dog someday too, but not for awhile.  Once Lily goes, I'm going to give myself plenty of time, and then when I'm ready I'm probably going to foster to start with.  If the fostering goes well then I'll adopt.  I don't think I want a puppy - we got Lily when she was 2, she was a rescue, and that was a really good age.  All her puppy craziness was over with and she came to us fully trained.  So my tentative thought is to foster and then adopt a young adult dog like she was.  That's way off in the distant future, though.  For now I'm still just focused on making Lily happy & comfortable.

She seemed much more chipper yesterday evening, thankfully.  Although we didn't get snow this morning which is disappointing.  The radar kept showing snow, but we didn't actually see any snow falling.  There was no precipitation at all, so it wasn't like the snow warmed and turned into rain.  It just missed us altogether somehow.  Hmph!  Well, we're supposed to have continued cold weather for the next week at least, so maybe we'll get snow another day soon.


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## Tony H

Hey Cat it would be another Golden , our first golden was a rescue , we think he was given as a Christmas present and then rapidly started growing , he was abandoned and a friend found he on the streets , we had 14 great years with him , the breeder I am in contact has a litter of puppies that will be ready to go to their homes a few weeks before Christmas , but I dont think my son is ready yet , 
Getting a puppy is a lot of work for the first few months but in fairness goldens are very fast to house train esp if you use a crate at first , good that Lily has some spark in her , enjoy every hour with her , hugs and rubs to Lily and hope you feel better soon yourself .


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## Jelly loves Peanut butter

Glad to hear Lily is still being loved and spoiled!  It is so easy to feel guilt when the time comes but you'll know in your heart you are doing the best for your Lily.  I work at the hospital and when families aren't sure if they are making the "right" decision when taking their loved one off life support,  I always tell them there is no wrong decision.  So take one day at a time and keep spoiling your sweet Lily.  She will be in my prayers and you too.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Probably most of you guys saw my post yesterday in Last One Wins, but if not - I got laid off at work yesterday.  I think I'll be okay though.  They're paying me through Nov 17th, and I will get a decent amount of severance pay, and can also collect unemployment, and can cobra my insurance.  I figured this would be coming - work has been weird for months now with rumors of layoffs coming ever since our merger with another region.  So I was bracing for this for months now, and I had a tentative plan in mind, which was that I'd accept the severance and use that money to cobra my insurance, and take a bit of a break before I dive back into the job market.  Also, hubby is stepping up like a champ.  I was looking at job listings yesterday, and I came across one that looked like he could do and the pay and benefits look really decent.  He applied for it as soon as I told him about it.  If he could get a job with benefits, then I could more permanently dial things back.  I've always worked full-time and been the one who had the job with health insurance.  Hubby currently works 2 part-time jobs, neither of which offer insurance.  But if he got the job that he just applied for, he'd make enough money that I wouldn't necessarily have to work full-time, and I wouldn't need a job that offers insurance.  I could work part-time or even not work at all.  I mean, this is all a big "if".  In the meantime, I'm looking at what full-time jobs with benefits are out there.  But I am going to give myself a bit of time to rest first, too.  I really like the idea of just taking a bit of time to care for myself and my health.  I really haven't had the opportunity to do that since I first got sick 8 years ago.  I've been working full-time that whole time (been at my job for nearly 15 years!).

So.  It's been a bit of a crazy couple of days emotion-wise!  But I haven't cried at all today yet.  I'm just about to hop in the shower, and then I have to go pick up a refill of my LDN.  I might take a walk today - it's pretty chilly out, the high temp today is like 41 degrees F and it's only in the mid-30s right now.  But getting outside sounds invigorating.  I'm feeling weirdly optimistic (as you guys probably know very well, I tend to lean more towards pessimistic most of the time) and I'm just going to roll with that.  I'm going to clean the house a bit and cook a nice dinner for hubby too, and then we're going to see a movie (we had bought the tickets before I got laid off, otherwise we wouldn't be going to a movie - I know that spending frivolously right now is something that needs to stop!).


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## Tony H

Hang on in there Cat ,it makes all the difference having good support from your family ,I don’t know how I would have got through the last few years without my wife and son (and Joey who kept me laughing),
when things go bad then you know who your real friends and family are ,
Great that you have great support from your hubby ,
I still cant believe that such a wealthy country like the US can spend so much on “foreign policy “ and have ordinary people having to struggle to get medical help .


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## scottsma

So sorry Cat.I know it's been at the back of your mind for a while.Talk about kicking you when your down.But there's nothing to be done now except go forward.So chin up and shoulders back.A new chapter in your life has begun.Sending hugs.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks guys.  I'm feeling pretty optimistic about things still.  I've been doing a lot around the house - dishes, laundry, cooking meals, etc.  And I've also been getting out and having free adventures.  After I went to the compounding pharmacy yesterday to pick up my LDN, I realized that the botanical garden was nearby.  So I went there (the outside is free, the inside, which I didn't do, costs $2) and walked around outside.  Surprisingly, a fair number of flowers were still flowering, and the autumn colors were also very pretty to see.  It was quite cold out - in the 30s F and with a brisk wind - but I had a nice time and got a walk in.

Today hubby has the day off of work.  He was supposed to go hang out with his friends today, but he cancelled with them when I got laid off so that he could spend the day with me instead.  He took me to a rummage sale, where I bought a huge bag of yarn for $2.  If I'm going to be home more, then I'm going to crochet more!    And then we went to the zoo, which is free.  The weather was almost identical to yesterday, cold and windy again, but that meant that the zoo was almost empty which was nice.  A few of the animals were out and very active.  Once again, I had a nice free adventure and got a walk in.  Had a very nice time indeed.  I'm going to continue to have little free or cheap adventures and take walks even when it's cold.  

I'm also hoping to lift weights more now that I'm going to be home more often.  Obviously I'm going to lose access to the little gym in the basement at work, but I'll still have my home gym and also the big paid membership gym (that's only $10 per month so I'll keep that membership).  So, there should be more fitness posts from me in this thread, hopefully.  Without the stress of my job, I'm hoping that my guts improve and that I'm therefore able to exercise on a more regular basis.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, and I forgot to give a Lily update.  She's still about the same.  Yesterday evening she had to urinate frequently, and only a little bit seemed to come out each time.  I was worried she might have a UTI.  But today she seems fine in that regard, so I'm not sure what was going on with her bladder yesterday.  I wonder if the tumor on her omentum is maybe pushing on the bladder and causing pressure?  At any rate, that issue seems okay at the moment.  She's currently resting and still has been eating well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Aaaaand I have a cold.    Because of course I do.  Woke up with a sore throat and wonky sinuses.  Staying in and not having a walk today, drinking tea and eating soup.  The good news is, I don't actually have to go to work tomorrow.  So I can actually take proper care of myself for more than one day!


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## scottsma

Sorry about your cold Cat,but like you say,you can stay at home and look after yourself.
On the negative side,it's probably NOT a good idea to get used to it.You will find it difficult to be enthusiastic finding a new job.....make the most of it though.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm not going to be enthusiastic about finding a new job no matter what I do.    I feel pretty burned out from all the stress of my job that I just got laid off at.  So I know I do need a little time to rest and recharge.  I did rest yesterday - sat on the couch and did a jigsaw puzzle.  I didn't sleep well at all last night - my cold plus my thoughts kept me up.  I knew that I'm going to have to go into the office today to start cleaning out my desk, and I'm dreading that.  I know everyone's going to look at me with their pity faces, and ask me the same questions over and over.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  But I can't not go in.  I have a gym bag and some food items (canned fruit, etc) in my desk drawer that I need to bring home, can't just abandon that stuff.  And I have paperwork to shred and so on.  So, I'll wander in there for a few hours today.  I'm hoping to just sneak in, power through some stuff, and get out of there with minimal people even knowing I'm there.

I'll start taking more walks again once this cold goes away.  The weather is still cold out, but I don't care.  I just need to be healthy enough to walk.


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## scottsma

Did a 10 mile cycle along the coast and back.It's quite cold but once I got going it was fine.It makes a difference when there's no wind blowing off the sea.My knees have been painful all week as we've been on the bikes four times.I think it's just the cold weather getting to my joints though.I hope your cold gets better soon,but DON'T overdo things too soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I wrote a long response and the forum ate it.  I hate when that happens!  So here's the short version:

I didn't walk today but I was active.  Went to work and cleaned out my desk, which was a pretty huge undertaking.  Got all my stuff into my car and then got it home and into my house.  Am exhausted now and will sort through it slowly, later.


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> I wrote a long response and the forum ate it.  I hate when that happens!  So here's the short version:
> 
> I didn't walk today but I was active.  Went to work and cleaned out my desk, which was a pretty huge undertaking.  Got all my stuff into my car and then got it home and into my house.  Am exhausted now and will sort through it slowly, later.


I hate when companies suffer setbacks because the employees inevitably suffer.  My friend went thru something recently - for disability not layoffs - and had to leave work after 23 years!  Work becomes your second home after all that time and you think you have job security.  I've never worked at a place for longer than 3 years, but I can imagine how upsetting it is to lose the position you held for so long.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks, Miss L.  It was hard because that was my first "grown up" job - I was 23 when I started there and I'll be 38 next week.  I had no illusion of job security though.  I've worked at the same company since December 2002.  I was laid off at one point in Sept 2005, but they called me begging me to come back and I ended up getting re-hired that same month.  Then in 2009, I was in a department of 10 people, and they laid off all but two of us (I was one of the two, and originally they were going to get rid of all of us, but my superiors fought to keep me).  So it's already happened once and almost happened a second time that I got let go from this same company.  Earlier this year, my region (Wisconsin) merged with another region (Illinois), and they ousted our regional president.  The region that absorbed us already has their own HQ - I worked at Wisconsin's HQ, and obviously they don't need 2 HQs.  So I figured all of us in Wisconsin were toast.  They seem to be doing it in waves, though.  This round, it was me (an administrative support low rung on the ladder person), one manager, and one director.  None of that makes any sense to me but whatever.  

So yeah, this wasn't unexpected, even though the timing of it took me by surprise.  They literally just had our CEO in for a meeting, in which he told us that we're doing fantastic and have great net and gross profits.  Immediately following that meeting, they called me in to HR to tell me that they're letting me go, due to budget reasons.  I was like, wait, what about the great profits we just heard about?  How can this be?  But it doesn't have to make sense I guess.  I felt like I was on a stressful, sinking ship anyway, so now I can go work somewhere better.  A fresh start.

I'm thinking that I'm going to apply to work at the hospital.  I am fairly certain that they offer great health insurance, being a hospital and all.  The only bad thing I've heard about working there is that parking can sometimes suck, but they're close-ish enough to me that I could get a moped or maybe even ride my bike in the summer.  They have a lot of administrative job openings.  I'm still going to take a bit of time off first, but when I do apply for a job, that's going to be the first place I apply.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Not much new to update from me.  I still have a cold, so no walking yet for me.  Lily's doing okay, we walked over to her best friends' house yesterday so she got to see her fellow corgis again.  I'm home and resting, trying to get over this stupid cold already.  Felt like I was getting better yesterday, but today it's come back with a vengeance.  Ugh.


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## Jelly loves Peanut butter

Hope you are feeling better soon Cat!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Jelly!  Unfortunately I'm still coughing and full of mucus, but I feel a bit more energetic than I did and am slightly less miserable.  Still resting a lot, though.  Lily seems pretty happy to have me home most of the time (I've been going into the office sporadically for just a few hours here and there to train other people on how to do my job, but for the most part I'm home).  She's been pestering me a lot for treats, petting, etc.  She seems to think that I'm home just to cater to her whims.


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## Tony H

Hey Cat how are you and Lilly doing ? hope you are getting over that nasty cold .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks Tony.  I'm mostly over the cold but still a bit mucusy.  Lily's still about the same.  She's really enjoying having me home most of the time and she bugs me for treats and attention whenever she's awake (she's napping right now).

I haven't done any exercise yet because I'm still not fully over this cold (it's been 2 full weeks now).  I am enjoying my time off since I've been laid off from work and I hope to get back to walking & weight lifting soon.  It's quite cold here today though - it's 9 degrees F this morning, brrr!  I've been keeping busy with crochet, sewing, cleaning my house, having lunch with friends, doing a bit of bargain shopping, etc.  Not spending very much money obviously, but there's a very high-quality sock manufacturer here in Wisconsin.  Normally their socks cost a minimum of $10 per pair and I've seen their socks in the stores cost $17 per pair!  But there's a factory sale every so often where they cost $3 per pair.  So my mom and I went to that sale yesterday to get some socks.  Now at least my feet will be warm this winter.

Hubby's been working 2 part-time jobs, neither of which offer benefits (health insurance).  His immediate response to my getting laid off, was to apply for a third part-time job.  Ugh.  Poor hubby's going to be exhausted, but this job still won't get us health insurance.  So at some point, I'm going to have to get a new job that does offer health insurance.  (In the meantime, we can cobra - meaning, continue and pay out of pocket - for the health insurance from the job that I just got laid off from.)


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## MissLeopard83

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Thanks Tony.  I'm mostly over the cold but still a bit mucusy.  Lily's still about the same.  She's really enjoying having me home most of the time and she bugs me for treats and attention whenever she's awake (she's napping right now).
> 
> I haven't done any exercise yet because I'm still not fully over this cold (it's been 2 full weeks now).  I am enjoying my time off since I've been laid off from work and I hope to get back to walking & weight lifting soon.  It's quite cold here today though - it's 9 degrees F this morning, brrr!  I've been keeping busy with crochet, sewing, cleaning my house, having lunch with friends, doing a bit of bargain shopping, etc.  Not spending very much money obviously, but there's a very high-quality sock manufacturer here in Wisconsin.  Normally their socks cost a minimum of $10 per pair and I've seen their socks in the stores cost $17 per pair!  But there's a factory sale every so often where they cost $3 per pair.  So my mom and I went to that sale yesterday to get some socks.  Now at least my feet will be warm this winter.
> 
> Hubby's been working 2 part-time jobs, neither of which offer benefits (health insurance).  His immediate response to my getting laid off, was to apply for a third part-time job.  Ugh.  Poor hubby's going to be exhausted, but this job still won't get us health insurance.  So at some point, I'm going to have to get a new job that does offer health insurance.  (In the meantime, we can cobra - meaning, continue and pay out of pocket - for the health insurance from the job that I just got laid off from.)


Are you talking about Gold Toe socks?  Those are the most expensive socks ever!  I can't believe how much they cost - I fully expect them to be made with gold with the name and the price, LOL!  My fave socks are by No Nonsense! which I buy from Walmart for $6.99 for a pack of 10 pairs.  In fact, I'm wearing a pair right now and they are warm and cushioned.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Nope, I'm talking about Wigwam socks.  Not sure if they're even carried by stores outside of the Midwest, but around here they're super pricey.  They're made in Sheboygan (about a 2 hour drive from here).  Everybody in WI knows about Wigwam socks.  They're so nice for our cold winters!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

It took over 2 weeks but I'm finally over that stupid cold!  I was feeling pretty down this morning - stayed in my pajamas till noon, didn't shower, having a little pity party for myself.  I decided to get dressed and take a walk.  The weather was pretty good for this time of year - not terribly cold (about 40 F) and no wind and sunny.  I was able to have a walk in my fleece, didn't need my winter coat.  I walked about 3 miles through the forest.  That really helped, I feel a lot better now.  Now that I'm finally over that stupid cold, I can start exercising in earnest again.  I'm hoping to lift weights tomorrow and go for a hike on Wednesday - the weather looks like rain tomorrow, but nice on Weds, so that's the plan.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, and I should add that Lily's still doing okay.  She's currently pestering me for her dinner.


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## cmack

I'm glad I found you over here. I was concerned about not seeing you on LOW. Take it easy there lady.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Cmack, yeah, I'm on the forum very sporadically since I got laid off.  Not posting as much as I used to.  I have to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.


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## scottsma

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Cmack, yeah, I'm on the forum very sporadically since I got laid off.  Not posting as much as I used to.  I have to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.


How about healthy and wealthy Cat ?  :biggrin:


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## Tony H

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Cmack, yeah, I'm on the forum very sporadically since I got laid off.  Not posting as much as I used to.  I have to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.


whats growing up ? oh yeah I forgot us men don't have to do that :ybiggrin: , take your time if you can Cat and get yourself as well as possible before you get another job , hopefully hubby will be able to carry the extra weight until then .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks, guys.  Carol, I don't think wealthy is ever going to happen - I'd settle for being financially stable.  Tony, I'm working on my health during my time "between jobs" (I was at the grocery store and overheard two women talking, and one of them said to the other that she's between jobs right now - that's a much nicer way of saying unemployed!).

I've been exercising as much as I can.  I finally got over my cold a few days ago.  Took a long walk through the forest path on Monday, I walked about 3 miles.  It was chilly but not unreasonably so, and I had a really nice walk.  Tuesday, I went to the big paid membership gym for the first time in quite awhile.  I was definitely rusty but I gave it my best effort!  I lifted weights for as much as I could & as long as I could.  I came away with rubbery arms & legs and could barely finish my cool-down.  I usually walk on the treadmill to cool down after lifting weights - I was so weak and rubbery though that I kept nearly falling off the stupid thing!    But fortunately I didn't overdo things, I didn't pay for that later on.

Yesterday I went to my favorite hiking place and did a challenging 3ish (maybe closer to 4) mile hike.  There's a lot of uphill and then a lot of downhill on this particular trail but it's also really beautiful and I see very few other people there - this was my 2nd time tackling this trail.  The first time I hiked there, I saw 2 other people the whole time.  This time I also only saw 2 other people.  I love the solitude and the forest, it's just the best thing.  My fitbit said I walked uphill the equivalent of about 45 flights of stairs during my hike.  

So I've had a few good days of workouts and I feel good physically.  My guts have been pretty quiet since I got laid off - not having to go to work, not having that stress, has done some good things for me.  I'll obviously need to get another job at some point, but not immediately.  I am being paid through tomorrow, and then I can get unemployment pay until I find another job, so I'll still be relatively okay financially (I'm very thrifty anyway).

Since I had 2 strenuous workouts the past 2 days, I decided to take a rest day today.  I'm going back to the big gym tomorrow for another weights workout, hopefully this time I'll be slightly less rubbery and weak by the end of my workout.  Today I went thrift shopping - I'm always up for buying clothes, and I found a few professional pieces that I could wear to job interviews, including a very nice black blazer.

Lily's still doing okay.  She just pestered me as I was typing, wanting some treats, so I told her to say "woof" to you guys and she did.  Lily says woof (and she received some yummy green beans).    Saturday will be 4 months since she had her surgery, she'll have made it a full month past her estimated expiration date.  She still seems to be feeling no pain, and still has a good appetite.  She also really seems to enjoy having me home a lot more now that I'm not working, and pretty much pesters me for treats every moment that she's not resting.


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## cmack

I'm really glad you are finally able to unwind after all the stress from your old job. I'm also happy to hear that you are feeling better physically, I really love walking in the forest too. Be good to yourself Cat, you definitely deserve it. Be sure to give Lily a pat and a tummy rub for me.


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## Trysha

Good to see you feeling better Cat....good news about Lily enjoying her food..
Nothing like good long walks in the fresh air to clear the mind and restore the soul.
It’s very healing in itself.
Winning.....


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I've worked out a couple times since I last posted.  Had a workout in my home gym on Friday - didn't feel like leaving the house that day, so stayed home and lifted.  Sunday, I had been planning to go to the gym again, but my guts weren't great that day, so I rested instead.  Went to the gym today and felt pretty good.

And, I've got some leads on the job situation.  The front-runner right now is that I have a phone interview tomorrow for a customer service job at a company that makes colon cancer screening kits, so that's quite exciting.  The recruiter reached out to me about the job, so it seems like they like my resume, and I'm excited about this particular company for obvious reasons.  Wish me luck!


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Oh, and Lily is still doing okay.  She's resting right now.  She's still getting steak even on days when I'm eating ramen noodles - I refuse to lower my budget for spoiling her, even during my time of unemployment.  So she's pretty happy and still is showing no signs of pain.


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## cmack

Cat-a-Tonic said:


> Oh, and Lily is still doing okay.  She's resting right now.  She's still getting steak even on days when I'm eating ramen noodles - I refuse to lower my budget for spoiling her, even during my time of unemployment.  So she's pretty happy and still is showing no signs of pain.


I know what it's like, I spoiled my old girl till the very end. Good on you for being so compassionate. You are an awesome pet owner Cat. A lot of people just give up...but you aren't a lot of people, what you are is a truly kind soul.


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## Tony H

great that Lily is still able to enjoy steak , I think I would prefer ramen noodles , love Asian  food .


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Tony, me too.  The best I've felt in a long time was when I was in Japan.  All the food sat really well with me (and was delicious, too).  And I can't eat steak anyway as I can't do any beef at all.

I was hoping to hit the gym today, but life got in the way.  Long story short, our furnace was garbage and was pumping out some carbon monoxide.  We had to get a new furnace installed today which took up a good chunk of the day and a whole lot of money too.  So I didn't end up making it to the gym.  I'll try again on Friday, as tomorrow is thanksgiving and my parents are coming over for turkey.


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## cmack

Happy Thanksgiving in advance Cat.  I wish I could have been there to help because I used to install and repair furnace systems. I'm glad you found out about the CO. Carbon monoxide is very serious, and I know of people who have lost their lives to it. I hope you have a CO detector. Replace your CO detector every five years and place your detector where it will wake you up if it alarms, such as outside your bedroom. Consider buying a detector with a digital readout. This type of detector can tell you the highest level of CO concentration in your home in addition to alarming. You should also change the battery(obviously you don't need to if it is plugged into the wall) every time you change the clocks, 1 year maximum for the battery to be changed. Battery powered is better because it works in the event of a power outage.


Yup I was a fireman before being ill too, what haven't I done besides travel 
and own my own house?

Edited to add: Always follow the manufacturers instructions regarding battery changes, some go through batteries faster than others.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Chris, yes, I definitely know to change out the batteries often in the smoke & carbon monoxide detectors.  A friend of mine died in a house fire - he was 19 years old, and this month it's been 19 years since he died.  His smoke detector apparently didn't have good batteries or just plain didn't work (survivors of that fire said they never heard the smoke detector go off, and afterwards it was completely melted off the wall).  My friend might have lived if the smoke detector had been working.

Fitness-wise, I haven't done anything.  After the furnace fiasco, it was thanksgiving, and then I had to clean up after thanksgiving and put up the xmas tree, and then I've had multiple phone and in-person job interviews, plus I'm trying to hand-make most of my xmas gifts this year due to a lack of funds.  Phew!  Oh, and my guts were pretty bad this morning, but they're doing better this evening.  So yeah, I've been busy, and not hitting the gym.  I'm planning to get back to the gym shortly.  The weather is looking fairly nice tomorrow, so I'm thinking a long walk is in order.  It looks like rain on Thurs, so a trip to the gym will happen then (as long as my guts are okay).

Lily's doing okay.  She's been coughing and snorking a little bit more again lately.  And she's had a couple moments here and there where I wonder if she's in pain, but then the moment passes and she smiles, so I think she's still feeling okay.  It's so hard to tell for sure.  She's still eating very well, though - she just scarfed down her dinner and immediately looked to me to see if she could get more food.  And she's walked past and smiled at me at least twice as I was writing this post (she's currently staring at hubby to see if he'll give her any food).  So, overall I think she's still okay.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Guts were unhappy again this morning - we've come to a tentative truce this afternoon.  But, even so, I didn't think it was wise to take a walk through the forest path, as there are very limited bathrooms on that path (at one far end there's a gas station with a bathroom, and on the other far end there's a fast food restaurant, but for the middle 2ish miles there's no bathroom).  I didn't want to get stuck needing a bathroom and not having one nearby.  So instead I ran some errands, went to the bank and went grocery shopping, and then did some cleaning and washed dishes.  Going to do a bit of sewing shortly and then will cook hubby his dinner.

The good news is, the weather is looking better tomorrow, it might not rain after all.  So maybe I'll walk tomorrow instead, if my guts allow, and go to the gym on Friday.  I'm hoping to get some news on the job front in the next day or two.  My #2 choice offered me a job, but I told them I need a few days to think about it - I'm waiting for my #1 choice to get back to me (the wheels are in motion, the paperwork was submitted, now just waiting on the liaison to tell the recruiter what the next steps are).  My #1 choice is the stool sample place - I think I'd be perfect to work at a place that does stool samples!  So, hopefully I'll get a call tomorrowish.  Wish me luck!


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## cmack

Good luck!


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## Tony H

sorry about the guts not doing too well Cat but good news that you have at least one job offer


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I didn't end up doing any exercise yesterday, as Lily wasn't feeling well.  Fortunately, she's feeling a lot better today!  She really had me worried yesterday, though.  Right from when we woke up, hubby and I noticed that she was very lethargic.  She wasn't smiling, she wasn't doing her happy rolls after eating (but she fortunately was still eating), she wasn't perky at all - all she did was rest and look sad.  And she had some diarrhea too when I took her out to potty.  I was honestly worried that we might be nearing the end.  But, then later in the afternoon, she perked up and did her happy rolls and started smiling again and was pestering me for treats - she was back to her usual self again.  Phew!

But, because of her not feeling well yesterday, obviously I didn't want to leave her, so I stayed home and watched over her.  Today she seems to be feeling okay (she was just pestering me for treats), so for real I'm taking a walk today.    The weather looks gorgeous, unseasonably warm for Wisconsin in December.  It's going to be 50 degrees F today!  And it's sunny and just gorgeous.  I will only need a light jacket for my walk, not a winter coat like I should need this time of year.  My guts are feeling pretty good today, too, so I'm not too worried about finding bathrooms on my walk.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I did have a long walk yesterday.  I had made it my goal to get all 10,000 steps on one walk, and I almost made it.  I did 9,000 steps in one walk!  I walked a little over 4 miles on the forest path.  I felt really depressed at first - I was feeling really down the whole morning.  I always listen to my ipod when I walk, and at first I was stuck on one really sad song that I kept playing on repeat.  (Goodbye (Annyeong) by 2NE1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEkLHC7l25w - click on captions to see the English translation of the lyrics.)  I just got stuck in a sadness spiral.  I was sad about Lily and about my job situation and my financial situation and just had myself a little pity party.  Walking usually makes me feel better, especially in the forest, but it took most of my walk for me to start to feel less sad.  

Once I got myself out of that sadness spiral, I put a much happier, peppier song on repeat instead (Clap Your Hands (Bak Soo Chyeo) by 2NE1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTw-UM5Jy4E - obviously that song is from much earlier in their career; Goodbye was literally their goodbye song as they broke up and were saying goodbye to their fans and to their 4th member who had left the group earlier.)  Music powers my workouts 100%, I could not do a workout without music, and obviously I have strong feelings about 2NE1, so that peppy song really got me through the last of my walk and put some pep in my step. So in the end I did have a nice walk, even if I started out having a pity party.

I think today I'm going to have a hike.  My walk in the woods yesterday did such good for me, that I want to keep that going.  With less sad music today.    I'll go to my usual spot with all the uphill.  It's a pretty place, and we haven't had rain lately so it won't be muddy.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I should add that Lily's been feeling okay the past couple of days.  A friend of mine who battled cancer earlier this year told me that Lily is entitled to have bad days, so I'm trying to be mindful of that.


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## cmack

Hey Cat,

I'm listening to Warren G today, so yeah, (I was the kid listening to Hip Hop while you were studying). We're about the same age.  I have been very hurt and stuck in a bit of a spiral before, I hope you remember to keep feeling positive. You are a very positive person and you are a pleasure to talk to.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks buddy.    Sometimes it's very hard to be positive, but I'm trying.  Yeah, I think you and I must be very close in age?  I just turned 38.  I never really have listened to popular music myself either - in high school I was listening to Bjork and TMBG.  Nowadays I mostly listen to Japanese and Korean pop.  My favorite singer is Utada Hikaru, who sings in both Japanese and in English, but she took a very long hiatus starting in 2010, so while she was away I got into K-pop, especially Big Bang and 2NE1.  Last year, right around the same time that Utada finally broke her long hiatus and released a new album, 2NE1 broke up and Big Bang also went on a long hiatus.  My favorite singers and groups keep going away...

I had to think hard about who Warren G is.  All I could think of at first was Kenny G!  

I didn't end up hiking today.  I kept trying to get myself motivated to get up and go, but I just felt so lazy today.  So I ended up having a lazy day instead.  Will try again tomorrow for a hike.  It looks like I should have about one more week of going hiking and having lazy days.  The week after next, I have an interview for a temp position, and it sounds as though they'd like me to start that position "immediately" following the interview.  I should be a shoo-in for the position - it's at the stool sample place.  And they have a permanent position which I should also be a shoo-in for, which starts in late January.  Soo, with any luck, I'll be back to work soon, at the place I have been hoping to work for.  Getting back to work should help me feel less depressed.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I had a nice long hike yesterday, that made me feel a lot better.  And today, I hit the gym for a weights session.  Totally wore myself out and ended up really shaky again at the end of my workout.  But, I feel good.  My body usually responds well to me exercising intensely, and today is no exception.  Even though I exhaust myself, I feel really good both during and after a workout like that.

My week has been thrown for a loop!  I had been intending to hit the gym Mon, Weds, Fri and Sun.  And then a phone interview next week Monday.  But I got an email this afternoon saying they want to move my phone interview up sooner, to this week.  I responded saying that I'm available at any time this week, so I'm waiting to hear back from them as to when the interview will actually be.  It sounds like I'll start the temp job right after the phone interview.  So, my workout schedule will change, but I'm not sure how much.

The temp job will last 6ish weeks, and then the permanent position starts in late January, and I know I'll have to sit through a training class (4 weeks?) for the permanent position.  So, the next few months will be busy.  I'm going to try to exercise as much as I can during this time in spite of the business - fortunately, the big paid membership gym is open 24/7, so I will likely hit the gym in the evenings after work as I'm just not able to be a morning exerciser (my GERD and my guts are often not happy in the mornings - I did once try hitting the gym in the morning, but I refluxed too much and had to stop).


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## Tony H

Hey Cat hope the rescheduled interview goes well today , hope your gut gets over the stress , hugs to Lily from Alfie and myself


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## Trysha

Hope everything goes your way. Cat...big hug for Lily...


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Lily's still doing okay.  She made it to her gotcha day - we've had her for 7 years as of Dec 14.  And she also made it to 5 months since her surgery, which was yesterday.  She's gotten used to me being home, but that ends tomorrow as I'm officially starting work again.  I got a temp job and hopefully will also land a permanent job (will find out tomorrow for sure) at the stool sample place!  So that's very exciting.

I haven't exercised lately aside from a few walks, because I've been busy with interviews and filling out paperwork and so on.  I think I'm finally done with interviews, not sure about paperwork.  I'm hoping that once the holidays are over, and especially once I start the permanent job (in late January), then I can settle into a routine again and go back to the gym with much more regularity.  That's the goal.


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## Jelly loves Peanut butter

That's such great news that you got the job...they will be lucky to have you!  I've been waiting to hear about your interviews.  What exactly is a stool sample place?  

So glad Lily is doing well too.  My neighbor has a corgi that barks every morning and it always makes me think of Lily!  They also have a cat that sits up on their balcony, probably watching the dog bark!  Anyway, so happy for you!  I always enjoy reading your posts!


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## Tony H

besy of luck with the new job Cat .
great that Lily is still doing well , hugs and rubs to Lily


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Jelly, I'm way over-simplifying it by calling it a stool sample place.  It's a company that has devised a new way to test for colon cancer via a stool test.  Unlike other tests which look for blood/occult blood in the stool, this test actually looks for cancerous and pre-cancerous cells in the stool with a 92% accuracy.  It's some futuristic, high-tech stuff.  It's designed to try to catch cancer early for those 6 out of 10 people who are of the age that they should have a colonoscopy, but for whatever reason they don't (due to cost, or the invasiveness of the test, or the ickyness of the prep, or whatever).  The stool test is not intended for people with IBD nor a family history of colon cancer, but even so it still can potentially help a lot of people catch colon cancer early.  It's super cool and I'm really excited to be working for them!

I just finished my first day of work as a temp there (doing data entry) and my brain is totally mush now.  And, it sounds like I'm going to be offered 2 jobs within the same company.  My temp job is in the finance department, and my new boss already likes me enough that she strongly encouraged me to apply for a permanent opening in her department.  I really don't want to crunch numbers all day, though.  The other job which I interviewed for yesterday is in customer service - literally, that job would be talking on the phone with customers and doctors about stool samples all day.  That sounds so much more like it's right up my alley!  How many people can say they'd like to talk about stool samples all day, hah.  But that sounds ideal for me.  The job in the finance department pays better, but it's honestly pretty boring and doesn't have much of anything to do with the stool samples.

Lily was sure happy to see me when I got home tonight!  It's been a little while since she's been home alone all day (well, the cat was here with her).  She still seems to be doing okay, though.  Jelly, you're right that corgis bark a lot!  I lucked out in that Lily isn't a particularly barky corgi, but most of them bark their heads off at anything & everything.  She will bark at certain things, especially squirrels, or if other dogs are barking then she'll join in.  But for the most part she's a fairly quiet corgi.

I had been sort of hoping to go to the gym tonight, but there's no chance.  I'm exhausted mentally and I didn't eat enough today so I'm feeling a bit exhausted physically too.  I'm hoping to get myself into more of a routine in terms of my work and my eating, and maybe by Friday or Saturday I'll be more settled in and physically & mentally ready for a workout.


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## Tony H

Really happy for  you Cat


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## scottsma

Cat,I hope life's going just as you want it to,please post a quickie so that we know all's well.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

All's well!  I've just been so exhausted from work that I haven't been posting much.  Haven't been exercising either.  I've barely even been crocheting in the evenings - I'm just wiped out by work, it's completely exhausted me.  Fortunately, things should be getting a bit easier at least in the short-term.  I finished my temp project today.  I got sent home early today as there was no more work for me to do.  I'm going in tomorrow in the hopes that I can help others out on their projects, but I already did all the filing and scanning today after finishing my project, so there's probably not much left for me to help out with either.  So, I'll maybe/hopefully have about a week off before my permanent job starts on the 22nd.

Once my permanent job starts, I'll have to go through a few weeks of training first, but after that I'll be working afternoons/evenings.  Like, 2nd shift - going in after lunchtime and coming home at bedtime.  Which I haven't done since college!  I was an 8-5 Mon-Fri worker for 15 years.  But I'm so looking forward to a change in schedule.  I'll be able to sleep in every day if I want, so hopefully I won't be so exhausted.  And I'll be able to walk or hike or bike or hit the gym before work - that'll be really nice.  I'm looking forward to starting that work schedule and settling in to sleeping in, working out, and then going to work.  That's the plan anyway!

Lily's still doing the same - resting a lot, but still eating well and appears to not be in any pain.  If she makes it to the 18th, that'll be the 6 month anniversary of her surgery & diagnosis, and it'll also mean she'll have lived twice as long as her 3 month estimate.


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## Tony H

Great that everything is going well with you Cat anf Lily the miracle  dog.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Sorry for not updating this thread for awhile.  Things have been crazy with me training for and then starting my new job.  I feel like things finally settled down enough for me to start exercising again!  I worked out twice last week, I'm getting back into weight lifting and really enjoying that.  I've lifted twice so far this week and plan to lift again tomorrow too.  Today I'm also planning on taking a walk as the weather is looking pretty nice.  So far so good with adding exercise back into my regular routine.  My guts freaked out a bit the first time I lifted, and I had some cramps and diarrhea afterwards, but since that first day my guts have been calm about me lifting weights.

Overall my guts feel pretty well these days, my new job is relatively low-stress, and it's been really good for my guts that I work afternoons/evenings now.  I can take the mornings if need be to sit with my heating pad and get my guts feeling well enough to work.  But as it is, I've only had to do that maybe 2 days out of the last month.  My guts are doing much better now that I can sleep in a bit and don't have to get up at 6 AM for work!  I actually feel like something close to a normal human.  How weird is that??

Lily is doing okay too.  She's resting a lot and still has bad days here and there, but still eating and doesn't seem to be in pain.  On Sunday it'll be 8 months since her surgery.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I haven't updated this thread in awhile.  We had to let Lily go on Thursday.  She was pretty suddenly having a lot of symptoms (lost her appetite, vomiting, another seizure, not able to poo, not able to vomit, then she was able to poo but mostly blood came out) and I said that's enough, she's suffering, and I didn't want her to suffer.  So we had to put her down.

I'm so, so depressed and sad.  I've been crying a lot and haven't had much appetite.  I've lost about 4 lbs since Thursday.  She was such a good dog, and my house feels so empty without her.  So I've been trying to get out of the house as much as I can.  I took a bike ride on Friday, a walk on Saturday, and another bike ride Sunday.  Today I plan to lift weights.  I also volunteered to work overtime this week just to be out of the house more and have the distraction of work.

The vet told me that the crematory guy comes every Wednesday.  So he'll pick up Lily's body in 2 days, and then a week after that he'll bring back her ashes.  Back when she first got diagnosed with canine hemangiosarcoma, I thought about what I'd want to do with her remains, and I decided on cremation.  I bought a little necklace with a tiny urn on it, so that I can put a few of her ashes in it.  That way, I can still take her on walks in a way.  So I plan to do a lot more fitness and walks to get myself through the grieving process, and I'll take a little part of Lily with me.


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## Tony H

hey Cat I feel your pain , its good to get out if you can , I love the idea of the little urn , I still cant face scattering Joeys ashes , they are still next to the bed along with my other golden boy Charlie , I find it comforting but I think I will have to do it soon , 
We got rid of almost all of Joeys stuff but we found one of Joeys leads and we are now using it with Alfie 
You will never get another Lily as like people they are all different ,
I said never again but here I am with a lunatic puppy who thinks I’m his play buddy and wants to play all the time , but I love my new ball of fur (and teeth)
I wish I could take some of the pain away from you but the pain and tears show us how much they meant to us , 
when you get Lilys ashes back it will help a lot , in my case my Jojo was home with me again , he will always be with me and Lily will always be with you .

Tony


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## Lynda Lynda

I am so sorry for your loss. 

I couldn't bare to keep anything after my two cats died several years ago. I moved to a new apartment not too long after they died and I I just brought my memories of them with me. They were my "forever friends" for 12 years.


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## scottsma

Cat my friend,just get through one day at a time as best you can.It's all you can do.The sadness and hurt comes from losing her love, and all the  happy memories which we think will go on forever.But you did what you had to do for her,and that was the right thing at the end.......over the years I've had to make that decision eight times and it NEVER gets any easier.In fact the older we get the more difficult it is.That's why,although dogs shared my  for fifty years, I can't  do it any more.But you will smile again at your happy times with her.Sending hugs x


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## Trysha

It is so hard to part with our beloved pets and I feel so deeply for you Cat.....and sorry for your sad news.
It will take some time to recover but you will do so.....give yourself time.
You are a busy person and this will help.
Feel better soon
Hugs
Trysha


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## Jelly loves Peanut butter

I am so sorry to hear about Lily!  She really sounded like a sweet girl and I always enjoyed reading about her.  I know how your heart must be aching to be without her and i feel so sad for that.  The urn necklace sounds like a lovely idea so you can always have her close to your heart. Hugs to you Cat.


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## scottsma

Cat,just wondering how your doing sweetheart ? I hope you're  still enjoying your job,and the extra "spends" at the end of the month. Of course I also hope that your sadness at losing Lily is getting easier to bare.I know those first few weeks only to well,but her pain and your stress and worry are over now. Enjoy your life best you can.


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## cmack

I hope you are doing okay, Cat. I have been thinking about you bud.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

Thanks guys.  I'm not doing so great.  My guts are definitely feeling the effects of grief.  I've had low appetite most days, increased cramping nausea etc.  I last weighed myself a few days ago, and at that point I had lost about 6 lbs.  I started taking CBD oil recently, and that helped for like 2 days, but now I'm back to feeling crummy again.  I tried eating cereal just now but I couldn't get down more than 2 bites.

I'm still going through all sorts of emotions.  I got Lily's ashes back but that only made me sadder, and frankly, angrier.  I don't think the crematory did a good job.  I was expecting to get back powedery ashes, but what they gave me was a bunch of little bone fragments.  Most reputable crematories will crush the bone fragments into more of a powder-like ash.  So now, what do I do?  Do I leave her as bone fragments, do I try myself to crush down the bone bits to powder?  I don't know.  I feel like I failed Lily in some way.

Because I've been feeling crummy, I haven't been exercising much.  It's also been ridiculously hot here and my air conditioning at home isn't working properly, so I'm sure that's been contributing to me feeling unwell.  Plus I currently have a UTI so I'm on antibiotics which are also surely doing bad things for my guts.

Crying as I write this, and I have to force myself to go to work soon, so I'll sign off for now so that I can pull myself together and pretend to be a normal person for 8 hours.  Will try to update more later.


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## ronroush7

Sending support, Cat.


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## Jelly loves Peanut butter

Cat I’m sorry you aren’t feeling well.  I feel the pain in your words and wish I could reach out and give you a great big hug!  Lily was so lucky to have you and in no way have you failed her.  You were there for her during her most difficult days and helped ease her pain and suffering .  It is so hard to lose our beloved pets but I can tell you the sadness will soften in time.  You will always have a place in your heart for Lily and lovely memories too.  Maybe when the heat cools down you can start taking your walks again and that might help you emotionally get through some of these hard times.  Wishing you well Cat...sending hugs.


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## scottsma

Cat,that's disgraceful......but here's a thought you might want to consider.

How about burying Lily and her container in a large outdoor /  patio  plant pot,with a nice shrub or plant.That way if you move house she can go with you. We buried one of our dogs in the garden (hubbies idea) and when we sold up, we had to tell the buyers where he was in case they unearthed him at some time. I hope you feel better soon.


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## Cat-a-Tonic

I'm not sure at this point what to do with her ashes.  I had been planning to eventually scatter her ashes at my grandpa's grave.  Grandpa and Lily were very good friends (he'd sometimes call me, and not ask if I could come over, but he'd ask if Lily could come over!).  My grandpa loved dogs and he especially loved Lily, he called her his great-grand-dog up until his death 2 years ago.  So I always felt like it seemed right to scatter Lily's ashes by my grandpa.  But with her ashes not being so ashy, I don't know.  I'm afraid it'll look like somebody dumped a bunch of gravel on my grandpa's grave.  I'm so unhappy with the work that the crematory did.  I know she's "just" a dog and we only paid something like $140 for the cremation, but come on.  Every crematory has a cremulator (I've watched too many youtube videos by "Ask a Mortician") that they can use to turn the bone fragments into powder, so I know that the crematory that handled Lily's remains did a lazy/bad job.  So now I have to rethink my plan.  Maybe see if a mortar & pestle can pulverize her bones into powder?  Can I even bring myself to pulverize my dog's bones?  I don't know.  I hate every part of this situation.


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## cmack

I'm so sorry that this has happened, Cat. There is no easy answer I'm afraid, but you have my total support whatever you decide to do.


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