Cat's Exercise Diary

Crohn's Disease Forum

Help Support Crohn's Disease Forum:

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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
Update 3/14/14 - Happy Pi Day! :D 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!
Click to expand...

Yum Yum. What about some lemon meringue pie for dessert?
 
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.
 
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.
 
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).
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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. :p 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).
 
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. :p 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!!
 
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).
 
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.
 
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). :p

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.
 
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. :p
 
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! :p 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. :p 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. :p 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.
 
Update 3/28/14: I got the female voice back on my ipod!! :D :p 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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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! :p 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! :D
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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. :p Oh well, I can't win.
 
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.
 
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! :p 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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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. :p 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.
 
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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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. :p 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. :D 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? ;)
 
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.
 
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! :p 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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
Click to expand...

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. :p
 
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.
 
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. :p 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. :p 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.
 
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
 
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. :p I'll just stick to cats.
 
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!
 
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.
 
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. :p I'll just stick to cats.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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. :p 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. :D

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. ;)
 
You and I definitely have the same opinion on babies. :p They gross me out so much on a hygiene level, and Crohn's doesn't help my hypochondria. :p 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. :D
 
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. :p Yes, cats are definitely the best!

I guess I should give a fitness update since this is my exercise thread. :p 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.
 
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. :p 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).
 
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!
 
I wish you and your husband well come friday. You have started the increased dose of steroids correct? Hopefully it will kick in soon.
 
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. :p
 
Orchid, I don't think they do any vegan stuff at this bakery - it's all full fat, high-calorie, animal products-containing deliciousness. :p 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. ;)
 
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. :p 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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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!
 
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?
 
Ha ha, Hawkeye. :p 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! :p 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. :p 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! :D
 
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. :p 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!
 
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. :p (And otherwise might follow a handful of Japanese things.)
 
TheOcean, what K-pop groups are you a fan of? I'm pretty much a fan of everyone from YG family. :p 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. ;)
 
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" :p 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? :p
 
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! :p 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. :p 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. :p 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!
 
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. :p

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. :p 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.
 
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. :p

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.
 
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?
 
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. :p It seems like a good workout though so I want to try it!
 
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! :p 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.
 
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. :p
 
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. :p 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!
 
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.
 
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!
 
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! :p 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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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:
 
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! :D 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! :p 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.
 
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!
 
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! :)
 

Similar threads

M
Muscle weakness and pain
Replies
2
Views
976
moose185
M
Papantoine
Neglect?
Replies
0
Views
242
Papantoine
Papantoine
N
Exercise causing me to flare-like symptoms...help!
Replies
17
Views
4K
NeverBeenEasier
N
A
Hobbies and Interests
Replies
1
Views
295
Papantoine
Papantoine
valleysangel92
Hello Old Friends
Replies
1
Views
463
my little penguin
my little penguin

Latest posts

Back
Top