Cat's Exercise Diary

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I probably should use my cane more often than I do. My hip pains are significantly worse in the winter - bitter cold and snowy weather seem to both trigger hip pain. And the worse the snowstorm is, the worse my pain is. But, I kind of hate to bring my cane to work with me because I know I'm going to get comments and stares and whispers behind my back, and I just don't need that at work. It's one thing to walk around the grocery store with my cane and not bump into anyone I know - it's another thing to come into an office building where like 50 people I know are all suddenly wondering what's wrong with me. Some of my co-workers know a little about my tummy issues, but few of them know I have arthritis too. And since I sit at a desk all day anyway, it usually makes more sense for me to just forgo the cane on work days when the hip is bad. But yeah, usually winter is worse than summer.

Thanks, I really really try not to let illness hold me back too much! I know it does somewhat, that's just a given, but I try to limit the control it has over my life. As long as I'm able to, I'm still going to work and exercise and live like a relatively normal human. I'm not pregnant and have never been pregnant and don't ever plan to become pregnant - however, I sometimes feel like I'm a perpetually pregnant woman as I seem to have a lot of things in common with pregnant women. I have nausea, reflux, mood swings, I tend to feel pretty crappy in the mornings (the IBD version of morning sickness!), etc. And I had read an article somewhere saying that for pregnant women, if you were already leading an active lifestyle, you can continue to do it in pregnancy but maybe dial it back to about 80% of what you were doing. So I sort of apply that logic to my IBD - I'm leading an active lifestyle when I'm in remission, and as long as I dial things back a bit and don't overdo it, I am going to try to do things the same in a flare, including exercise. That seems to be working for me okay

Oh, and the hot tea worked! :)
 
Update 7/21/14: I did well in the gym on Thursday - felt strong, was able to do my usual number of reps. Still avoided the abdominals machine but was able to do a short plank without issue. Friday we walked around downtown a bunch and that's about it. Saturday, I woke up feeling like I had slept on my neck all wrong. But it turned out to be my pinched nerve (or whatever it is?) acting up again, so I was in pain in my neck/shoulders/upper back all day on Saturday. As a result, I didn't do anything active, I just rested on the couch all day with my heating pad on my neck. I think that helped, as I felt significantly better on Sunday (still fairly stiff & sore but not as bad and not as painful). I had a family thing to go to on Sunday, and I still wasn't feeling gym-ready, so I didn't work out then either. Today I'm almost back to normal - things just feel slightly sore but not too bad, so I think I can make it through a workout this evening. So that's the plan.

Guts still aren't back to normal either. I'm vascillating between c and d. As long as I stick to safe foods, I seem to have c. But if I eat something naughty then I'm running for the toilet. On Saturday, with the neck pain, I was having a little pity party for myself so I ate some pizza (not a safe food for me!) and had to run to the bathroom about 5 minutes after eating. Watery, floaty, totally unformed d - yuck. But since then I've eaten safe foods, and I haven't had a poo since. So things are still not right with my guts. Other than that, though, I don't really feel very flare-y. My energy levels are decent, I haven't really been nauseous lately, haven't gotten up in the night to go, very few if any abdo pains, etc. If I can just get the d and c to turn into more normal bowel movements then I'd be doing quite well.
 
Update 7/22/14: I did make it to the gym last night. We're in a mini heatwave right now, so it was quite hot in the gym (they have air conditioning but it doesn't seem to work super well at cooling such a large space, and the more people that are in there, the warmer it seems to be). So that was a bit tough, and because of the heat I did go a bit slower than usual. I sweated a ton too! But I made it through, did everything except the abdominals machine. I did do a 30 second plank with minimal abdo pains (just a few prickly little pains which I think was due to being constipated/bloated).

The c slowly went away-ish. I'm still more distended than usual, I have a little fat-looking belly. :p But I did manage to go a bit last night and again this morning - it was loose stool though which confuses me. I feel constipated but then I have d? It's weird. I think I'm still constipated or at least I still need to go more to flatten out the distension in my abdomen. I might try some stool softeners and/or a bit of miralax if this goes on any longer.

Today is super warm again - the high temp is 91 F! That's just too warm for me so I'm going to rest today and stay in the air conditioning. Tomorrow is supposed to be less hideously hot, so I'll try for the gym again tomorrow.
 
Update 7/23/14: Yesterday was indeed a rest day. It was way too hot to do anything. It was 91 degrees and humid, and I just can't function in weather like that (too hot for me, and my guts hate it as well). I had to pick up a couple things at the grocery store and even that was miserable, so after that I just kind of hibernated in the air conditioning at home rather than attempt to do anything active.

Today it's much nicer weather (it's like 78 degrees and less humid) so I feel up to working out. Going to go hit the gym in a little while. I'm expecting it to be too warm in the gym because it usually is and I'm sure yesterday's heat didn't help matters any, but I'm also confident that I can get through a workout even if it's a bit too warm. I feel pretty strong and well today - my bowels have kinda sorta regulated finally, my stools are semi-formed and not really d anymore and I don't feel constipated anymore either. I still have a teensy bit of pinched nerve stiffness and soreness in my neck/shoulder area, but it's not bothersome at all and barely even noticeable, so I think a workout will be just fine. :) I'm looking forward to it!

I'm also looking forward to having a weekend by myself. Hubby and his boss are going to be vendors at a convention out of town, so I'll be on my own. I'm very introverted so I'm looking forward to having some "me time." I'll of course work out - I'll walk the dog and I plan to go to the gym at least once, I might do some yard work which is always like a workout in itself, if it's nice out then I may go for a bike ride, and there are other things I want to do too like sewing (I have a few shirts to mend/take in, I am going to make my dog a new cushion to sleep on, etc). I may be getting over-ambitious, but I do always get a lot accomplished when hubby is away, so I think I can hopefully do everything. The weather report says it might rain, so the bike ride and yard work may not happen, but I'll still go to the gym and get stuff done around the house regardless, as well as recharge my introvert batteries with some lovely time alone. :)
 
Update 7/25/14: I've still been having issues with the stupid pinched nerve or whatever it is. I was thinking of hitting the gym for weights today, but I really feel like I need to let the stupid nerve heal or at least stop hurting so much (the pain kind of comes and goes and I think I've been aggravating it by stubbornly going to the gym and lifting weights). But, I realized that since the nerve issue is in my neck/shoulder blade, that shouldn't stop me from riding the bike, right? So I did 30 mins on the stationary bike, I feel good, and I don't feel like I aggravated anything. It was a good compromise! I think I'll give it another day, maybe do yoga tomorrow and see how that goes, and if it goes okay then I'll attempt weights on Sunday.

Yesterday was mostly a rest day although I did walk the dog. We met up with our neighbor who has corgis. One of her corgis was super naughty though! In the summer, the Parks department kind of lets the grass in the dog park grow way too long, then they mow it. So they mowed recently - and when they mow, they often kill a lot of little toads, mice, moles, etc that have been hiding in the tall grass. And they don't bother to pick up the little carcasses. So my neighbor's dog found a dead mouse and rolled in it, yuck. As my neighbor was cleaning up the mouse corpse, her dog found another dead mouse, rolled on it and then ate it! YUCK!! So we kept a close eye on him to make sure he didn't find any other "treats". But for about 5 seconds we took our eyes off of him, and sure enough, he managed to find yet another dead thing, roll on it and eat that too! Ewww. My poor neighbor, she had to bathe her smelly dog and then keep an eye on him to see if he puked up the horrible things he'd eaten. :p My dog is not always the best-behaved, but she rolled in and ate zero dead things yesterday, so she looked super obedient and awesome in comparison. :)

Anyway. Hubby's away all weekend so I'm going to both get stuff done and do some relaxing! It's a bit cool out today (rainy and in the upper 60s/low 70s) so I'm thinking a bubble bath might be happening tonight. And of course I'll do some cleaning, crafts, etc as well.
 
Update 7/28/14. Well, I didn't do much exercise this weekend as my stupid neck was STILL hurting. I'm going to call my GP and set up an appointment because this is getting ridiculous. I did walk the dog but that's about it. Still some pain today, but I don't care anymore, I'm going to go lift weights in a bit. It seems I'm going to be in pain either way, so I may as well lift weights! If my GP says not to then I'll probably have to listen to him, but in the meantime, screw it, I'm going to do what I want and hope that my body plays nice, but if it doesn't I'm still going to do what I want.
 
I just read your thread and absolutely agree that exercise is the key to both controlling your crohn's and providing a better quality of life overall. With that being said, man is it hard to get into the gym on some days! The toughest part of working out is just getting to the place that you do it. I've never, ever had a regret after I'm done however. I'm 63 now and I still have the mobility and strength I had in my thirties. I know also that I've been able to control my crohn's flare-ups and reduce my stress levels because of a regular schedule of exercise. I particularly like weights but cardiovascular is great too. I enjoy your posts, please continue.
Jim
 
Thanks Jim! I agree with most of what you said - I don't think I can control my flare-ups with exercise alone, but everything else you said I agree with. I like weights too, they're probably my favorite thing! I like going into the gym and transforming from sick girl into healthy girl for a little while. I don't feel like a sick girl when I'm working out. I feel super awesome and strong and healthy when I'm lifting weights, I can forget all about being sick for awhile.

Update 7/29/14: I did go and lift weights yesterday, and I feel a lot better today. I finally was able to sleep a full night without neck pain. Hopefully this pinched nerve is finally easing up! I did feel a little bit of pain in the gym - after my warm-up, as I sat down at the first weight machine, I felt a bit of a pain in my left thigh. I think I strained a muscle? Because of that, I focused on arms/shoulders/back and didn't do much with my legs. Later that evening I walked the dog, I wanted to walk around on my leg as I hoped that would help, and it did seem to help. My leg feels fine today. I'm taking a rest day today just to be sure, but with a little luck I'll be back in the gym tomorrow. Hopefully my neck and my leg are both on board with that idea!
 
Update 7/30/14: My leg and neck are both feeling pretty good today so I'm giving myself the green light to go hit the weights tonight. Hubby's coming with me to the gym - he hates working out, but he's been seeing results lately and he likes what he sees, so that makes him more apt to come to the gym with me. Hubby's never been a muscular guy in the past - when we were dating, he was just plain skinny, and then when we got married he started eating more and got, not fat, but definitely more meat on his bones. He felt fat when he gained the weight (he gained it almost overnight) so I know he didn't like how he looked either way - he didn't like being so so skinny but he also didn't like it when he gained the weight. Now that he's been coming to the gym with me at times, he actually is liking that he's gained some muscle, he likes how his arms look.

So we're hitting the gym tonight and then we're going to get take-out for dinner from this great little falafel restaurant (yum!). Tomorrow, I think I might do the bike or possibly yoga. Tomorrow evening we're going grocery shopping - it's been way too long, my fridge is almost empty and I haven't done any juicing for awhile, so I'm excited to buy a bunch of produce and make myself some healthy juice. Friday, gym again (presuming my body is still playing nice). Haven't planned as far as the weekend yet. The way my body's been lately, it isn't worthwhile to plan out more than a couple days at the most.
 
Another quick update: I haven't been to the gym yet (going in about an hour), but I did go shopping. :p I have a serious addiction to workout clothes at this point. I recently started bringing in my old clothes, jewelry, etc to the consignment shop - when an item of mine sells, then I get a little money... and I turn right around and use it to buy more workout clothes. I went in to the consignment shop today and there was a pair of really cute grey workout capris that fit me perfectly, and a pink sports bra that also fit perfectly - both items look like they're brand new, too. So of course I bought them. They were only $10 total, and I had a $5 credit from some of the stuff I had brought in, so I only ended up paying $5. Love that! But it's also dangerous, I'm on the cusp of being a workout clothes hoarder. :p I think I need a workout clothes intervention. I can see it now... "Tonight on a very special episode of Intervention: Cat: 'I can stop buying workout clothes whenever I want. Ooh, is that sports bra in my size? I NEED IT!!'"
 
I love consignment and resale shops. I've never done a consignment sale myself but I should it's almost time for my seasonal closet cleanse. As for the hoarding...you could be hoarding much worse things :p at least when it's time to get rid of it you can make some small sale off of it lol.

Glad you are well enough again to get your workouts in!
 
Thanks Chicago. I'm not always well enough unfortunately. My health has been up and down lately so I get in workouts when I can! In addition to the flare (which is now semi-controlled by Entocort but I'm still having sporadic bouts of nausea, fatigue and d), lately I've been dealing with a pinched nerve in my neck, so that's been holding me back a little bit too. It seems to finally be getting a little better the past few days though. It's still painful if I do certain things (sleeping on my left side seems to make the pinched nerve incredibly painful) but I can usually work out without aggravating it.

Speaking of my health being up and down, yesterday was an up day and today is decidedly down. I felt good yesterday, and had a great workout. I felt strong the whole way through. You know those days where the weights don't feel quite so heavy and everything just feels good? Yesterday was one of those lovely days. But today, I woke up with a wicked sinus headache. You know those headaches where your sinuses are full of pressure, and if you bend over or tilt your head too much then the pressure shifts and the pain gets sharply even worse? And the sinus pressure is so great at times that it kind of forces tears out of your eyes? Yeah, that. Sometimes if I catch these headaches early enough then I can at least take the edge off with tylenol, but so far tylenol doesn't seem to be doing anything this time around. I was kind of hoping to have a cardio day today, but now I think it'll be a rest day instead. My guts aren't feeling too great today either so rest is probably best. I'm just hoping to be feeling better tomorrow.

Yeah, it took me awhile to become a consigner at the consignment shop, I just became a consigner recently, but it was worth it. There are hoarders in my family (my dad and my grandma) so I try not to be a hoarder too, and getting rid of stuff is obviously a key element of that. If I can get rid of some old stuff and make a bit of money/get a nice new item, then that's okay. Otherwise I'd just be giving my old stuff to goodwill or whatever, I'd still be getting rid of old stuff regardless, so I may as well get a little bit of a profit out of it. And I try not to hoard workout clothes too too much - they are worthwhile to have (I use my newer & nicer workout clothes to work out in obviously, and my older but still fairly nice workout clothes are used for stuff like walking the dog and doing yard work). And I try to keep my workout clothes limited to what fits in one laundry basket. Okay, the basket is kind of heaping and overflowing, but it all kind of still fits in there? Yeah, I'm definitely a borderline hoarder! But at least I'm not saving hundreds of old egg cartons like my grandma does, and I don't have a path through the piles of stuff like my dad does. I don't want to ever get to that point though!

So I do feel a bit bad about basically hoarding workout clothes, but I don't feel terribly bad about it. My eye is so attracted to workout clothes, I like to buy them even more than I like to buy regular clothes. I think part of it is, most of the time I feel like a sick girl, and I always have to be thinking about things like, did I take my medicine and should I eat this and should I call my GI and what does this symptom mean, etc. It always has to be on my mind, I always have to be conscious about my illness. But when I go to the gym and I put on my workout clothes, it's kind of like I'm putting on a superhero costume. I transform from sick girl into healthy girl when I put on my workout clothes and hit the gym. In the gym I don't have to think about sick girl stuff - I can just think about, what rep am I on and what's my form like and how's my breathing, etc. Normal, healthy girl stuff! That's why the gym is my happy place, it's the only place I can go to and forget about being ill! And workout clothes are the thing I wear when I transform into healthy girl for an hour or so in the gym - so I think I like workout clothes so much because of that. They just make me so happy, like I'm buying another superhero costume when I buy another pair of workout capris or another sports bra. So I know that's a big part of why I hoard workout clothes, and I don't particularly want to deny myself that happiness that I get from buying my healthy girl superhero clothes. I know realistically I don't need quite this many articles of workout clothes, but what they symbolize for me is so important, you know?
 
Hawkeye, yum!! I wish someone would come to my city and hand out free lobsters!

Update 8/1/14: So, yesterday I started out feeling pretty yucky and I figured I'd just have a rest day. But as the day went on, I was like, screw this. :p I wanted to work out so I decided to just work out anyway. I did 30 mins on the bike - since I had strained a quad muscle the week before, I didn't go quite as intensely as I usually do. I still worked up a nice sweat, didn't aggravate my quad at all, and felt really great afterwards.

Today I'm feeling so-so - less yucky, but still not stellar. But, since I was able to do a workout yesterday, I knew I could do one today too. So I hit the gym for weights. I even did the abdominals machine, which is something I've been avoiding lately. And that went well. I feel fairly good, the icky sinus headache is mostly gone, I feel less exhausted than yesterday and my guts are slightly more behaved today than yesterday.

Tomorrow, I'm thinking I'll do yoga. It's supposed to rain, so an indoor activity sounds best. If it doesn't rain, I'll walk my dog. Sunday, presuming I'm feeling well, I'll hit the gym for weights again.
 
Update 8/4/14: It ended up not raining for most of Saturday (a few sprinkles in the evenin and that was it) so I did walk my dog on Saturday. That was nice although it was pretty warm out so we were both hot and tired when we got home!

Sunday, I had wanted to hit the gym, but then it occurred to me that we should play tennis. We've lived in our house for nearly 6 years now. There's a big park about 1/2 block away - this big park contains the dog park, a soccer field, a community garden, and public (free) tennis courts. We've always meant to go over to the tennis courts and play, but in 6 years we never actually made it over there! So on Sunday, we decided to go play tennis finally. It was fun! Neither the hubby nor I are particularly skilled, so we spent more time running after the ball than we did actually playing. But we did have a few good times where we were able to hit the ball back & forth to each other. I could definitely see us doing that again. My only complaint was that it was a bit too hot out, and I forgot to put on sunscreen, so I think I got a teeny bit sunburned (not bad though). On a slightly cooler/cloudier day, I think tennis would be ideal. We had a lot of fun and spent about an hour playing. We were both super sweaty and tired! And today, I feel fairly sore in both my arms and legs. So it was a good workout, it was fun, and I'm definitely going to do that again sometime.

So, I was hoping to hit the gym today, but with this soreness, I'm now thinking that perhaps I'll just do something easier like walk the dog instead. I'll hit the gym tomorrow for weights.
 
That's pretty great you finally got over there and tried it!

Is your park well shaded by trees? Too much heat is a good way to get me hiding unless there's plenty of shade. I just can't take it and after only 5 minutes outside I have a tan line. Being on 6-mp makes it even more important that I protect my skin too. I'm going to Spain in 3 weeks and need to start thinking about sun protection. Anyway, glad you pushed through the heat and made the most of the day.

Living near a park is great. My last few apartments have been walking distance from parks and the lakefront. I'm convinced living in those types of areas really make you more motivated to get out and get active.
 
No, there are hardly any trees at the park by my house unfortunately. The park is built on an old landfill, which apparently means no trees (I am not totally sure why, I think it's because the ground is too unstable to support the roots or the weight of a tree?). There are just a few very small trees in the dog park (literally there are like 4 tiny, sickly-looking trees), but for the most part it's just a big empty field that dogs can run around in. There are a handful of pine trees near the tennis courts as well, but it turns out that those are actually kind of annoying (if you hit your tennis ball outside of the fence, which I did several times, then you have to go searching in the pine trees and pine needles to find it!). So no, not much shade at all. I did wear a baseball cap to play tennis, so at least the sun was off my face and out of my eyes, but the sun really got hot on the tennis court. I will definitely be checking the weather reports and looking for cloudy days to play tennis! I truthfully did get a bit overheated on Sunday, and walking that half-block home, my guts were painfully cramping the whole time. Getting home in the air conditioning, drinking some cool water and taking a cool shower stopped the cramps, but it was still quite uncomfortable for a little while (that's normal for my guts, they hate heat & humidity and they do tend to cramp in those conditions).

Chicago, can I ask, how close are you to the lakefront? My hubby lived in Chicago for about 4 years when he was in art school, he had a small studio apartment near the intersection of Foster and Sheridan, so just a few blocks away from the lakefront on the north side. His building wasn't the nicest, but it was nice that he was right by the lake like that. Being able to walk to the lake in under 5 mins was a big plus!
 
I used to live off of Sheridan too! :) My last two apartments were near Irving Park / Addison and Sheridan not too far from your hubby, actually. All walking distance. The buildings up there are mixed. Some good, some old. Small square footage and large rent prices. However the bonus about living along the lake is that the further north you go (near where your husband and I both lived and further), heat/water/gas is typically included in rent and there's an abundance of transportation options which was great for me because I don't own a car in Chicago so I could walk or take a quick trip to almost anything of necessity and fun that I wanted to do.

I liked it over there but the reality is that it's super congested these days with due to all of the bars and new condos and apartment complexes being put up. Also the last place tried to raise my rent one year by almost $100/mo. so as much as I loved the space and the area, I decided it was time to go.

Where I currently am is walking distance as well. I'd say it takes about 10 minutes to walk to the lake.

Baseball caps trap too much heat since heat escapes via your head. I noticed this while jogging and stopped wearing them in the summer when I am exercising outdoors. That's interesting how your guts respond to the heat and humidity. Is there anything that helps while you are out besides escaping the heat?
 
Yeah, a baseball cap wasn't my first choice, but I couldn't find a visor anywhere in my house so I had to opt for a cap instead. I'm actually going to make some purchases with tennis in mind - our tennis rackets are both in good shape as far as the racket itself is concerned, but both of our handle-grip things are disintegrating. So I need to go buy a visor and some new grippy handle stuff! :) (I'm sure when I buy a new visor then I'll find like 5 of them in my house, ha ha.)

And yeah, when my guts cramp due to heat/humidity then I just need to go cool off, there's really nothing else that I've found that stops those cramps. The first year that I was sick, that summer was so miserable because it was a very hot summer and we had no air conditioning. The house did come with one window AC unit, but the previous occupants were heavy smokers, so if we turned on the AC then the smoke smell overwhelmed us! So we lived with no air conditioning, and my guts gave me a lot of cramping and pain all summer long. It was really awful. The following year, we installed central air conditioning. It was really expensive (several thousand bucks) but so worth it! I looked at it as an investment into my health and I've never regretted having central AC installed, it's been just lovely.

Wow, it sounds like the north side has changed a bit since hubby lived there! He moved away from Chicago in 2002 when we got married, so I'm not very familiar with how the area has been since that time. We used to go down to Chicago every so often to visit friends, but since I got sick that hasn't really happened (we do sometimes take a day trip to the northwest suburbs to go to Ikea, but that's as close as we've gotten to Chicago in at least 5 years now). Yeah, his building was one of the older ones, the radiator would make clanking sounds all night sometimes and I think he said the building was over 100 years old (I guess now it's over 110 years old! :p ). His apartment was tiny, and it had mice and roaches, so it was just kind of an icky place. But like you said, I do believe that heat, water, and maybe even electricity were included in the rent. And he did actually have a car (just so that he could drive to WI on weekends to visit me - we were doing the long-distance dating thing at that time when we were both in school so we'd commute back and forth to see each other on weekends) and parking it on the street was always interesting. There were several hit-and-runs, at least one break-in to his car, not to mention the parking tickets! So I think you're doing it right, not having a car. If you aren't going out of town/out of state every weekend then it's not worth it to have a car in Chicago. Too expensive and more trouble than its worth!
 
Update 8/7/14: Sorry, it's been a busy week, I haven't had much time to update! Monday was a rest day to recover from tennis. Tuesday I hit the gym for weights and I also walked the dog that evening. Yesterday I also walked the dog, plus I had to lift some heavy stuff at work so I essentially got in a mini weightlifting session.

Today, I'm headed to the gym for a proper weights session. And, I might have company. I have a co-worker, she's pretty new to my department but I really like her. She's close to my age and is fun to talk with. But, she's said a few times that she doesn't like to exercise, but she's also said that she's unhappy with her weight. So yesterday, she was moaning about her weight again, and I told her that I'd be going down to the gym today (there's a gym in the basement of our workplace) and I told her what time I usually go, and offered to show her how to use the machines if she'd like that. She said she'd think about it. Today, she showed up to work with a brand-new pair of tennis shoes and says she'll go with me to the gym - it is pretty clear that she's more excited about her new shoes than she is about working out, but I'm happy to show her the ropes anyway and we'll see what happens. She's not huge but she's seriously out of shape (she recently had to walk maybe 2 miles in one day to check out a venue for an upcoming work event, and she said the next day that she could barely walk because of "all the walking" that she did the day before - 2 miles is not that much so that's a bit shocking and sad). So, my goal is to show her how to use the weight machines, and maybe I can get her to do some squats or a plank with me as well.

Tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'll be doing. Maybe yoga. The weekend is kind of booked up too so I'm not sure when I'll be able to work out! I'm hoping I can maybe get in a bit of tennis Sunday morning as that's about the only free time I'll have.
 
Update 8/11/14: My co-worker did join me in the gym on Thursday! I showed her how to use all the weight machines... and then all she did was walk on the treadmill. :p (I did my usual weights routine while she walked.) I think the idea of using weights is still a bit overwhelming to her. I guess the walking went well though, because this morning she asked if I'm going to the gym in our workplace today because she wants to walk again. I said no, I'm not going down there today - she said that's okay, she's planning on going down and walking by herself anyway. I consider that a success, I'm glad that she's at least making an effort and isn't dependent on me being down in the gym! Maybe once she gets bored with walking then she'll move up to the bike or the weights. We'll see what happens!

So, my update - Thursday I of course did the weights while my co-worker walked. Friday, I walked the dog. Saturday, hubby and I got up early and took a day trip to Indiana and Illinois to do a few things (shopping and touring historical sites). That was really fun, it was a really full day, and my guts behaved themselves even though my whole schedule was thrown off (we didn't eat lunch until almost 4 PM and dinner at about 9:30 PM!). I was really happy that my body allowed me to have a day like that - I had enough energy to do everything I wanted to, and my guts were super well-behaved. It was a really lovely day, I had a great time and felt almost normal! :D Didn't do much in the way of exercise (walked around a fair bit but that's it) but it was still fantastic.

Yesterday my parents came down for a visit. After they went home, hubby and I went to the park for an evening tennis session. That was nice, it wasn't too warm or sunny by that time of day, and we played for over an hour.

Today I'm heading to the big gym after work and hubby is coming with me. Tomorrow, I'll probably walk the dog or maybe yoga or bike if I'm feeling ambitious. Tentatively I'm planning this week for weights Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun. Saturday, I have to help out at a work event, so I'll probably be running around and probably also carrying heavy stuff around for that event, so that'll be like a mini-workout. So Tues & Thurs, I may either rest, walk, do yoga or ride the bike, depending on what I feel like doing.
 
Update 8/12/14: Hubby and I hit the gym last night and that went very well. I had eaten some iffy foods earlier in the day (wild rice with an unknown sauce that kind of gave me the burps) so I wasn't sure how my reflux would be in the gym. Fortunately my reflux was very quiet and behaved itself. I managed to do everything including the abdominals machine. And my workout wasn't interrupted too much even though my gym enemy was there! There's this guy who I have mentally dubbed "bandana d-bag", because he's this jerkface idiot who always wears a bandana, and he's frequently at the big gym and he bugs me every single time he's there. He seems to never actually work out, he always just stands around talking and talking and talking with his friends - it's so disruptive, I can hear him just gabbing on and on even with my headphones on, and sometimes he'll just sit or lean on a machine but not actually use it and then I have to give him a death stare if I want to use that machine. So when I had started my workout and I heard talking, I knew who it was without even looking at him! Sure enough, it was him. I think he knows well enough to stay away from me now though, so I didn't bump into him any more during my workout and I didn't have to make him vacate any machines.

So other than one brief run-in with my gym enemy, everything went as smoothly as can be. I had good energy, I felt pretty strong, I was able to work my abs without refluxing even a little bit. A very good workout!

Today, I feel kind of tired and just slightly off. My guts are okay but I feel very "meh." The weather has turned much cooler - it's only maybe 65 degrees F at the most today, so it's chilly for August. I feel chilled and maybe like I'm on the verge of getting a headache, and I'm just kinda tired and blah and don't really feel like doing much. I'm going to attempt some yoga tonight, but after that I'm just going to sit in a warm bath and try to feel better. I'll probably go to bed early too. I hope I'm not coming down with anything, hopefully it's just a "meh" kind of a day.

Tomorrow, the plan is to hit the gym with hubby again. Hopefully my bandana-wearing enemy won't be there! :p Hopefully the "meh" feeling will have passed too - if not, hopefully a workout will cure it.
 
Ah the gym death stare, reserved only for those who site on the machines and talk on their cellphones whilst not doing any exercise

We usually get a week of cooler mornings in August
 
I hate people who sit on a machine while fiddling with their phones, too. But this bandana guy, he stands in a group with his friends and they all just talk to each other while hogging machines. So there will be 2, 3, sometimes even 4 guys just standing around a machine or two and talking endlessly. It's hugely annoying if I want to use one of the machines that they're "using". So the death glare has come in handy with that group, particularly with my bandana-wearing enemy.

Well, I didn't do any exercise yesterday. Couldn't even make myself do yoga. After work, I went to vote (the primary was yesterday for my state) and then I went home and sat in a hot bath. That helped me feel quite a bit better. I'm feeling significantly less "blah" today. Going to hit the gym tonight with hubby. Tomorrow, not sure. Friday, gym again. Saturday, work event - but it's an outdoor event and now the weather report is saying it's supposed to rain, so Saturday might be a bit miserable. Hopefully the weather report is wrong!
 
Hawkeye, this primary was mainly for the governor's race. Our current (idiot) governor is a republican who is trying to get re-elected in November. There were a couple democrats who want to run against our current governor in November's election, so there were a couple dems to choose from in that primary. There were also primaries for more minor offices like county sherriff, coroner, etc. I think those more minor offices were all running unopposed, but they had to be on the ballot anyway for some reason. So mostly, it was just a primary to choose which democrat will run against our republican governor in November.

Update 8/14/14: It's been another stressful, exhausting week at work and it's going to continue to be stressful all the way through Saturday evening. After a tough day at work yesterday, I was very excited to go to the gym and work off some stress. I had a good workout, felt strong, even increased the weight on one machine. I didn't see my gym enemy either, and my reflux was once again pretty quiet. So that was very good. Tonight I think I'm just going to walk the dog or maybe do some yoga - my bad hip is pretty achey today so I'd either like to either walk around on it to loosen it up, or stretch it out with some yoga.

Tomorrow, gym again. Saturday, I'll be running around helping out at an event for work so that'll likely keep me very active. Sunday, gym again. Phew! I have a feeling I'll be taking a nap on Sunday to recover from all of this!
 
Update 8/15/14: Yesterday was mostly a rest day, although we did walk the dog. And it was possibly the best, cutest dog walk ever! We have a corgi, and we met up with our neighbor who has 2 corgis. We also ran into a lady who has 1 corgi and 4 Swedish vallhunds! (They look like a corgi mixed with a wolf - they're short and stumpy and basically corgi-shaped, but wolf-ish coloring with slightly wolfier faces than corgis have.) So in total we had 8 short, stumpy, adorable corgi or corgi-esque dogs walking in a pack around the dog park. I unfortunately did not bring my camera on this walk, so I don't have any adorable photos to share. :( But it was amazing, it was the corgi-est walk ever.

Today has been a pretty stressful work day, and I don't even get to relax too much since I got roped into working tomorrow too! But I am heading to the gym shortly to get rid of some of this stress. Tomorrow will be full of exercise too (carrying lots of boxes into the event space and running around taking care of things). I feel like I just need to get through tomorrow and then I can relax. So I'm really looking forward to Sunday!
 
Update 8/18/14: I had a pretty rough weekend. Went to the gym Friday evening. Was feeling pretty burned out because of the long and stressful work week, so I kinda ran out of steam in the gym. I wasn't feeling particularly energetic and on a few machines I wasn't able to do my usual number of reps. Just felt wiped out.

Saturday, I had to help out at a work event, which turned out to be hugely stressful and a lot of exertion and activity. We had to lug a lot of boxes into a stadium, set things up, run around and hand out trinkets, etc. It was super hectic and quite stressful! Plus it was super warm and I didn't have access to a lot of water, so I think I got a bit too dehydrated. And I was on my feet for hours and hours - I'm used to working a desk job and sitting at a computer all day, so this was different for me. My feet were absolutely killing me at the end of the day, and I had a feeling that with all the standing/walking and the dehydration and the stress, I was going to be paying for it the next day.

And, I did pay for it. Woke up on Sunday morning feeling very nauseous and with a wicked headache (migraine?). D and cramping as well. (Oddly my feet felt okay, but the rest of me did not!) So I spent the day on the couch trying to rest and recover. The nausea finally eased up thanks to me popping some Zofran, and the Zofran seemed to help calm down and slow down my guts too. The head pain sloooooowly and gradually eased up as the day went on. I've found that for that type of headache, taking one tylenol PM and one benadryl at bedtime seems to help a lot. So I did that, and I feel significantly better today. Nausea gone, appetite back, guts slightly crampy but mostly quiet, headache still somewhat there but much more tolerable than it was. I'm functional today and I was definitely not functional yesterday.

So, since I'm feeling better, I'm hoping to hit the gym tonight! Not sure how that'll go, and I probably won't push myself too much as I don't want a repeat of yesterday. But I've gotta try it anyway! As long as I'm feeling okay-ish then I feel like I can get through a workout.
 
Update 8/19/14: I hit the gym last night and felt really good. It was really warm and humid outside, and it seemed fairly warm and humid in the gym as well. As a result, I had a bit of a hard time - it felt difficult to breathe at times, like the air was too heavy. But other than that, I had a good workout. Good energy throughout and I was able to do everything including the abs machine. My reflux did act up a little bit but not too bad. I had eggs for lunch, and I'm finding that when I eat eggs before a workout, I sometimes get gassy and/or burpy. Eggs are pretty safe for me except for that. So I might re-assess what I have for lunch on workout days and try to stay away from eggs (or have them after a workout rather than before).

Today is mostly a rest day, although I probably will walk the dog tonight if it's not raining. If it is raining then possibly yoga, or maybe just rest. Tomorrow is another gym day. Haven't planned things out farther than that yet. This week is shaping up to be less stressful than last week, so I'm just trying to pace myself and not get burned out by the end of the week.
 
I can't help but laugh at the thought of a gym enemy...it sounds like you are setting up for a storyline meant for a comedy film :p

Had to look up corgis and swedish vallhunds (I am dog breed ignorant)...such cute things! I didn't know what they were called.

It sounds like you've had a few up and down days health-wise. I love that you keep trying but you also understand when you need to take a break. Eggs before a workout would not only leave me burpy...it would prob also cause some unpleasant odorous moments for my gym colleagues as well. I have a habit of needing to fart when I am exercising hahahaha!
 
I guess I'm lucky in that regard, I almost never need to fart when I'm working out! My intestines seem to calm way down and go totally quiet when I'm exercising - my stomach is another matter though and it gets all refluxy and burpy. My nose also often drips a lot when I'm working out. So, I'm not typically farting in the gym, but I do belch and wipe my nose a lot! :p

Yes, corgis and vallhunds are so cute! I knew what a corgi was before I got one - my hubby used to describe them as looking like "foxes that have had their legs squished down". Ha ha. The most common color for Pembroke corgis is that sort of orangey-red foxy color so I can see why he thought that. Lily is a black tri-color Pembroke though (meaning she's mostly black with some white and a bit of orangey-red) - it's an accepted color for corgis, but it's also the least-common color for Pembrokes. (There are also Cardigan corgis, a similar but different breed - they tend to have tails, whereas Pembroke corgis usually don't. Lily is a Pembroke, and Pembrokes seem to be more common.) So yeah, before we got Lily, we had been looking around for a corgi mix as we didn't want to buy a purebred from a breeder. But then Lily kind of fell into my lap, she is a purebred and she needed a new home. She was pretty much the perfect dog, the breed I wanted, she was only 2 when we got her so she was past the puppy craziness and she was trained and house-broken but obviously still young with a lot of life left. She's almost 6 now and is still a great dog! :) She's slightly too fat but nobody's perfect, ha ha.

We're actually going to a corgi meet-up in a few weeks - so Chicago, keep your eyes peeled on my facebook as you'll likely see a ton of corgi pictures then! Not sure if any vallhunds will be coming as they're not technically corgis, but I am hoping to see both Pembrokes and Cardigans at the meet-up.

So yeah, back to the eggs thing - hubby and I went to the gym last night and we just wanted a quick, easy, high-protein dinner afterwards, so we ended up making turkey bacon and scrambled eggs. I think I have now confirmed that eggs definitely make me gassy! After dinner, my guts were making all sorts of noises, and I felt very bloated. And this morning when I woke up, instead of having a poo, all I was able to do was pass a ton of gas. I'm wondering though, maybe it's the yolks that are bothering me? Next time I want eggs, I'm going to just use egg whites and see how that goes. Hopefully that will be easier on me and less gas-producing. It'll be an interesting experiment.
 
Breakfast for supper, that's a quick and easy meal I've had before. I think the egg whites are better for you overall
 
I love breakfast for dinner! Haven't had a chance to test out just egg whites yet. Maybe this week.

Update 8/25/14: I had a pretty active weekend. Friday I hit the little gym in my workplace for a quick weights workout. Saturday was my rest day, it rained for a good chunk of the day so I stayed in. Sunday, hubby and I got up early as we had decided we wanted to do some major yard work. Specifically, we finally decided that we wanted to chop down our lilac bush! It was a huge lilac bush, more like a tree really. Chopping it down only took maybe 20 or 30 mins, but digging up the stump took like 3 or 4 hours. That was a ton of work! We exhausted ourselves digging, the roots were awful and for awhile hubby just kept whacking at the stump with his sledgehammer trying to get it to budge. :p Finally we got it out of there, it felt like such an accomplishment! Now our yard looks much nicer and we're going to put in a fire pit hopefully this coming weekend.

As a result of all the strenuous tree stump removal, I'm super sore today! So, today is another rest day. I'll hit the gym tomorrow for weights. Haven't planned the rest of the week out just yet. Also, next week I'm going to largely be away - I'm taking a few days off. Hubby and I are going to do more yard work, and we're going to go out of town to do some kayaking (we found a new to us kayaking spot that looks absolutely beautiful). So next week I'll mostly be away from the forum as I'll be out having fun! :D
 
Here's an egg white omelette recipe I enjoy

2-3 egg whites
hand-full of spinach (or baby spinach)
diced mushrooms
diced pieces of turkey sausage
diced tomatoes
diced onion
low-fat shredded monterey jack cheese

Sautee the veggies and sausage. add egg whites and create omelette. before folding the omelette over, add a bit of shredded monterey jack in the center.

A nice, simple, veggie-packed, flavorful breakfast (or dinner ;) ).
 
Sounds delicious! I would probably swap out the turkey sausage for turkey bacon, and the cheese for goat cheese, but other than that it sounds great!
 
Digging roots by hand is hard work. We had a tree at out old house that was planted too close to the house. We had it cut down but dug the roots out ourselves. It was a full afternoon.
 
It definitely is hard work! All we had to work with was 2 shovels, a pick-axe, and a sledgehammer (we had a power saw to cut down the lilac, but no power tools to help with the stump). Our neighbor came over for a bit to help and he brought a hatchet which he used to hack away at some of the roots too. But most of the work was done with shovels and the pick-axe. It's been 2 days since we cut down the lilac and dug up the stump, and I'm still a bit sore! Planning on going to the gym this afternoon anyway, but I will probably not push myself very much.
 
Quick update: I have decided against going to the gym today. I feel a bit "off" and specifically I've had dizzy spells all day. When I go to the little gym in the basement of my workplace, I am always a bit worried that I might injure myself or pass out or whatever, and nobody would find me for awhile (I'm usually the only person in that gym). So on dizzy days, I know I need to avoid going to that gym because the risk seems greater. I've decided that I'm going to do yoga at home tonight instead. I'm a bit frustrated, and not sure why I'm dizzy today. Been having some d and am kind of headachey as well. Just feeling a little blah, plus I'm still a bit sore from stump digging, so yoga sounds like a better plan today.
 
Probably a good idea not to push it. Even if you did I'd do light weight, more reps. Here in Michigan the humidity has been real high. That'll knock the heck out of you too! I'm sure your weather is close to the same. Anyway, enjoy kicking back a little!
 
Thanks Jim. Unfortunately, I don't know if I'm going to make it to the gym today either. The dizziness is worse today than it was yesterday! I'm not sure if this is due to a migraine? I feel some head pain although the dizziness is the thing that's bothering me the most. I have had some dizziness in the past as either a flare symptom, or a symptom of steroid withdrawal (I got the dizzies pretty bad after I had completed my first pred trial). Those dizzies (both flare and steroid dizzies) seem to happen because my blood pressure drops - if I consume some sodium, that raises my BP and those dizzies go away. So I tried that today, I had some potato chips. That seemed to help a little bit, but not much. I'm still fairly significantly dizzy, to the point where walking in a straight line is nearly impossible.

So once again I'm thinking going to the gym is too dangerous while I'm this dizzy. Right now I'm trying to figure out the cause of the dizziness - I suspect it might be a migraine. Sometimes my migraines last for 5 days though so I'll be frustrated if this goes on for that long (I'm currently on day 2 of whatever this is). I googled and it said that migraines are a common cause of dizziness/vertigo, and I'm prone to migraines, so that's a suspect at least. I don't know that I've ever had a migraine that caused dizziness before, though. But my migraines do like to change things up a lot - when I get migraines with aura, the aura is different every single time. And I don't always get the aura, sometimes I get nausea and sometimes not, sometimes the pain is tolerable and other times it's hideous and throbbing, etc. So this could very well be a migraine. I don't know. Just frustrated right now, I want to go to the gym! I want to not feel dizzy! :(
 
Update 8/31/14: Sorry for not updating for the past few days. That dizziness that I mentioned in my previous post, it just got worse and worse. It turns out I have labyrinthitis (an inflammation of the inner ear, which causes horrible vertigo, and the vertigo causes horrendous nausea and vomiting). So I've basically been not functional. Thursday was the worst day of it - I could not open my eyes nor move my head, and I only got up to use the bathroom, and even then I had to have hubby help me get there. It's very slowly and gradually started to get better from there. I vomited quite a bit on Thursday & Friday. Yesterday I was finally able to eat and keep food down (I had toast). Today I'm able to walk a little bit with my cane for stability. I had a bit more exciting foods today too (soy yogurt) because I am already sick of toast. :p

So, needless to say, I haven't done anything in the way of exercise since this started. I am thinking I might try some gentle exercise soon though. I could probably do a short easy ride on the stationary bike, and I think I might be able to lie on the floor and lift my 8 lb dumbbells? If I can't do that stuff, I'll just keep walking around with my cane (I consulted a labyrinthitis page on facebook, and they said walking can help me recover faster as it'll help my brain re-understand where my body is in space during movement). So, I haven't been exercise, but only because I've been so ridiculously dizzy and nauseous from this labyrinthitis. I am going to keep trying to have little baby steps of improvement every day. The doctor I saw said that I should expect the worst of the symptoms to last maybe a few weeks, so I'm trying not to be too impatient about getting back to the gym.
 
Update 9/8/14: It's been 2 weeks now with the labyrinthitis, and fortunately it seems to be on its way out. I have been steadily improving a little bit every day, and finally I have very little vertigo/dizziness today. As a result, I'm able to drive my car again (I missed driving!) and I'm able to exercise again (I really missed exercise!!). I had read on a labyrinthitis facebook page that walking around can help, so I made sure to walk as much as I could each day. Mainly this meant walking the dog slowly and with a cane/walking stick to help me balance. Yesterday, I was finally confident enough to walk my dog without my cane, and I did great. I also was able to do the stationary bike yesterday as a way to ease back into exercise. I was planning on just doing 20ish minutes at a slow pace/low resistance. I ended up doing 40 mins at a moderate pace, so I'm very pleased with that! I could have gone longer than 40 mins, but I didn't want to push it too much too soon and make things worse again.

Since the bike and walk went so well, today I went to the little gym for my first weights workout in 2+ weeks (since before the labyrinthitis started). That went pretty well. I can tell I've lost a little bit of strength/stamina, as I wasn't able to do my usual amount of reps (I try for 12, and I ended up anywhere between 9 and 11 on most of the machines). I didn't lower the amount of weight at all though and I did everything, including the abdominals machine. So I'm satisfied with that and looking forward to continuing to build myself back up to where I was before vertigo temporarily took over my life! If all continues to go well, then I'm thinking yoga tomorrow (that might be interesting as my balance still isn't great - honestly it's not great even when I am not dealing with vertigo, and I've still got some residual dizzies, so I don't have high expectations of my yoga capabilities). I'm also thinking weights at the big gym on Wednesday. I haven't planned anything out past that time, just kinda taking it day by day until I'm totally recovered.
 
Update 9/10/14: Rather than do yoga yesterday evening, I decided instead to walk the dog. There was an impending thunderstorm, and my dog hates thunder, so I thought that maybe if I got her tired out before the storm hit that then she'd freak out less during the storm. It turned out that the storm wasn't bad anyway, but that's fine. We had a nice walk anyway.

Tonight I'm headed to the big gym after work. It'll be my first time there in something close to 3 weeks. I miss it! I'm slightly nervous to do a "full" workout (I did work out in the little gym on Monday, but there are far more machines in the big gym so I do a lot more when I'm there). I'm still doing okay though, I feel like I'm about 95% recovered from the labyrinthitis. Things are no longer spinning, it's more like things are just kind of... leaning? My head still isn't quite right, still a whisper of vertigo, but it's definitely getting better. Hardly dizzy at all, can walk fine without a cane, I even walked down stairs today without holding the hand rail! So I'm almost completely better and I'm confident that a workout in the big gym shouldn't be problematic. I've updated my workout playlist, my gym clothes are washed and ready to go, and I'm looking forward to hitting the weights properly!

Since I didn't do yoga yesterday, I'm thinking I might do it tomorrow. Friday will be weights again, and I haven't thought out the weekend yet. Possibly tennis or maybe even kayaking if the weather is nice, it'd be nice to get outdoors if I can. Fall is here already, there's a chill in the air and suddenly everything is pumpkin-flavored and the trees are changing color, so I'm going to try to get outdoors before it gets too terribly cold out! I will of course get outside during winter, I plan to use my snowshoes a lot and I hope to do some outdoor ice skating as well, but I'd still like to do other outdoor activities before winter hits. I haven't been kayaking since my "injury" (the kayak fell off the top of the car and landed on me, which gave me hideous bruises on both arms) and I'd really like to hit the water at least once more before it gets too cold out.
 
Update 9/15/14: I ended up having a little flare-up of gastritis over the weekend, so I ended up not working out. When I get gastritis attacks, I get sharp stomach pain (a couple inches above the belly button), nausea, d, etc. So that kind of knocked me down for a bit. And since I didn't have much appetite during that time, I wasn't eating a whole lot. Well, I still have a little bit of vertigo/dizziness, and it's significantly worse when I don't eat enough. So that's been bothering me a little bit more now, too. Ugh. It's to the point where I've made another GP appointment to get more info on how to treat this vertigo stuff more effectively.

Sooo. With all that going on, I haven't been to the gym since Wednesday. I'm going to go tonight since I feel so-so. My stomach has mostly recovered but the vertigo/dizziness is still bothering me today even though I've been eating more today. So we'll see how I do. Hubby will be there with me, so if I have any issues, he'll be there to help. I don't have high expectations of tonight's workout, but I'm sick of doing nothing and just backsliding into worse health. I'd rather just go to the gym and at least try to make an improvement in my health!
 
Update 9/16/14: I *finally* feel like I'm getting back on track. I went to the gym last night and had a great workout. Phew! I did avoid the abdominals machine as I didn't want to rile up the gastritis again, but I did everything else (including a short plank) and did fine. I felt pretty strong, I had enough energy to do everything, and I had no issues. Having a workout like that after everything I've been through in the past 3ish weeks, that was very encouraging and very much needed!

Hopefully it's all onwards and upwards from here. I'm planning to do yoga tonight. Gym for weights tomorrow. Thursday will likely be a rest day, then gym again Friday. That's the tentative plan so far. Hopefully my health just improves from here on out and allows me to get back into a regular workout schedule!
 
Update 9/17/14: I'm still doing well with getting back on track. I did yoga last night and felt mostly well. Towards the end I felt my stomach getting a little grumbly but it wasn't too bad. And fortunately things seem fine today so I guess I didn't anger my stomach too much. Tonight I'm still planning on hitting the gym for weights. I'll probably avoid the abdominals machine again but I plan to do everything else. Tomorrow is likely a rest day (I may walk the dog, but I won't do anything more strenuous than that). Friday will be weights in the little gym. Saturday, not sure - it's supposed to rain, so possibly a ride on the stationary bike (if it doesn't rain, I'd love to take a bike ride outside). Sunday I'll probably hit the big gym for weights. Hubby does have to work on the weekend, but he doesn't go in until noon, so if the weather is nice then I may make him go play tennis with me for an hour or so before he goes to work on Sunday. I find that I really enjoy tennis, even though I'm pretty terrible at it, and it's a fantastic workout. I'm always totally exhausted after an hour of tennis! So anyway, that's the tentative plan for the rest of the week.
 
Update 9/19/14: I swapped my gym day and rest day - so on Wednesday I rested, and yesterday I hit the gym. I felt pretty tired on Wednesday and hubby was exhausted, so we decided to rest. Yesterday we both hit the gym and did well. I'm still having the dizzies off and on, but they didn't bother me in the gym at all. I was even able to walk on the treadmill for my cool-down without holding on to the treadmill - I haven't been stable enough to walk on the treadmill without holding on, until yesterday. So that's a nice little bit of improvement.

Today I'm going to walk the dog. Tomorrow, gym - and if it's not raining then I think I'll ride my bike to the gym. Sunday, I'm still thinking tennis.
 
Hi Javanov, welcome to the forum. This thread is essentially my personal fitness diary, and no, I don't do kung fu. There have been a few threads about martial arts in this section of the forum, so have a search and see if you can find anything.

Update 9/22/14: I had a pretty restful weekend - I went to the gym on Saturday, rested on Sunday. Cleaned the house a little bit but otherwise mostly sat around. I'm hoping to go to the gym tonight, but I'm having a very blah day. I didn't sleep well last night, so as a result, the dizziness is much worse again today. I'm also nauseous. Getting really frustrated with the dizziness, it's been a month now and I'm starting to wonder if it'll ever fully go away! I see my GP on the 1st about the dizziness/vertigo and I can't wait. I really hope he can help as I'm so frustrated and really sick of being dizzy all the time.

So, I'm just going to play it by ear. If I can get the nausea to ease up then I will hit the gym tonight for weights. The dizziness seems to improve greatly when I exercise, so I am not worried too much about being dizzy while working out. If I can have a successful gym session today, then I plan to keep going and exercise as much as I can. Tomorrow, this may be ambitious, but I'm tentatively thinking that I'll do 30 mins on the bike on my lunch break and then walk the dog after work. Wednesday I'd ideally like to hit the gym for weights again. I'm so sick of being a slave to this dizziness, so if it's possible to kill the dizziness with exercise then I'll give it my best try! Maybe that's silly, but the medication (for symptom relief only, not for the underlying cause of the dizziness) hasn't done anything except make me drowsy, and I am at a loss for what else to do. The dizziness eases up as long as I get enough sleep and eat a lot, but if I fail to eat or sleep well enough then it hits me hard. It just sucks, I hate it. I'm just rambling and venting now, but yeah. I hope I can successfully treat the dizziness with tons of exercise, and if not, then I'm out of ideas and will be even more frustrated.
 
Another quick update for today: The nausea and dizziness win this round. I'm not feeling well enough to go to the gym. I'm going to walk my dog tonight, and hopefully hit the gym tomorrow. The nausea's just been too much today for me to do a weights workout.
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
Hi Javanov, welcome to the forum. This thread is essentially my personal fitness diary, and no, I don't do kung fu. There have been a few threads about martial arts in this section of the forum, so have a search and see if you can find anything.
Click to expand...

:rof: Dunno how the hell my post ended up here, meant to post it on the forum I think :redface:



Hope you are feeling better from the yoga overall :)

PS: What type of yoga do you do?
 
Javanov, I do yoga occasionally, but my main form of exercise is lifting weights. :) When I do yoga, I do it on the Wii Fit so that I can be in my home near my bathroom and not feel self-conscious (I don't have good balance, and it's been worse lately due to vertigo issues, so I tend to fall over sometimes while doing yoga!). Weight-lifting is my favorite thing to do though, it makes me feel strong and healthy and awesome and not like "that sick girl." I also walk my dog, ride my bike, kayak, play tennis, whatever I can do to stay active and try to keep my guts in check. :)
 
Update 9/26/14: I don't think Lialda is working for me. I've been having more bad days since I switched from Pentasa to Lialda. Today I feel pretty awful - I didn't sleep well, I'm super fatigued now, very nauseous, having some d, and just generally feel kinda awful.

I was hoping to go to the gym today, but it's seeming like I'm not well enough to consider doing a workout. Needless to say, that's frustrating. I'm so sick of this. I'm still dizzy too from the stupid labyrinthitis. I also woke up with a pretty hideous sinus headache this morning, but then I got overwhelmed and cried a bunch, and the crying actually cleared up my sinuses pretty nicely. :p And my hubby says crying doesn't solve anything - hah! Now if only crying could work for all my other symptoms, I'd be set.

So, that's where I'm at. Still feeling crappy and having to miss workouts. Same old, same old. If I feel any better by this evening then maybe I'll attempt some yoga or a walk with my dog. I did manage to play tennis for an hour on Wednesday evening and that went really well except for the mosquitoes (there were TONS of them and they seemed to be attracted to my sweat - if I stopped moving for even a second I started getting swarmed). So at least I got in a little exercise this week - I would have liked to do more though, feeling so frustrated that my body continues to be a jerk.
 
Hawkeye, I see my GP on Wednesday so I'll hopefully find out more then. I'm still having a lot of ups and downs. Felt actually quite good on Saturday and was able to walk the dog AND go on an 8ish mile bike ride! Sunday I felt so-so. I was able to eat and no nausea, but the dizziness was bothering me all morning. Today, I woke up feeling exhausted and nauseous and dizzy. The nausea fortunately didn't hang around, but I'm still pretty wiped out and a bit dizzy. Bleh. Wednesday can't get here soon enough!
 
Update 9/30/14: I'm still dealing with the dizzies. I see my GP tomorrow afternoon about it so hopefully we will work out a treatment plan then. I have still been up and down - I was super nauseous yesterday morning, felt okayish yesterday evening, feel fairly well today. Going to the gym tonight for weights. Hoping to go to the gym again on Thurs. Am not planning things much in advance since I've been so up and down lately.

I have had a ridiculously stressful day at work and tomorrow won't be any better (if anything, it may be worse!). So I really really need this gym session tonight and I hope it's a good one!
 
Hi Cat,
Have you gone to an ENT doctor yet? Before I got diagnosed with Crohn's colitis, six months before I had vertigo so bad I cannot drive a car anymore or walk straight without any support holding me up. I had to take meclizine all the time to get anything done.I started getting sick in my trashcan at work often because my vertigo was so bad. When I finally saw an ENT doctor and had several test done – the treatment was vestibular rehab therapy. It took some time, but within three months I was able to walk without a cane and begin to drive a car again.my ENT doctor told me at first that I had what you had (Laybrinthitis) and that he did not know why I was losing my hearing. Then I had another ENT doctor tell me in reality I have the early onset stages of Ménière's disease (which my grandfather has and has lost both of his ears to after many years). I actually don't think either one of them really know. Strangely enough, there was a 10-year-old boy in North Carolina a few months ago he was losing his hearing and it was due to Crohn's disease!! Though I was not completely sold,according to two different doctors I saw, meclizine makes vertigo worse so you have to fight through and rehabilitate to compensate the part of your inner ear and signaling to your brain that has the damage from whatever's causing the vertigo. Regardless of what is causing the vertigo, vestibular rehabilitation therapy May be what you need to make you better :) maybe your doctor – GP – can get you with a vestibular rehabilitation therapist soon. prayers you get to feeling better soon*hugs*
 
Thanks Jacktin! I haven't seen an ENT but I am planning to ask my GP about the vestibular rehabilitation (when I first got diagnosed with labyrinthitis a month ago, a different GP mentioned VRT as a possibility). I was prescribed meclizine when I got diagnosed, but it didn't seem to do much of anything except make me sleepy. I took like 3 naps the first day I took meclizine. I need to be awake & functional, and it didn't actually seem to help the dizziness much, so I stopped taking it.

Can I ask, what tests did they give you to determine that you have Meniere's? I've also heard of MAV (migraine accompanied vertigo or something like that) but it sounds like they mostly just guess when they diagnose these things, there aren't a lot of good tests for anything to do with vertigo. They did zero tests on me when they first diagnosed the labyrinthitis. So I'll be asking my GP about tests, too! I did have head pain when the vertigo was first bad which made me suspect MAV - it really did feel like a migraine which caused dizziness/vertigo. I don't know though, hopefully my GP will be more knowledgeable. If it is labyrinthitis and my inner ear is inflamed, then I'm wondering if pred might help. I have a long list of stuff to ask my doc!
 
Hi Cat,
Yes, of course I'll tell you what tests I had to do. My GP actually could do nothing for me and immediately referred me to an ENT doctor. It was at the ENT doctor that I was first required to see an audiologist and have the longest and strangest hearing test i've ever had. When you see an audiologist have a hearing test – it's not like elementary school where they put headphones on you and you raise your hand at the tones, so I found out. They put you want to sound chamber by yourself and put the special things that are similar to headphones but not in your ears! None of it hurts, it's just strange LOL. It was probably more strange for me because I could not walk and had to be in a wheelchair because I was having vertigo so bad. During the same day after the audiology appointment, I saw an ENT doctor. He examined me with different maneuvers (Tapping on my sinuses, follow his finger, saying one thing Etc.). He could not really determine anything after his assessment and got the nurse to try to do what is called the Epley maneuver her just in case I may have BPPV. They did the maneuver twice and it did not work at all. The ENT doctor said he knows it does not work on me because my eyes were still shifting around. It was at that point he ordered a CAT scan of my brain (I have had migraines for years and he went to investigate that on top of making sure I did not have MS or something like that).I had that immediately after the appointment and the next day I was scheduled to have an ENG (electronystagmoraphy). During the ENG test, you're not allowed to take any medication because it can alter the test. They put electrodes on your head and put you in chair that's like a dentist chair and do different things to record your eye movements (they lean you back, use a laser pointer on the wall, etc.). It sounds scarier than it is, but none of it hurts. The only thing that was rather uncomfortable was when they put hot and cold pressurized air in each ear. Apparently it causes or provokes a reaction and your involuntary Eye movements so they can see which ear is damaged internally.because this test was rather inconclusive for me, they also did what is called a VNG (videonaystagmography). A VNG is the same thing as an ENG-The only difference is instead of electrodes on your head, they make you wear big giant video goggles and the room is dark. Again none of this hurts.couple of days later I went back to my doctor and we did more balance tests in his Office (such as trying to standing on one leg) and he revealed to me some test results. He said I did not have MS or anything like that – which was great! However, he was perplexed as to why I had such intensely bad vertigo and it was notable on my hearing tests, balance tests, and Ian G and VNG tests. He didn't even really have any diagnosis, but he said he'd set up an appointment with me later in the day to see the head of the department ENT doctor and if I would be willing to hang around for an hour or so. Ha ha, like I have a choice right?
So I waited for that other doctor, and my ENT doctor was also present. This other ENT doctor did a whole bunch of balance and other tests that the first ENT doctor did. Then my ENT doctor and this other doctor left the room for a while to consult each other. Apparently they were discussing my results over everything. When they both came back the other doctor told me that they were both very perplexed why I had such bad vertigo.The only thing they knew for sure was that I had inner ear damage and was losing my hearing from irreversible damage inside of my ear. To be honest that was quite a shock to me at the time!! According to their tests, I only had 40% hearing left in my left ear and 80% hearing left in my right ear! I could not believe it! I told them two weeks prior to all that I had an ear infection and a small cold could that have done anything to cause this? The other doctor told me your infection would've had to be so bad that I would've been in the hospital with 104 fever to cause the kind of damage that was present in my ears. They knew that the damage was causing the balance problems but there was no pill or anything that could be done to fix the damage. At that point, the other doctor said the only way for me to get back to normal would be to retrain my brain to accommodate the damage. That is when he prescribed vestibular rehab therapy. VRT does not hurt, is very helpful, but does make you pretty dizzy LOL. I would bring somebody to those appointments to drive or be ready to sit for an hour or so before you drive.I think it depends on the damage you have Or the issue that you're having in your inner ear to determine how long you go to vestibular therapy. For me, I had to go for four months. But, it worked:) I am now able to walk without a cane or any additional supports and drive a car again. Yes, I do still get vertigo from time to time and I've had to see an ENT doctor every four months to check on the progression of what is going on (in the ER at the beginning of this – they said that I had BPPV. My GP said I have Laybrinthitis and BPPV. Both the ENT doctors were not really sure what I had but both feel strongly that I have early onset Ménière's disease because it runs in my family and I have a lot of symptoms of it that have lingered).
I hope your appointment today is very fruitful and that you get the relief you need and deserve :)
 
Wow, Jacktin! Thank you for all that info, it's really helpful. I'm so sorry you've had to go through all that, though! Can I ask more about your ears - do you ever feel pressure in your ears, like you can't pop your ears, or it even feels like there's crackly stuff in your ears? I didn't have anything like a cold nor an ear infection before all this started, but I recall that for a couple weeks, my ears (particularly the left ear) felt weird like it was full or had crackly stuff in it. Then the vertigo hit, and like you I had to be taken to the doctor in a wheelchair as I couldn't walk either. The doctor did say that it would help me recover faster if I walked around as much as possible, so I tried doing that with my cane once the worst of it was over (once the vomiting stopped) and that did seem to help. So hopefully VRT would also help. The doctor said it's kind of similar to physical therapy?

All those tests sound freaky! I'm glad you don't have MS. I wish you had clearer answers about what you do have. I recall there was a girl who used to be a regular in the Undiagnosed Club, she ended up being diagnosed with Meniere's. (Her main symptoms were nausea & vomiting, so her doctors initially thought IBD, but when they realized that her symptoms were caused by vertigo then they put the pieces together and said it was Meniere's.) So I have heard of it but don't know much more about it than that.

I'm heading to my doctor in about an hour and I have a loooong list of questions for him! Thanks again for all your help, it's been really informative! I'm glad to hear you're doing better thanks to the VRT, too!
 
Hi Cat :)

I am so sorry you are going through what you are going through too :( I hope you get some answers and relief today at your doctor appointment!

And, yes, VRT is kind of like Physical Therapy but very specialized to help with the workings of the inner ear and balance issues. They teach you things like balancing in a corner, following a post-it note with the letter "Z" taped to an end of a pencil swinging your arms back/forth until dizzy starts, etc.They even teach you how to walk a certain way with a cane! None of it hurts but I found it tiring and it does induce vertigo spells for a bit until you get use to stuff and build tolerance. That is how you get better-building tolerance with the exercises they make you do and give you until the damage in the ear is compensated for. However, it DOES work and gets you better (just takes time and work) :D. Hang in there, keep strong *hugs*

Thank you! This has been a really "fun" and medically expensive year for me LOL!
I got hit with the ear/vertigo stuff about 6 months before I found out I had Crohn's granulomatous colitis (I for sure have Crohn's confirmed after a skin biopsy of Erythema Nodosum caused by Crohn's-that is still healing six months later- a colonoscopy, 9 biopsies from colonoscopy that confirm I have one of the worst and most aggressive cases of Crohn's my doctor has seen in 10 years, and an upper endoscopy that revealed I also have a stomach disease that produces so much acid it is burning holes in my stomach and esophagus. Yay! LOL). I am being super sarcastic, but trying to stay positive.

I was the OPPOSITE of the other person you know with Meniere's Disease. I thought the ear stuff was what was causing all the bathroom issues so I did not seek help until severely dehydrated and my GP sent me to ER for fluids. The ER lied to me (whole other story) and the whole IBD journey began.

I am now on a crap-ton of medicine and Remicade infusions now every 8 weeks (though I keep having some serious reactions to Remicade- like chest pain and hard to breathe- so I keep needing an emergency Solu-medrol push in my IV which makes me gain soooo much weight and retain soo much water. Not sure if I will be staying on Remicade). The good news is I am using the bathroom a lot less :D

Yes, please ask all the questions you like! I am not shy and if anyone can benefit from what I experienced, I am glad to help!!

Yes, I do have pressure in my ears (not unlike an airplane ride) from time to time-especially when I have allergies. I also have a ringing in my ears randomly (probably happens at least once a week with NO obvious correlations or causes from my observations) and it is known as tinnitus. To me, the ringing sounds like a tuning fork being banged in one ear inside my head. I have asked my GP, dentist and ENT about it-all agree it is related to inner ear but not sure of cause because a lot of things can give you tinnitus apparently. However my ENT doctors still think I have Meniere's disease because of all my symptoms and family history of the disease (migraines, pressures, hearing loss, ringing in ears, intense vertigo spells, family history, etc.)

As a result of my continued hearing loss, I am now in the process of learning sign American Sign Language to "get in front of it" and hope to have a part time career in the future as an ASL interpreter. It is kind of a blessing in disguise because I have always loved languages (besides English, I grew up speaking Spanish because I am half Mexican and learned Japanese as well because my husband and his family are from Japan) and all my life I have been looking for a career that would help people, is interesting and was fulfilling. I was going to be a nurse, a few other majors and (most recently) a court reporter- but none of them panned out because of my health. So being an ASL interpreter may just be it for me and I feel blessed !

Have they tested you for BPPV? That can cause the crackle sensation you have from the crystals (that cause vertigo and imbalance) in your head that come lose and cause severe vertigo immediately. The Epley maneuver can put the crystals back too, but only an ENT doctor can do it. Plus, a regular GP won't know what all the inner ear imbalance problems are. If your GP does not, I suggest seeking an ENT for better help-if you are willing- because they know how to help you a LOT better with Vertigo (especially of the intensity you are experiencing).

They will probably make you do the "freaky" tests too, but they are just odd-not painful and give better insight to what the cause and solution needs to be.

Sorry for the NOVEL and any misspellings!! Once again, I pray your doctor appointment goes well that that you get the relief you need and deserve! Please feel free to ask any question anytime :)

*hugs*
 
Thanks again, Jacktin! I did get a referral for VRT... but the clinic where they do VRT is booked up until mid-November. Ugh! By that point the dizziness may finally have gone away! They are going to put me on a cancellation list, so there's a slight chance I could get in sooner, but I'm not holding my breath. My GP didn't order any tests and he didn't refer me to an ENT either (he wants to see how VRT goes first, and if I'm still struggling then we'll move on to tests and specialists). But he said he does think what I have is more along the lines of BPPV than labyrinthitis. (Just his hunch, he did zero tests.) Is the epley maneuver the thing where you lie down with your head turned to one side, then sit up quickly? If so, my GP tried that with me, but it didn't really do anything. It didn't make the dizziness better or worse.

So at this point, I'm not sure if I'm even going to do the VRT given the long wait for an appointment. I can exercise at home pretty successfully, so I'm thinking I might google some VRT exercises and just try to do them myself at least for the time being. Since I apparently have a 6+ week wait for VRT, I may as well try to help myself during that time.

And oh goodness, it must have been absolutely horrendous to go through Meniere's and Crohn's in the same year! :( I've had IBD (not fully diagnosed but it's some form of IBD) for 5 years now, and I just came down with this vertigo stuff in August. So at least I more or less knew what to expect with the IBD when the dizziness came along. Having to go to the bathroom a lot when the world is spinning, though, that's miserable! The first day the vertigo hit for me was also the first day of my menstrual cycle, which always gives me looser stools and more bathroom trips than usual, so that was really not fun having my husband have to help me to the bathroom like 10 times that day. So I definitely feel for you! It's good to hear that the remicade is working for you and allowing you to go to the bathroom less (although that's not good that you're having bad reactions to it!).

That sounds like a wonderful job, being an ASL interpreter! I wish you lots of luck with it! And I know what you mean about having a love of language. I'm impressed, Japanese is a really tough language (particularly the written side of it!). I had wanted to learn Japanese, but I just cannot memorize all that kanji. Then I fell in love with the Korean language (and the fact that it has a written alphabet, so it's MUCH easier to learn to read & write in Korean than most other Asian languages), so I've been slowly trying to teach myself Korean these days. :) It's such a fun, cool language.
 
Hi Cat,

Sorry for any misspellings. Do you NEED a referral from you GP or can you just go see an ENT doctor specialist on your own? If you are experiencing the kind of dizziness you describe and for the length of time you have been having it, it is better to find out really why and what is causing it with tests and such outside of your GP's scope so you can better treat it. Some of the exercises in VRT can actually make vertigo worse or cause further permanent inner ear damage if they are done incorrectly or if a particular exercise is not suppose to be done at all. Sorry, but I would not recommend googling VRT exercises in fear it may cause more harm than good. I know it is hard to be so miserable, especially with two very difficult things plaguing you at the same time-I am sorry :( I pray you can get relief and the correct kind of help you need very very soon!!

An ENT doctor can get you a list of exercises to help you on top of getting you into VRT faster too. I am surprised your GP did not order ANY tests or send you to an ENT straight away because the vestibular system is very delicate and specialzed (so I found out later). Espeically since your GP thinks you have BPPV (in that case, the Epley Manuever should INSTANTLY fix the dizzies-but must be performed by a trained professional so they won't hurt you because of the jerking of your head/neck/body that must be done or further damage your inner ear).

The Epley maneuver is like something you described in the sense of laying down and getting up really fast, but the doctor guides your head and body a certain way and the nurse holds you down to assist in your body keeping really straight. This maneuver cannot be done on your own and you can really hurt yourself permanently if it is done incorrectly. Also, a trained professional can see if it is actually helping you or not (like they could for me) because they know what to look for. I really do encourage you to get help outside of your GP and pray you get the help you need/deserve really soon!

I am also sooo sorry you have to deal with this at the same time along with not fully being cared for properly for IBD. And for as LONG as you have been ill??!! Wow :(
That is BEYOND horrible and I could not even imagine how hard that is :( I am very sorry and I will of course pray for you. You have a Gastroenterologist? Have you had a pill cam procedure or colonoscopy recently?

I got Meniere's a few months before and just started to be ok then the Crohn's hit hard after the vertigo stuff was getting a lot better. As stated before, I do get the dizzies from time to time still, but not like before.

I know what you mean by the vertigo just hitting you all at once too! I was DRIVING!! Luckily it was 4am and I was headed to work not even 10 miles from where I lived. I was shocked not cops stopped me!! It was a Friday and it was one of the most scary things I have ever experienced. I had a hard time walking and after about an hour at work I fell out of my chair and threw up a lot. An ambulance was called and they took me to the ER because my blood pressure was at stroke/heart attack level and I have a history of blood clots. I had to leave my car over the weekend for my family to come pick up and I could not drive a car from that point for almost 5 months safely or it would have been like I was driving drunk. Since I am was a licensed insurance salesperson for a very large auto insurance company, that would have been frowned on at the very least LOL. And yes, thank you, I am blessed the Remicade is FINALLY working a bit after 3 infusions. Its not without its problems (like reactions, odd side effects, etc.) but it is soooo worth it to get my life back sorta :D

Thank you for the luck in my future job as an ASL reporter :D I will need it!
Sadly, I am not as impressive as I seem LOL I for SURE cannot read Japanese!! I can only SPEAK Japanese and I had to do it out of necessity to understand my in-law (who I lived with for over 2 years before I got married). It is amazing what you will learn so you can eat HAHAHA! I find speaking Japanese to not be very difficult because it sounds similar to Spanish to me. Even some of the words are the same! (Ex: "Pan" is bread in both Japanese and Spanish). You should hear me murder some French sometime and you can see how not very impressive I am LOL! I went to Paris as a high school graduation present (strange in itself because I do NOT speak French or ever tried to learn and knew nothing/had no desire to go to that part of Europe, but my family thought it would be nice for me to go to France. France IS very beautiful and the food is AMAZING!! I never liked mayo until I went there!). Since I am VERY bad at French, I got in a lot of little bits of trouble in Paris. Silly things you would see in a short film presented in a foreign language class (like locals laughing at me as a fumble through a Berlitz trying to ask how to get to the bathroom as I did the "potty dance". That, by the way, is universal ;) ).

However, My husband and his family can read/write all three of course being from Japan, and I also find it impressive anyone can write Japanese. One of the most beautiful memories from my dating my husband was going to one of those shops in the mall that does ceramics with him on a date and he made me an ice cream cone jewelry box with a short silly love poem and my name in Japanese and read it to me when he got done painting it. I still have it after 10 years :D. He had to read all our wedding cards from Japan too LOL. Hiragana and Katakana are the easier ones, it is Kanji you have to worry about. The other two are more simple, like a lot of Korean writings. Kanji is for more difficult or non-native Japanese words.

I am VERY impressed you are learning to speak AND write Korean!! That is awesome and sooo cool! I think Korean is beautiful and I love their culture and food. I use to really love Kim Chi until Crohn's too. Mmmm, galbi! And I use to LOVE soondubu chigae when I had a cold. Now it is too spiced for me :mad:

I pray and wish for the best for you and your health ASAP!!
 
Thanks again! I do need a referral from my GP to see an ENT. I think I will just wait and see what happens then with the VRT. I *still* haven't actually gotten a call to book the appointment (I was told at my GP apt that the VRT clinic would call me - at this rate I might be lucky to get in by December - but, maybe the dizziness will be better by then?). Honestly, your dizziness/vertigo sounds much worse than mine. Mine was definitely horrendous at first but I feel like I'm about 80% better now. I can drive again and work and all that good stuff, and I haven't vomited in weeks. It's more of an annoyance than it is debilitating at this point. So hopefully it'll either go away on its own or the VRT will make it go away. But if it doesn't, I will definitely ask for an ENT referral.

I have an inkling of how difficult Kanji must be to learn. I have an old friend from high school, I remember he had been studying Japanese all through high school. After college, he moved to Japan to teach English to Japanese students. He's been living in Japan for about 12 years now. And finally, just last year or so, he read a book in Japanese for the first time. It took him that long plus over a decade of living in Japan just to be able to read it! So that to me says that it's incredibly difficult to learn to read Japanese even if you're immersed in the culture like my friend has been. So therefore, I don't think I could ever learn to read/write Kanji.

And yeah, Korean is actually pretty easy to learn how to read! There are a few tricky grammar rules and I sometimes forget how to pronounce vowels when multiple vowels are lumped together, but for the most part I can read and write Korean. (I make a lot of mistakes, and I read very slowly like a little kid sounding out the letters, but I can do it!) I try to watch a lot of Korean drama TV shows - I find that is actually really helpful. When the characters on the shows are having everyday conversations, I can sometimes pick out words and phrases that I know, and it's helpful to hear these words spoken in an everyday type of way and it helps give my brain some context to the words I know and it also helps me learn new words. And oddly enough, there are a lot of Korean shows on Hulu! I don't have to look very hard to seek them out, I just add them to my hulu queue and I can watch marathons of various different shows. :) And yes, Korean food is often very spicy! I can't do spicy foods either so I don't really eat many Korean dishes. Mostly I just study the language, watch the TV shows and listen to K-pop.

Oh, and as for the IBD - I do have a GI and he is treating me as though I have IBD, even though we haven't been able to figure out yet which type of IBD I have. My GP also treats me as though I have IBD. (I have IBD symptoms, we've ruled out pretty much everything else, and I respond well to meds like pred and Entocort which wouldn't work on something like IBS but do work on IBD, so the presumption is that I have some form of IBD - my GI has been leaning towards microscopic colitis.) So I am on medication (currently on Entocort and Lialda). When I first got sick, I was ill for about a year and went through tons of tests (including colonoscopy and pill cam) but none of the results were conclusive. My GI could see that after a year of disappointment and illness, that I just needed to get better, so that's when he first put me on medication (Entocort and Asacol). That got me into remission and I spent about 2 lovely years in remission, but then they stopped making regular Asacol in the US, and I struggled to find another maintenance med that works well for me, so that's when I flared up again. Now I've been in a mild flare for about a year and a half and am trying to get back into remission (I had another colonoscopy last year, which was also inconclusive/normal). This vertigo stuff has thrown my health a curve ball but I think I'm finally getting back on track! So yeah, long story short, they haven't just let me suffer for 5 years, my doctors treat me well for the most part and they do act as though I have IBD and I have spent a good chunk of time in remission.
 
Aww, I am sorry no one called you back yet in regards to VRT. Can you call them or does the doctor HAVE to call for you? I use to be part of an HMO that the doctor HAD to call for you to get in line with a specialist (like VRT) so I know how frustrating the wait game is. I pray you hear something from them soon because it sounds like VRT will help you the best if you are not better on your own soon. If not, maybe call your GP to get a list of VRT exercises for in the mean time? I am happy to hear it is not too bad for you, but still-no one should have to live that way. Especially with the IBD stuff on top of it!

And you are VERY right about Kanji being difficult. My husband, who grew up in Osaka Japan, says the kids (including him) from a young age go to Japanese school every Saturday to learn to read and write Japanese correctly from around age 5 to early teens! It does help to be either live in Japan and/or be immersed in the culture though. It was really funny when I first lived with my in-laws because I did not know ANYTHING they were saying. Within two months, I signed up for a Japanese class and started speaking to my future husband in Japanese as often as I could. After 6 months, I knew enough to get by and shock the heck out of my in-laws LOL.

My mother in law and I both watch Korean Dramas! We LOVE them!! Netflix has a ton of them too. I will have to look in to Hulu for Korean TV shows

As for your IBD, I am sorry they have not been able to give you a straight diagnosis yet. Prayerfully they will find one really soon! I am very happy to hear you have a good GI doctor who is working with you and giving you helpful treatment! That is WONDERFUL and hopefully you will get back to remission really really soon.

I myself am still trying to get to remission after almost a year of this and over 5 months of being diagnosed with Crohn’s Granulomatous Colitis. Thankfully, my GI is also an angel and she is throwing everything she can at it to try to get me to remission as quickly as possible. I am on Remicade infusions now (just finished loading doses a couple of weeks ago) and take a ton of other meds like Imuran and another one of which is Asacol. You said USA no longer makes regular Asacol? Did they change the formula?

I am happy to finally report that I have slowed down using the bathroom (I was going avg 18-22 times a day now the avg is 10), but I seem to be having some other issues in its place (very bad joint pain (not allowed to take ANY pain killers or drinking alcohol either because of liver issues), bad iron deficiency anemia, liver problems, no appetite, hair falling out, terrible heart burn, weird food aversions, etc.). I am hoping those all get worked out soon-my doctor continues to listen and treat each thing so I still feel blessed to have her but I can’t WAIT till remission LOL!!
 
Jacktin, what Korean dramas have you watched? I really like the spy/action type dramas - I really liked Iris (well, I didn't like how it ended but I liked the rest of it) and City Hunter. The medical ones can be pretty good at times too, I really enjoyed watching Emergency Couple. :)

I did get a call to schedule the VRT, but of course it was at a time when I wasn't near my phone and didn't hear it ring, so on Friday evening I realized I had missed a call and couldn't call them back until today. I'm going to call them in a little bit and schedule the appt. I'm thinking, if I'm still dizzy in mid-November then I'll keep the appointment, and if not then I'll cancel it. So that's my plan for now. I was actually disconcertingly dizzy again this morning, but much better now. It kind of comes and goes in terms of the severity. But just like with my IBD, first thing in the morning and late at night seem to be my worst times for the dizziness. Not sure why that is! I'll have to see if I can book my VRT for an early morning appointment.

I hope you can get into remission soon. It was so lovely spending 2 years in remission and feeling almost normal (you can never totally forget that you have a chronic illness, and for me I still had food triggers to avoid, but for the most part I felt almost like a normal person again!). Yes, they still make Asacol HD (the larger pills) but they stopped making regular Asacol (the smaller pills). Apparently the patent expired, which means anyone can now make a generic version of Asacol - the problem is, nobody has made a generic. The makers of Asacol came out with a new drug, Delzicol, which is supposedly the same, but for me it didn't work as well. With Asacol, I was taking 6 tablets a day (2 tablets 3 times daily with food). I couldn't always digest my Asacol properly, so I would end up passing 1 or 2 of my tablets undigested every day (so I was still absorbing 4 or 5 of my tablets, which was enough to keep me in remission). With Delzicol, it was a tablet inside of a capsule (seriously). So I had an even harder time breaking that down! Plus, you were supposed to take it at least 1 hour before or 2 hours after eating, rather than taking it with food like Asacol. So I had to time my meals just right and that didn't work so well for me. So Delzicol just didn't work very well for me. I had also tried Asacol HD, but you only take 2 big tablets a day rather than 6 small ones. I couldn't break those tablets down very well either, so I was still passing 1 to 2 tablets a day - in other words, only getting half or none of my medicine! It was on Asacol HD that I first flared up again.

So, after Asacol HD and after Delzicol, I tried Pentasa. That worked so-so. That one works more for the small intestine than the colon, and I feel like my colon needs more help. Again, I'm still not sure which type of IBD I have, but it seems likely that there's colon involvement. So now I'm on Lialda which works mainly on the colon & rectum. After a few mini-flare days, it seems to be working okay now. So my guts are currently fairly quiet and I think I'll stick with Lialda. I'm also tapering off of Entocort - I currently just take one 3mg capsule every other day and I'll hopefully be stopping it altogether soon.

Are you still living in Japan? I ask because my friend that I mentioned, the teacher who moved to Japan after college, he's got some digestive issues. Apparently most doctors in Japan are not at all familiar with IBD as they very rarely see it over there. But my friend grew up in the US where it's more common and he likes to eat a Western diet (hamburgers are his favorite food), so I think factors like that make him more likely to have IBD than a Japanese person. And a few years ago he started getting abdominal pain and other IBD-type symptoms. His doctors insisted that it's his appendix, they removed it and told him he should be fine now. He is somewhat better, but he's still having issues, and he said it's nearly impossible to get testing or treatment for possible IBD over there. So if you are living in Japan or if you move back there, I hope you can get better medical care there than my friend has gotten!
 
Since this is my exercise thread, I really should give an exercise update, huh? ;) I didn't do anything all weekend. It was so cold here, in the 30s and raining ice pellets and they were saying it might even snow. Um, brr! I know I live in a cold state, but it's usually not this cold this early in the season and it usually does not snow in October! So that made me just want to stay in and hibernate all weekend, which is what I did. I did a bit of sewing, a bit of crocheting, I played around with chain maille loops some more. Mainly just crafts like that. I stayed in my pajamas and watched Netflix and that's about it. Did not exercise at all.

Today, I went to the gym. It was tough though. The dizziness was fairly bad this morning, then I felt okay-ish early afternoon, but when I went to the gym it was obvious that the dizziness had drained my energy too much. I wasn't able to do much, was not up to my usual level, and that really frustrated me. I felt like a failure. I know it's not me, it's the labyrinthitis or whatever it is. But still, I wish I could have done more.

So, I scheduled the VRT. Nov 17th is my initial assessment, that was the soonest they can get me in. I really, REALLY hope the dizziness is gone by then as that's another 6 weeks away (I've already been dizzy for about 6 weeks!). Sheesh. So, we'll see what happens. The scheduling lady I talked to told me that I can always cancel if need be. I don't want to cancel, I want an appointment sooner! :p So much of health care is "hurry up and wait." So for now, I'm just going to keep doing what I can do. Walking around helps so I'll walk as much as I can. With the weather being colder, though, I still don't want to go outside! Bleh. Just feeling kind of down today especially after that disappointing gym session.
 
Update 10/9/14: Here's a brief breakdown of this week. Monday, I went to the gym but I did very poorly. The dizziness was bad that day and it sapped my energy, so I felt very drained and wasn't able to do much. That was very frustrating. Tuesday I walked my dog and felt so-so. Still rather dizzy but not quite as exhausted as Monday.

Yesterday, I finally had a really good day dizziness-wise. I had hardly any dizziness and I had a good amount of energy. I was able to go to the gym and have a really good workout. I had to stop myself from breaking out in a grin halfway through. I was in the middle of doing my workout when I had this thought - "I'm so lucky and happy that I'm able to be in the gym and working on my health and feeling well! I'm SO happy and fortunate and grateful for this!" And that's when I had to stop myself from smiling (I didn't want to look like a weirdo as there were lots of people around, ha ha). It was a really great workout. I really, really needed that.

Today, I'm back to feeling somewhat dizzy. So today's probably a rest day. I'm hoping to get back to the gym tomorrow. It'd be really nice to have another good workout. I hope the dizziness stays away tomorrow and that my energy level is okay. I'm just going to keep doing what I can do and appreciate the good days!
 
Update 10/13/14: I went to the gym on Friday. It didn't go so well, though. I was a bit dizzy and fairly nauseous the whole way through. I really had to pace myself, take deep breaths, and distract myself from the nausea. That worked okay and I didn't vomit and did make it through my whole workout (minus the abdominals machine which I've been skipping for the most part lately).

Over the weekend I felt pretty well. Saturday was a rest day, although I spent a few hours cleaning and organizing my craft room which was a big undertaking, so I was a little bit active as I was moving boxes around, taking garbage out, etc. Sunday, I wanted to do a workout but I also wanted to watch football, so I compromised and worked out at home. Did my stationary bike for warmup. Then did some hula hooping. Used my 8 lb dumbbells to work my arms. Did a few exercises with my yoga ball too. Did a lot of things like squats, lunges, etc. And did a good amount of stretching at the end. I felt like I did okay considering I don't have a ton of exercise equipment at home! And it made me want to go out and get more exercise equipment! :p

Today, it's chilly and rainy so outdoor activities are not happening (won't be walking my dog). I think I will maybe do 30 mins on the stationary bike to get in a bit of cardio. Tomorrow is weights - hopefully I won't be nauseous this time!
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
Jacktin, what Korean dramas have you watched? I really like the spy/action type dramas - I really liked Iris (well, I didn't like how it ended but I liked the rest of it) and City Hunter. The medical ones can be pretty good at times too, I really enjoyed watching Emergency Couple. :)

I did get a call to schedule the VRT, but of course it was at a time when I wasn't near my phone and didn't hear it ring, so on Friday evening I realized I had missed a call and couldn't call them back until today. I'm going to call them in a little bit and schedule the appt. I'm thinking, if I'm still dizzy in mid-November then I'll keep the appointment, and if not then I'll cancel it. So that's my plan for now. I was actually disconcertingly dizzy again this morning, but much better now. It kind of comes and goes in terms of the severity. But just like with my IBD, first thing in the morning and late at night seem to be my worst times for the dizziness. Not sure why that is! I'll have to see if I can book my VRT for an early morning appointment.

I hope you can get into remission soon. It was so lovely spending 2 years in remission and feeling almost normal (you can never totally forget that you have a chronic illness, and for me I still had food triggers to avoid, but for the most part I felt almost like a normal person again!). Yes, they still make Asacol HD (the larger pills) but they stopped making regular Asacol (the smaller pills). Apparently the patent expired, which means anyone can now make a generic version of Asacol - the problem is, nobody has made a generic. The makers of Asacol came out with a new drug, Delzicol, which is supposedly the same, but for me it didn't work as well. With Asacol, I was taking 6 tablets a day (2 tablets 3 times daily with food). I couldn't always digest my Asacol properly, so I would end up passing 1 or 2 of my tablets undigested every day (so I was still absorbing 4 or 5 of my tablets, which was enough to keep me in remission). With Delzicol, it was a tablet inside of a capsule (seriously). So I had an even harder time breaking that down! Plus, you were supposed to take it at least 1 hour before or 2 hours after eating, rather than taking it with food like Asacol. So I had to time my meals just right and that didn't work so well for me. So Delzicol just didn't work very well for me. I had also tried Asacol HD, but you only take 2 big tablets a day rather than 6 small ones. I couldn't break those tablets down very well either, so I was still passing 1 to 2 tablets a day - in other words, only getting half or none of my medicine! It was on Asacol HD that I first flared up again.

So, after Asacol HD and after Delzicol, I tried Pentasa. That worked so-so. That one works more for the small intestine than the colon, and I feel like my colon needs more help. Again, I'm still not sure which type of IBD I have, but it seems likely that there's colon involvement. So now I'm on Lialda which works mainly on the colon & rectum. After a few mini-flare days, it seems to be working okay now. So my guts are currently fairly quiet and I think I'll stick with Lialda. I'm also tapering off of Entocort - I currently just take one 3mg capsule every other day and I'll hopefully be stopping it altogether soon.

Are you still living in Japan? I ask because my friend that I mentioned, the teacher who moved to Japan after college, he's got some digestive issues. Apparently most doctors in Japan are not at all familiar with IBD as they very rarely see it over there. But my friend grew up in the US where it's more common and he likes to eat a Western diet (hamburgers are his favorite food), so I think factors like that make him more likely to have IBD than a Japanese person. And a few years ago he started getting abdominal pain and other IBD-type symptoms. His doctors insisted that it's his appendix, they removed it and told him he should be fine now. He is somewhat better, but he's still having issues, and he said it's nearly impossible to get testing or treatment for possible IBD over there. So if you are living in Japan or if you move back there, I hope you can get better medical care there than my friend has gotten!
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Hi Cat,
Sorry for the late reply. I have been under the weather. Not 100% yet, but getting better :)

I like a LOT of Korean Dramas, but I am really into Secret Garden and a funny one called Protect the Boss. I will have to check out Emergency Couple :)

I am also a fan of Spanish tele novelas because I do not need to read subtitles for those (I speak Spanish) so I don't have to concentrate as much to keep up with the storyline. I bet you feel the same way since you read and speak Korean :)

I noticed you still get dizzy spells, sorry to hear that :( For me, it still comes and goes too even after VRT. I was told by my VRT therapist to stick with recumbent bike, a short walk outside, or swimming during a period of vertigo or if I feel it coming on. Anything off the ground can spur on vertigo. She also told me to make sure I work out with someone for safety reasons. I fell off the treadmill once and decided to listen after that LOL.

I take the HUGE Asacol HD pills, and I hate taking them because they are huge-- ugh, I don't like them and I am not sure if they do anything for me at all!! I was taking 4800 mg a day, now been reduced to 2400mg. I wish I could just go into remission already or at least get off a ton of medicine. Dare to dream LOL. I do pray you feel better really soon and I pray you can get off your meds like you want, too!

I myself have never lived in Japan, but my husband and his family are from there in Osaka. I lived with his family before I married him in a guest room in their home in southern California ;) my husband and I met through friends when I was a divorced single gal alone on a fun trip to see a friend from California I knew in college. My husband became an American citizen for 3 years already when I met him.

I was hoping actually to start something romantic up with him, but I got a surprise when I arrived because I found out he had a boyfriend. I was happy he found such a great guy, but that left me alone to ride the rides at Disney and Knotts Berry Farm. My friend's boyfriend had a sister who knew a single guy who had the time to be a platonic companion for me during the duration of my trip (since I was the 3rd wheel).

Long story short the Japanese single guy who was suppose to just be a warm body for me to ride the rides with and see SoCal ended up becoming my husband (who grew up in Japan) :D We hit it off pretty quick and had a long distance relationship for about 2 years, we got engaged and stayed engaged for 2 years (because we went on Pirates of the Carribean ride, he incorporated that into his proposal to me and even got my whole family to wear eye patches as he proposed engagement to me as a pirate--after he asked my Dad for my hand. He even gave me a pirate hat :p we were sooo meant to be together).

During the time we were engaged, I moved from Texas to SoCal to be closer to him and I ended up living with him and his family in a guest room until we got married. We had a long engagement for a lot of reasons-I was a bit nervous to get married again (I was divorced) and also my twin sister was getting married at the same time--so financial reasons were part of the issue too. After the 2 years, we got married in a banquet hall with our Pastor from our faith in Nevada close to the strip the day after Halloween coming up on 8 years ago this November. It was the funnest Halloween rehearsal dinner ever (held at Treasure Island) and we all wore costumes :D I was a Bridezilla and my husband was a Wolfman groom. It was a fun evening wedding the next day with everyone from all over the world.

It was fun then and still fun now to be married to him. He made me believe in love again and is TRULY the love of my life-- and we still love the snot out of each other (despite all the insane curveballs with health, finances and other stuff). LOL

Yes, your friend is correct in regards to IBD. IBD doesn't really exist in Japan so not too many doctors know about it. It is mostly in Western cultures and Israel. Maybe it is the food? Or how we deal with stress? I am not sure. I will pray for your friend though, I really pray he gets better!!
 
Jacktin, you flatter me. I am definitely nowhere near fluent in Korean so I need the subtitles on for sure! I can pick out words & phrases I know, and I can read Korean (although very slowly so I still need English subtitles) but if there were no subtitles then I'd be totally lost! :p I'm trying to teach myself, I pin a lot of Korean vocab on pinterest and I listen to K-pop and watch K-dramas and just try to pick up as much as I can naturally as I feel that's an easier way for me to learn. I tried learning Spanish when I was in high school & college, but I feel like the classroom setting doesn't really prepare you for the "real life" version of the language, you know? You don't really learn any slang or how people actually speak. By listening to the way people speak in Korean dramas, that seems much more natural to me and you learn the actual language as Korean speakers speak it, rather than how a textbook says you should speak it. But anyway, I am definitely not fluent and am very grateful for the subtitles!

Yes, I'm still getting dizzy spells. I'm not sure if the weather is a factor, but it's been rainy yesterday & today and it seems to be worse with the rainy weather. I've had a couple of "woah" moments yesterday & today where I just need to stop what I'm doing and focus on a fixed object and wait for the world to stop spinning. Hopefully this rain stops soon so that I can be less dizzy!

That's adorable about your Pirates of the Caribbean engagement and bridezilla rehearsal dinner! It sounds like you guys are a great couple. As for my friend in Japan, I think Western-style diets probably play a role as IBD mainly seems to be a Western/developed nation type of disease - my friend is of Jewish ancestry as well, which may make him more likely to develop IBD. I think it's probably a combination of factors including genetics, diet, environment, antibiotic use, etc. My friend lived in the US up until he finished college, so he had plenty of time to eat a Western diet here and be exposed to whatever other factors may cause IBD, so the damage was probably done before he moved to Japan.
 
Update 10/15/14: I hit the gym yesterday and did well. My stomach has finally calmed down to the point where I can do the abdominals machine again! Woo hoo! Now if the dizziness would just go away, I'd be doing really well.

Had my flu shot today so it's a rest day to deal with that little bit of arm soreness. In the past I've found that I can usually go to the gym the day after getting a flu shot, so that's the plan, to go to the gym tomorrow evening.

The dizziness is still hanging around. This morning I parked my car and was attempting to walk into my work building while putting my keys in my pocket. Apparently walking while putting my keys away was a bit too much multi-tasking for my dizzy brain to comprehend, and I did a bit of "drunk walking" for a minute. So I'm still being affected in weird ways by the dizziness and it's frustrating. Still over a month to go until my first VRT appointment. Hmph!
 
Update 10/16/14: The flu shot arm soreness is almost totally gone, so I have given myself the green light to hit the gym in about an hour! :) I'm feeling pretty well today. Still some minor dizziness but today is better than yesterday, so that's encouraging. Guts are quiet too.

Tomorrow, I'm thinking maybe yoga. Hubby's working all weekend again this coming weekend, so I'm going to hit the gym by myself on Saturday. I got some cute stretchy fabric and I'm going to make myself some workout headbands out of it, that'll be my craft project for the weekend. Other than that, I think I'll be resting a fair bit. It's been another loooong work week and there's a chill in the air, so I think curling up with a blanket and some tea and a good movie sounds like a wonderful weekend plan to me!

Oh, and I likely won't be able to walk my dog at all this weekend unfortunately. She somehow lost all the tags off of her collar! (Didn't lose the collar itself, just the tags somehow!) That means I need to get her new tags - if I walk her without tags, I could get hit with a fine. That's frustrating! I got her a new rabies vaccination tag from the vet, and a new ID tag from the pet store. I just need to get her dog license tag and her dog park tag replaced and then we'll be good to go. So hopefully soon I'll be able to walk my dog again! I'm sure she's getting annoyed with being cooped up in the house. So that's my other quest lately, if I can get my dog new tags then we can go on walks this weekend.
 
Update 10/28/14. It's been awhile since my last update because of the site being down/slow. I've been doing fairly well exercise-wise. Trying to get to the gym as often as I can. I'm officially off Entocort and I think my body is having a bit of a rough time adjusting to that. Whenever I change medications or stop a medication, my face breaks out in acne, so I've had that. I've also had a couple migraines, one really wicked attack of acid reflux, a nasty fissure, and some various other things like sporadic nausea, fatigue, etc. I don't think it's a flare though, I think it's just my body adjusting to not being on steroids. I had been on Entocort since February so it's been like 8 months on it, so I'm not surprised that my body is freaking out a little bit by not being on it after such a long time. Oh, and I gained 3 lbs when I came off the Entocort, not sure what that's all about! :p

So I'm just doing what I can when I can. Went to the gym yesterday and felt quite well. I was even able to do the abdominals machine! Today I feel a bit fatigued and have a bit of a sinus headache, but I think I'm well enough for a bit of cardio, so I'm going to hit the stationary bike for about 30 mins. Tomorrow will be weights again, presuming that I feel well enough. Thursday, probably a rest day. And at some point soon I need to rake my yard which will be a workout in itself! Tons of fallen leaves in my backyard and it's always a huge task to rake it all up and bag it up and move the bags to the front. I might do that Thursday or Friday.
 
Update 10/30/14: I ended up raking leaves yesterday rather than go to the gym. That was a pretty good workout (we filled 7 huge bags with leaves) and I also chased my dog around the yard a little bit as she was in a playful mood (she's a weird dog, she doesn't usually want to play). Today is a rest day. Tomorrow, gym. Saturday, not sure - I'll probably walk the dog if the weather is halfway decent. Sunday, hopefully gym again. That's the tentative plan for now.
 
Update 11/10/14: I took a week off of work last week. I had wanted to get back into more serious and more regular exercise... but I found that I felt lazy and depressed pretty much every day and as a result didn't do hardly any exercise. And I know, exercise can help ease depression. So I know I need to get more serious and back into regular exercise, like right now! So I'm headed to the gym tonight. I also got a balance board which I used a bit last night. Wow, it's challenging! I tried doing some sun salutations and nearly fell over about a dozen times, ha ha.

It's getting colder out - it's going to snow and be quite cold this week. So I need to start planning indoor exercise. So, tonight it's gym for weights. Tomorrow, at least 30 mins on the stationary bike. Wednesday, weights again. Thursday, probably yoga. Friday, weights. I need to plan out my weeks more like I used to do. I've let a lot of things slide since the vertigo stuff came along and I need to get back to how I used to be. I feel like my IBD is close to remission finally - I haven't had any blood in months, I rarely even have d these days. My energy levels still aren't always great but that could be attributed to the IBD or the vertigo, I'm not sure which is the culprit. At any rate, I'm doing well enough that I should be able to plan a full week's worth of exercise, so that's what I'm trying to do.

Once the weather gets properly snowy and cold, I'm going to use my snowshoes as often as I can to walk the dog, and I'm going to go ice skating outdoors when I can as well. There's a public outdoor rink 5 minutes from my workplace, and I went there once last year and skated around on my lunch break. I'd like to do that more often this winter. Cold and snow sucks, but if I can think of fun things to do in the winter, that'll make it much more tolerable!
 
Sorry to hear you aren't feeling so great. Seasonal depression is upon us...I feel a bit out of sorts myself and I hear a number of others around me talking about depression and malaise hitting them recently. So just know you are not alone. :hug:

Hopefully your birthday was a good one! :)

Those balance boards are so hard! The one I bought I have barely used because of the challenge. It's going to take some serious practice and commitment. But now that I'm getting the hang of the planks maybe I can advance back to the board soon ;)

Sounds like you've got a plan to get back on track and keep the momentum going. I actually read recently that planning out your weeks and having some sort of structure about your day during the winter season really helps keep you on track and can put some of the depression at bay because you always have something to look forward to.

I personally am not looking forward to winter. I need to go buy some snow boots tomorrow. Good luck and may we both survive Polar Vortex Pt. 2!

Hope you continue to feel better!
 
Thanks, Chicago! Oh yeah, I heard on the weather report the term "polar vortex" and that makes me sad. At least we missed the bulk of the snow (so far). Northern Wisconsin got over a foot of snow in some places - here we just got a little dusting of snow that didn't stick. It's supposedly going to get really cold though with the polar vortex coming back, yuck! I've been prepping for winter as best as I can - I got some fleece lined workout clothes (mainly for things like walking the dog or shoveling snow). But if it's anything like last winter, it's still going to suck a lot. :p

Yes, I think planning workouts a week or so in advance is necessary for me and really helps me stick to my workouts. And yeah, the balance board is quite challenging - but I really like it, too. I've never been very coordinated or well-balanced, and the vertigo stuff made me even more klutzy. I'm looking forward to any progress that I can make with the balance board! My goal is to use it 5-10 minutes minimum each day. Even if I just do a few minutes for a handful of squats, lunges, sun salutations, etc - doing it every day will hopefully allow me to improve my balance and klutziness issues. And then if the vertigo does ever come back full force, I'll have had some experience with working on my balance already and can hopefully beat it faster the next time around (I have a few family members who have had recurrent vertigo every few years, so it's possible that'll be the case for me as well and I want to be as prepared as I can be).

Oh, and thanks, my birthday was nice. My hubby got me a corset for my birthday gift. That sounds very odd, and I never thought I'd be a corset-wearer as I figured it'd make my tummy even angrier to be all squished up like that. But, a couple months ago hubby's boss had me try on a corset at her costume shop, and it actually felt really nice on the tummy - it felt protective, like nothing was going to jostle around in there, and I actually really liked wearing it. So ever since then, I've wanted a corset of my own, and hubby convinced his boss to sell us one at wholesale cost. I don't lace it up super tight, and I haven't worn it much, but I really like it. The odd things you learn with IBD! :p So now I need to build an outfit/costume based around a corset, so that I have a reason to wear it more, as it doesn't really go with a t-shirt and jeans! Ha ha. Anyway, if you ever have a chance to get a good quality corset for a decent price - don't dismiss it, at least try it on. It's oddly comforting and nice even though it seems like it'd be awful.
 
I forgot to give my fitness update for today! And I should add right now, updating this thread on a daily or near-daily basis also helps me stick to my workouts. If I skip a workout, I have to come on here and fess up to it, and that's not a good feeling, so it makes me want to not skip workouts. I've been skipping workouts and skipping updating this thread lately, and I'm going to get out of both of those bad habits!

Anyway! I did 30 mins on the bike today. I have a co-worker who has been adamantly anti-exercise, but now she's got diabetes and is realizing that she actually needs to make at least a flimsy effort at taking care of her physical health. So she's been going to the gym in the basement of our workplace and walking on the treadmill. I really like this co-worker and consider her a friend, and I'd like for her to be healthier, so I'm happy she's been going to the gym. She even invited me to the gym today, when usually I invite her! So that's been a nice change. She did the treadmill while I did 30 mins on the stationary bike. I definitely had a more strenuous workout than she did, but I'm happy she's making an effort at all. I had a good workout on the bike, did a hill program and legs feel pretty tired now!

Tonight I'm going to do a bit of work on the balance board and then eat a nice high-protein dinner (rabbit cooked in the crock pot - apparently rabbit meat is one of the highest quality animal proteins you can get). Tomorrow, it's back to the gym for weights. Thursday, it'll be yoga and some balance board work. Friday, weights again. Saturday, as long as it's not snowing or horrendously cold then I'll take the dog on a long walk, and I'll do weights again Sunday. That's the plan for now!
 
Update 11/12/14: I hit the gym for weights on my lunch break today. I did all the weight machines, including the abdominals machine. My guts have been quiet for the most part this week - a couple days ago, hubby made some sort of pre-packaged soup mix for dinner and it didn't sit well with me. It made me super gassy! Literally, I had to get up in the middle of the night because I felt like I had to poo, but all that came out was a huge amount of gas. :p So that was a bit icky, but it didn't set back my workouts at all (fortunately the gassiness didn't manifest in the gym!). Other than the soup incident, my guts have been quiet. The dizziness is almost nonexistent. I'd say I'm 99% better. I think the balance board is helping (or at the very least it's not making things any worse).

I had been scheduled for VRT - vestibular rehabilitation therapy - starting next week. But given how well I've been lately, I decided to cancel my VRT sessions. If the vertigo comes back or gets worse or anything then I'll of course reschedule and/or go see a specialist, but for now I think I'm okay.

It was really nice staying indoors today and working out without having to leave the building. It's snowing and really cold out! Workouts on days like this are wonderful. I can go to the gym and get nice and warm and forget that the weather is atrocious and freezing. :p I'm one of those people who is always cold, and working out is a surefire way to warm myself up! So I need to remember that - when I'm feeling lazy and cold this winter and just want to bundle up and eat comfort food, I really should do a workout instead.
 
Update 11/13/14: Well, I've come down with a cold. I'm coughing and fatigued and congested and just basically feel icky. Massive brain fog, too. So, today's an impromptu rest day. Will have to play it by ear tomorrow and see how I'm feeling, but at this point it's seeming like I will have to rest up quite a bit. I'm actually at work right now but I should have just stayed in bed - it snowed this morning too and the roads were slick coming in to work. I'm thinking I might work a half day and then go home sick and rest up. Hopefully that'll allow me to recover a bit quicker so that I can get back to the gym again soon.
 
Update 11/17/14: Not much new to report. I still have a cold and this polar vortex sure isn't helping any! I've been coughing and congested and feeling fatigued for something like 5 days now. Haven't really worked out. I rested most of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. On Sunday, we got some snow and I thought I'd try to help hubby with the shoveling (there was only a couple inches of snow to shovel). But breathing in that frigid cold air and exerting myself outside in the cold only seemed to make things worse. Today I'm coughing more than I was. So I think that's a sign that I need to rest more. Ugh! I'm getting bored and frustrated with resting, but I know it's what my body needs right now. So I'm drinking a lot of tea and doing my best to rest. I seriously am getting bored though and I want to exercise! Hopefully soon!
 
I think these temperature shifts and seasonal changes always trigger colds and allergies. Sigh. Let's make a crohns tropical island and all move. I know there was a thread about this a few years back lol.
 
Unfortunately I don't think a tropical island would be much better for my health. Heat & humidity makes my guts cramp up. Cold & snow makes my joints hurt. No matter what season it is, I can't win! Oh well. NGNG, is your area of the country also experiencing terrible cold and snow from this polar vortex nonsense? We only got a little bit of snow, thank goodness, but the high temp today is 16 and it's something like -2 right now with the wind chill. Brr! That is WAY too cold for this early in the season (especially considering it's still technically autumn)! :(
 
Update 11/19/14: I'm finally starting to feel better from this cold - it took a full week, but I'm not coughing as much nor am I as exhausted as I was feeling. I'm still not better, but I'm recovering. I'm thinking I might do a bit of yoga/balance board work tonight. If that goes okay, and if I'm still feeling okay tomorrow, then I think I'll head to the gym for weights tomorrow. I was told awhile back not to do cardio when I have something respiratory like a cold, so no cardio is on the agenda for the time being. I'm just hoping to ease back into some stretching & weights and then go from there.

I was having a lot of hip pain in my "good" hip yesterday. My GP says I have arthritis in both my hips, but I usually have more pain in my right hip and I consider that to be my "bad" hip. Yesterday, the left "good" hip felt pretty awful though. I took a hot bath and then afterwards I laid down with my heating pad for awhile, but those things didn't do much to help. Today, fortunately, the hip feels much better. I think it's a winter thing as it snowed overnight again. So, hopefully my hips stay quiet so that I can get back into regular exercise, again. As long as I exercise regularly, my hips usually feel okay. I think it's a one-two punch of me having a cold and not being able to exercise, and the cold snowy weather contributing to my hip pain.
 
Another quick update for today: Well, the good hip has stayed quiet today but the bad hip started making itself known about an hour ago. It's now aching quite a bit. Ugh! Still going to attempt yoga tonight, as that usually helps with joint pain. Not a happy camper though.
 
Update 11/20/14: I finally made it to the gym. Ahh, that feels so much better! Work is being insanely stressful lately but the weather cleared up and my hips don't ache so much. I went to the gym mainly to deal with the stress, and it felt so nice to lift weights again after a week+ away. I am still under a lot of stress today but I feel significantly better now.
 
Update 11/24/14: I ended up having a stressful weekend and wasn't able to get to the gym. Friday morning while I was driving to work, my car started sputtering and acting up. It was drivable but not good at all. I ended up spending all day Saturday trying to figure it out, getting parts and having them installed, troubleshooting, seeing what check engine light code meant what (I literally had 12, yes twelve, check engine light codes!). So that took the entire day and was really stressful. In the end my car ended up getting fixed properly and runs great now, but it was really a stressful day while I was trying to figure out what was wrong with my car, what parts I needed, how much everything was going to cost, if I should just junk my car and look for a new one, etc. Fortunately it wasn't too expensive and my car works great now, but I was not able to even think about getting to the gym that day.

Sunday I had to go to my Aunt's house for an early Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family. That was a bit stressful too - I kind of hate thanksgiving and I refuse to stuff myself, so I only ate a little bit of turkey & potatoes. My cousin is on some extreme diet where she's weighing all her food and counting every single calorie (she was never overweight to begin with and now she's really skinny). A lot of my family is gluten-free because they're stupid (they've never had issues with gluten nor have they been diagnosed with anything - but they tell everyone they've been diagnosed with celiac even though they haven't even consulted a doctor at all about it). So between trying not to make my stomach upset with too much food, listening to my cousin whine about every single calorie that goes into her mouth, and listening to multiple people go on and on about the "evils" of gluten, it was not the most fun. I'm not looking forward to actual Thanksgiving either, I'll be happy when it's all over and done with.

So. Getting back on track, since I got my car fixed I can go to the gym again! I see my GI this afternoon for a follow-up. We're supposed to get 3-6 inches of snow today so that'll be an interesting drive (REALLY glad my car is fixed so that hopefully I can make it to the appointment!). Tonight after work, I'm going to do a workout at home. I don't want to drive in the snow any more than necessary. I have hand weights, a stationary bike, a hula hoop (a proper adult fitness hoop, not a sparkly kiddy hoop), a balance board, a yoga mat, a yoga ball, etc. I can knock out a pretty decent workout with that equipment, so that's the plan tonight.

Tomorrow, I have a stressful meeting planned at work. I'm thinking I'm going to need a workout after that meeting! Not sure if it'll end up being a lunch meeting or not, so my plan is to do the stationary bike after work. Wednesday, I'll head to the gym for a weights session. Thurs will probably be a rest day - I'm sure I'll walk around with my dog outside a bit when I go to the in-laws' for turkey day (they live out in the country so it's nice for my dog to run around outside there). Friday I plan to do a bit of shopping - nothing crazy, I'm not getting up early or anything like that - and then hit the gym for weights. That's the plan so far!
 
Hawkeye, it varies but at this rate many people end up having to work on Thanksgiving! I'm fortunate, I get off work on both Thursday and Friday. The Friday after Thanksgiving is always a HUGE shopping day, and it's to the point where many stores are opening on Thursday as well. But that means that their employees have to come in and work on Thanksgiving which is pretty awful. My husband works in retail and fortunately his shop is closed on Thursday, but he has to work on Friday (and Saturday and Sunday too). I get a 4-day weekend which I'm really looking forward to.

I should give a fitness update, too. I ended up not working out yesterday. My week's plan has already been thrown all off. Yesterday we got a bunch of snow and my boss sent me home several hours early before the roads got too bad. A snowy day and some unexpected time off meant that I put on my pajamas, got some hot chocolate, turned on the fireplace, and cuddled up with my crochet project. I had zero motivation to do anything but get cozy while the snow was falling.

Today, I was supposed to have a meeting but that was cancelled because of the weather and road conditions. So instead I went out to lunch with my closest work friend and that was really nice. We went out for Korean food and we ordered a few different dishes and both ate a bit of each, it was really delicious. But I ate so much that I just feel like hibernating now. I don't think a workout is in the cards for me tonight.

Tomorrow I *am* going to the gym on my lunch hour. Many people in my office are taking tomorrow off to prepare for the holiday, so it should be very quiet with no distractions. I really need to lift some weights and tomorrow is the day. I've had enough with my plans changing or being thrown out the window altogether! Tomorrow, nothing is going to throw me off my game and I'm not going to eat too much or get too cozy.

Thursday, I'll go right back to eating too much and getting too cozy. Ha ha! Actually, I'm thinking about bringing my snowshoes with me. Now that we have a few inches of snow on the ground, I could do a bit of snowshoeing while my dog runs around outside. So that's my tentative plan for Thanksgiving, go snowshoeing and then eat afterwards.
 
Enjoy the 4 day weekend, haven't had one of those since Easter, but I'll have one at Christmas.

Enjoy the snowshoeing, we are expected to get a storm tonight and tomorrow. What was wrong with the car?
 
There was sort of a domino effect with my car. It started sputtering and shaking after I had put gas in, so I figured it was the fuel injectors - with winter gasoline having so many additives and junk in it, that can really clog up the fuel injectors. So, I put in some fuel injector cleaner, which helped somewhat but not totally. So I took the car in and got the fuel system cleaned (where they put some sort of weird cleaning chemicals into your fuel system and that burns out all the nasty gunk and carbon and whatever else). That actually made my car worse! Sputtering like crazy and the check engine light was flashing off & on. It turned out that my spark plugs were going bad, and cleaning the fuel system had stripped all the carbon deposits off of them. I guess it was to the point where the carbon was basically the only thing holding my spark plugs together, ha ha! So that made the car, for lack of a better term, freak out. :p And a coil was also going bad which caused misfires in a cylinder, and that's what caused the check engine light to flash. New spark plugs and a new coil in cylinder #2 and now my car runs great again, not even a hint of a sputter. It's an older car, 13 years old with a little over 180,000 miles, so I'm hoping it lasts a bit longer! That was a frustrating day though, dealing with all those car issues and worrying that my car might be dying. So yeah, going to the gym was out of the question with all that car stuff going on!

So, I made it to the gym today. Didn't have a great workout but I made it through. Did everything but the abdominals machine (I did do a 30 second plank so I got in a bit of an ab workout - guts haven't been stellar today though so I didn't push it too much). We're supposed to get another inch or so of snow overnight, so hopefully there'll be some lovely fresh snow for snowshoeing tomorrow.
 
Great business model for cars - keep them and drive them into the ground. That is what I am doing with my 14 year old vehicle although it's "only" got about 244,000 km (about 152000 miles) on it.

Those new plugs may make up for the gas mileage drop with the winter gas. I'll have to ask about the winter to summer gas switch, the next time I have a tour of the local refinery.
 
Update 12/1/14: I didn't end up snowshoeing on Thanksgiving, it was just too cold and not quite enough snow on the ground. I didn't over-eat and my tummy was relatively quiet so it was a good day. :) Friday, I did go to the gym. Had a so-so workout. Felt a bit run-down but managed to make it through my workout and even did the abdominals machine. Saturday, we had really nice weather (sunny and temps in the 30s Fahrenheit), so I took my dog on a long walk. Sunday, I hit the gym again for weights and felt really good. I had a good amount of energy and felt strong. I did everything including abdominals machine and felt great during & after my workout.

Today, it is really cold out. We're apparently having a one day cold snap and then tomorrow it's supposed to be back up in the 30s. So, I'm staying in today and plan to do 30 mins on the stationary bike on my lunch break. Tomorrow, gym again for weights. Wednesday will be a rest day. Thursday weights again, Friday not sure yet. Maybe yoga. That's the plan for now!
 
Update 12/2/14: I did 30 mins on the stationary bike yesterday and that went fine. But this morning, I woke up and was quite nauseous. I sometimes have a difficult time packing my lunch in the mornings as I get nauseous to the point where it's hard to look at or touch food, and this was definitely one of those mornings. I just made myself a simple turkey wrap but even so, it was difficult to put together as my stomach was a mess. I'm not sure why, the only thing I can think is that I had a little bit of dairy last night with dinner (I put some sour cream on my skinless baked potato) so that might be the cause of me feeling ill today.

So, I'm just going to play it by ear tonight. If I'm still nauseous then I will postpone going to the gym and rest tonight instead. If I recover and feel okay then I'll hit the gym this evening as planned. For now I'm just trying to take it easy on my stomach so that hopefully it recovers. (And lesson learned, even a small amount of dairy is still not my friend.)
 
Another quick update for today: It's almost 3 PM and I'm still not doing great. Was nauseous all morning - it's what I think of as a "2 bites" day. I can have 2 bites of food and then I have to stop or the nausea gets so bad that I'll vomit. I had 2 jolly rancher candies earlier and that was fine, but when I tried to have a third one, ohh no, I had to spit it out and do some deep breathing and let the nausea fade a bit. Same with tea, I had 2 sips of tea and then had to stop. I was like that all morning. Finally this afternoon I've been able to eat a little bit more although still not much (I had a rice krispy treat). I'm also quite chilled, it feels like a mini-flare. I usually don't get chills except when I'm flaring. The chills aren't nearly as bad as they are in a flare, though. I think/hope this is just a one day fluke thing and/or is due to my having eaten dairy yesterday. It doesn't feel like a full-on flare anyway. So I'm definitely skipping the gym tonight, may end up going tomorrow depending on how I feel. Just gotta focus right now on recovering from whatever this is.
 
Is it weird that that article makes me hungry? :p Yummm, lobster! I would have offered to help, too, but my help would have been that I would offer to bring some melted butter. ;) Ha ha.

Fitness update 12/4/14: I hit the gym today. Guts were not good on Tuesday (massive nausea most of the day) and were iffy yesterday and this morning. I felt okay enough today to hit the gym, although I did skip the abdominals machine to be safe. Workout went pretty well and guts are still doing mostly okay.

I say mostly, because stress is affecting my guts a bit. I have a really stressful work meeting tomorrow so that's going to suck. I'm not even sure what time the meeting is - it's literally scheduled for whenever my colleague decides to show up. So, depending on what time and how long it goes, I am thinking I might hit the stationary bike either on my lunch break (unless it becomes a lunch meeting) or after work. I'm stressed just thinking about this meeting (it's going to be rough and I'm going to have to call someone out on her unprofessionalism, and she cries easily), so I am thinking I will definitely need a workout to de-stress after that mess! I wish I could just skip tomorrow altogether!
 

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