Cat's Exercise Diary

Crohn's Disease Forum

Help Support Crohn's Disease Forum:

Ha, I don't think I could fit my weekly shopping into the bike trailer! :p And I'm sure I wouldn't be able to budge my bike if I tried that. This would just be a few specialty things, like goat cheeses and of course chocolates. :) And there's another shop nearby where they sell fancy kitchen things so I might go wander through that shop too and buy a new wooden spoon or something small like that. I would not be buying tons of things nor a lot of heavy items. The only thing that might take up a fair amount of space is, I am thinking of putting a small cooler in the bike trailer - that way my chocolates won't melt on the ride home. But a small cooler shouldn't weigh too much so I think that'll be okay even if it is a bit bulky in size.

I'm feeling pretty good today and the weather is looking okay. A bit overcast but rain is not looking likely and it's going to be fairly warm. I think I am going to take a lunch hour walk today.

I tapered my pred this morning. Went from 7 down to 6.5 mg (I have 2.5 mg tablets and 1 mg tablets, so I now am taking one 2.5 mg and 4 of the 1 mg tablets). So far so good but it's only been a couple of hours. I think I should be fine at this dose - my last taper fail happened when I got down to 6 mg, I had been okay at 6.5, so I'm pretty confident that I won't have a fail this month. (I hope!)
 
I had a really good walk. The weather was gorgeous, absolutely perfect. I still felt a little bit stiff on my walk - I think I just haven't been walking enough lately. But other than that it was fine and I felt quite good getting out in the fresh air and sunshine. It had been overcast earlier, but the sun came out, so I got a little bit of vitamin D in the areas of the forest where the sun was able to shine through.
 
We've been cycling again.It's still quite cold and breezy at the coast.While we were having our break I said to my hubby (Les) "I've just realised that I'm doing anything rather than start the decorating" and it's true.We've had the paint well over a week and usually I would be wanting it done,especially with new sofas coming.As we have dental / doctors apts. early next week,we have set the date to start for Thurs......unless something better side tracks us.
 
For what it's worth, I also hate painting. It's a hard job and so messy! Even if you try to be neat about it, nope, paint is still going to get on places that you don't want it to get on. Hubby had to practically beg me to paint with him last time we painted a room in our house. And if you have any weird corners or spots where you have to get into a weird position to paint, that's no fun at all. My joints were not happy with me last time we painted. Fortunately most of our house is painted now, but unfortunately the master bedroom still needs to be painted and I know that's going to be a huge job. Ugh. Good luck with your painting, I hope it's not too awful!

I think I've talked hubby into doing my bike ride plans tomorrow, taking the bike trailer to the specialty grocery store. At first he was complaining about how long of a ride it would be, but then I reminded him that it's only about 2 miles from our house to the store. :p Sooo, not actually a long ride at all. And he wouldn't be hauling the trailer, I'll be doing that. After that he stopped complaining, so I think he's on board with the idea.
 
I had a good workout yesterday. My GERD was a bit more active than usual but that was my co-worker's fault (and my own fault too). The receptionist at work was off yesterday and I'm usually the one who fills in for her, so I was stuck sitting at the reception desk all day. I needed another co-worker to fill in for me so I could take my lunch break, and we agreed on a particular time. I have to make sure I don't eat anything for at least 2 hours prior to working out, so with 2 hours to go I ate, and I ate a little bit more than I usually do. Then my co-worker had a change in plans and ended up covering me a half hour earlier than we had planned. So because of the time and the extra food, my GERD was a bit grumpy, but it could have been a lot worse. It wasn't too bad, it was totally tolerable and I was able to do my workout without having too much of an issue. So it worked out okay.

Hubby's skipping our bike ride after all. :p I'm still going, just had lunch so now I'm in my 2 hour waiting period and will go on my ride after that. Hubby decided he had to go see a movie instead so he's off doing that (he loves those superhero movies so he's at Guardians of the Galaxy, I'm not such a fan of those movies so I opted not to go). Well, that's fine, now I can go on the route I'd like to take without having to explain to him why I'm taking a particular route, and I can be as leisurely as I want on my shopping. The weather is gorgeous, we spent the morning going to garage sales and I'm really looking forward to my bike ride.
 
Aaaaand fail. :( I got everything set to go, got the bike trailer on, started riding. But it's suddenly very hot out (about 84 F!) and also quite windy, about 15 mph winds blowing against me the whole way there. Riding into that wind with the trailer and with the heat took a ton of energy. I nearly made it all the way to the grocery store, but the combination of hauling the bike trailer (which not only adds weight but a lot of wind resistance) and the wind and the heat tired me out terribly. Add all that to the fact that there's a large hill that came just before I got to the grocery store, and I was like, nope, screw it. I turned around and headed home at the bottom of that hill, I just couldn't do it. Too tired and didn't want to make myself sick (sometimes heat plus over-exertion makes my stomach very unhappy, and that hill just looked like a recipe for disaster). I can tell that my stomach isn't happy but I think by turning around I spared myself the worst of it, and hopefully resting for the rest of the day will allow me to not have any bad trouble with my belly.

So I headed home without going to the store. With the wind at my back, it was much easier riding home. This has been eye-opening - if I can't use the bike trailer as a dog carrier nor a grocery getter, I don't think it's going to work for me. Good thing it was only $10. I might just get rid of the darn thing. I love riding my bike, but I didn't love it today, and that trailer was a big part of the problem. Plus I was on my cruiser bike, which is heavier. I think from now on, I'm just going to ride my light little road bike because it's so fun and I don't tend to over-exert myself on that bike. I have a firm belief that fitness should be fun, because of course if it isn't fun you aren't going to continue with it, and today wasn't fun. So no more bike trailer for me and back to very limited use of my cruiser bike. From now on it's just me and my road bike, and I'll get groceries when I'm in the car. Experiment failed, lesson learned. But hey, what is the point of life if I'm not trying & learning new things, right? Can't win them all. And, I have SO much respect now for people who do haul little kids around in bike trailers! I don't think I could do that!
 
At least you got a bit of exercise and you know for sure that the trailer is not for you.With the summer coming somebody will want it.I had a weird stomach yesterday,but got the room stripped ready to paint.It's 8-50am and Les is phoning our This time next week it will be done.Not that it will take a week of course,but it will prob.need two coats and we have other stuff going on during the week.Enjoy your day.
 
Sorry to hear you had a bad belly day, hopefully it's just one day and doesn't continue longer than that. Have fun painting!

I had an okay day yesterday. Started off by visiting my grandma in the morning. She's really losing it. She had at least a moment where she was under the delusion that her parents are still alive and that she is going to go visit them soon (they both died when she was 18, she's 84 now). So that was a pretty substantial thing that she thought they're still alive. She also told me she's really looking forward to dying because she misses my grandpa so much. I don't think she's going to last much longer. Of course that would be very sad but in a way it might also be a bit of a blessing - I know her dementia will only continue to go downhill, and I fear the day when she doesn't know who I am (she often forgets my name and/or how I'm related to her, but she so far always knows that I'm her person). My heart breaks a little bit each time she declines mentally. Of course my heart will break when she passes, but if she passes before she completely loses her mental faculties, maybe that would be for the best. I don't know. It's just a hard situation all around.

So after that visit, I needed some quiet time to think and decompress. I went to my grandpa's grave. It was looking a bit shabby, with some overgrown grass and some weeds (many dandelions). I had brought some gardening tools, so I made sure to trim all the grass and pull the weeds. I also wiped some dirt off of his headstone. Everything looks good now. He was very meticulous and placed a lot of value on appearances, and I know he'd have had a fit if he had seen weeds and overgrown grass and dirt on his headstone. I could hear his voice in my head as I was cleaning and gardening. I think he'd be happy with the results. I'll make sure to continue visiting his grave semi-regularly throughout the warm months to make sure it still looks good (can't do much gardening in winter obviously).

So I got home and stress-ate something I shouldn't have - I had fried shrimp, french fries, and a root beer float. Yum, but my belly doesn't always like fried/greasy foods, and the dairy and carbonation also aren't my friend. So things were a little bit upset after that. Still, I managed to pull myself together a couple hours later and lift weights. I really needed that. I just used the barbell and dumbbells I have in my home gym, and that went fine. In fact, I recently got some new weights, so I got to try those out.

After lifting, I went crazy and also walked the dog. I probably overdid things a bit. I'm sure I did, in fact, because last night and this morning my lower back was fairly stiff and painful. I sat with my heating pad on my back for about 30 mins prior to leaving to go to work, and that really helped, so I think I'm okay now.

And because of my back, and also because of the weather (thunderstorms in the forecast), I'm taking a rest day today. Tomorrow, presuming I'm feeling okay, I'll go to the little gym on my lunch break for a weights session. Not sure about Wednesday - I'd like to walk, but they're forecasting rain for that day as well. Thursday more weights - if I can swing it, I'd like to ride my bike to the big gym after work. That's my favorite workout ever - ride my bike to the gym (about 3.5 miles each way) as a warm-up, lift weights at the gym and also do my stretches, then ride home more leisurely and slowly as my cool-down. Again, that's all dependent on the weather and how I'm feeling. That's as far as I've planned for so far.
 
Work continues to be stressful. We're still hearing rumors that there are more job cuts coming. Fortunately, the gym continues to be a good source of stress relief. I just had a workout and I feel pretty good now. And I think my taper to 6.5 mg pred was successful - last time I had a taper fail, I had tapered on a Thursday and flared the following Tuesday. This time, I also tapered on a Thursday, and now it's Tuesday and I'm still feeling pretty good. Hopefully the once per month taper will continue to work well for me.

My back is still feeling pretty good too so I didn't seem to injure anything too badly (it felt like cramps in my lower back muscles, so I think I just overdid things that day). We've had sporadic thunderstorms here lately, but fairly nice weather in between the storms (warm and sunny, although windy). So I'm hoping that tomorrow the weather will cooperate and allow me to have a walk. Weights Thursday, and a walk on Friday if I can't have one tomorrow (and maybe walks both Wednesday and Friday if the weather behaves both days, but I don't know what the odds of that happening are). Hopefully weights Saturday too. I'm trying to get hubby to go back to the gym with me but he's being sluggish and unenthusiastic about it.
 
Holy cow. What a stressful day. Long story short, work = crazy stress and weird rumors. Nobody really knows what's going on. I may be fine or I may be out of a job soon and I don't know what to believe or what to think. I have spent a good chunk of the afternoon crying because of stress and worry.

So of course I had to get the @#$%& out of the building when I had the opportunity. On my lunch hour, I zoomed over to the forest path and had a long walk. It was in between thunderstorms, so it wasn't raining, but it was quite humid and pretty windy. Still, I was happy to get into the forest for a bit, and everything smelled lovely because of this morning's thunderstorms. My walk through the forest cheered me up a bit. Now instead of actively crying at my desk, I just feel like crying. :p Yay, improvement.

I absolutely need a workout tomorrow too so I'm already gung-ho about going to the gym to lift weights. I can't wait. I'm going to push my muscles until they're totally fatigued, in the hopes that physical exhaustion also quiets down my over-thinking mind too.

I'm also going to work on updating my resume "just in case." Ugh.
 
I ate something I shouldn't have yesterday - pizza. It's just not my friend. Even if I take a dairy digestive enzyme, it still bothers me a bit. And it's not just the cheese, it's also the grease and the sauce. The tomato sauce really gets my GERD riled up, and the grease is not friendly to my digestion nor my GERD. But I was stressed because of the situation at work, and I just wanted to eat a big slice of pizza (I had two, eek!).

I'm not paying for it too badly, but I am having some trapped wind pain today. I've been trying to pass gas to relieve it but I can barely get anything to come out. It's not too bad, though. I was still able to hit the gym today, and I think my workout helped a bit. I'm still having a little trapped wind pain, but it's feeling better than it was earlier (and I haven't passed any gas at all since earlier, but I did belch a few times in the gym, so maybe that helped?).

I'd love to get out on my bike this weekend, but it's looking like the weather isn't going to cooperate with me. I'd like to walk tomorrow too, but it's suddenly become colder (in the 50s F, where it was in the 80s the past few days) and it's been pretty rainy and quite windy too. It's looking like a good weekend to stay indoors. So I'll stay in and lift weights on Saturday, but I might not do much more than that for the next 3 days.
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
I ate something I shouldn't have yesterday - pizza. It's just not my friend. Even if I take a dairy digestive enzyme, it still bothers me a bit. And it's not just the cheese, it's also the grease and the sauce. The tomato sauce really gets my GERD riled up, and the grease is not friendly to my digestion nor my GERD. But I was stressed because of the situation at work, and I just wanted to eat a big slice of pizza (I had two, eek!).

I'm not paying for it too badly, but I am having some trapped wind pain today. I've been trying to pass gas to relieve it but I can barely get anything to come out. It's not too bad, though. I was still able to hit the gym today, and I think my workout helped a bit. I'm still having a little trapped wind pain, but it's feeling better than it was earlier (and I haven't passed any gas at all since earlier, but I did belch a few times in the gym, so maybe that helped?).

I'd love to get out on my bike this weekend, but it's looking like the weather isn't going to cooperate with me. I'd like to walk tomorrow too, but it's suddenly become colder (in the 50s F, where it was in the 80s the past few days) and it's been pretty rainy and quite windy too. It's looking like a good weekend to stay indoors. So I'll stay in and lift weights on Saturday, but I might not do much more than that for the next 3 days.
Click to expand...

Hope you feel better soon! I thought I'd update you guys since I let you know that my balance has been poor lately and I was worried about falling. I have been referred to a PT program that deals exclusively with balance disorders and I have been diagnosed with both central vertigo and vestibular-ocular reflex disorder. I do not have a reason for either but it's good to know that the vestibular rehabilitation program may help with my balance. I've been scheduled for 4 weeks, twice a week, with exercises to do at home 4 times a day. If it works, it could be lengthened further, but this is like a "testing period." It's not Meniere's disease or Superior Canal Dehiscence like my ENT thought - those have been ruled out. After doing some research, it sounds like vestibulocerebellar syndrome and I'm going to ask my doctor at our next appointment if that might be the cause.
 
I remember that you were having issues with vertigo and balance, I'm sorry to hear that's still ongoing. I hope the exercises help! When do you start PT? Are you still able to ride your bicycle with these issues? I hope so, I know you love riding. How's your grandfather doing? I've been keeping you in my thoughts because I remember you saying he wasn't very well. My grandma isn't very well either, her dementia is getting worse all the time. I saw her this past weekend, and she informed me that she had been trying to plan a visit to go see her parents at "home" (I think she meant her childhood home). She seemed to think that her parents were very much alive, but they both died 65 years ago. So that was pretty troubling to me. That's a pretty big thing to forget about. I don't think my grandma is going to be around much longer, she also told me that she's really looking forward to dying so that she can see my grandpa again (her words). I just hope she goes peacefully and painlessly like my grandpa did (he died in his sleep).
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
I remember that you were having issues with vertigo and balance, I'm sorry to hear that's still ongoing. I hope the exercises help! When do you start PT? Are you still able to ride your bicycle with these issues? I hope so, I know you love riding. How's your grandfather doing? I've been keeping you in my thoughts because I remember you saying he wasn't very well. My grandma isn't very well either, her dementia is getting worse all the time. I saw her this past weekend, and she informed me that she had been trying to plan a visit to go see her parents at "home" (I think she meant her childhood home). She seemed to think that her parents were very much alive, but they both died 65 years ago. So that was pretty troubling to me. That's a pretty big thing to forget about. I don't think my grandma is going to be around much longer, she also told me that she's really looking forward to dying so that she can see my grandpa again (her words). I just hope she goes peacefully and painlessly like my grandpa did (he died in his sleep).
Click to expand...

The PT sessions start on Tuesday and will last for 4 weeks - twice a week (Tues and Thurs). I'm having to adjust my work schedule from 8:30-5 to 8-4:30 which will be rough but I have to do it! Fortunately, my boss is very understanding and had no problem with it. I'm still able to ride my bike, but my coordination is rather impaired, so I have to be very careful.

As for my grandfather, he is staying pretty much the same lately. He's in the late stages and babbling quite a bit - nothing he says is coherent. It is really difficult and I must admit that I avoid my grandparents' house. My grandmother has really bad anxiety and it makes my anxiety worse. We never really got along well and I'm much closer to my paternal grandmother. I still love my maternal grandfather, but it's so hard to see him in the state he is in. :(

I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother. :(
 
I've never even had maternal grandparents - my mom's parents both died when she was a teenager (breast cancer and colon cancer) which was well before I was born. I've only ever known my dad's parents, and of course my grandpa died last year so now I just have my grandma and that's it.

I'm feeling pretty awful today. Did not sleep well at all. Still having pretty bad pains in my lower abdomen, it still feels like gas pain. I have been able to pass gas but that hasn't done much to relieve the pain. I'm now thinking that the stress of this week, specifically stress at work (we're still in danger of all losing our jobs) is at least contributing to this if not causing it. I'm pushing myself to go into work today because I'm already covering for another person who is off. But I honestly don't know if I'm going to make it through the whole work day. The smart thing to do would be to just call in sick. I don't want to lose my job though and I feel like the more I'm out, the more they can view me as disposable. So I'm going in anyway when I really don't feel up to it. I'm exhausted and in pain. Wish me luck.

Obviously I'm not going to exercise today. :p Will see how I'm feeling tomorrow and go from there.
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
I've never even had maternal grandparents - my mom's parents both died when she was a teenager (breast cancer and colon cancer) which was well before I was born. I've only ever known my dad's parents, and of course my grandpa died last year so now I just have my grandma and that's it.

I'm feeling pretty awful today. Did not sleep well at all. Still having pretty bad pains in my lower abdomen, it still feels like gas pain. I have been able to pass gas but that hasn't done much to relieve the pain. I'm now thinking that the stress of this week, specifically stress at work (we're still in danger of all losing our jobs) is at least contributing to this if not causing it. I'm pushing myself to go into work today because I'm already covering for another person who is off. But I honestly don't know if I'm going to make it through the whole work day. The smart thing to do would be to just call in sick. I don't want to lose my job though and I feel like the more I'm out, the more they can view me as disposable. So I'm going in anyway when I really don't feel up to it. I'm exhausted and in pain. Wish me luck.

Obviously I'm not going to exercise today. :p Will see how I'm feeling tomorrow and go from there.
Click to expand...

My mom always tells me to get myself to work - even if I'm unsure if I'll make it. Most of the time, I start feeling better mid-day and I'm able to work the entire shift. Hope you have the same results. You are right, though. The more you call in sick, the more leverage they will have to terminate employment. :(
 
I always try to push myself to go to work, too. There's been so much change at work lately and it's honestly sounding to me like the most likely outcome is that they will close our office and lay us all off (they may offer for us to move to the Illinois office, but I am not moving to IL, just not a fan of that state at all, I'd rather take severance and find a new job). So I don't know that pushing myself to go in is going to make any bit of difference. But for now I'm still employed and nothing is official yet, so I'll just do what I can day by day.

Which, today, wasn't much. I managed to work for an hour and got the most urgent, important stuff taken care of, then I got another co-worker to cover for me and came home sick. I managed to nap for a bit but I still am in a fair bit of pain. Sent a message to my GI asking what I can do - I'm not going to increase my pred dose again (I had just tapered to 6.5 mg as of 8 days ago, and I don't think this is a taper fail, but then again I just don't know anymore). So I won't increase my pred and I can't take pain meds due to being on LDN. My heating pad is helping a tiny bit but not much. My abdomen is tender to the touch so that's not good. For now I'm just monitoring my symptoms. Fortunately I don't have anything worrying - no vomiting, no fever, etc. So I don't think it's anything like a blockage or abscess or anything like that. I've been using the bathroom pretty regularly so I am confident in saying that I'm not blocked. But I don't really know the reason for this pain. Could extreme work stress by itself cause pain like this? I don't know. I usually don't tend to have bad pain, so that by itself is a bit worrying. I've almost got my doctor bills from last year paid off, so I really don't want to go to the ER and rack up another big bill, but I will go in if it gets worse or if my GI says to or anything like that.

Ugh. I think I'm just going to rest all weekend. Fitness is not in the cards (again!). Hate my stupid broken body so much.
 
I mostly rested and I'm doing a lot better. Not 100% back to my version of normal yet, but a lot better than I was. The pain is almost gone. There's still some pressure in my lower abdomen, presumably in the colon, when I do things like bend over forward (things like putting my shoes or socks on is a bit challenging at the moment as it's just not comfortable to do).

I didn't exercise at all today, I only left the house once and that was only because I needed to get the oil changed in my car. Other than that, I've been home, and I've been alternating between resting and chores. I vacuumed, did a load of dishes, did 3 loads of laundry, took out the garbage, and tidied up a bit. But in between I took lots of breaks and sat and crocheted a lot. I had just started a new blanket and barely had any of it done, and this weekend I reached just past the halfway point on the blanket! So that's a lot of crocheting. I meant to do sewing too, but I didn't do any.

I think I'm going to rest at least one more day. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow so just as well. It's still pretty chilly here too, 50s F and overcast and windy and sometimes rainy. Sweater and jacket weather for sure. So I'll see what I'm feeling up to. When I do feel up to exercising again, I'll ease back into it by taking walks at first before going back to lifting weights.

And the good news is, since I'm feeling markedly better, this doesn't seem to be a taper fail! I think it was just stress and/or the pizza that I ate (probably mostly stress as work has been pretty horrible lately). I'm going to take some steps to combat the stress of work - step one is, I'm going to update my resume. Not sure what the other steps are yet but fitness is definitely in there too.
 
It's good that your gradual taper is going well Cat.It's a shame that you've not been to well,but it looks like you know why,at least.The sooner your stress work problems get sorted the better. I did 5mls on the bike today.I haven't been cycling for 10 days,because of weather and decorating,and it was a struggle if I'm being honest,but enjoyable.
 
I bet that was a challenge! Hopefully you can cycle more regularly now that the redecorating is done. Although it sounds like your weather has been like ours is lately, rainy, windy, cool, and just not nice to be out in.

Doing a little better today but there's still some lingering belly issues. I'm having occasional waves of pain and slight nausea but not too bad. I had some fruit earlier and my belly is still not sure if it wants to accept that or not (it was fruit that's normally safe for me, a small handful of blueberries and a peeled mango). I'm going to eat bland for the rest of the day just to be extra safe. I had made a baked potato casserole for dinner yesterday - that's peeled potatoes, ground lamb meat, turkey bacon bits, Brussels sprouts (which is a safe veggie for me as long as it's cooked), and goat cheddar. All those ingredients are safe, and it sat well with me for dinner yesterday. I've got leftovers of that for my lunch today, so I know that'll be relatively bland and safe.

I won't start exercising again until I'm feeling no further waves of pain. I don't want to push myself too soon. It's supposedly going to rain this afternoon and tomorrow, so I'm tentatively hoping to take a walk on Wednesday if I'm feeling better by then.
 
I feel like I've taken a couple steps back today. A fair bit of nausea this morning, enough that I had to take 2 zofrans so far just to be functional at work. I feel a bit dizzy too and just generally unwell. My guts feel unsettled, although I've only had a couple bathroom trips so far.

I'm feeling frustrated today and sick of this nonsense. I had contacted my GI last week about the pain I was having, and his response was to take tylenol. Gee, that's super helpful. Everything is just so frustrating to me right now. Sometimes I cry a lot about my illness, and other times I get to the point beyond that where I'm just so frustrated that I feel like I can't even have any further emotions about it because I've already used up all my emotions. I'm feeling like that today. Just rolling my eyes and sighing at how stupid my body is.

It's now looking like rain for tomorrow too. Which is fine because I guess I'm not feeling up for a walk yet. My new goal is to be feeling better by this coming weekend. The weather report is looking nice for the weekend, and it's a holiday weekend so I get Monday (Memorial Day) off too. I'd really like to be able to do something outdoors, either a walk or a bike ride or maybe even take the kayak out. So that's the goal. Trying to get my body to a better place than it's in now. Easier said than done, though. Ugh.
 
The kayak sounds like a good idea.But that's 'cos I'm assuming that you can just float around if you don't feel too energetic ? It must be soul destroying for you,never knowing what each new day will bring.Of course,none of us do really,but it seems you never get a long enough break to feel the benefits.I'm feeling ok lately.I started taking apple cider vinegar with honey,a few weeks ago.Apparently it's very good for GERD,which I don't have,but you do.After laundry and shopping,I did another 5ml on little blackie today.It's been quite warm and it's going to get warmer as the week goes on.We also have a holiday weekend coming up,so the coast will be crawling with people and their kids.Bless them....(not).Take it easy Cat.Just take each day as it comes and get through it best you can.x
 
Yes, I've read about apple cider vinegar and GERD. There is a theory that GERD is actually too little acid production instead of too much, so the apple cider vinegar is meant to introduce more acidity to the stomach or something along those lines. I tried it briefly and it made my stomach feel horrible, so I quit that pretty quickly. I'm quite confident that too little acid is not my problem. I can tell when I've got too little acid - for a short while I was on a double dose (80 mg) of Nexium, and that was too much acid suppression for me. I started not being able to break down any of my other meds, so everything was going right through me undigested and I'd see a lot of full tablets in my poo. I went back down to the standard dose (40 mg) of Nexium and then I could break down my meds again. So a normal dose of Nexium, plus 600 mg ranitidine daily and Tums as needed, is how I function best with my severe GERD. It's not too much acid nor too little. I still have a few symptoms, but it's totally tolerable and I'm quite functional at least GERD-wise most of the time.

Yes, we have a 2 person kayak, so hubby can paddle us if I get tired or sick. We never take it out in rough or challenging waters, we stick to calm little creeks and steams and ponds. So yeah, I think I could do that. It is still kind of a lot of work, though - paddling in itself is a lot of work, and the kayak is very heavy and we have to lift it up on top of the car and then lift it off of the car and carry it over to the boat launch and so on. So I don't know if I'll be feeling up for all of that or not. I also have a one-person kayak which is inflatable, so it's obviously much more lightweight and portable, but again there's a lot of work in paddling it, and also in inflating and deflating it. I just got that kayak last summer, and I discovered that deflating it is actually the hardest part. My arms were so tired from paddling, that I couldn't grip the valve cap very well to let the air out, and it was a huge effort just to get the stupid cap off to deflate the thing. Literally, I was almost crying from the effort. So I don't know which would be easier on me, both kayaks sound challenging at the moment. But I don't want to have another lazy weekend of just crocheting and not much else. Ugh. I don't know, we'll see. It's only Tuesday so hopefully I'll improve in the next few days.
 
I think I inspired myself. :p I thought about it, and if I can't kayak, I could still put on my swimming suit and go out to the beach and sit in an inflatable innertube/pool float and at least get some sun and fresh air and relax outside. That would be easier on me than kayaking. So I've been looking at pool floats online and I'm going to a couple stores tomorrow to check some out. I also found a cute beach cover-up at the thrift shop today for only $3 so after I get my pool float, I'll be all set. I used to do that a lot when I lived closer to my parents, my mom and I had a couple of innertubes and we'd take them out to the beach and just sit in them for an hour or two and chat and get some sun. So I think I could do that now too, just by myself. I have a couple small dry-bags for kayaking, so I'm going to bring one of those and I can put a paperback book into it and do some reading while I lounge on the water.

At my pharmacy I get points which I can then use to buy whatever (they sell a lot of stuff besides just medicines), and I looked on their website - they do have a couple of innertubes. So if I find one I like there, I can use my points to get it and it'll basically be free or almost free (I think I still have to pay tax on it). So yeah, a $3 cover-up and a free innertube sounds pretty good to me! I might need to pick a more light-hearted book to read while I'm lounging, though. :p I've currently been reading Devil's Knot, which is about the West Memphis 3 case (in a nutshell, it's a true story about a triple murder of children which resulted in 3 innocent teenagers being wrongly convicted and spending nearly 20 years in prison), which is not exactly light-hearted reading. I read a lot of true-crime stuff, in particular I'm a big fan of reading about Dillinger. But I might need to look through my bookshelf and find something less awful to read about for a relaxing lake lounge day. Hubby is off Saturday and Monday, but he works Sunday, so I think I might have my lake lounge that day (hubby sunburns very easily and I can't see him wanting to go with me to lounge on an innertube).
 
I'm still having a bit of abdominal pain here and there, but now I'm in the mindset of, f*** it. :p Tomorrow is looking like it's finally going to be a nice day - the rain is supposedly going to stop (for a day anyway) and it's supposed to be sunny and 70 degrees. And I'm going to take a walk. I'll walk slowly if I have to, I'll take a shorter walk than usual if need be. But I just am getting frustrated and antsy so it's time to get outdoors in the sunshine already. Somebody at work said that the local weatherman said that we've had 20 days with rain in the month of May so far - since it's the 24th of May, that means we've only had 4 non-rainy days this month! No wonder my mood is so crummy lately, between my guts and the weather I just can't catch a break.

The weekend was looking nice when I checked the forecast yesterday, but now they're saying rain for at least one if not two days out of the 3-day weekend. Great. It's just not my week! I went to the store today and got 2 pool floats to try out (they were cheap, and now I can invite a friend to lounge & float with me if I want to). And then I looked on the city's website, and I found out that the cute little beach that's right along my bicycling path? Yeah, so that's closed for the whole year due to construction. :( Hmph! There's another beach relatively nearby, but it's not as nice. I had been thinking, maybe I could throw my towel and pool float in my bike trailer and ride to the beach - nope, now that's looking less likely as the other beach isn't as easy to get to by bike. The beach that's closed, that's right on the bicycle path and would be very easy for me to get to - the other nearby beach, I'd have to ride down city streets most of the way to get there and I don't like riding in traffic. So, hmph. This week was just designed to annoy me.

No further word on the job situation. My boss always seems worried about it though every time I talk to her, which is not exactly filling me with a lot of confidence. So I've still got that worry in the back of my mind.

Anyway, so yeah, I'm still not doing stellar but I'm going to walk tomorrow because I am in a mood and need to get away to the forest to offload some stress. No further plans yet, I'm going to see how I feel after my walk and go from there.
 
I was hoping to get a ride in today but "LIFE" got in the way.I bought a rug ( in anticipation of the new sofas eventually turning up ) but it wasn't right so I had to return it. I managed to get what I wanted though,but a 2-3 wk wait.So I'm definitely going to the quarry tomorrow.I wish I could get out of the house (bathroom) earlier in the morning when It's cooler and quieter.It's been very warm and it's forecast up to, and over the weekend.It's usually close to lunch time before I feel "safe" to go out.
I hope your weekend goes as you'd like it to.You've got lots of choices.Feel better soon.
 
I'm an afternoon and evening exerciser too. My guts and my GERD are both usually a bit too riled up in the mornings to do any sort of exercise. I've tried hitting the gym in the mid-morning, but even then my GERD is just not happy about it at all. I need to let my body fully wake up, then give it some safe food and plenty of time for that to leave my stomach and digest, and by then I'm able to safely exercise without issues. So yeah, it's afternoons or evenings only for me too.

I'm slowly putting together plans for the long weekend. Saturday I think I'm going up to visit my parents, and Sunday it sounds like my dad and I are going to go visit my grandma. Monday is the holiday that I have off and hubby is off too, but so far that's the one day we don't have plans yet. Fitness-wise, I'll see how I'm feeling and will maybe have a walk or even a weights session in the evenings after my visiting is over.
 
I had a really good walk. The weather was perfect, sunny (no rain!), very light wind, not too warm and not too cold out. I had a really nice time. Work is still worrying - we're still trying to find out whether or not our office is actually going to be closed soon. But at least I can deal with the stress when I can get out for an hour and have a walk in the forest.
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
I had a really good walk. The weather was perfect, sunny (no rain!), very light wind, not too warm and not too cold out. I had a really nice time. Work is still worrying - we're still trying to find out whether or not our office is actually going to be closed soon. But at least I can deal with the stress when I can get out for an hour and have a walk in the forest.
Click to expand...

It's taking far too much time,this work problem.It's about time they got sorted.No wonder your guts are up one minute and down the next.They owe it to the staff not to keep them stressing.Enjoy your weekend.Clear your mind and rest your body.
It's 10am here and already 22c so we're off on the bikes soon before it gets too hot.We'll not get out over the w/end because the riff-raff will be clogging the streets AGAIN !!! :(
 
It is definitely taking too much time, I think we found out in February about the merger and it was April when we were actually merged, and now it's nearly June and we still don't know much of anything. My boss has been trying to find out more info, but she was basically told that upper management has no comment at this time. Ugh. It's been months of stress and not knowing what's going to happen. It's really not a good situation to be in at all. I just want to know one way or the other. If I'm out of a job, just tell me already! Ugh. Not knowing is the worst.

But fortunately my guts are doing better every day and I was able to have 2 walks yesterday! I had my lunch hour walk through the forest, and the weather was just gorgeous. When I got home from work, the weather was still gorgeous, and hubby hadn't walked Lily as he was mowing the lawn and making dinner instead. So I took Lily for a walk. She was moving a bit slowly, she hates warm weather (she loves cold and snowy weather the best, she dislikes weather that's even slightly warm). So we had a good walk even if she was a bit putzy and slow.

Today I'm still doing okay, so I think I'm going to go to the little gym on my lunch hour for a weightlifting session. Since it's been about a week since I last lifted, I won't push myself too much. I'll just ease back into it. But yesterday's 2 walks encouraged me, I think I can have a good gym session today.

Tomorrow is probably a rest day as I'm going to visit my parents. Sunday I'm visiting my grandma, but not until mid-afternoon as my dad is not a morning person. So I'm thinking I can get in a workout around noon in my home gym, and still have plenty of time to get to my grandma's facility which is about 45 minutes away.

I don't think I'll be able to take many walks in the near future though as there's more rain in the forecast. Rain today, Sunday, and Monday according to the weather report. I was hoping to get outdoors more on my long weekend, but that's not looking like it's going to happen.
 
We had a great bike ride.It's 25c but there was a lovely cooling breeze.It was nice just to wear a t-shirt and leggings.I was laughing to myself earlier.I was altering some bootlace straps on a couple of vests.I had previously had them knotted as they drooped in front.So I thought I'd do them "properly".Hahaha They'd have be better left in knots.I thought "Cat would be horrified and would disown me". But at least I tried eh? There's no hope for me in the sewing dept.now I'm afraid.
 
There's no harm in trying! Believe me, I fail all the time when I sew, you'd laugh if you could see some of the silly mistakes I make. But I always try to make sure to figure out what I did wrong, so that I (hopefully) don't make that same mistake again. And that's why I buy a lot of cheap clothes at garage sales, thrift shops, etc. If I try to alter a garment but fail miserably in some way, at least I'm not out a lot of money. So I'd say keep trying! I promise I will not disown you. :) And I'm encouraged that you tried in the first place.

Change in plans already. I'm not going to the gym today. A little while ago I had a horrendous gut cramp! It was very strong and painful and came on out of nowhere. I ran to the bathroom and passed a bunch of gas but only a tiny bit of stool. It seems to be over now, but my guts feel tender and sore (I don't think they were fully healed yet from last week's bout of pain). So, I'm going to rest and stay out of the gym in an effort to heal my stupid guts. I don't know why that cramp happened, fortunately it was only one. But I didn't eat anything that would have upset my guts. Maybe I did overdo things with taking 2 walks yesterday? I'm not sure. Ugh, frustrating. But I'll be good and do what's best and rest. Will re-assess in a day or two. I accept that my guts are the boss of what I do. I don't have to like it, but I accept it. My guts say rest, so I'll rest.
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
It is definitely taking too much time, I think we found out in February about the merger and it was April when we were actually merged, and now it's nearly June and we still don't know much of anything. My boss has been trying to find out more info, but she was basically told that upper management has no comment at this time. Ugh. It's been months of stress and not knowing what's going to happen. It's really not a good situation to be in at all. I just want to know one way or the other. If I'm out of a job, just tell me already! Ugh. Not knowing is the worst.
Click to expand...

Is there any way that you can just outright ask someone in HR if they can provide more answers? I think this is just ridiculous that they are making everyone wait. If downsizing is going to occur, you could be looking for a new job while they ride out the last months. I can't believe how some businesses treat their employees. It's not right to keep making you wait like this... :(
 
They don't know any more than we do, unfortunately (my boss checked with them - I'm sure they'd like to know too, since their jobs would also be gone if our office closes).

Normally I'm treated pretty well at work - I like just about everybody (some people have their quirks, but I at least know how to work with/around those quirks). Everybody treats me well, my boss is very nice and I like my co-workers. It's just this merger, the people keeping us in the dark aren't even in the same state as we are. Everything was fine until the merger, now everything's so uncertain. I'd rather stay with the company if possible, because I have decent insurance and I've worked here for like 14 years so I get a good amount of PTO each year. But this stress is seriously doing a number on all of us, it's just ugh right now.

Instead of the gym, on my lunch hour I did one of my favorite de-stressing things that I do when I can't exercise. I went to the craft store and bought more yarn. :p It was all on sale too! I got some really pretty yarn and it makes me happy. I also got some fabric. Hubby and I use those cheapo re-usable shopping bags that they sell at most grocery stores, but many of them are falling apart now. So I decided that I'm going to start sewing bags, as that'll be more long-lasting and sturdy, so every time we throw away a falling-apart bag, I'll sew a new one to replace it. So I got some cute green fabric (nothing too girly so that hubby will be okay with using it) and I can make at least 2 bags out of it. Hubby's car is larger and newer so we tend to use his car more when we grocery shop, and as a result his reusable bags are falling apart more. So I'll make him some new bags to use. That'll be a nice, quick weekend sewing project (not that I don't also have like 1000 other sewing projects already!).
 
Your passing gas brought to mind an article in the newspaper earlier this week.A dog owner noticed hid dog had a distended belly and was in pain.Fearing it was torsion he rushed to the vets.The vet advised an x-ray and just as he was about to start the poor dog emitted a huge amount of gas that almost felled the staff :ack: with the smell.The dog's owner was relieved, but having had to pay £200 for prep and sedation,said "That's got to be the most expensive fart in history".
 
Last edited:
Cat a tonic.. Just an off topic question, since i did read a lot of posts of u out of interst in my simular case. Did u have a positive calprotectin test?
 
Kenvh, no, my calprotectin came back at 49 and they told me that anything 50 or over was considered a "positive" result. So I was just on the borderline, and I was on steroids at the time (budesonide), so I'm wondering if I would have had a positive result if I hadn't been on steroids.
 
Ow yeah, definitly. Budosonide brings the levels ways down if ur inflammation is on that spots where budosonide works, wich is ileum and first colon part mainly. Dont u reconsider taking another sample without meds?? Does budosonide help u a lot?? Where do u have pressure and pain? I get attacks that i can feel my intestine burn. One or two fingers under navel belly button. I had calprotectin 277, 48 and 141. So its not because there is a negative one that it cant raise again. Its a sample of that moment of inflammation. It goes up and down all the time.
 
Cat a tonic.. What are ur basic symptoms.
Mine are..
Burning pain at intestines when inflammaion hits.
diarrheah or constipation
Gurgling
Night sweats.. Specially when flaring.. Also burning intestine then and rumbling.
Fatigue
Dizzyness .. Altough its probally meniers syndrome. I got tinnitus pressure ears and more.
Nausea

Do u get stiff sore intestines after having a lot of burning going on?
Its like multiple big spots for me. Can u relate?
 
Kenvh, my symptoms are pretty similar to yours when I'm flaring. I get a lot of diarrhea (10, 20, sometimes even 30+ times per day). Abdominal pain, especially in the lower abdomen - feels like it's mainly in the colon. Lots of cramps, urgency, nausea. Dizziness and weakness, and fatigue. I get night sweats, sometimes I have blood in the stool, unintentional weight loss, being woken in the night with pain or urgency. I also have extra intestinal manifestations, in particular I have arthritis in both hips.

Yes, I definitely will get another calprotectin test done next time I flare. I don't want to test it again right away because I'm still on steroids from my flare that started last year in August - I'm on prednisone and having a hard time coming off of it. Budesonide worked well for me for multiple flares over the past few years but then it didn't work for my flare that started last year. I ended up being hospitalized back in August because I had lost 17 lbs in a month and I wasn't able to digest anything - even eating one banana sent me running to the bathroom 10+ times. It was the most severe flare I've ever had, and I think budesonide just wasn't strong enough for it. So at that point they hospitalized me for 5 days, they put me on IV steroids and a liquid elemental diet, and when I was discharged I did the liquid elemental diet for 2 weeks and went from IV steroids to oral prednisone. I'm doing a lot better now than I was but I'm still struggling to get off of pred. I had started at 40 mg and I'm down to 6.5 mg now so I'm getting there, slowly but surely.

Fitness update: I didn't lift weights at all but I did take several walks during the long weekend. I also did some yard work which was pretty exhausting. I'm hoping to get back into lifting weights at some point this week. It's looking like more rain for a good chunk of the week, so I'll try to get out for walks when the weather cooperates, but I might be stuck indoors for the most part. I might get my rowing machine out, it's a bit taxing on the abdominal muscles which can in turn make my guts unhappy, but it's usually okay as long as I don't overdo it. Sometimes I'll just do rowing for 20 minutes or so while I'm watching TV in the evenings, so I'm planning to start doing that again on days when it's rainy.

Carol, you'd be proud, I did a lot of sewing over the weekend. :) A lot of it was just fixing things that needed repairing, which isn't very fun to sew so I had put it off and ended up with a rather large pile of stuff that needed repairs. So yesterday I sat myself down and just did a whole bunch of repairing. I hemmed a pashmina scarf that was fraying, I put patches in hubby's jeans that had holes, I fixed a couple of straps on tops and on a dress. I also made a couple of things new - I sewed hubby a new tote for grocery shopping, and I made myself a skirt. And I also went through my fabric and planned out what I'm going to sew next. Hubby's going to be out of town working at a convention for the entirety of this coming weekend, so I'll have a whole weekend to myself and I'm really looking forward to that. I'm going to do so much sewing and crocheting! :p Hah, I'm such an introvert and I really look forward to having some alone time. I'm not going out, I'm not seeing friends nor family, I'm staying in and enjoying the blissful quiet. I surely will venture out to grocery shop and walk Lily, but that'll be about the only times I leave the house.
 
Well done you,for catching up on the sewing.You put me to shame.although I will say I never allow stuff to mount up.But that's because I don't work of course.You're very like me in the introvert way.I love my own company,but alas don't really have any time alone,due to hubby being retired.But I also love him and we don't have a problem spending all our time together.Good Idea of yours,having a row in front of the TV.Just take it easy,you don't have to win the race.We had a cycle today.Hubby said "you need a waterproof,it's going to rain" I should know better than to take notice of him.Half an hout into the ride,I was sweating like a Sumo,so I had to take it off,I had a black t-shirt with a big silver butterfly on,not very sporty.It was breezy and cool,but very refreshing.
 
Yes, I'm similar with my hubby. Most people exhaust me but he doesn't, I can spend all my time with him and be perfectly happy. But I also do really enjoy just being alone.

Yeah, my life is hectic with work and pets and hubby and hobbies, so things do sometimes pile up. And a pile of mending/repairs is just not fun, and also not urgent, so it sat for awhile. I'll never not have a sewing pile, there will always be things to sew! But the pile had grown bigger lately so I decided to tackle a bunch of it.

And it's a good thing I have sewing to keep my mind off of things, ugh. Work is becoming even more stressful. I think that at least one of my projects is being reassigned to someone else (not in my office). All the signs seem to be pointing to the fact that my job is probably going away soon. I really think they're going to shut down our office and lay us all off. It's so scary. I hate the thought of it! Wish I could take a walk today to combat that stress, but of course more rain is on the way. Ugh.

In addition to wanting to get back into weights this week, I think I'm also going to try to have a punching bag session this week. I need to offload some stress! And punch something!
 
Ugh. The stress is doing a number on my guts, again. I have had 3 or 4 bathroom trips already this morning. Guts are not happy. I'm dialing things back, no plans to weight lift now, I'm just hoping to walk as much as I can this week. The weather looks good for today & tomorrow, so I'm planning lunch hour walks both days. I need to escape to the forest and just breathe in the calm peacefulness and breathe out the bad stress. The Japanese have a phrase which translates to "forest bathing", which literally means go to the forest and just take it all in, bathe yourself with nature and calm and quietude. I'm definitely doing that as much as I can. That sounds like just what I need.

My peaceful weekend is getting slightly more eventful but that's okay. My aunt (who has Crohn's) and my uncle are going to be in town, I haven't seen them in well over a year. So I'm going to try to see them at some point over the weekend. My aunt is the one family member who truly "gets" what I go through with my illness - and she's not even a blood relative, she's married to my mom's brother so she's an aunt by marriage. But she's still family and she gets me and I get her. So we'll hang out, hopefully.
 
I had my walk and it was lovely. The weather was gorgeous, the sun was shining, there are all sorts of pretty purple flowers blooming in the forest, and there were lots of birds and butterflies going about their business. It was really nice. I'm hoping to have another walk tomorrow, the weather is still looking good for that day. Unfortunately though it then looks like rain on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Ew. :p It's been raining so much lately! I'm getting pretty sick of it.
 
I also walked Lily yesterday after work. That was a pretty nice walk although she was lagging quite a lot. It's getting warmer out and she doesn't like that at all. She acts like it's torture to be taken on a walk in warmer temps (not dangerous temps, just average for this time of year, warm but not hot). She loves snow & cold, and she really hates summer and heat. Poor Lily!

And I had a lunch hour walk today. After my 2 walks yesterday, I felt quite tired and a bit achey, so I had a bath with epsom salts yesterday evening. I'm not sure if the epsom salts actually helps or if it's just the heat of the bath water that makes me feel better, but at any rate, the bath helped and I feel much less achey today. Not sure if I'm going to walk Lily again tonight, I might give her a rest day as it is warmer out today than it was yesterday. Plus I don't want to make myself achey again.

Diet-wise I'm still trying to stick to a modified version of low-FODMAP with an emphasis on trying to eat a Japanese-style diet, which is easier said than done. I tried making myself spring rolls for lunch today (not the fried kind), but the wrappers stuck together and they all sort of fell apart when I tried to get them unstuck from each other. So that was sort of a fail (I ended up eating them with a fork). Now I know why the Japanese use those little green divider things in bento and sushi style lunches. I'm going to go to the Japanese market soon and look for those and also look for mirin, which I need to make ramen eggs. Yum! (They're hard-boiled eggs with a slightly runny yolk and they're then marinated in soy sauce and mirin - which is sake/rice-based cooking wine. They're delicious by themselves or in ramen). So, I'm learning from my mistakes and improving at packing healthy lunches. It's a work in progress for sure.
 
I found mirin at the Japanese market (it's a teeny tiny little shop but it's the only Japanese shop in town). I don't think I'll have time tonight, but I'm hoping to try to make ramen eggs at some point over the weekend. Hubby has gone out of town for work and he won't be back until Sunday evening, so I will have lots of time to myself, but there's lots to do too. My aunt and 2 uncles are coming to visit me tomorrow - it's my mom's 2 brothers and the younger brother's wife (she has Crohn's). My mom's older brother, he has dementia so he doesn't get out much as he can't drive anymore. His dementia is much different than my grandma's, his is much more spatial (he gets lost easily). But, at xmas he was so pleased with himself because he could remember that I have a cat and that my cat's name is Lydia. So he asked me 3 or 4 times how Lydia is doing, and each time I could see on his face how happy he was that he could remember such things. And then when my aunt told him that they'll pick him up and bring him with to my house and that he can see Lydia, he was apparently overjoyed!

So I'll see the 3 of them tomorrow. But that means that tonight and tomorrow morning, I have to clean my house. Of course hubby left it in quite a state, he's been doing some crafts of his own but he never cleans up afterwards. So I have to clean up his mess, plus he hasn't done his usual chores because he's going out of town, so I have to do all that too (he usually does the dishes but now I have to) plus my own chores (vacuuming, laundry). I'm not super happy about that. I work full-time and I always find the time to take care of my chores, so I get grumpy when he uses work as an excuse to not do his chores. He could have done the dishes and tidied up before going out of town. Hmph.

Fitness-wise, I'm going to squeeze in workouts where I can. I'm feeling pretty good today and I think I'd like to do a weights workout today. So I'm planning to hit the little gym on my lunch hour. Then I might take Lily on a quick walk after work if I have enough energy, and then after that I'll clean my house! Phew! That sounds like a lot. I'll skip the walk if need be, I don't want to overdo things. But I think I can manage that. I hope. :p
 
Cat,you made me feel tired just reading your post !!! If you get done all that you're planning, you deserve a medal.I've been a wee bit out of sorts the last couple of days.I have been out and about though (after lunch).Yesterday I managed an 8 mile bike ride,again after lunch.I'm planning a quiet weekend with my book.I'll think of you.
 
Thanks Ken! I'm glad you enjoy my nonsensical ramblings, ha ha.

Ha ha, thanks Carol. :p I feel like I have more energy and focus when it's just me by myself - that's the magical power of introversion, I guess. So I tend to plan more when I know I'll be alone. I should have added in my post above that the weather report changed a bit, it's apparently now not going to rain today after all. Which is why I'm now tentatively planning to walk with Lily in addition to everything else. I feel like I have to take advantage of the nice, non-rainy days when I'm feeling well enough to do so. So I might overdo things a bit, but hopefully tomorrow I'll still be feeling okay enough when my aunt and uncles visit. And then after the visit, I can relax somewhat. My chores will have already been done, and the rain will have started by then, so after the visit I can relax and rest a bit - maybe I'll crochet or sew, or maybe I'll just play video games or watch movies. I won't be busy all weekend, I swear! Just busy for the first part of the weekend.
 
Hmmm. I had my weights workout and for the most part I felt pretty good. But right at the end, as I was doing my stretches and my cool-down, I had some disconcerting lower abdominal pain. Feels like the same pain that sidelined me a couple of weeks ago. That's a bit frustrating. I had let my GI know about the pain, and he advised me to take tylenol, which was zero percent helpful. But maybe he'll take more notice if I let him know that it's apparently now a recurring pain.

Because of the pain, I'm now thinking I won't walk Lily after work. I'll just do my best to clean the house and I'll rest if need be. I'm already feeling a bit better, it's eased up quite a bit, but it's worrying nonetheless and I don't want to push myself. So yeah. Slightly frustrated but trying to work with/around this odd pain.
 
I would make a note of the pain Cat, and what you were doing when it came on.
You probably do that already.Also,note if the Tylenol doesn't help.Enjoy your visit with your family.
 
Yeah, I let my GI know. I'm sure a lot of it is stress-related as I've had a lot of stress lately, but I need to be functional so that I can go to work and receive more stress... wait, no, that's not it...

It's been a rough weekend. I woke up yesterday and today with my guts very unhappy, bad mornings both days. I had more than my usual number of bathroom trips and a couple of them were just pure liquid. Still having some pain and just generally feeling unwell. It's been quite warm here, so warm that I had to put on the central air conditioning just so that I could sit with my heating pad on my belly without overheating. My aunt and uncles and I went out for sushi for a late lunch yesterday, but I still wasn't feeling very well so I barely ate anything. You know I'm not doing well when I can't even eat sushi! Ugh.

Today I wasn't going to leave the house, but then I did. I reached out to an old friend to offer her my support, because I knew generally speaking that she wasn't doing well, and then I found out that she actually has cancer. Double ugh. That stopped my pity party that I was having for myself in its tracks. You know me, I crochet, so I did what I could - I brought her a blanket, a hat, and a scarf. That felt totally inadequate, like I really wish I could just tell her it's going to be okay, but I can't do that and all I could do was give her a blanket instead. And I cried with her a bit and gave her like 5 hugs. She's having surgery this coming week so I'll be worrying about her until (and after) that.

So, I switched from crying about myself to crying about my friend. All in all a pretty tough weekend both physically and emotionally. I think I'm doing a little better this afternoon, but I think I thought that yesterday afternoon too. So we'll see what tomorrow morning brings and go from there. The very hot weather is fortunately supposed to cool down a bit to more normal temps, so I'm hoping to do some walking this week as apparently weight lifting is just not happening for me these days. At least I can walk without an increase in pain, I can't say the same about weights right now. So we'll see. If I have to rest some more, then I'll rest some more. There's always more crocheting to do.
 
So,not a good weekend.I think,if I were you,I would try to NOT plan things,and just see what turns up.Sad news about your friend,and I agree,what can you say that will make it better.I've been in that situation, and it's best to just listen and advise them to get through one day at a time.I'm not feeling 100% either.This will be the third day in a row that I haven't been out.The weather today is just awful,so I'm quite happy to be indoors.
 
I'm doing a little bit better today. Still had a pretty rough morning, but I pushed myself to go into work anyway. And I think I will survive the work day without going home early. I decided to stop at the store on my way to work and pick up a snack, in the hopes that I might have an appetite at some point today. Teddy grahams (not sure if you have those in the UK, but they're tiny graham crackers shaped like bears) were the only thing that sounded good to me. So I bought a box of the chocolate chip ones and I've eaten a small handful of them, and I still feel okay. I still don't really have much appetite, but at least I'm able to eat a little something.

Our weather is looking to be nice all week, so of course it's frustrating that I'm still not feeling so great. I don't think a walk is happening today, I just don't have the energy. I lost 1.5 lbs over the weekend and I have barely eaten, so my energy levels are way down just because of that. Once I'm able to eat a bit more normally (and digest a bit more normally), then I'll think about taking a walk. For now I'm still in resting mode when I'm not at work.
 
It's still raining here.Have cleaned out and tidied the fridge and freezer and am going for a big grocery shop,in the car.Looks like the rain will be here for a good few days,so no cycling for me.Hubby's out now dodging the showers,but he will find shelter,whereas I would rather push on and get home.I mean,who knows how long you'd have to stand under a tree or in a bus shelter ?
 
Cat a tonic... How many days do u work in a week? U work full days? How many days do u call sick and how many days do u leave early at work?
I wonder if i should do the same thing when im back to work.
The fatigue and pain is too overwelming most of the time
 
Ken, I work full-time, 40 hours a week (5 days a week, 8 hour days). I work an office job so I sit a lot and it doesn't drain too much of my energy, although my job has been stressful lately because they might close our office. I tend to call in sick anywhere from 1 to 5 days per month, depending on how I'm feeling of course. I'm in the US and we have a thing here called Family Medical Leave, which basically says that your employer can't punish or fire you for taking time off to care for either a sick family member or to care for yourself and your own serious illness. I'm not sure if there are things like that in other countries or not.

Carol, I don't blame you there, I also hate bicycling in the rain, that's just miserable. Oddly enough I kind of like walking in the rain, just because it reminds me of Japan. We walked so much in Japan, no matter the weather, and I actually have some really good memories of walking around Tokyo and Kyoto in the rain. But, I don't walk Lily in the rain, because she hates it.

Speaking of Lily, the weather is gorgeous today. I'm either going to take a lunch hour walk or walk Lily after work, I haven't decided which yet. My guts are still slightly iffy but a lot better than they were the past few days, and I have somewhat of an appetite again. So I'll see how I'm feeling in a few hours when it's lunchtime and will go from there.

I shouldn't spend money with my iffy job situation, but it was a hard few days, so yesterday after work I went to the store and I bought myself chocolates (dark chocolate peanut butter cups, yum!), and flowers (yellow and fuchsia, which is a very striking color combination), and cheese (goat brie and goat gouda). I guess I needed a lot of treats to reward myself for surviving a tough few days! And now I'm thinking that the next blanket that I crochet, I want to make it in yellow and fuchsia. I've been inspired. :)
 
I ended up taking 2 walks yesterday. I was feeling a bit sad and just wanted to get outdoors and do some walking. So I walked on my lunch hour, and I walked Lily after work too. That was mostly nice, although there was a really drunk guy in the dog park (I've seen him before and he was drunk then too - yesterday he actually had an open bottle of beer with him and smelled strongly of alcohol, and was yelling and slurring his words - fun). Fortunately hubby was with me, so I didn't feel very nervous, and our neighbor who has corgis was there too, so the 3 of us together tried to avoid the drunk guy as much as we could.

I'm feeling sad because my friend is having her cancer surgery today and I'm worried for her. Today is a big, scary day for her. And on a less personal note, one of my favorite singers overdosed and seems to be in a coma (I listen to a lot of Korean pop, so this is a Korean singer, who goes by the name of Top - he's had a rough time lately in the media and it sounds like he attempted suicide). So those situations together made me sad. Walking helped a bit. But I'm back to being sad this morning. Waiting to hear news about my friend and about Top too. Hope they're both okay.

I think I'm going to take another after work walk with Lily today, but no lunch hour walk this time. I'm going to treat myself to a bit of shopping and sushi instead on my lunch break. Tomorrow I'm going shopping too, because tomorrow is $2 pants day, which as you know I look forward to like it's xmas. :p Friday they're saying scattered thunderstorms, but if the weather holds then I'll try for another lunch hour walk. It's supposed to be super warm (like 92 degrees F!) on the weekend, so I'm thinking I'll mostly stay indoors in the air conditioning! Although I could try out my pool float at the lake, just float around near the beach. And I was invited to my uncle's birthday party, which apparently is being held outdoors on Saturday afternoon, so I'll be out in the heat for at least a little bit I guess.
 
That singer I like, he regained consciousness a few hours ago! The reports coming out of Korea are saying he's much improved. Phew! No news yet about my friend's cancer surgery, but it was pretty major surgery so I'm sure she's focused on just getting through the worst of the pain & recovery right now.

I didn't do any walking yesterday. I might walk Lily this evening, although they're now saying scattered thunderstorms tonight. Hmph. I saw so many people on bicycles yesterday, it really made me want to ride my bike. But I'm afraid of making my body angry again, so I didn't. I kind of hate that, when my body dictates what I do (and don't do). Frustrating.

My guts are doing a lot better although now they're pretty constipated because I took a few zofrans when I wasn't feeling well. Other than that, I'm feeling okay. Still not brave enough to weight lift nor ride my bike, though. For now I'm just going to continue to walk as much as I can as that is pretty safe and gut-friendly.
 
Cat a tonic. A lot of things u say i can reflect myself on. Really.
The body dictating what u will do today.. A walk or riding the bike.
I try to walk everyday. It makes me feel human again. Or a bit at least.
Its funny u mentioned the statement of not getting fired policy and medical leave.
I have a simular thing in this country. I will not abuse it. But i wont feel bad again for using it!! I got 4 immune diseases now wich is enough.
 
Ken, yes, I try to never feel bad or guilty for having to call in sick, either. I don't abuse it either but when I do need it, I try not to feel bad about it. Yes, walking makes me feel good too. The more I walk, the better I feel (usually).

Wow, yes, 4 illnesses is enough! I think I have 3 right now - presumed IBD, and I also have severe GERD and I have arthritis in both hips. Not sure which type of arthritis, my GP said osteo but I saw a rheumatologist who said inflammatory. So who knows. I think 3 is enough for me!
 
Cat a tonic, that seems also enough if u ask me.
I wonder..do u also have almost vomiting sensations?
2 out of 3 meals i got this. Almost immediatly i have vomiting sensation.

If u have a flare at night, and couldnt sleep... Do u call sick in the morning?
Do u also got hot flashes troughout the day?
 
Ken, I get a lot of nausea sometimes, but not after 2 out of 3 meals like you describe. I tend to get nausea first thing in the mornings, I have no appetite and sometimes even have a hard time packing my lunch bag because it's hard to look at food in the mornings. Usually I'm feeling better by afternoon, though.

I don't really get hot flashes, but I do get night sweats when I'm flaring. Usually cold sweats but sometimes hot sweats too. Yes, if I flare at night and can't sleep, then I usually call in sick to work. Having a flare itself drains my energy, and if I didn't sleep well on top of that then I'm likely to be absolutely worthless at work, so it's best in those situations for me to call in sick and try to get some sleep and recover as much as I can.

Carol, you're going to laugh at me. :p Today was $2 pants day, and I had my best haul ever - I came away with 13 items! 2 skirts, 1 pair of fleece-lined leggings (for winter - I wear them under a skirt when I go ice skating), and 10 pairs of trousers for work. I've gained some weight thanks to pred, and went up a pants size. But not all brands of pants are the same size, even if the label all says size 8. The past few $2 pants days, I've tried on tons of size 8 pants and almost none of them actually fit me, which was very discouraging. But I know there's one brand which is both good quality and fits true to size - a size 8 fits me perfectly in that brand. And they had tons of that brand in the store today! So I bought them all. I tried them all on to make sure they all fit, and they all fit perfectly and look really cute too. That was such a great boost of self-esteem! It's so frustrating when things don't fit, even when the label says they should, so today was pretty excellent that I found so much that does fit. Now I just need to keep my job and I can actually wear all those pants to the office, ha ha. :p
 
Ah that's excellent Cat.13 items,wow.We also have "size" differences over here,but being "vertically challenged" ( ie: short) I always have to take hems up.Sometimes I'll take them to the seamstress in the shopping centre,but mostly I use iron on hemming tape.And no matter how hard I try,which I usually don't,I can't cut a straight line for toffee.We managed a bike ride today.I was really unwell early on,but I made the effort and I'm glad I did.My sofas are being delivered tomorrow,so we might not get out unless they come early......kenvh,I often feel terribly nauseous,but it's usually through bad B.M. pain and not due to food.And I also get terrible sweats at the same time.Today was one of those days.
 
Carol, can I ask how tall you are? I'm 5'8" which is not especially tall for a woman, but I guess just tall enough, as sometimes pants aren't quite long enough for my legs. I'm the shortest one in my family though - my brother is the tallest, he's 6'6"! Fortunately though the pants I bought yesterday are all long enough. But, I'm going to have to do a whole bunch of sewing anyway. :p Women's dress trousers never have proper pockets, they're always tiny or faux pockets, so I always take a bit of fabric and extend (or create) pockets. So now I've got 10 pairs of pants' worth of pocket-extending to sew! I was thinking of mostly staying in on Sunday anyway, as it's going to be very warm that day, so I think I'll stay in the air conditioning and do a bunch of sewing.

Million dollar idea: Make women's dress trousers that have actual proper pockets! Make them fit well, run true to size, be flattering no matter the shape of the woman, and make them have real pockets that can hold actual things in them, and you'd make a fortune.

Tomorrow is shaping up to be a busy day. I've been invited to my uncle's birthday party in another city which is about a 90 minute drive away. And, my grandma's facility is about halfway in between me and my uncle's house. So I'm thinking that I might leave earlier in the day and see my grandma in the late morning for a bit, then have a picnic lunch, and then head over to my uncle's party. It's going to be quite warm out though so I don't know if doing that much is wise. I'd be indoors in the air conditioning at my grandma's, but then my picnic lunch and my uncle's party would both be outdoors. It's going to be like 90 degrees F which is very warm, and it'll probably be humid too. My guts tend to hate heat and humidity, and the longer I'm out in the heat & humidity, the worse I tend to feel. So, maybe I should just skip the visit and the picnic and head straight for the party later in the afternoon. I don't know. I really do want to see my grandma though. So I'm torn on what to do. I guess I always do have Sunday to recover, if my guts knock me down for hanging out outside in the warm weather.

At any rate, I probably won't take any walks over the weekend. It's supposed to be a heat wave for 4 or 5 days at least, ugh. I'll be indoors in the air conditioning for the most part.
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
Ken, I get a lot of nausea sometimes, but not after 2 out of 3 meals like you describe. I tend to get nausea first thing in the mornings, I have no appetite and sometimes even have a hard time packing my lunch bag because it's hard to look at food in the mornings. Usually I'm feeling better by afternoon, though
Click to expand...

Have you ever been tested for gastroparesis? I just saw my new GI doctor and described very similar symptoms and she said it sounds like GP and is sending me for a gastric emptying study.
 
I haven't been tested for gastroparesis. I don't think I have it, I suspect it's just another fun IBD symptom, but it probably is best to at least rule out gastroparesis if nothing else.
 
Enjoy your weekend Cat.It's pouring with rain here so I'll be at home all day,enjoying my new sofas.It was such a faff getting them in,but the guys were very nice about it,and I gave them a tip.Didn't need to as the delivery charge was almost £80,but it was worth it.
I am a giddy 5ft 2ins and shrinking with age,so you can see why I need to shorten pants.And although I'm not overweight I have always had a struggle to keep in shape.Another six ins on my legs would have been nice.But you have to be happy with what you're given.
 
Yes, I have a friend who is only 4'10" and she has a really hard time with weight. An extra lb on her is so much more than an extra lb on a taller person, any extra weight is much more noticeable on her because there's such little area for the weight to go compared to a taller person. So I definitely understand that as I've seen my friend struggle a lot with that.

I mostly stayed in all weekend as it was ridiculously warm and humid out, and my guts just do not like that. Fortunately, the birthday party on Saturday got moved indoors into the air conditioning! Phew! I was a bit worried about that. It was my uncle's birthday, and he had really wanted to sit outdoors, but it was just too warm outside. We would have been miserable. I also saw my grandma on Saturday morning before the party, and she kept trying to hold my hand but then she'd exclaim that my hands are so cold - I had the air conditioning on in the car, and I had to crank it up because of how warm it was out, so my hands got really cold! :p

Sunday, I also mostly stayed in. I did a whole bunch of sewing - got all my pants pockets sewed! Now I have 10 new pairs of pants that I can wear to work, yay! And 2 of them are capris, so I'm wearing one of those today already (dressy capris are allowed at work, and it's still too warm out to wear long pants).

I'd love to take a walk, but it's going to be ridiculously warm and humid for another few days at least. They're saying that the humidity will go down probably on Thursday, and the heat should go down somewhat shortly after that. So maybe Thursday I'll take a walk. Until then, I'm going to continue to stay indoors as much as I can. I don't want to make my guts mad, they start to cramp like crazy if I'm out in the heat/humidity for too long.
 
The weather has spontaneously become a little nicer! We had pretty strong thunderstorms from yesterday evening until this morning (poor Lily, she was not happy). The rain seems to have cooled things down, it's only about 80 degrees F here which is still a bit warmer than I'd like, but it was supposed to be 90+ F so it's cooler than it was supposedly going to be. I'm going to head out for a walk shortly! I didn't think I'd get to take a walk today, but I'm feeling pretty well and the weather is actually cooperating, so I'm going to take advantage of it.

I'm hoping to get as many walks in as I can before Friday. I'm going to taper my pred that day and I'm just not looking forward to it. I'll be going down to 6 mg, and the last several times I've gotten that low, I've flared up again. You know how they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly but expecting different results? Well, I guess by that definition I've gone insane. :p But I have to get off of the darn pred, so I have to try. I've been on 6.5 mg for just over a month now, so it's time to try. Ugh. I'm not excited by the prospect at all though.
 
I had my walk. It was good, but still too warm for me! And VERY humid. At first it was overcast, so it was humid but I could handle it because it wasn't too terribly warm, but then the sun came out. I was sweating buckets after that! Fortunately my guts feel okay still, but I became a sweaty mess. :p
 
the weathers the same here today so we're going along the coast on the bikes hoping for a cool breeze.We cycle up to the Marina yesterday which was good.Just a few cyclists and dog walkers about so nice and quiet.there is a lovely park over the road from the Marina with ponds and meadows and seats where we have a break.I'm very lucky to have such a variety of places to go very close by.Even the shops are only a 10min walk although the outlets are about 3miles and the city (Newcastle) is about 8mle.It's about 20 yrs since I visited the city,if not more.
 
Sounds like some lovely options for bike riding! I also have some good options, the zoo and the arboretum are only about 2 miles from my house, and there are several lakes and a creek that I can ride alongside of. There are at least 3 grocery stores I can ride to. And of course my favorite place to ride to is the gym, which is something like 3.5 miles away. Although I haven't gotten on my bike lately due to my guts and the weather, but I'd love to have a bike ride soon.

It's looking like today and tomorrow are still going to be too hot and humid. And then on Friday I taper my pred. So I might not be able to do exercise for the next little while, depending on how my guts respond to the taper. Fortunately I have plenty of craft projects to work on if my guts rebel against the taper. I'm really not looking forward to tapering!
 
I think it's sensible to take it easy for a day or two when you do your pred. decrease.
It seems to be going OK so best not to jeopardise things.It'll be worth it.
We didn't get out on the bikes today.Got a call to say the new rug was ready to collect,called in at the auction house and did a shop at the retail park.posh food,well a step up from the supermarket,and 2 pairs of jeans and a pair of PJs.It's quite warm and will be for a few days.Deffo going cycling tomorrow as docs appt. on Friday.
 
Good luck on Friday! Sounds like your decorating is going well if you now have the couches and new rug. Yes, I'm definitely going to take it easy for a few days at least, and I'm tapering on Friday so that I'll have the weekend to rest if it goes badly. It's finally looking like Sunday might be nice weather - not too warm and not raining. So, if I'm feeling like a human on Sunday, I might see about taking a walk. If not, I'll just rest.

Funny you should mention new pajamas, I have a sewing pattern for pajamas and some really cute fabric, so I am hoping to make those soon. I also just bought some new socks - all the warm winter socks just went on clearance, so I got a bunch for cheap. Obviously I don't need them right now, but I'll need them soon enough.
 
I didn't do any exercise yesterday but I did a bunch of crafts. I've been working on sewing shopping bags - the reusable bags that they sell at most grocery stores seem to fall apart after a year or two of normal use. I feel like fabric bags would last longer and are cuter too. :p So I've been sewing some bags for myself and that's going quite well. I made 2 cute bags yesterday (red & white fabric with rainbow handles). I also framed some clovers. I find a lot of 4 leaf clovers (and sometimes 5+ leaf clovers) when I'm walking with Lily - that's one of the benefits of exercise that they never tell you about, ha ha. So I collect a lot of lucky clovers and press them in books, and when they've dried, I put them in little picture frames with scrapbook paper as the background. They're really cute. I've given them away as gifts and have sold a few online too. So I made a handful of those yesterday evening while I was watching TV.

It's still looking too hot today & tomorrow (plus more storms tomorrow) to do any walking, ugh. Tomorrow's taper day, so I'm just going to distract myself some more with crafts - up next, I'm going to finish crocheting a hat, frame more clovers, and take in a really cute trench coat that I got for $5 which is just slightly too big on me. The coat is a bit too long too, so I'm thinking I'm going to hem it. It's going to be really cute when it's done! You know when you try something on and it's like, this has so much potential and would be so cute if only ______. Well, with sewing I can fill in that blank and bring out the potential. I love doing that!

Also on my sewing pile is to make that pair of pajamas, make a dress, make a fleece hoodie, and make a chopsticks holder. I bought a cute fabric handmade chopsticks holder when I was in Japan, and I just love it, and I think I could make one myself. So much sewing to do! Hopefully that'll distract me away from whatever my body does the next few days in reaction to the taper...
 
Ha! :p I feel like that stuff is so relaxing, it doesn't take much energy at all. I did my sewing and clover framing while sitting in my comfy chair and watching TV yesterday (I have a small TV next to my 2 sewing machines, and I have a comfy wingback chair that I sit in to sew). That's the stuff I do to unwind. :p
 
I'm a big reader.I've never been without a good read all of my adult life.But as you know,me and arty-farty don't go hand in hand.But it's good that we're all different otherwise we'd still be wearing animal skins.
 
I like to read a lot as well, especially when I'm feeling unwell. I like reading about people having adventures. I also have a touch of schadenfreude and I like reading about people whose lives are much worse than mine! Eek. Lately I've been focusing on the latter, I've been reading about the West Memphis 3 and in particular about Damien Echols. He spent 18 years on death row for murders that he did not commit, so his life story is fascinating and tragic. He's a gifted writer and wrote 2 memoirs, so I'm reading the first one now and I have the second one ready to go once I finish reading this one. What have you been reading lately, Carol?

I officially tapered this morning. It's still too early to say how it's going to go. I'm determined not to go back up in dosage. But that might mean that rough times are ahead. As usual, I'm just trying to distract myself away from even thinking about that possibility. Hubby and I have a busy day planned tomorrow - we're going to go to some garage sales, we're going to the book store, and we're going to the comic book store. Then at some point later in the day we're going to see a movie. And of course I'll be sewing at some point too or working on framing more clovers. Hubby works on Sunday, so I'll walk Lily if the weather is okay and if I'm feeling okay, and I'll do a lot more sewing and other crafts that day.
 
Cat,we have a "what books have you been reading" thread.I know lots of folk will be interested in your reads.I like social history'like you,about people worse off than I am.I also like travel books.I love Bill Bryson and have read most of his books in the last 20yrs.I've even been re-buying them from the market,to read again.We're just back from a cycle ride,about 5 miles.I was in town this morning for a docs.apt.(walked) and I got a nice jacket from the charity shop.It's a spring/autumn wear.Light grey with a diagonal zipper,big collar and epaulettes on the shoulders.It was £5-95p.Not sure what that is in dollars but it was CHEAP !!! I'm very pleased with it, but to be honest I really didn't need ANOTHER coat.hahaha Sounds like a good weekend for you.It's forecast very warm for hear,so I might stay indoors.
 
I went to google and found a USD to GBP converter - looks like £5.95 is about $7.61, so yes, that's still quite cheap here too. :) I didn't need another jacket either, I have several dozen at this point covering every possible weather scenario, but I just bought that long trench coat a few days ago too (the one that's slightly too big so I'm taking it in). Even though I didn't need it, you just can't go wrong with a good jacket!

I also didn't need any more craft supplies, but that didn't stop me from going to the craft store today anyway. :p I got more yarn, more fabric, and some stampers and stamp pads. I've been trying to send more cards lately, mostly thank you cards, so sometimes I use a cute stamper on the envelope. I found some really cute stampers with little birds on them today, and I already had butterfly ones. So that will help me when I'm sending out cards. I'm a bit old school at times! I like sending snail mail, I like sewing, and I like listening to record albums. Last weekend I had gone to my uncle's birthday party, and one of my other uncles brought 2 big boxes of records to give away. He asked if anybody still owns a record player, and I piped up because I actually own 4! (A regular one hooked up to the stereo speakers, a large but portable player, a smaller portable player for 45s, and a USB record player for converting albums to MP3s on the computer.) So I got to take home the 2 boxes of albums. I've been listening to them ever since, it's been really nice - there was some good stuff in there, Bowie, the Beatles, etc. Records are nice because they sort of force you to listen to the whole album - you can't just click "next" like you could on a CD or MP3 player. It sort of forces you to sit back and relax and just listen to music, ha ha. It's nice when I'm sewing or crocheting to listen to albums.
 
Ha! No comment... ;)

Seriously though, I definitely do have hoarding tendencies. My dad and grandma are both hoarders so it seems to have a genetic component. I try not to hoard. But there are things that I like buying often, like clothes and craft supplies. I do try to get rid of things as I'm bringing in new things into my house, so that it doesn't get out of control like it is with my dad and was with my grandma (now that she's in a care facility, she can only hoard what is brought in to her, so I try to bring her very little). When I'm buying new clothes, I get rid of older clothes that don't fit anymore or that I haven't worn in awhile, and with my craft supplies, I tend to give away a lot of the things I make - like, I crochet a lot of hats, scarves, and some blankets, and I give almost all of those away either as gifts or to charity. So it's not too bad. I do need to keep an eye on my hoarding tendencies, though. I know it could potentially get out of hand otherwise.

As for the record players, I just like them. :p They make me nostalgic, I listened to a lot of records when I was little. And we did get rid of about half of the records that I got from my uncle - we took them to the resale shop and it turns out that a few of them were fairly rare, so we got some nice spending money there (I promise I didn't buy any more yarn with that money, ha ha!).

I've had a so-so weekend. I slept really poorly on Friday night, and I had a pretty bad headache all day on Saturday. Not sure if that's from tapering pred? I felt extremely exhausted all day on Saturday, I even took a 2 hour nap but didn't feel any more energetic after that. And my guts were not super happy with me, although they weren't terrible either. Today has been better, my guts were not so happy in the morning but have gotten better as the day has gone on. Headache is mostly gone and I feel much more well-rested today. I didn't take a walk, but I have been active around the house. I did 2 loads of laundry, a load of dishes, I did yard work (trimmed the hedges and did little things like filled up the bird feeders), I did a bunch of sewing too. So I've been active, and not feeling too bad at all today. I'm still going to be cautious for the next few days or so. The weather has improved, though - it's no longer in the 90s F (way too hot!), it's now in the low 70s F which is so much nicer. I got a bit sweaty doing the yard work, but didn't feel like I was going to die. :p It's supposed to be similar temperatures for the next week at least, so that'll be great, but more rain is coming. So I'll see how I'm feeling and if it's raining, and will take a few walks here and there when I can.
 
25-30c here.I stayed indoors all weekend and got some reading done.I felt I really needed to make the effort to get out today so managed a bike ride early on,before it got too hot.I have a busy few days ahead with hair & doc.appts.and on Thursday the charity shop is coming for more stuff.My leather sofa,cushion covers a few ornaments and clothes etc.
That's twice he's been in a couple of months,but as I said last time,I feel liberated.Hope to get out between apts for more cycling. I hate appts.etc. interfering with my day to day routine.But needs must.
 
I googled, and it looks like 30 C is 86 F, so that's definitely warm! We've had similar and even higher temps lately, although it's fortunately finally cooled down here. I hope it cools down for you as well! I can't get anything done outside when it's that warm. And my guts really hate high heat & humidity. I hope you can get some cycling done when it's not too terribly warm out.

I did even more chores after my last message yesterday. :p I did another load of laundry, I vacuumed, took out the garbage, and went grocery shopping! Phew, all of that was pretty exhausting. Guts still feel okay for the most part so that's very good. I think I will aim to walk Lily this evening if it's not raining then (supposedly we're going to get scattered storms today).
 
It's not so warm here anymore - it's only in the 60s/low 70s F, which my guts are fine with. It's when it gets into the 80s and 90s (like it's been for the past week or so) that my guts are unhappy with. But yeah, I probably did do too many chores on Sunday!

I didn't walk yesterday. It was intermittently storming so I stayed in as I didn't want to get caught in a thunderstorm. It looks like more storms today too. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to take a walk!

Hubby is going out of town for work again all weekend, I'm so looking forward to that. I love having some alone time. Of course I'm going to sew and crochet, ha ha. :p I might also take a bike ride if I'm feeling up for it. And I'll probably take some walks too.
 
10c cooler than yesterday, thank Zeuss.Far more comfortable.Walked into town for some shopping and a haircut this morning,then did 8ml on Little Blackie this afternoon.As well as doing the laundry and ironing and doing the floors,so I'm feeling quite smug.Got a doc.apt for 9-45am tomorrow so trying not to eat too much today,so that I don't have a stressful start to the day.We're expecting heavy rain from the States tomorrow,thankyou.But it has to pass over the Pennine Hills (down the spine of the country ) to reach us,so it might fizzle out before it gets here.
 
I hope your appointment went well and hopefully the heavy rains miss you! Sorry about that, ha ha, we've had lots of rain here lately so I guess you're getting our second-hand rain. :p

Speaking of which, it's finally supposed to stop raining here, but just for today. More storms in the forecast tomorrow, ugh. I have some errands to run on my lunch break, but I'm planning to walk Lily tonight after work. I'm feeling okay and it would be nice to sneak in a walk before yet more rain comes along. So that's what I'll do, and then I guess tomorrow I'll just try to stay dry as they're predicting a lot of rain. Hopefully another walk on Friday if the weather holds out.
 
Hmmm... might have to scratch my walking plans this evening after all. It's raining! :( It wasn't supposed to rain today, this was supposedly going to be the one non-rainy day, but it's raining anyway. It was supposed to be sunny but it's cloudy. I'm very grumpy about that! It's not raining very hard, but still, it wasn't supposed to do this today. Ugh. Oh well, guess I'll stay in. Again.
 
So far so good on the taper. My guts have been a bit gassy lately but I think that's because I had some dairy the other day - even if I take one of those lactose enzyme tablets, I still get gassy when I eat dairy. Other than that, I can't complain. I'm having formed stools, pretty much no cramping, some mild nausea but only in the mornings which is typical for me anyway. I think the taper is a success! Which is quite surprising because I've tried and failed to get down to 6 mg in the past. I guess the pharmacist at the compounding pharmacy was right about tapering by 0.5 mg once per month, this seems to actually be working!

It's pouring rain today which I knew it would from the forecast. I was woken up by thunder and it looks like it's going to rain all day. So definitely no walk today. Tomorrow and the weekend are looking like no rain or at most very little rain, so I'm hoping to walk then.

Diet-wise I'm doing well (aside from the dairy gassiness). I've been packing healthy lunches for the most part and trying to stick to a Japanese-esque diet. Yesterday I had sushi and ramen eggs for lunch, yum! Although I did have pancakes for dinner. :p (I had pancakes when I was in Japan though so that counts, ha ha.) Today's lunch is homemade spring rolls - the filling is rice noodles, salmon, ginger dressing, and fresh mint from my garden. And I have been eating a lot of fruit lately too. I spent an exorbitant amount, like $8, on cherries. :p And I've already finished eating them, it only took me 3 days! I need to go to the store today and buy more cherries. I've eaten them every day lately and they don't seem to upset me at all. And they're so yummy!
 
I'm so tired today! Not sure why, I think I slept well. Sometimes though when I dream a lot, I tend to be very tired the next day. And I think I had a lot of dreams last night. I don't remember much, but I know I was dreaming just before my alarm went off, because there were people in my dream who were talking, and when my alarm went off, the people were like, "What's that? Oh, it's wake-up time!" And then I woke up. :p

I am thinking about a lunch hour walk today. I'll have to see if my energy levels have improved by then, because right now I'm dragging. But maybe getting some food in me will help, so we'll see. If I'm still dragging at lunchtime then I won't walk.

I'm so excited to have a weekend all to myself. I even bought myself a new Lego set to put together, ha ha. It came in the mail yesterday and hubby saw it and he was jealous of my cool new legos, ha ha. I also of course have plenty of yarn and fabric. So I'll be busy all weekend even if I am alone.
 
I'm still tired, but made myself take a walk anyway. I'm glad I did, it's a nice day and it was nice to be outside. The forest is filling up with butterflies and fruit now - I saw lots of wild raspberries and strawberries growing, and lots of butterflies flitting around too. There's a little creek that runs through the forest, and we've had so much rain lately that the creek has turned into a rushing river. It's usually calm but today it was not calm at all! It was quite the change. The forest seems to like all the rain, though, everything was very lush and green.

I'll probably rest up tonight. I'm hoping to feel more energetic and be more active tomorrow.
 
Yes, it definitely does! That's why I like the forest path so much, it's so much nicer than walking in the city.

I felt pretty good on Saturday morning. I ran some errands and walked Lily. I then ate something that didn't agree with me. :( Hubby was out of town all weekend, and I'm not much of a cook, so I made a pasta salad from a box. I'm not sure if it was the seasoning or what, but it did not agree at all and my guts are still unhappy with me. I've had some urgent watery d and cramping and just generally feel unwell. I mostly rested yesterday, I crocheted with my heating pad on and did not leave the house. I couldn't fall asleep easily last night, too much cramping, and I ended up calling in sick this morning. Hopefully one more day of rest will get me feeling better. Bleh.
 
Oh,oh,that's not good Cat.feel better soon.I managed to squeeze a 8ml bike ride today.I really didn't feel up to it, but rain is forecast the rest of the week,so I made the effort.I think it was because I hadn't eaten enough.Stupid me.Sometimes I forget to eat when I'm busy,and it drains my energy very quickly.
 
Not eating has a big effect on my energy levels, too. And we also have more rain in the forecast, ugh. I think by the time I'm feeling well enough to walk, it'll be raining a lot. Oh well.

On that note, I called in sick again today. I'm doing better today than yesterday, but I woke up exhausted and crampy and just not feeling well enough to drag myself into the office. I was as productive yesterday as a sick person can be - I rested in bed or on the couch and watched netflix and crocheted the whole day. I made a scarf and 3 hats! I think that's a new record for me. :p Usually it's a good day if I can finish one hat, so to finish 3 plus a scarf, that's a ton of crocheting. So I felt quite productive and worthwhile, even though I was resting. I'm not going to crochet quite as much today!

Hopefully soon I'll be feeling well enough for a walk. That's the goal, but I'm not going to push myself to walk before I'm feeling well enough to do so. I'll keep on resting as long as my body needs it.
 

Similar threads

trigunkyle
What drinks/shakes have you tried for weight gain/maintaining weight?
Replies
7
Views
826
Waldo
W
M
Muscle weakness and pain
Replies
2
Views
1K
moose185
M
N
Exercise causing me to flare-like symptoms...help!
Replies
17
Views
4K
NeverBeenEasier
N
H
Newbie. A very worried one.
Replies
2
Views
700
valleysangel92
valleysangel92
Papantoine
Neglect?
Replies
2
Views
611
Bufford
Bufford

Latest posts

Back
Top