Cat's Exercise Diary

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Update 6/29/30: I did weights at the gym last night and feel good today! Yeah! I avoided anything to do with my abdominals, skipped the abs machines, skipped the lower back machine as I can always feel my abs working hard on that one, and skipped the assisted pull-up bar as I usually feel my abs working on that one too. Did everything else and could feel my stomach getting iffy for a bit, but felt fine afterwards and feel fine today too. This is very good! :D Maybe next time I'm at the gym I'll try the assisted pull-up but will keep skipping the others, to continue easing my way back into the swing of things.

It's raining today so I'm stuck inside, can't walk the dog or do yard work. I think I'll do yoga or maybe the exercise bike. The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow so I'm hoping we'll take the kayak out. The last time I kayaked, my stomach was nice and quiet, so hopefully that trend continues. :)
 
Update 6/30/13: Well, we were hoping to take the kayak out today, but my dog is sick so for now I'm sitting home with a dog who needs to go out to have bloody diarrhea every 20 minutes or so (I can relate, poor thing). I sometimes get like "sympathy nausea" when someone else is sick, so I see my dog puking and pooping blood and it makes me feel a bit unwell myself. So I think kayaking is out, too much time investment and Lily can't come with today. I told hubby we should go to the gym later, so we'll do that instead. That'll take less time than kayaking, so we'll be able to get back to Lily sooner. Poor pooch, back to the vet tomorrow. Not sure how we're going to pay for yet another vet visit.

I didn't exercise at all yesterday either. Couldn't walk the dog due to the rain, and I got really lazy and just sat on the couch most of the day. Pampered myself a bit in the evening (colored my hair, painted my nails). I hate not doing anything, but I know that rest days are okay.
 
Oh Cat! It sounds like you are really having a rough time. I feel bad for missing all you went through last week, I was in Canada with no phone or computer!

So the weight-lifting - is it the core use that you are supposed to avoid? If you lie on the floor and do some weights it might help, to avoid the vertical strain of lifting. I have to do that if I want to do weight work because of my back. It sounds like you are like me; you know what you are not supposed to do, but there is a limit to what you will give up! I hope that both you and the poor pooch are feeling better today. Thinking of you and hoping for the best.
 
Yeah, my GI has cautioned me in the past about using my abdominal muscles too much - he felt my GERD symptoms would improve if I stopped lifting weights. Well, of course it would - I already know that my GERD is at its worst when I'm working out, particularly if I'm doing weights. But weightlifting has given me so many benefits that I feel like the pros outweigh the cons, and my GI knows that too. So, for now I am lifting weights, but avoiding using my abdominals as much as possible for now. It's impossible to avoid using them altogether, but I skip doing the abdominals machines of course, and certain other machines as well. I'm slowly easing into using my abdominals a little more every day, and so far so good there. I haven't passed blood in over a week - a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

I'm still unsure if I'm flaring - my hair is falling out a little bit, my lips are really weird (like semi-numb in the mornings, red all the time, peeling skin in the afternoons) and I'm randomly having some d at times, it doesn't seem to be related to what I eat. I don't know if this is a flare - I know Crohn's can affect the mouth/lips, but I've never had lip involvement before. So is this something new? Or just a really atypical flare? In a typical flare I'd have d like 20+ times a day, and I'm only going 2 or 3 times a day lately. So I really have no idea!

I see the rheumatologist for the first time next week. I'll be interested to see what he has to say about my exercise regimen. Hopefully he gives me the green light to do what I want in the gym - okay, I pretty much do what I want anyway, but I guess I mean that hopefully he'll say that exercise is doing me more good than harm, and that if I'm bleeding then my GI should investigate the cause rather than tell me not to lift weights.

I did hit the gym for weights yesterday and that went so-so. I had very low energy, it was one of those days where I had to fight for every rep, and every weight felt much heavier than usual. I'm not sure why that is, but I got through my workout as best I could. I had to shave off a few reps here and there to do it, which I'm not pleased about. Going to do yoga tonight I think.

Oh, and thank you - my dog is feeling MUCH better today. :) She had a normal, non-diarrhea, non-bloody poo last night, and is totally interested in food again and hasn't vomited any further. I wrote a longer post about my dog in member's only, but basically I was told that a few different things could have caused my dog's illness, including it could have just been a regular old stomach bug. Apparently dogs can get gastroenteritis too just like humans can. If she relapses into bloody stools then I'll get her checked for Giardia, that was the other big possibility. But so far so good - I was thinking we'd have to take her to the vet this morning, but she pretty much bounced back last night and seems like her old self again, so for now we're just keeping an eye on things. That's a big relief. :)
 
It does sound like an odd type of flare, but the blood and diarrhea, and pain.... possible? I haven't heard about the lip thing before. My hair has a tendency to fall out when my body is stressed hormonally.
Hopefully you'll get the go-ahead for weights again next week! Although I suspect you'll continue on with your clandestine weight work anyway..... :D
 
Update 7/2/13: I didn't do yoga yesterday. I didn't do anything. Had a rough day at work and just didn't feel great. Went home, sat on the couch, and didn't leave the couch until it was time for bed. Had a rough episode of d last night and again this morning too. I'm going to go hit the little gym for weights today but am not feeling energetic or excited about it. Sometimes you just have to fake it, so that's what I'll do today. I read an article recently, they studied people who just weren't feeling like working out and put them into 2 groups - the people who didn't go work out, and the people who faked their way through it even though they weren't feeling it at all. The people who worked out anyway got TONS more health benefits than the people who didn't. Which is obvious, but I feel like I need to remind myself of it on days like this. Even if I'm not feeling it, I'm doing myself a world of good by going to the gym anyway. That's all the motivation I need - I may not want to do it, but my body needs it to get healthy. So I'll go and do everything I can.

I'm feeling bummed about my music situation though. (Sorry Dexky, I know I've already been going on and on about this on facebook!) But basically, I *need* good music to get me through a workout. I cannot work out without really good, pumping music to keep me going. And one of my favorite singers was just involved in a huge scandal where he basically proved himself to be a terrible person (K-pop singer named Se7en - I won't go into all the sordid details here or Dexky might kill me :p but in a nutshell, Se7en had to join the Korean army - he left his dorm without permission, went drinking, then went to a brothel - when he got caught on camera, he hit the reporter and tried to break the camera - he's facing a year in jail just for leaving his dorm, not to even mention the other stuff!). So now I just can't listen to Se7en's music anymore, it all sounds so hollow and insincere. I can't separate the music from the singer, that just doesn't work in my brain. So there goes a whole bunch of music that I used to like to listen to, down the tubes. I *hate* that! I usually tweak my workout playlist regularly to keep it fresh, but now I have to take a bunch of songs out? Nooooo, what now? I stopped listening to J-pop because it got stale very quickly with my all-time favorite singer out on a looong hiatus - now I lose one of my favorite K-pop singers to scandal? My workout playlist is suddenly much smaller and that sucks. :(
 
Boo! I'm sad that you're not feeling well.

I guess you have to fake it 'til you make it.... right Cat? :D

I hope the workout goes well and you feel better. And that you find some more good music to work out with!
 
Cat, I read some information about vitamin B6 and it says a B6 deficiency can lead to cracked and sore lips and peeling skin. Something to check out?
 
Hm, interesting about the vit B6! I will definitely get it checked out, just added it to my list of things to ask my GI about - thanks for the info! I just googled and found this: "Major sources of vitamin B6 include cereal grains, legumes, vegetables (carrots, spinach, peas, and potatoes), milk, cheese, eggs, fish, liver, meat, and flour." I eat about half of those - I juice carrots and spinach, I eat a fair amount of eggs and some fish, I definitely eat a lot of flour (bread, pasta), and I'm not sure what they mean by cereal grains but I had a bowl of cereal for dinner last night. I also eat sweet potatoes but not regular potatoes, and I do almond milk & goat cheese - not sure if those count though. And I wonder if I'm just not absorbing enough B6 in this potential flare. This is the link I was looking at:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-b6/NS_patient-b6

Yep, that's right, gotta fake it till I make it! Make what, I'm not sure. :p Make more muscles I guess. Hopefully don't make myself bleed. Now if someone in the K-pop or J-pop world would just make some really awesome compelling new music... :p
 
Cereal grains just mean, rice, wheat, corn etc. (I can't think of any others??)

I've been to the gym before when I haven't really been in the mood and really enjoyed it. I guess thats the reasoning behind having a strict routine.
 
LMV, I just got back from the gym and that was my experience today too - I was so not in the mood to go to the gym, but I went and really had a good, fun, refreshing workout. Last time I was at the gym, everything was such a chore and all the weights felt so heavy (I hate days like that!) so I wasn't in the mood to do that all over again. But today, everything was a breeze! The weights didn't feel heavy, in fact I increased the weight on one of the machines and did extra reps on another. I did everything but the abdominals machine, and I actually thought about doing that one too. I even sat down on the abs machine, but my guts gave me a clear "no" so I walked away. Felt really good the whole way through the rest of the machines! My guts gave me one sharp cramp as I was changing back into my regular clothes, but that was it. I feel quite good now. :) It's amazing what a good workout can do for my mood too! I was feeling pretty blah the whole day, now I feel much peppier and happier.

Ah, thanks for clarifying about the cereal grains. I do eat a lot of rice & wheat products. I try to avoid corn products as they tend to cause me problems. (Admittedly though sometimes I can't resist Cheetos!)
 
Few things are as gratifying as going to the gym on an off day and really doing well :) I often find I'm strongest once I push through that initial sluggishness.
 
Update 7/4/13. Happy Independence Day! Sadly, my hubby actually has to work today. He was initially told he had to go in at noon, but then his boss changed it so he is going in at 4 PM. So we're hoping to take the kayak out for a quick paddle up and down a local creek before he heads to work. (On a side note, WHY is a costume shop open on a national holiday?? He shouldn't have to work at all today - I certainly don't have to!)

Did yoga last night and felt okay. Guts still aren't right and have been giving me random crampy pains here and there. I hope I'm okay to go out on the water. Fortunately we're thinking of paddling the creek near our house, and that creek mostly goes through urban areas, so if all else fails I could hop out and run into a business to use the bathroom. There are also a couple wooded areas I could hop out and go in. Ideally though my guts will hopefully behave themselves during our little paddling excursion so it will be a non-issue. The weather looks ideal for outdoor exercise and my dog is feeling better, so we should be good to go. Now I have to go wake up hubby, pack lunches, get everything prepared, get the kayak on top of the car, etc etc...
 
It's not even that kind of costume shop. :p It's mostly renaissance, steampunk, that kind of stuff. No lady liberty nor uncle sam costumes there.

We spent about 2 hours in the kayak and had no issues whatsoever. Guts behaved themselves, dog behaved herself, the weather was perfect. :) I'm going to go walk the dog shortly - I want her to be really tired out for tonight. She freaks out badly when fireworks are going off, so my theory is, if she's really tired, maybe she'll care less or possibly even sleep through it all! Wishful thinking probably, but worth a try anyway.
 
You can try giving her a Benadryl. The vet had us do that with our dog because she was afraid of storms.
 
Thanks - I'll keep that in mind for the future. I don't have any Benadryl in the house and don't want to venture out tonight. My dog is afraid of storms too, anything that makes a loud noise like that makes Lily freak and try to either hide or cling to me. We heard a firework go off a little while ago and she tried to hide under the coffee table (she doesn't fit though) so she just put her head under the table, and apparently now has fallen asleep like that. :p Hopefully she'll stay asleep for awhile.
 
My wife actually has a few clients whose dogs require valium....at least I think they were giving it to the dogs! That was some time back so they may be in jail by now!
 
Update 7/5/13: I woke up at about 3 AM feeling awful, was nauseous and needed to use the bathroom desperately. I was up for about 2 hours, finally was able to get back to sleep after 3 or 4 bathroom trips and a couple of Zofran to quell the nausea. This flare is starting to act more like my "typical" flares - not that that's a good thing, but at least I feel like I know what I'm dealing with. I was hoping to hit the gym today but that's out now, there's no way I can go work out feeling like this. I want to go run some errands soon, I hope that's not too ambitious of me. Might try to walk the dog later today if I'm feeling up to it. If not, I'm just going to rest as much as I can. Hopefully tomorrow will be much better and I can get to the gym then.
 
feeling good about being home and getting back in the workout groove. At least 1/2 hour every day on the elliptical. Wondering how long I'll have to wait after surgery to work out again!
 
Cindy, I'm glad you're still able to exercise daily! I will be interested to hear what your doc says about when you can get back to exercising after your surgery. I hope not too long!

It was the right decision not to go to the gym today. It was maybe the wrong decision to run like 6 errands! I went to the bank, the vet (to get more of my cat's prescription food), Bath & Body works (a girl needs nice smelling lotions and they had a 75% off sale!), the hardware store, Target, and the grocery store. I was not feeling well at all by the time I was grocery shopping, and as I was in line to check out, I felt really hot and dizzy like I might pass out. I kept it together and managed to get my groceries and get home without incident. Been sitting on the couch with the heating pad ever since. Going to try to attempt to cook dinner soon. I'm not hungry but I know I should eat since I've had hardly anything today.
 
Dexky said:
My wife actually has a few clients whose dogs require valium....at least I think they were giving it to the dogs! That was some time back so they may be in jail by now!
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Our old cat was in the animal hospital once and they gave it Valium to increase its appetite. Never heard of that before
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
I'm not hungry but I know I should eat since I've had hardly anything today.
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Target, I can hardly wait, we are getting one this fall as they roll out their Canadian expansion. Have checked them out the last few times we were in the States (we only live an hour and a bit from the border so if the exchange on the dollar is good we do the occasional shopping trip.

Eating is hard some days. I am trying to push myself to eat a bit more each day to start to gain some weight back.
 
Hawkeye, I love Target! I swear it's impossible to go there for "just one thing" because you end up finding 8 more things you need. :p That's funny that you come to the US to shop - when hubby and I have extra fun money, we usually road trip down to Illinois and shop at Ikea & the Woodfield mall. I guess shopping is just more fun sometimes if you make it a road trip!

Eating definitely is hard on days when I feel like this. I threw together a pasta salad and made myself eat a little of it. Wasn't hungry at all but needed the calories. Feel okay now, or not terrible anyway. Still tempted to try the gym tomorrow. :p I'll see how I feel tomorrow morning before making any crazy decisions about that though.
 
It's almost too hot here to do anything 26C (77F) feels like 34C (91F) 75% humidity, think I might get an air pump and set up my little guy's wading pool
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
That's funny that you come to the US to shop
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Depending on the Canadian dollar / US dollar exchange rate the draw for Canadians that live close to the border is quite strong. Some items are cheaper down there even when the exchange is factored in plus a lot of times the selection is better - the big draw for a lot of people in our part of the Maritimes is Bangor Maine or North Conway New Hampshire (factory outlets with no sales tax)
 
Update 7/6/13. Still not feeling great today. Yesterday hubby was telling me that I shouldn't do so much and that errands/chores can wait. I got mad and told him BS, that stuff's already been waiting (I ran so many errands yesterday because it was payday and I could finally afford to buy groceries etc). It's not like chores go away if I wait to do them, it just piles up even more, so I just do as much as I can so that it's not overwhelming later.

Then this morning I asked him if he could please walk the dog before he went to work, and he was like, ugh, I don't want to. I got mad again and was yelled that he can't have it both ways, he can't tell me to rest but not pick up any of the slack himself! The dog didn't get walked yesterday and she's getting restless, so I put on my shoes to walk her. Hubby put on his shoes too. We're both quite stubborn so we ended up walking her together. I walked rather slowly and it's super warm out, but I made it through the walk. Been resting on the couch ever since, crocheting a blanket and watching K-dramas. No chance of hitting the gym today. :( I'll be lucky if I can make it through doing laundry later.
 
Update 7/7/13: I'm feeling somewhat better today! Rested up most of yesterday and I think that did me some good. I have to go to my grandparents' house for my grandmother's birthday party today, but I'm thinking that, depending on what my energy level is like when I get home, I'd like to either do yoga or the stationary bike. May try lifting weights tomorrow if I continue to feel well.
 
I've missed the last two days of working out. Belly is so bad in the morning for some reason, as soon as I eat I feel sick and have pain. This is not usual for me so I'm not sure what's going on. Perhaps the stress of the upcoming surgery? Anyway I'm going to try again today and see how it goes... maybe. Maybe not.

Cat, I hope you're still feeling better. Time to tell the hubs he needs to step up and help out if he doesn't want you doing much!
 
Mark, my grandparents remained totally civil this time around which was a relief - not a word of politics was spoken. My brother had one little outburst of yelling at my mom (about her supposedly not telling him something back in like 2004) but my mom actually managed to defuse the situation and my brother was almost kind of fun/nice the rest of the time - that was a great surprise. So overall it was quite a lovely visit! Of course my grandparents once again gave us all the "we're old, we'll die soon, so this is the last big family gathering, really, we mean it this time". I've heard that speech many times before (I've heard "we're old, we'll die soon" since I was a child! And been hearing "this is the last family gathering" for about 6 or 8 years now too). :p

Cindy, I didn't work out the past 2 days either. Felt somewhat better yesterday morning but didn't make the best food choices because of the family gathering (key lime pie & ice cream sounded so yummy but not the best idea to eat both!). When I got home last night, I was too exhausted to even do yoga. And with yesterday's bad food choices, today I'm feeling kinda crummy again. I'm sick of not working out so my stubbornness is telling me I should just suck it up and go to the gym tonight. I'm going to try! I feel like I can do it. :)
 
Did a walk around the block tonight then hung out in the yard for a bit and checked out the construction with my little guy.
 
Cat my grandparents allways do the "we're old we'll die soon" thing as well!

They don't go as far to say, this is the last family gathering. But you can never ever try and plan things too far ahead. About 6/7 years ago it was my Grandparent's 50th wedding aniversary and my Parent's 25th on the same year. Obviously a year or so before we worked out they would fall on the same year.

We tried to discuss having big celebrations but all we got was... well if we are still here.

We always get this! Its like 7 years later and they are both still here!!
 
LMV, my grandparents just had their 61st wedding anniversary. :) My grandpa is really sick so he really does mean it now when he says he won't be around much longer (he has heart problems, diabetes, kidney failure, he's in a wheelchair, he's really falling apart). So I know there won't be many more family gatherings with my grandparents, I don't need to be reminded of it every single time though! :p

Update 7/9/13: I went to the gym yesterday and did pretty well. I avoided the abdominals machines as always, but I did everything else. It was ridiculously warm & humid out yesterday, and the air conditioning in the gym just wasn't able to totally cool such a large space, so it was kind of warm in there and I got super sweaty and it made me feel kind of tired. I pushed through, though, and felt good otherwise. I feel so-so today, not awful but not stellar either. I feel well enough to do yoga or stationary bike tonight, so I'll do whichever one I feel more like doing this evening.

I have my first rheumatology appointment tomorrow (finally!). I am curious to see what the rheumy will say about my exercise regime and if he thinks it's helping my arthritis. I know it helped for a long time, but the arthritis pain got worse over the winter and exercise still helps some, but not as much as it did in the past I think. I'm frustrated that I developed arthritis in my "good" hip in spite of all my exercise efforts. So it'll be interesting to see what the doc has to say about all that.
 
Dexky said:
What's being constructed Hawkeye?
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A play structure. We've been going at it since June - got the frame of the structure up and then discovered the back yard was not as level as it needed to be (it sloped from side to side and front to back - there is probably 4 to 5 foot elevation difference from the high corner to the low corner of the upper back yard - some interesting topography in our subdivision) so we got our home builder in to create a pad for it.

The brochure that came with the play structure recommended pea gravel as opposed to regular lawn in terms of falls so it was a means to get that put down as well.

The pad is done, now to get the play structure wrapped up before too much of the summer passes us by.
 
Update 7/10/13: Did yoga last night and felt good. Really nervous today because I am just about to head off to my first rheumatology appointment. Not quite sure what to expect, but hopeful that I can get some answers about my arthritis and figure out a way to treat it. I'm a little scared that I'll get bad news and I'm also nervous that he won't be able to figure me out and my arthritis will stay a mystery just like my guts and my GERD (I know I have a hiatal hernia which is contributing to the GERD, but the hernia is small & sliding, so my GERD shouldn't be nearly as severe as it is). Anyway, gotta make this sort because I have to go! I'll udpate later!
 
Just got back from my rheumy appt. I already wrote all this out in the Undiagnosed Club thread so pasting it here too:

Hi all, I just got back from my rheumy appt. I think it went quite well! He examined me thoroughly and did a bit of bloodwork, CRP and ESR and one other thing that I already forgot. :p I told him a brief synopsis of my history with the probable IBD and all that. He said that if it's inflammatory arthritis, then, given my symptoms & history, the arthritis is "definitely" related/being caused by the IBD. He even said that since my IBD isn't fully diagnosed, it sounds to him like the arthritis is an important piece of the diagnostic puzzle to me, and he said he can certainly give me that puzzle piece. That was awesome that he said that! I hope it's true!

He did say that the most common joints in the body that IBD affects are the sacro-iliac joints, and that's what seems to be affected for me. So this will be a major puzzle piece if it's confirmed that I have arthritis of an inflammatory nature in those specific joints.

So I like him, he seemed pretty good. He wasn't sure what to make of the x-rays and he didn't give me any diagnosis today. He felt like the images on my recent x-rays were a bit fuzzy so he would like to see things in better detail, and he's sending me to have an MRI. When he said MRI, I figured it'd be a 6 month wait like it was when I had my liver MRI. Nope, he had his staff get me into the soonest available slot - they could have gotten me in next week but my work schedule wouldn't have allowed that, so instead I'm going in the following week, on the 22nd. This means I may have my answers to my arthritis questions before my next GI appt (on Aug 7th)!! I wonder what my GI will say if I tell him I have inflammatory arthritis that's being caused by IBD. :p I feel like I'm getting so close now. I probably won't get an official IBD diagnosis even if I definitely have inflammatory arthritis, but the evidence is really starting to pile up in IBD's favor.
 
Thanks guys! I have to admit it put me in a really good mood to think I might be finally getting somewhere diagnostically. :) Hit the gym tonight and did great, had to skip the abdominals machines again but did everything else (tried doing the plank position as I was stretching, to test my abdominal muscles, and my body gave me a clear "stop" signal, so things are still not quite right). So yeah, had a good workout and a good dinner and I feel pretty okay about things at the moment. :)
 
Cat, I'm so glad to hear things are going well! Sounds like you got some good answers from the rheumy and will be getting some more. Hooray!:dance:

Tomorrow is my big day, I have to check into the hospital at 5:45 m. :eek2: My hubs will be updating the caring bridge site after it's over!:hug: Hoping the hospital food doesn't bother my belly, this has not been a good belly week at all.

love and hugs, hope the belly treats you good!
 
Hopes and prayers your way today Cindy!!

Cat, I hope this isn't just another dead end! Good luck! I hate to say that it's good news but when you've been fighting for so long, I'm sure you feel vindicated at the least!
 
Cindy! You're probably already in surgery by now, but best of luck and I'm keeping you in my thoughts! Big hugs and I hope you have a great outcome from the surgery. I'll be checking your caring bridge page!

Mark, I do feel kind of vindicated. Nobody wants to have arthritis, but I've already got it so I may as well use it to tie things together and try to solve my health mysteries. Knowledge is power, and the more I know about what's going on in my body, the better I'll be able to treat it. :)

Update 7/11/13: I felt good yesterday right up until bedtime. Then my guts decided to empty all at once, and there was a bit of blood in the stool. That took some of the wind out of my sails - I hadn't passed blood in close to 3 weeks, and had almost fooled myself into thinking I wasn't going to bleed anymore because I was feeling well-ish. So much for the power of denial. It was a teeny bit of blood though so I'm torn as to whether or not to let my GI know about it. I really want to focus on the arthritis stuff right now with my MRI just about 10 days away. Once the MRI results are in, then I feel like I can focus on my guts. So I think I'm going to hold off for now on calling my GI, and will call him after I know the MRI results.

Just thinking out loud here, but I wonder if I bled just a little because I used my abdominal muscles at the gym just a little? I tried the plank for like 10 seconds just to test my abs, and I stopped when it became clear that pain would be in my future if I didn't stop. If I request a colonoscopy from my GI in the near future, I think I'm going to do a bunch of abs exercises the day before my scope. If they can see the bleeding on scope, they can at least see where it's coming from and maybe put a stop to the bleeding. I'm only bleeding once every week or two, so if I just left it up to chance, they probably wouldn't see the source of the bleed on the scope. But if I purposely trigger bleeding by working my abs, the scope would surely see that. I realize it'll suck a lot to do abs exercises while prepping, but it seems like something I need to at least try.
 
It's a shame you've been frustrated so many times you would actually attempt to make yourself bleed before a scope!! I know you're serious though! Good luck Cat:)
 
Yeah, I know it's not the best idea, but with my last c-scope (over 3 years ago), I was feeling awful and was sure they'd find something. Nope, I looked completely fine both visually and on biopsy (and they took like a dozen biopsies including at least one from the TI). When your symptoms don't match up with the test results, sometimes you get a little desperate for answers. I don't feel as awful lately as I did back then, so that doesn't really bode well for them finding anything, and pushing myself to bleed might be my best shot this time around. I mean, the bleeding has to come from somewhere, and since it's always been bright red blood, it's likely coming from somewhere that can be seen by the scope.

My other option is, I can eat some Greek yogurt before prepping. Greek yogurt made me pass blood the one time I had attempted to eat it. I don't know why Greek yogurt made me bleed, but it was a truly miserable experience. Still, if it could get me some answers then it's worth considering. Greek yogurt plus some strenuous abdominal exercises? I'd feel horrible for sure, but I'd almost certainly be passing quite a bit of blood.

I haven't even called my GI yet to request a scope - these are just ideas I'm mulling over. Going to have my MRI first and then will request a scope. I know I need another scope soon - I am having another day of feeling pretty crappy and it seems I'm gradually having fewer good days and more bad ones. I felt okay for most of this week but today is not so good. I wasn't feeling great last night either, so the only exercise I was able to muster was to walk my dog. It was cute, though. The fenced-in dog park is right next to a big field that's usually used for soccer, although last night there was a game of "ultimate frisbee" going on. A girl on one of the teams saw my dog and shrieked, "Corgi!!" Then a couple girls on the other team were like, "Corgi! Oh my god, corgi! So cute! Corgi!" :p You don't really get that with other dog breeds. I don't think anyone has ever yelled, "Poodle!" or "Golden retriever!" But I hear "Corgi!!" regularly when I take my dog out for walks.
 
Do you have a problem digesting protein? Most greek yogurts available in the grocery store have almost no carbs or fat in them and around 20+ grams of protein per serving. Also, what brand are you buying?
 
I honestly don't remember what brand it was, it was about a year ago that I tried it and bled. I can do some types of protein okay but I'm kind of limited there. I can't do red meat and I have trouble with most dairy too, but I can do chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, etc. So I eat a lot of eggs, use ground turkey in a lot of recipes, and so on. I think it's the probiotics in the Greek yogurt that my body really didn't like - I've had trouble with probiotics in the past (they seemed to make my GERD much worse, and my GERD improved when I stopped taking probiotics). I'm lactose intolerant too so the dairy aspect of it probably didn't help matters either.
 
Ugh. I am not feeling well at all today. There is a lot of grumbling in my tummy, and I'm having some stabby pains in my rectum, which is just lovely. Haven't passed any blood today though which is curious. I was hoping to go to the gym tonight, but now I'm thinking it's better if I rest instead and hopefully will get in a workout tomorrow if I'm feeling better. I hate skipping workouts, but I really don't want to have an issue in the gym and have to explain to the staff that my rectum hurts! :p

And I just don't feel up to it. The hubby and I are hoping to take the kayak out tomorrow, I hope that can still happen. Kayaking isn't super strenuous, but strenuous enough, plus I have to have enough strength and stamina to be able to lift the kayak up onto the car and finagle it in and out of my walk-out basement (we don't have a garage) so I don't know if I'll be up to that challenge tomorrow. I hope I am. (It's a 16 foot double kayak so it takes both of us to move it and get it up on the car roof rack.)

I hate when my body does this, just random pain out of nowhere. I got enough sleep last night, I haven't eaten anything iffy, I'm not under any extra stress lately, I haven't forgotten to take my meds. It's frustrating when I feel like I'm doing everything right but I still get punished by my body anyway. Oh well. A night in front of the TV with my heating pad and my crochet project it is then.
 
Update 7/14/13: I made it to the gym yesterday evening. :) I woke up yesterday morning not feeling great, but as the day went on, I felt somewhat better. Didn't go kayaking, but around dinnertime I was feeling well enough to try hitting the gym. That went okay, except I had drank some orange juice a few hours prior, and even with a 300 mg Zantac and 10 Tums (the max daily dose) in my system, I still got some crazy heartburn. Drank a ton of water during my workout to try to alleviate it, and that did help somewhat. Felt better once my workout was over.

Today I walked my dog early in the morning (it was still too hot out!) and we ran into a few of my dog's friends (fellow corgis) so that was nice. Now I'm just doing stuff around the house, laundry and cleaning and such. May do yoga later if I feel up to it.
 
Update 7/15/13: Lately we've been making homemade orange juice in our juicer (see post above about horrible heartburn after drinking OJ). It's absolutely delicious, but apparently it is way too acidic for my poor broken digestive system to handle, so I've had some hideous GERD symptoms lately. I had 2 glasses of fresh OJ yesterday, and woke up with a sore throat today, which hasn't happened in awhile. It means I was refluxing a lot as I was sleeping, enough for my throat to become sore from the acid coming up. Before I was on my current mix of GERD meds, I would wake up with sore throats regularly (I usually lie on my left side when I sleep, and I'd often have a sore throat only on the left side - presumably the refluxate was coming up and pooling in my throat and affecting the low side, which was the left side). So no more orange juice for me, which is terribly sad. :(

I walked the dog yesterday morning, early to try to beat the heat, but it was still too hot out at that time. That sapped a lot of my energy - my body hates heat & humidity - so I did a few things around the house but then rested for most of the evening. Felt okay for the most part. Feeling so-so now, stomach is a bit iffy and I had some pain earlier. I swear, if this is a flare then it's the weirdest flare I've ever had. My previous flares, I'd get abdo pain in the same spot every time in the LRQ. I could pinpoint it for you. But lately, my pain jumps all around. Sometimes higher up, near the ribs, sometimes it's in the lower-left, sometimes it's in the LRQ but not in the specific pinpoint spot, sometimes it's in multiple areas at once or all over. It's really odd!

Anyway, I'm feeling okay-ish so I'm going to attempt to go lift weights tonight if I'm still feeling reasonably okay. As usual in this flare, I'll skip the abdominal machines but will attempt everything else. Probably yoga tomorrow or maybe exercise bike if I'm feeling like cardio (I'm usually not feeling like cardio, and have really let that slide lately!).
 
Update 7/16/13: Well, I think the weather is forcing me to do cardio. :p On a nice summer day, I like to go outside on my breaks and sit in the sunshine and read. It's so ridiculously warm and humid here lately though that going outside has become miserable. So I'm going to go hit the exercise bike in the basement gym on my lunch instead. The gym is the coolest area of the building, and even though I get warm when exercising, it'll still be far more pleasant than venturing outside. My guts like to cramp up on warm and humid days, so I figure this is just me being nice to my guts, right? ;)

I've been confused (even more so) by my symptoms lately. Yesterday I hit the gym for weights and felt good afterwards. Ate a nice dinner and the guts were pretty quiet. Then I had a whole lot of d just before bed, and there were 3 undigested Delzicols in my poo. That's a new record for me, and I'm not even sure how it's possible. I take 2 Delzicols 3x a day. So I take it when I first wake up, around noonish, and around 5 PM. Yesterday's episode apparently means that the noon Delzicols just sat there not digesting and somehow met up with the 5 PM Delzicols? And they all came out at once. Bleh, I don't like knowing that my guts are that dysfunctional. And that they can be that dysfunctional when I'm feeling relatively well? It's all so strange.

So yeah. I have my hip MRI on Monday, to see if I have inflammatory arthritis in my sacro-iliac joints (it's kind of humorous to me that I seem to have issues with my ileum and my ilia! Ha ha). After the MRI, I'll be calling my GI to update him on my symptoms and to request that he order a colonoscopy for me. I'm so not looking forward to it, I seem to always get severely dehydrated from prep which is by far the worst part for me, but I'm not getting better even though I'm giving my abdo muscles a break. It's a flare or it's something else, but whatever it is, it needs looking into. I have a GI appointment on Aug 7th as well, so hopefully by then I'll have the MRI results and we can discuss what that means as far as my probable IBD. My rheumy said that if it I do have inflammatory arthritis, then it's "definitely" being caused by the IBD, so we'll see what my GI has to say about that.
 
Ha, I know, I need answers for pretty much all my medical issues. I still need to know what kind of IBD I have, where it's located, if it is currently flaring, etc (presuming it is indeed IBD!). I need to know what kind of arthritis I have and what's causing it. It'd also be nice to know why my GERD is so severe - I have a hiatal hernia but it's "small & sliding" so it shouldn't be causing such severe symptoms like what I experience. Oh, and just for fun it'd be nice to know why I get migraines, why I have benign tumors on my liver, and what on earth is going on with my lips lately (they're red, numb, and the skin peels off - it was suggested that it may be a vit B6 deficiency, and B6 seemed to help for about a week, but now the lips are getting bad again in spite of B6 supplementation). You know, all that fun stuff! :p

Update 7/17/13: I rode the exercise bike for 30 mins yesterday on my lunch break. And afterwards, particularly in the evening, my legs were sore! It wasn't muscle soreness so much, it was more bone/joint pain. The knees and hips were not happy at all. That's not good. All winter long I rode the stationary bike multiple times a week for an hour at a time and had no issues - sometimes my left knee would give me pain if I rode for more than 45 mins or so, but otherwise everything felt fine. Yesterday the right knee was worse than the left, and both hips were angry too. It was so warm out yesterday, so I cranked the air conditioning and took a hot bath to try to soothe my aching leg joints. That helped a little bit but not much. I'm feeling somewhat better today but the legs still aren't super happy. This is frustrating, I feel like I'm backpedaling in terms of my fitness and ability to exercise.

Still, gotta keep moving forward as much as I can. So I'm planning to go lift weights tonight. Probably yoga tomorrow, I won't push the cardio thing too much for now. Friday, probably weights again. It's finally supposed to cool down a bit and be less humid on the weekend, so I'm tentatively hoping that we might be able to take the kayak out for a bit at some point. So far this summer we've paddled the 2 easy creeks in the city (they're relatively short and with very little current). There's one creek that's longer and has stronger currents and is just generally more challenging to paddle, and I'd love to give it a try soon if I'm feeling well enough. It starts in a suburb and sort of meanders out into the country, so if I had to hop out and go to the bathroom in the woods, that would be more of a possibility with this creek than with the easier urban creeks. So, that's my hope. I'm not overly optimistic that it'll happen, but it would be really nice.

And Monday is my MRI! I kind of want to make my hips hurt beforehand as I feel like that's my best shot at something showing up. The best way I know of to make my hips hurt is to go jogging, and it doesn't take much (1 mile of jogging will put me in bad hip pain for days & days - the way I'm feeling lately, probably 1/2 mile or less would be enough to cause significant pain). I am starting to sound like a masochist in this thread what with wanting to make myself bleed before a colonoscopy and now wanting to induce joint pain, and it may be stupid or not worthwhile, but I feel like I need to do everything I can to get a definitive test result. All it would take is jogging around the block a couple times to make me have to walk with my cane for the remainder of the week - miserable yes, but if it gets me some answers then I say bring on the pain!
 
If it'll get you some answers, bring on the pain! And yeah, to the country creek, no potty breaks in suburbia Cat!!
 
At this rate I may not even have to jog. :p I woke up today with my left hip - AKA the "good" hip - in quite a bit of pain. I can walk okay without my cane but every so often it hits me with a sharp jab of pain. It feels like my hip just isn't fitting into the joint correctly today. I tried stretching it and moving it around but that didn't help at all. And now of course the right hip, the "bad" hip, is chiming in and acting up as well. *Sigh.*

I went to the gym for weights yesterday and felt great - no issues, no pain, no reflux. Everything was a breeze, I felt really strong. I worked my abs just a teeny bit (20 seconds of plank position) just to see how it'd go, and that felt okay too. My guts didn't yell at me nor give me pain. Today, though, I woke up with some pain on the right side of my abdomen. Between that and the hips, I'm not doing quite as well today. :p I was thinking of doing yoga tonight but I might make today a rest day instead.

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off of work so I can go to Maxwell Street Days - it's an annual event where a lot of downtown businesses have a big sidewalk sale and you can find some really great bargains. But it involves a lot of walking - downtown in my city is basically like a 6-ish block long pedestrian mall. If my hips are feeling like this tomorrow, I'm going to have to bring a cane with me to make it through Maxwell Street days. And the worst part is, usually some family members of mine from out of town will come to Maxwell Street Days here, and they're not the most understanding when it comes to my illnesses. If they see me with a cane, that just won't be good. They'll gossip about me and I'm sure they'll say mean things like I probably don't even need a cane, I'm too young to have arthritis, I'm just doing it for attention, etc. So I hope that the hot weather deters them from coming to town this year, or if they do come, I hope I don't run into them (I can usually avoid them, I have done so the previous few years). Wish me luck!
 
Update 7/19/13: I did indeed need my cane today. Left hip and left knee are both sharply painful. And of course, as expected, I ran into people I know while shopping at the sidewalk sales. First I saw a former co-worker from like 8 years ago - she didn't say anything about the cane (she's on my facebook so presumably she's seen a few posts from me about arthritis). Then I ran into my family members, 5 of them. My aunt was the only one who mentioned the cane, she said, "Oh, did you hurt your foot?" I said, "No, I'm just having a bad arthritis day." She was like, "Oh no, you're too young to fall apart like this!" And she gave me a hug and seemed genuinely concerned. My other family members all just watched and didn't say a thing and didn't seem concerned either. I should add this is the branch of the family that feels like gluten is evil and that maybe I'm causing my own problems by eating gluten (I have been tested multiple times and do not have celiac). So I'm sure the ones who didn't say anything are gossiping about how clearly gluten has caused my arthritis. :p

Guts were awful this morning but a lot better now. Still, I'm mostly resting today. May go to the gym this evening.
 
There were a few bargains but not many. I got a cool pewter tarantula for $8, and my hubby got an interesting-looking board game for $5 (it was originally marked at $40). We got a couple other things too like a couple drinking glasses etc but overall there wasn't much worth buying.

I think my family already gossiped to my mom about me walking with a cane, because she called me just now and pointedly asked how I'm doing lately. She usually never asks me how my health is, so that was suspicious. I told her I have an MRI on Monday, and she was like, "So the doctor doesn't know what's wrong?" Um, no, that's why he's doing an MRI. :p

Hubby and I went kayaking today. I was a bit worried because I woke up having some fairly sharp abdo pains in the upper/middle right and I wasn't sure how my guts would do. Plus the fact that we wanted to kayak the more challenging river. But I decided to just go for it. So we went to the challenging river, and it was tough, but my guts behaved and we had a good time. I like this river - it's longer, and it goes between two lakes and there's a park at each lake. So at the park on the far end, we had a picnic lunch and that was really nice. We usually bring a picnic lunch, but we usually end up eating on the kayak at some point because there's usually not a good place to stop. It's not very relaxing though to eat in the boat. It was much nicer to eat at a picnic table and let the dog run around a little bit before we headed back to our starting point. It was a more challenging paddle than we usually do though, and as a result both hubby and I have really sore tired shoulders now! I feel pretty good though, haven't had abdo pains since the morning and the arthritis is better today than it was yesterday. All good stuff. :)
 
Sounds good Cat! I'm glad you still feel like doing all the things you like:)! What have the temps been like up there?
 
Mark, last week we had a miserable heat wave with 90+ temps and heat indexes even hotter, plus close to 100% humidity. Yuck! The heat wave finally broke on Saturday and the humidity dropped and it's been in the 70s/80s since, which is so much nicer. :)

I had my hip MRI today! It went well for the most part. I was nervous about it last night so I didn't get much sleep. The MRI was scheduled for 7:15 AM and my instructions said to please try to be there by 7. I got there at 6:45, filled out the questionnaire, and waited... and waited, and waited some more. Apparently, because I had an endoscopy less than a year ago, they needed a nurse to sign off giving me the okay to have the MRI (I'm not sure why that is, it's not like the endoscopy left bits of metal in my esophagus!). The tech couldn't sign off herself and the nurse was super late - she didn't show up until about 8 AM. I was like, what is the point of telling me to get there early if the nurse can just waltz in an hour late??

Other than that, it all went pretty well. When they first put me in the MRI machine, I had a genuine moment of panic. It felt like I was going in too far and the way out was too far away, like I was trapped. And it's such a small little opening in the machine - I'm not a big girl but I felt quite confined, it was like being in a coffin - I couldn't imagine being overweight and being put in an MRI machine, that would probably be terrifying! But I got over the moment of panic pretty quickly, just telling myself that I did this before (liver MRI 3 years ago) and I can do it again. I had brought a mix CD of my favorite music to listen to as well, and I had specifically made myself a fairly calming playlist, so I calmed down a lot when the music came on over the headphones. :) The first song was Utada's "Take 5" and I just told myself, breathe, take 5 and breathe! (Yes Mark, it was a mix of K-pop and J-pop!)

I had been afraid that, since it was a pelvis/hip MRI, that they might inject the contrast directly into my hip, but they just did it in my arm like a regular IV. I was also afraid that I might have another adverse reaction to the injected contrast like I had previously - for my liver MRI a few years ago, I got super dizzy and nearly passed out from the contrast, and when I got dizzy I had freaked out inside the machine and had to be pulled out and calmed down. I told the nurse today about that experience, and she gave me the injection very slowly, and I had no reaction this time. :) So all good stuff, and I feel okay.

Because I'm feeling okay, I think I'm going to head to the gym tonight. I was originally planning to take a rest day if they were going to inject my hip as I figured that'd be painful, but no hip injection and no pain means I should be fine to go lift weights. I did kind of take a rest day yesterday (I did 30 mins or so of yard work yesterday which was fairly strenuous, so that may count as a workout, but I didn't do a proper workout) and I hate to take 2 rest days in a row if I can avoid it, so I'm happy that I get to go to the gym tonight.
 
Mark & Hawkeye, you two are silly. :p They make you wear headphones so they can talk to you and give you instructions (hold your breath, etc) while you're in the MRI machine, and you can listen to music when they're not talking to you. You can bring a CD of your own or they usually have some CDs there that you can listen to. For my first MRI, I didn't think to bring a CD, so I listened to one of theirs (Alicia Keys) and then today I did bring one of my own to listen to (yay K- and J-pop). They don't let you bring anything with metal in it into the MRI so of course no walkman/discman. :p It's all a special non-metal (or non-magnetic metal anyway) internal audio system thingy.
 
Mark, I think you meant to say, "How kind of you to expose the MRI techs to new and interesting music. They're probably subjected to crap music all day and I bet it was really refreshing for them to hear beautiful music from other cultures. Cat, you have the best taste in music and you're way cool too." :p Ha ha!

So I've noticed that lately whenever I try to do something right, I feel worse, and if I screw up and do the wrong thing then I usually feel better. I'm in a flare or whatever this is, and I've been having diarrhea pretty much every day. I neglected to take my psyllium for like 3 days in a row... and my stools became firmer and more formed. Or, this issue I'm having with my lips - they're cracked and red and sometimes numb, and the skin peels off of them. Cindy had suggested I try supplementing vitamin B6. So I tried that and it helped a bit for like a week, but then the lips got bad again. I skipped taking my B6 for a few days too, and suddenly my lips felt much better and stopped peeling. And this is a really weird one, 2 nights ago I couldn't sleep because I was worried about the MRI. I only got like 3 hours of sleep and expected to be miserable and exhausted all day. But instead, I felt energetic and happy and fine the whole day. Last night I got a proper 8 hours of good, restful sleep - and today I feel groggy and headachey and tired and just not great. Why is my body doing this?? Maybe I should eat some popcorn and stop brushing my teeth - I'd probably end up with great digestion and pearly whites. :p I seriously don't get this flare. Everything about it is so very odd!
 
Are you really vigilant about hydration Cat?? Sometimes the very simple/obvious things can make a huge difference. I can completely relate to the sleep scenario. More is almost always less for me in sleep! I will always get a headache if I try to sleep in!

PS..I don't think hubs would appreciate stopping teeth brushing!!
 
Yeah, I get dehydrated fairly easily, especially when flaring, so I do make a big effort every day to drink lots of fluids. I don't do carbonation nor caffeine, so I mostly drink water, herbal (caffeine-free) tea, almond milk, juice from my juicer, etc. If I'm feeling like I want a sugary drink, I'll have a lemonade. But that's pretty rare, mostly I just drink water.

I think 8 hours of sleep might be slightly too much for me. I went to bed at about 10:15 last night and woke up around 5, and I feel much more rested today than I did yesterday. Yeah, I get awful headaches too if I try to sleep in. Fortunately I have a dog who will start whining loudly in her crate if I don't let her out around the usual time, so I don't often get the opportunity to sleep in anyway. :p

I felt pretty wretched yesterday. I must have looked awful because people kept asking if I felt okay - I looked in the mirror, and I did look a bit more pale than usual, but I don't think I looked horrible so I don't know what was up with that. My stomach was kind of a mess and my joints were unhappy and I was quite fatigued. Then I got a call saying my hip MRI result was normal (no inflammatory arthritis) so I should go back to physical therapy. I told the nurse I already exercise as often as I can and it worked for 2 years for my arthritis but no longer works as well, so I don't think more PT would be beneficial. She became condescending and said, "Well, if you're not doing the moves with precision, you could be doing more harm than good." Yes, I'm just flailing around wildly and imprecisely - that's why I had 2 years of no joint pain. FFS! So I refused PT and they didn't offer me any other options. They actually told me to ask my GP about it too - so basically, rheumatology has no idea what to do with me now. Great. I scheduled a follow-up with the rheumy in 2 months' time anyway, just so I can pick his brain directly and see if there's anything else he can offer me for my arthritis. In the meantime, I'm thinking it's a good idea that I just bought a new cane...

Bleh. So that was yesterday. A bad day all around. Today I'm feeling notably better, less fatigue, less joint pain, guts aren't as angry. I'm planning to hit the gym. Yesterday I didn't even feel up to yoga, so I just rested and took a hot bath and I think all that helped. So tonight I'll hit the weights and hopefully that'll go okay.

I read a little blurb online the other day about stereotypical people you see at the gym. There were things like lady in full makeup (not many of those at my gym), creeps (too many at my gym!), people who spend more time texting than working out (also a ton of those at my gym), etc. And then at the bottom, it said there are lifers - people who make exercise a way of life and go regularly for health reasons, not to show off or to hook up or to chat with friends. I think I fit into that category very well - I'm a lifer! :) It's all about my health, I couldn't care less about texting or flirting or chatting (I barely say 2 words to my hubby when we're at the gym together and I leave my phone in my locker) or showing off or being seen. I'm there to fight for my health. I like that, I'm a lifer. :D
 
CAt you really are going through the ringer! Sorry to hear the B6 ddnt heop. I have something strange going on . Since I had my turmor removed I haaven't had pain and so far i've been able to eat some things I culdnt before. I'm still planning to have mycolonoscopy no mater what, might as well find out what'sgoing on!
 
Update 7/25/13: I went to the gym last night and did really well. Slept well too, feel okay today - except for my left arm. The upper bicep/shoulder area feels sore, particularly when I move it in certain ways. I'm not sure if I just slept on it wrong (I usually sleep on the left side) or if I pulled a muscle or otherwise injured myself in the gym yesterday? Nothing felt painful while I was in the gym so I hope it's just a fluke. It's not a terrible pain, more like an achey soreness, so hopefully it's nothing.

I'm hoping to do some yoga tonight. Hopefully the arm is feeling a little better by then and/or responds well to yoga. I'm thinking about seeing if my massage therapist is available too, maybe massage would help. I think I'll see how yoga goes first though.
 
Hope you didn't pull anythgin. NOt having worked out much has made me kinda weak! I didt about 30 squats the other day and yesterday had a hard time walking as my legs hwere sore! Sheesh I can imagine how ahrd it will be to get back on the elliptical after two months off. :(
I hope the yoga goes well for you. Then get a massage, why hnot have an enjoyable experience!
 
Update 7/29/13: Sorry for not updating for a few days, there hasn't been much to report as far as exercise goes. I haven't been able to do anything much lately. My shoulder still feels painful - I don't know if I pulled a muscle or tore something or what. Sometimes it feels okay and I fool myself into thinking it's getting better, but then a few hours later the pain kicks right back in again. It's frustrating and it's keeping me out of the gym because I don't want to aggravate it. To top it off, I woke up yesterday morning with tremendous pain in my mid-back. I don't know what I did there, but that's been even worse than the shoulder. So yeah, I haven't lifted weights since last Wednesday (the shoulder started hurting Thurs morning, I'm unsure if I did something in the gym on Wed to injure it?).

I did walk my dog on Sat & Sun, but that's all the exercise I've been able to manage with this stupid pain. On Saturday, during/after the walk, I felt hot pain coming from my right hip (both my hips have arthritis, but the right one is far worse). I haven't had pain like that before, I get hip pain all the time but never hot pain like that. I walked my dog again, slowly because of the back pain, on Sunday, and fortunately the hip stayed quiet then. But I really feel like I'm falling apart lately. Oh, and the kicker? I finally got ahold of my massage therapist - but he can't give me a massage anytime soon, because he injured his neck somehow. So no massages for me for awhile until he heals. Boo.

I'm going to do some yoga tonight even if it kills me. Maybe stretching everything out will help somewhat. I'm hoping it at least doesn't put me in worse pain. I'm starting to get depressed at my lack of ability to exercise lately so I need to do something, but I also don't want to exacerbate things. I'm taking a gamble and will do yoga. Wish me luck!
 
Good luck Cat! I hoe the yoga helps. I've noticed my back is giving me grief since I havent been able to exercise for so long. boo us! Keep those spirits up! :D
 
Update 7/30/13: I did yoga last night, and it went better than I expected. I'm finding that my shoulder feels okay as long as I don't do sudden movements with my left arm, so the slow & deliberate movements in yoga were quite beneficial. My back is feeling somewhat better too, it still gives me a sharp jab of pain if I need to turn my head around to look behind me, so I'm trying not to do that. If I can just not do sudden movements with my left arm and not turn around to look behind me, I can fool myself into thinking I've healed from these mystery injuries. :p

Yoga went so well that I'm strongly considering going to the little gym in my workplace to lift weights today. There are fewer weight machines down there than there are in the big gym, so I won't have much opportunity to overdo things. I think it'll be a nice way to ease back into lifting, assuming it goes well. I hope I'm not being stupid, but it's been nearly a week and I hate to go that long without lifting. So I'm stubborn and maybe stupid and I'm going to go lift! :p I'm going to take it slow, and may go for less weight than usual, but I have to give it a try.

Other than that, I'm doing okay. The flare is quiet-ish. I ate some foods I shouldn't over the weekend, plus I had stress from my parents & brother coming over, so the guts were super unhappy on Sunday evening/Monday morning. Liquid stools, nothing formed at all. It's getting a little better now. One nice thing is, I'm still able to maintain my weight in this flare. The last time I weighed myself, according to my Wii Fit, was 20 days ago. And it said I've lost only 0.4 lbs in that time (and that could just be a natural fluctuation since people tend to go up or down a lb or two in the course of a day anyway). So yay, I'm maintaining my "healthy" weight of 136, even in a flare or whatever this is. That's encouraging! But it also makes me wonder even more if this is really a flare, or something new. In all my past flares, the weight fell right off me, so I really don't know what's going on lately and if this is a flare or not. I really don't want it to be something new - I haven't even gotten my existing health issues fully diagnosed yet. Something new, that would be devastating!
 
Another quick update for today: I did go to the gym and I managed to lift weights with minimal pain! As long as I move very slowly and deliberately with the left arm, I can lift weights just fine. The trouble comes when I'm not thinking and I move my arm quickly to pick something up, I've done that a few times now, and each time there is terrible pain in my left shoulder! But yay, I can lift weights as long as I take it slow! :D That's great. My back didn't bother me either, it seems to be healing much faster than the shoulder is.

I guess the next test of what my shoulder can handle will be to go to the big gym and see how I do with a lot more weight machines. I'm thinking Thursday for that, will either rest or do yoga tomorrow depending on what I feel up to.

(There are only 8 weight machines in the little gym and I usually skip the abdominals machine these days - so that's 7 machines that I typically do in that gym. Forward press, upward press, rowing/back, biceps, triceps, quads, and hamstrings. There are at least double that many machines in the big gym.)
 
Cat - make sure you don't wait too long to seek a doc's advice if that shoulder doesn't get better too soon. My husband had shoulder pain for months and ignored it and by the time he went to the doc they found not only a torn rotator cuff, but also a bicep tendon that was torn completely off the shoulder bone. When one part is injured and you wait and keep using it, other parts have to take the strain is what the doc told him.
 
Is your shoulder painful to the touch? Is there any visible hematoma? And does the pain feel more like it's from the muscle or deeper down in the joint itself?
 
Thanks Cindy, I will keep that in mind. I think the shoulder is getting better so hopefully nothing is torn.

Kel, nope, not painful to the touch and nothing visible, it looks totally normal. Pain feels like it's in the muscle, kind of in between the shoulder & bicep, and is worst when I'm reaching quickly either down or straight ahead for something. Most of the time it's not very painful at all, but I get hit with sharp jabs of pain that linger awhile if I reach for something or otherwise move it wrong. I do think it's slowly & gradually getting better. When it first happened it was pretty painful all the time - now it's only really painful if I move it wrong. As long as I'm careful about it, I can pretty much avoid the pain altogether.
 
I did take 5 or 6 days off completely (the shoulder first felt painful last week Thurs morning) - then I got restless and bored and just had to do something! So I did yoga and that went well, and that encouraged me to try lifting weights, and that went well too. The shoulder actually feels a bit better today, so lifting didn't exacerbate the injury. I'm probably taking today as a rest day, and will try lifting again tomorrow.

As for sleeping, unfortunately I tend to sleep on my left side. I can't sleep on my stomach - it's not comfortable to have the tummy smooshed like that (particularly now that I'm flaring). I can't sleep on my back - it's just not comfortable and I cannot seem to fall asleep in that position, it just doesn't happen for some reason. I have a hard time sleeping on my right side - my right hip is the bad one (well, they're both bad, but the right is the worse of the two) and I can't have my bad hip smooshed down either, the pressure is very uncomfortable and sometimes downright painful. So kind of by default, I usually sleep on my left side. Not good for the injured shoulder, I know, but unfortunately it's not so easy to not sleep on that side with all my other issues. I've been trying to sleep on the right side lately, with very limited success. I think I managed to sleep on that side like one night out of the last week.
 
Cat - I can commiserate with your sleeping issues! My back will not lalow me to sleep on my belly or back. If I lie on one side too long it really hurts so I wake up and turn over several times a night. WHen I get up it's usually pretty painful. Working out was what loosened things up and helped in the morning but I can't do that for a while. So I've been doing light housework to hep keep things slightly less painful. IT sucks! I'm very glad to hear you are starting to feel better.(shoulder wise)
 
Cindy, I'm sure you've already said but I forgot - when are you allowed to start exercising again? I'm glad you're keeping active with housework, but I know there's nothing like a good, proper workout, so I hope you can get back on your elliptical soon! Would you be allowed/able to do anything like yoga to keep your back at least stretched out and hopefully less painful? I can do yoga even when I can't do much of anything else, and I always feel better after doing it - I try to incorporate yoga moves that involve the hips, since they're the worst of my joints, and they usually do feel better after some yoga.
 
Cat, they told me 4-6 weeks. So far I have minimal stamina. The ytold me to try short walks and so far they are tiring me out quickly. I have been doing some squats and calf raises and some minimal stretching. Yoga is tough because many of the positions are not good for my back. so in a couple of weeks I might be able to slowly, start back on the elliptical.
 
Update 8/1/13: I did take a rest day yesterday, and today the shoulder feels almost back to normal. It's still a bit sore but I haven't had any jabs of sharp pain from it in something like 2 or 3 days now, so hopefully it won't give me any more trouble. I'm headed to the big gym tonight for weights - going to take it slowly and carefully so as not to re-injure the shoulder muscles. Really excited to do a proper workout in that gym, it's been over a week since I've been there and I miss it! :)

I see my GI next week. Starting to get nervous about that. Since the last time I saw him, I have started passing blood and probably flaring, so I have a long list of questions for him. I want to request a colonoscopy, I want to try switching meds (from Delzicol to Apriso maybe), I want to know his thoughts on why I'm bleeding especially since I've never been a bleeder in the past, I want to get my vitamin levels checked and I want to see if he has any idea why my lips are cracked/peeling all the time, if he feels the lip issue might be related to my probable IBD. I have a full page of questions for my GI, so hopefully he can shed light on a few things for me. I don't expect to get a proper diagnosis out of this, but finding the source of the bleeding would be nice, and getting this flare better controlled would be great too. Just feeling better and being healthier is my goal - I don't expect to get a proper diagnosis from the colonoscopy (although that would be nice!).
 
CAt, I hope you are able to get some new information from your GI! I know I'm hopig to find something out from my colonoscopy but Im not holding my breath.
 
Update 8/2/13: I hit the gym last night for weights and that went well - shoulder pain still a bit achey, but wasn't exacerbated by doing weights slowly & carefully. Today's another rest day, I'm just wiped out from this work week and don't feel up to doing anything today. Going to hit the gym tomorrow and have errands to run too, so tomorrow should be a pretty active day. Not sure yet about Sunday, I may do yoga. Cardio hasn't been my friend lately so I've largely abandoned my stationary bike, but I find that I miss it and I may give it a go on Sunday.
 
Hooray for the healing shoulder! This morning was my bathroom/kitchen cleaning day and it wiped me out. I did a few lunges and called it good for today. Lord I hope my stamina comes back soon. And I hope you're feeling better soon too, Cat!
 
Mark, you have a pretty active job though, right? I sit at a desk in front of a computer in a little cubicle for 40 hours a week, so I feel like I need to be really active after sitting for so long at work. If I had a more active job, I probably wouldn't work out as much.

Speaking of being active, we got up early today and hit the garage sales. Found some good stuff and went all over the place looking for bargains. Went out to lunch and we're resting up a bit now. I feel a bit like I overdid it, and I haven't even been to the gym yet. Will probably go later this afternoon/evening. Have to go run a few more errands too, phew! Tomorrow should largely be a rest day, with maybe a bit of cardio or yoga.
 
Cat-a-Tonic said:
I sit at a desk in front of a computer in a little cubicle for 40 hours a week, so I feel like I need to be really active after sitting for so long at work.
Click to expand...

I hear you on this one. I find if I have a weekend project or yard work to do, it's almost rejuvenating to do physical work on the weekend after doing office work for 35 hours a week (if there are no evening meetings).

Haven't been on much, last weekend was spent finishing the playset in the back yard and this week I was in get ready for vacation mode. Managed to get out to the park today, and head down to the river landing at the end of our street and do a walk around the block after supper. Our 2 year old almost walked all of the way around the block.
 
Last edited:
Cat-a-Tonic said:
we got up early today and hit the garage sales. Found some good stuff and went all over the place looking for bargains.
Click to expand...

Love garage sales, lost of good deals to be had, especially on kids stuff. I have to have one myself or post some things on kijii.
 
Yes Cat! People pay good money to work out like I do every day!:)

Yard sales!! You know what they say, "one man's junk...is another man's junk!!". OK, that's what I say:) I know, I know...sometimes there are some great finds!
 
CAt, those busy days can be very tiring! YEsterday we drove backto Wisconsin and met some friends out for the hubs' bday. afte ra few few hours of visiting, drivign bac kthis mornign, I am wiped out! Holy cow and I didn't even do much. I hope your shoulder is muc hbetter nad you are restign today.
 
Cindy, I find I'm also getting wiped out more easily these days myself. On Saturday we did the garage sale-ing plus a few other errands, and we walked the dog too. That was enough to tire me out, and I didn't end up going to the gym. I woke up Sunday feeling just not quite right - I woke up too early having to rather desperately use the bathroom, and I just felt fatigued and not quite myself the whole day. We did go to the gym on Sunday, but it was really tough. I wanted to quit about 100 times, but I know what I'm capable of and I made myself keep going. I did my full workout like usual, but it was tough and I was exhausted afterwards! I always feel better after a workout, and I did feel good, but also still not quite myself if that makes sense.

My diet was awful all weekend, hubby and I both ate terribly! We went to one of our favorite places for lunch on Saturday - a vintage video game arcade, that is located inside a pizzeria. So pizza for lunch, oh, and I had a candy bar as a snack beforehand. On Sunday after the gym, I was too tired to make much of anything for lunch, so ended up sticking a frozen pizza in the oven because it was easy & quick. Yep, pizza 2 days in a row and yes I'm lactose intolerant! :p Not good at all. I also snacked on potato chips on Sunday. Bad, bad, bad.

But, we bought a new blender on Sunday - I'd been trying to make myself healthy smoothies for breakfast, but my old blender was a piece of junk that I have had since college, it barely worked and had some broken pieces, so it was way past time for a new blender. We picked one up while running errands, and I made my first smoothie with it this morning. It worked great! So I'm trying to get back on the "eat relatively healthy" wagon and this is a good step in that direction. Hubby's making chicken & steamed broccoli for dinner so that will be pretty healthy too. My diet is probably the area that I'm lacking in the most - I take my meds, I exercise regularly, I do most everything right - but sometimes my diet is total garbage. I know I need to try harder there, so even though I'm kind of exhausted a lot lately, I'm going to try to cook more and eat better food rather than just reaching for chips or a chocolate bar.

So, that's where I'm at. I slept pretty poorly last night and am once again feeling exhausted today. I'm going to do yoga tonight, even if I'm exhausted I can do yoga. Weights tomorrow in the little gym, probably a rest day on Wednesday (and a GI appt on Wednesday!). With this flare, I'm trying not to make solid plans too far into the future, so that's as far as my workout plan goes right now.
 
Oh, goodness Cat! pizza two days in a row. You poor thing. i have found that when I want pizza I ge a gluten-free crust and sauce, turkey pepperoni and dairy-free cheese. It's not the same as a "real" pizza but much less brutal to the belly! I hope you are able to stick to the diet and start feeling better. I'm feelig a little better today than yesterday, trying to mentally prep myself for my "prep" day tomorrow.
 

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