So far this week, I have again been going through ups and downs with my health. The esophagitis has been unreal with the pain in the chest, coughing when I breath etc. I was supposed to start the PPI Voquenza on Tuesday, but it was my mom’s birthday, then yesterday was a mass at St Francis for All Souls and I decided against it just in case. Then today I read the side effects again and have decided on not taking it for now. The most common side effects include, intestinal inflammation/gastritis (which I already have), diarrhea, constipation (um hello I have IBS!), headache, nausea, high blood pressure, UTI (have never had one, and I don’t want to start), stomach pain, dizziness (hello I just got over this issue), upper respiratory tract infections and more. The less common side effects, were even more concerning, like severe allergic reactions like hives (I had chronic hives from 2004 to 2005, it was traumatizing), kidney issues, urine problems and more. So, for now, I am going to hold off at least a little longer.
Instead, I brewed some Marshmallow Root Tea I got from Amazon which is supposed to coat the esophagus and provide some relief, and although it said to steep for 4 hours to overnight, I steeped it for 2 hours and drank half with dinner to see how my body would react to it. If all is good in another 1/2 hour or so, I will drink the other half which by 7:00p will be steeped for at least 4.5hours.
In the meantime, I have been keeping up with the DDPY Bedflex program, doing two sessions yesterday and two Bedflex workouts today. I have to say, being able to do movements and exercises in bed has been very beneficial to me right now since I have no muscle and even sitting on the floor for a few minutes hurts so imagine the pain on a yoga mat? The problem however? The more I move my body or exercise, even if its a light workout in bed or walking 10 blocks, or for 20 minutes, my pelvic floor muscles get tight, which as you know causes issues in urine retention, constipation and pain. So, today I did the physical therapy stretches to help with that problem since the Therawand although was helping before, right now is painful and that’s probably due to the drying lubricant that’s irritating my chamber of secrets.
Not exercising as the Urogynecologist suggested, however is NOT an option. I refuse to go back to the state I was in. I still have a lengthy road ahead of me in reversing my state of deconditioning, but I am on the path and I will figure out what else I can do safely, to ensure that those pelvic floor muscles do not tighten anymore and cause me to retain anymore pee pee and make sure my kidneys stay healthy.
As much as I want to complain right now about the what ifs, I would rather continue to express gratitude about what’s been going right so far. So far this week I am at day 5 of the Bedflex workout program, I have been meditating for at least 5 minutes a day and doing some visualization exercises for 5 minutes, that my amazing wellness coach Mary has taught me to do. I was able to go for a quick walk 5 days in a row which is a big improvement from my normal sit on my butt till it gets flat and numb working from home routine.
I have also started reading more books with ease thanks to my new prescription glasses. My mom was right, I was getting exhausted a lot more frequently during the day because the prescription was old. I had to take off my glasses to read and this made me even more tired.
Since the ophthalmologists I was going to kept telling me the change was extremely small and there was no need for new glasses, I didn’t get them. Thankfully, the new optometrist gave me what I needed and I can read the books I got from Comic Con with no strain on my peepers.
I can now also begin studying again on my downtime. Hopefully I can finish what I started with a program for Tai Chi before the end of December. That’s a lot to be grateful and get excited about I’d say. Practicing gratitude really does feel good.
Until next time my phoenixes!!! Keep Going, remember tomorrow is a new day, try and end your day thinking about one thing you are grateful for and don’t give up hope!
Mind Body Synergylia 