Fitness Check In Day 90: A Month of Hell

What led to this? As I mentioned the PPI rebound, the acid hell I have been living in has been rough. My voice comes and goes thanks to the acid, I’m still pureeing some of the foods and now I found out I cannot eat hard boiled eggs because they keep getting stuck in my esophagus which is worrying and sucks big time. However, despite all that, I wanted to get back to working out again which stopped last month when my plantar fascia issues were making it painful to walk. I then turned to DDPYoga as I have done time and time again. This time, my body craved getting on the mat and doing the classics and beginners workouts that were responsible for me getting my strength back years ago. The walk the dog movement while your in down dog is also great pain relief for plantar fascia pain!

I did it once heavily modified toward the end of last month and that same day I had an appointment to get a CT scan of my facial bones. It was super hot which usually drains me, but I not only had the energy to go, I was able to walk almost 3 miles in the heat to get to the bank as my card was stolen and I had zero cash to take the bus or train. I was riding a happy high and figured I’d take a break and wait till the next week to get back on that mat. The next week, I did DDPY three days in a row, which in hindsight I should have known better, but my body felt good each time so I figured I’d do the workouts taking it easy and modifying as much as my body needed to. It was that same weekend that I couldn’t move my arms without pain. The familiar and horrible pain I felt in both arms, I figured it was either the rotator cuff, biceps brachii or the coracobrachialis. I’m not a doctor and cannot go to one so I’m just guessing here. I could barely lift my my arms so my mood came crashing down again..hard. Below are a few videos of what I posted on the highs and lows because recording was easier than typing it at the time.

On top of all this pain, my pelvic muscles got sooo tight from these exercises, I could barely move without my intense pain. I would get up soo stiff that it was like watching the tin man walk. The pain was in addition to the usual issues I have mentioned (not emptying the bladder and bowels properly.) A lot of fiber does help the latter, but the bladder is the worst. So I gave up. I didn’t want to eat but I did. I didn’t want to get up to work but I did. Fortunately the World Cup started on June 11th and as sad as I was, and as crappy as I felt, this was my lovely escape from my health ailments

Fast forward to today. I’ve been dying to get back on the Sunny Fitness Glider for months even knowing it will worsen my hypertonic pelvic floor muscles. But I did it! I felt amazing and invigorated! I played my music and lasted for 15 minutes. My arms didn’t hurt and my legs felt great. I then followed this with the exercises I learned from physical therapy to help stretch the pelvic floor a little bit. The stretching over all felt amazing!!

Now here we are, it’s almost 8pm and now I am feeling heaviness and slight numbness in my fingers and legs like I did last year that landed me in the hospital. I know this time the culprit, however, from what I experienced last year and that this is due to severe subluxation in the neck and spine because I have not gone to my chiropractor since last year.

While money is super tight, I will have to dip into the little savings I have to at least go at least 3 times in the next month to prevent that intense pain, weakness in my fingers and wobbly legs I experienced last summer.

This is why keeping active is super important. Muscle wasting is NO JOKE and when you live a sedentary lifestyle, (working from home) and don’t exercise at all, it really has consequences beyond the diabetes, heart issues and high blood pressure. Movement even in your chair, or a quick walk everyday is essential to get the blood moving, heart pumping, blood pressure down, cholesterol in check and of course ensure that your muscles are activated on the daily to keep them strong and prevent osteoporosis according to many health organizations like World Health Organization , Cleveland Clinic, Harvard Health to name a few. I hope to confirm all of this when I get my physical in a few months after I find a new primary care doctor after the one I saw last year who was good, left. I will compare the labs from the bloodwork this time to the labs from last year where there are a few things of concern to me that I never had a problem with prior to my muscle wasting and injuries.

Am I still thinking of quitting? NO. I have to say that going to visit my dad at the cemetery on Fathers Day helped gave me comfort and a bit more motivation. I miss him soo much and I think I’ve mentioned this before, but that man was a fighter right up until his last few weeks of life. I can only live my life as best I can and follow not only his example, but my mom and brother who are all beacons of light that keep going no matter what and always try to help me in any way they can.

We all have ups and downs and sometimes those downs are brutal. We all get knocked on our butts from time to time but we must get up. Sometimes the knocks come one after the other with no breaks and it’s in those moments you have to dig deep. Yes, you can feel broken and defeated like I did recently but do your best to get back up. I know I have more hurdles ahead of me, this acid reflux-precancer-Barrett’s Esophagus crap is relentless, but I have to keep going. I keep searching online and in the library for ways to heal that don’t require pills that I simply cannot take anymore.

Every day has had it’s challenges, but here I am ready to fight another day!!! Until next time my Phoenixes!!! Take a pause to rest, unwind, disconnect from social media, read a book and retreat for a few days if needed, but come back swinging and ready to fight another day!!!

**As I mentioned earlier, below are the videos I did talking about DDP and then venting about another bump in the road.**