Admitting Defeat

September 23, 2015 by

I made it over two years without having to go to the doctor for being sick. Back in August, I caught a cold because I was running myself ragged after we bought the local Orange leaf, but I managed to bounce back with no doctor intervention. This time, I had to admit defeat and found myself at the doctor’s office at 8:15 this morning.

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I started feeling not myself on Saturday after Emma Kate’s party but didn’t feel sick just yet. Sunday morning we rested and hung out with family, and by Sunday night I was feeling really crummy.

Monday I still felt bad but powered through with Tylenol and even went for a walk with EK and my sister. Apparently it al made my body very unhappy, because I woke up in the middle of the night with fever, chills, a terrible cough, and no voice. My sister was nice enough to take the baby to daycare this morning and to drive me to the doctor where I was given a Z pack, nose spray, Claritin, cough medicine, and two (very painful!) shots in the rear. I was able to rest and nap on and off all afternoon, and while I still feel really crummy, I am not feeling as bad as I was last night or this morning. I haven’t had a sinus infection in years and forgot how they knock me on my butt.

I hate how being sick puts me so behind, as if I don’t feel behind enough right now as it is. Hoping I can bounce back quickly and get back on track. I haven’t run in almost a week! Time to go eat some soup and drink some Sprite. (PS- I know there is nothing scientific about drinking sprite when you are sick, but it’s what I always did growing up and it just makes me feel better! anyone else?)

QOTD: When is the last time you were sick? Do you fight going to the doctor? Ever had a steroid shot?

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Boot Reflections: 3 weeks

December 20, 2011 by

 

It’s here, it’s here! The day I have been waiting for! No, not Christmas, it’s the day I HOPEFULLY get my boot off! It has been three weeks, and I will be honest, they have FLOWN by. Has the boot been an inconvenience? Yes. Do I miss running? Heck yes! But in a way I think it’s been good to take a break regroup, and force me to get back to cross training and weight lifting (two things I have been ignoring.)

The first 1.5 weeks were hard, because I didn’t have a gym membership. But then the YMCA finally opened, and I have been there every day they have been open except for one, due to an out of town wedding. I even managed to hobble around with the boot for the wedding (although for the actual ceremony I did wear ballet flats)

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Rehearsal Dinner

The halfway mark seems like yesterday, and the day I thought would never come has arrived. When I first was put in the boot, I shared with you some of my honest fears of losing fitness and gaining weight. I am happy to report I have maintained my weight over the past three weeks, even with lifting weights 4-5 x’s a week, which makes you gain a little weight.

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I have maintained a healthy relationship with food, and have been able to indulge in plenty of holiday treats during this time. Will it take awhile to get back to the running shape I was in? Probably, but I am just so ready to be out there again that I am ok with that.

So now I want to share with you my new fear…..I am afraid that if/when I am cleared to run…the pain is going to come back. My foot stopped hurting about a week into being in the boot, and so the only way I am going to be able to tell if it’s better is going to be to run on it at least 3 miles or so. I am not sure what the doctor is going to say as far as easing back into running, or heck this is even assuming I get out of the boot today! But I am definitely afraid the pain is going to come back, be chronic, etc. So I am praying that all goes well this morning and that I can re-join the ranks of the running!

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QOTD: Coming back from an injury have you ever been afraid it would come back to haunt you again?

*If you are a blogger running the Disney Princess half and are interested in a meet up, please vote on the poll on my right sidebar for a date and time!

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My Thyroid Story

October 13, 2011 by

 

Hey guys! I have been thinking about this post for the past couple weeks, and figured now was as good a time as any to spill. I officially found out two weeks ago that I have low thyroid. (I KNEW I wasn’t crazy!) Ok ok, let me back up a little bit. Well…a LOT bit! If you are a long time RWS reader, you know that last September I got off birth control pills. It’s a long story, so if you want to hear it, check out the post I just linked to above.

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ANYWAY, after a year of being off the pill, some of my “symptoms” of the BC pills had not gone away, so I knew there had to be something else wrong. Here are some of the things I have been experiencing that are ALSO thyroid symptoms. (Took a few months for this genius to put two and two together…ha!) This post gets a little TMI so feel free to stop reading…

-hair loss (in clumps, huge clumps)

-sensitivity to cold

-5-10 pound weight gain for no reason

-low body temperature

-extreme exhaustion (I was taking naps several times a week & sleeping 9-10 hours at night)

-irregular menstrual cycle (haven’t had a period since January)

-trouble focusing or thinking clearly

-crappy training runs where I just felt SO tired and dead legs

There are a few others, but these are the main ones I was experiencing. The irregular cycle one is the symptom that bothered me the most…I had been off the pill for awhile and thought things would get back to normal. I am not super skinny and had stopped running after my painful and injury-filled half marathon in February…so I wasn’t sure what the problem was, but obviously there was one. Wanting to have a family someday, I knew I had to get this figured out.

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By a random occurrence, I met a man at my gym one day who started talking to me about a book he is writing, and we got to talking and he told me he bet I had low thyroid and I should get tested. He told me the regular blood tests that doctors do would probably tell me that I was fine, and that I needed to do a mouth/saliva swab. I didn’t know a lot about this, so I did the blood test just to be safe, and as predicted, it came back clear. I then did some googling and found some sites discussing the mouth swab he told me about, and decided to give it a try. To give you an example, here is one article:

Saliva Testing

I figure why not, it can’t hurt, so he got me in touch with a doctor. About 6 weeks later, I got a phone call and found out I was low in T3 and T4. (I don’t really understand all the lingo, even after doing some research it still is a little foggy to me!) I was given two different medicines, and in a month I will re-swab so they can monitor me and see if they need to raise or lower my dosage. I was told I would start feeling better soon (this was two weeks ago.)

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So, I am sure you are all wondering about my “results.” I am happy to report the fatigue is going away. I haven’t taken a single nap since I started the meds, and I sleep an average of 8 hours a night (well, except for the night after the half marathon!) I am focusing better, haven’t been freezing in my house, and the best news, I got my monthly visitor (of course it was the DAY before my half marathon…not ideal, but hey I am NOT complaining!)

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Katie and I at packet pickup for the Gulf Coast Half Marathon last weekend.

I was told it could take some time for everything to go totally normal (the weight gain could take awhile to go away, my running may take awhile to improve, my hair may still fall out for awhile, etc.) but, so far I am pretty pleased! It is good to actually know what’s wrong and work towards a solution instead of just having random things happen to your body and you don’t know why.

If you think you may be suffering from low thyroid, I recommend finding a doctor who will do a saliva test, NOT a blood test! (Of course this is my own personal opinion as I am not a doctor.) I guess what I am saying is be your own advocate. Don’t just sit around thinking “something is wrong!” Do some research, go to a doctor, and if you don’t like what they have to say get another opinion! I will keep you all updated as I progress on how my other symptoms fade and (hopefully) go away and if my dosage changes.

QOTD: Has there ever been a time when you had to fight for yourself when you knew something wasn’t right with your body?

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