3, 2, 1...oh wait.

So last Monday (the 26th), I headed off to crossfit.  It was really the first work out I haven't hurt at in the last, oh, 7 or so months.  It was so freaking sweet!  This was the WOD:

Strength: Backsquat 3 RM…how much can you squat 3 times?

WOD: 12:00 AMRAP

10 Push Ups

10 Supine Ring Rows

20 Sledge Hammer Swings (10 each hand) (8-50lbs)

275M Run (the building loop…no garage door action )

I worked on Backsquat with some chicas...did 3s up to 115, where I only got 1 (but yay!).  I did 3 rounds (+15 hammer swings) of knee pushups, 10 ring rows, 20 hammer swings (8#) and the 275m run.  Gotta start somewhere!

Before my awesome workout, I thought I would go to crossfit twice during the week.  Starting small.  Afterward, I thought, "there's no way you could keep me away from this. I'm going 3 times this week."  Then some weird stuff happened.  I burned out my sinuses and couldn't breathe without pain.  I didn't sleep much on Monday night, less than 2 hours to be exact.  Then I didn't sleep at all Tuesday night.  Zero sleep.  Wednesday was a bad day for attitude.  By that night, I was exhausted for sure, and got a long night of sleep in.  Since I wasn't feeling particularly well-rested, I skipped crossfit the rest of the week.  I did do some walking in the mornings with the dogs.  With a new week and a little better handle on the allergies, my goal is 2 or 3 crossfit workouts this week.  And maybe getting back to regular duty.





2011, So Far...

...has been rough, and my back pain hasn't been the worst of it.

9/11:  This year was hard.  With the 10 year anniversary, it was everywhere.  The images, the news coverage, the heartache.  Everyone remembers where they were.  I had taken a day off from work and college to visit my parents and trade cars with them.  My dad came home from work shortly after the second plane hit.  He stood in the foyer in his BDU's hugging my mom and me, while tears rolled down his cheeks.  I think he knew we (the country and my most immediate loved ones) were in for a lot of suffering.  I remember in 2003 when my dad and my brother were both in Afghanistan.  While it was hard for us at home, it was good for my brother because I think he desperately needed something of a morale boost in the form of visit from his ol' dad.  When my bro came home, he was diagnosed with PTSD.  He has attempted suicide twice, the most recent being this past Memorial Day.  We hope and pray he will stick with treatment.  My brother's crisis has been the roughest part of the year.  On 9/11, I couldn't help but think about how significantly the attacks that day continue to affect my family and so many of our friends.

This is not a sad post though.  I'm filling you in on where we've been this year and how we've gotten to where we are.  Between hospital visits and backpain, Hubs and I haven't been doing much, and we're sick and tired of being lazy mopes who sit around the house during the remaining time on our days off, playing video games.  Well, he does that.  I sit around against a hot pad and roll on my foam and tennis balls.  This has become the habit, and this girl is ready for a change.  I really just have to get back outside and live a little.

We're going on a little adventure...

A New Diagnosis

All right, where was I.  I had an epidural at my blown out L4-L5 disc on 09/01/11.  I had weird numb and tingling feelings on the outside of my leg.  My pain was numb for about 4 hours before conveniently returning.  The doc said it might get worse before it got better.  I was in a good amount of pain for about a week straight.

A week later (09/08/11, if you're keeping track), I went to see Good Doc.  He has hired a D.O. to work in his office, and invited her in to check me out.  I explained what all had happened over the past 7 months, and she said, "Well, perhaps it's Maigne's Syndrome."  I hadn't heard of that before.  Neither had GD.  It's amazingly simple really.  The muscles around the spine where the thoracic vertebra and lumbar vertebra meet (thoracolumbar (TL) junction) get super tight and pull on the crest of the pelvis where all these nerves are.  The ones that feel like SI Joint pain and herniated disc pain.  The treatment is manual therapy and adjustment of the TL junction, which GD did.  When I jumped up, I felt amazazing!  I had gone into the office at a pain level of about 4.  I left with it at about a 1.

The following day, I had a followup for my epidural with Dr. Sean's PA.  I told her what had happened the day before (I still felt pretty good).  She had never heard of this Maigne's Syndrome either, but tried to look it up on some medical diagnosis website.  It wasn't there, so she googled it.  After reading for a moment, she mentioned that it was more of a chiropractic diagnosis.  Um, okay, but that really doesn't matter to me.  Then she did an exam of me and asked where my pain was.  I pointed to a spot on my back/upper butt.  She said, "Oh, that's an inflamed gluteus medius muscle.  It's common after injections."  Derp.  That's what she said before.

I got back to the chiro on Wednesday.  Until them I am rolling on my foam roller and tennis ball and having very little pain.  It's crazy that I've been so tortured for so many months by something that is actually relatively simple to remedy!  I'm glad the new D.O. knows her stuff, or I would still be running in circles!

Easy Does It

I have been going to crossfit rather sporadically over the last month.  When the new barbell club plan came out this week, I decided to give it a try because I've lost a lot of strength over the last 6/7 months of not exercising.  This is what the plan looks like:

Barbell Club

8/22/11- 8/27/11

Warm up with the class.  Write down your numbers on the tracking sheet with comments.

Day #1 Max Effort Deadlift
Start with bar.  Do sets of two, adding weight until it gets hard.  Then, go to 1 rep until failure in form, not failure of weight.   After getting to single attempts, try to do no more than 3-5 singles.

Accessory Work
3 Sets of 15 reverse hypers, add weight each set.
3 Sets of Glute Ham Raises (let your legs do the counting, but if you can do more than 20 add weight)
100 Hollow Rocks (broken into as many sets as needed)
Foam Roll, and stretch for recovery.

Day #2 Dynamic Squat (50% with 25% band tension)
Do the posted WOD
Accessory Work
Skill work, GHD and reverse hyper.  Prowler Drag, heel first and pop your hips to move the sled.  This is not conditioning, so no running.  Do a pass in the gym and add weight.  Keep going as time allows.

Day #3 Max Effort Floor Press
Start with a barbell.  Gradually add weight doing 2 reps per set until it gets hard.  Start doing one rep each set until failure of form, not failure of weight.  After getting to single attempts, try to do no more than 3-5 singles.

Accessory Work
3 Rounds:
Max Reps Chin ups
Max Reps Dips
Max Reps Rows with barbell

Day #4 Dynamic Bench
9×3 with bands and 50% weight

WOD:
Team WOD or
5 rounds
3 Stone to Shoulder
6 Dips (with weight on Matador or on rings)
9 Kettle Bell Swings (Heavy)

So yesterday was Day 1, and it went well.  My new deadlift 1 rep max is a whopping 135#.  Part of my little victory is just being able to lift.  Since this started, I've gained about 5 lbs.  It isn't much, but I notice quite a bit of change in body composition.  My clothes have gotten uh, tighter.  In the past, I've had great success with losing fat and maintaining that loss with lifting.  I try to eat fairly healthily, but I'm not very strict and love some good comfort food.  So it will probably take me awhile, but as long as I can keep chipping away, I'm good with that.

Following my workout, I had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Sean's PA.  I showed her where I was having pain, and she thought it is from an inflammed bursa along my pelvis.  She shot some cortisone into it and told me to take it easy for the rest of the day.  I contemplated going to work, but was sooo glad I didn't.  As the evening wore on, I hurt more and more and may have gotten to a level 6/7.  I feel better today.  I'm not sure that's the only place where I had pain though.  I go back in a week.  Maybe it will be somewheres else then.  It kind of seem like we're dealing with all the residual separate issues that are related to the si problem.  Hopefully when it's all said and done, I'll be back 100%

Back Pain is the Devil

So I got a second injection into my SI Joint.  It didn't hurt nearly like the first one did, and so I'm thinking I probably didn't need that one.  Swell, but whatever.  A week later, I was visiting a different physical therapist (mine was on vacay in Mexico), who thought my continued pain sounded like disc stuff to her.  She called the doc, who I was going to see that day for a followup.  The doc did an exam and told me that while my pain feels the same, it has actually moved.  I don't know how that works, but okay.  Doc said now I have an inflamed gluteus medius muscle, put me on muscle relaxers, and sent me back to work (on light duty).  I don't know about all this.  Some days it feels practically awesome.  Most days it does not.  I couldn't get comfortable last night and woke up in pain many many times.

I've continued to see my chiro and do my p/t religiously.  Sometimes it helps.  Sometimes it does not.  I probably should not have done a blog post today.  I'm having a crappy day, punctuated by lack of sleep.

I got a SI belt.  It helps.

Back pain is the devil.

Shot Followup

I made Hubs go with me to my followup appointment because I was sad and needed support.  My SI felt AMAZAZING on Tuesday.  I classified it at a level 1 on the pain scale because it didn't really hurt, but I could still tell it was there.  So it wasn't 100%, but it was something I could definitely work with.  I went to Good Doc and jumped around and told him about how great this was and YAY!

Wednesday brought me back to Earth.  I awoke and could feel sharp pain.  Since the pain had changed after the shot to that achiness, I was scared something was amiss.  My first PT appointment with Megan went well, but my back continued to get worse throughout the day.  At night I cried, a little because it hurt, but a lot because I was so disheartened.  I moped around on Thursday and got a massage.

Yesterday I had a followup appointment with Dr. Sean's PA.  She was only about 45 minutes late.  I understand sometimes things come up, because I have a job where that happens.  I have never been more than 10 minutes late to an appointment with a "client."  Sometimes I have to cancel appointments, but I always think it's better to do that, rather than have someone sit around, waiting.  Then of course, I totally felt she was rushing through my appointment.  I had questions, though, and I wasn't letting her leave until I got them all answered.

The PA said when someone has pain for so long, sometimes one injection isn't enough to get rid of the inflammation.  She told me I have another option, and I forgot what it was called.  Basically, they would sedate me slightly and do a minor surgery where the doc would burn off the nerves that go to the si joint that are causing pain.  They grow back in about 6 months.  First though, I can try another injection, which is scheduled for next week.  I asked if they put different amounts of medicine in, or use a stronger type, and she said no.

Well, here's to hoping.

Oh, about Wednesday...  The PT did her initial evaluation and gave me 2 exercises to do.  The first I call "fat-skinny."  I don't know what it's called in real life.  Basically, I get on all fours and keep my back flat. Then I let my stomach hang out and suck it back in.  2 rounds of 20 reps, 2-3 times per day.  The other is "nerve flossing," where I lie on my back, hold my right bent leg behind the knee, then straighten it and stop before there's pain.  I'm not sure she realizes I don't have nerve pain, but whatever.  I'll see whatever other crazy stuff she has me do on Monday.

Shot +1

Yesterday, I decided to go ahead and get scheduled for physical therapy.  I've never done physical therapy though, so I did not realize I should have a doctor's order.  I also don't know if that means my doctor wanted me to wait until after my follow-up appointment in a week, or if he forgot to give me an order or what.  I called his office at around 2:30 yesterday to find out.  Can you believe he and his nurse were already gone?  Good for them.  Being in public service, I'm happy when people can take time, especially for holidays to spend with their family.  As for me, I will have to wait until Tuesday for answers to my questions.

In the meantime, I feel okay, but not spectacular.  I think I overdid yesterday because by the evening, I was in quite a lot of pain.  I'm going to take it a little easier today.

I started back to my previous exercises yesterday, but only did 2 rounds of 10 each.  My goal was 3 rounds throughout the day and 2 half mile walks, but I was hurting too much later.  I did get in crunches, leg lifts, v-ups, reverse back extensions, back extensions, supermans, spinal balance, tail wag, donkey-pee, and bridges.  I threw in some squats, pushups, and ring rows for good measure.  And took the dogs on a half mile walk in the morning.

Mostly it was all the running around I did yesterday that wore me out.  Perhaps I'll do some housework today and keep it light.  It's 48 hours after my injections, so I can apply heat today.  I think that will be in the form of a relaxing bath later with my new eucalyptus bath salts.

boring

My dogs are mopey. It's almost pathetic how they follow me from the living room to the office, flopping their not-so-little bodies on the ground with a grunt.

It's hot out, and I hurt.  Even if I felt like taking them for a walk, the dark one would wimp out after the first quarter mile.  In the past I have pulled her along while she plodded at the end of her leash like a mule.  She's the size of a small mule.

I got injected today.  My mom-in-law decided yesterday that she should take me.  She's slightly nutty, but I really didn't mind.  The last few days, I had started to get nervous about needles being stuck deep into my bottom.  We arrived to the doc's office at 0830.  I waited briefly in the lobby and then longer in an exam room.  The nurse gave me the same pretty shorts I had had at the other doctor's office.  I honestly tried getting a photo of them, but it wasn't working out.  Just imagine the 80's.  And a pair of paper shorts 8 sizes too big.

The doc stopped in for a moment, and we chatted.  He asked if he could pray.  I think it's cool my doc and I are on the same religion page.  Off he went.  I think the nurse took me to the injection room around 0930.  I went face down on their table, while some unseen force swabbed iodine-ish stuff across my right butt cheek.  The three voices in the room tried to carry on their conversation in a way that would not offend the patient.  It was funny.  A song came on their radio about sex.  Somebody changed it, while a smartass chided, "What was that song about?"  "Fornication," I giggled.  The doc came in and explained to them the plan was to inject the SI joint and possibly do an epidural.  "So we're going to flip a coin to see if she gets the epidural?"  The smartass was at it again.  "Yeah, that's it," the doc told him.  I put in my two cents, "Hey, I feel good about that too."

The doc stuck something like sticky paper to my butt.  He said, "Big stick," and by the time I could process what he was saying, he was jamming a needle in my ass.  That part didn't really hurt much, but my involuntary butt twitch activated anyway.  He pushed the needle in further until he got the the joint.  I grabbed onto the table and worked my feet to dissipate the pain.  Doc asked for the pain level.  8.  He made it hurt a little longer and then backed out.  I think he disappeared into thin air after that.  I don't remember seeing him as I sat up and slid off the table.  The nurse/techs were asking if I had any numbness or weakness.  I did not.  They wheeled me into the next room, where another lady stoodby with my clothes.  I changed, she asked me what my pain was and walked me out.

This is not fairy dust.  I guess it takes a few days to really feel better.  The joint doesn't hurt the same way it had been, which was more of a stabbing/burning pain.  This is sore and achey.  I'm hopeful that pain will leave over the next few days.  I realize that some of these muscles have been tight and painful for the last 6 months, and it might take some time to get them back to their previous level of flexibility.  I'm especially frustrated today because I want to stretch the frack out of them, but cannot.  They told me to take it easy today, and I'm afraid if I get started on something, I'll forget and overdo it.  Or it will just mess with the joint.

Patience.  I still don't has it yet.

Day after Tomorrow

I'm getting shots in my SI Joint.

I went to see Dr. Sean, a pain management specialist.  He is a sweet guy and was really good at explaining stuff.  It was most of the stuff that has been explained to me before about my back, but he threw in some extra info that made me say, "ah ha," a few times.  The Doc. also talks really really fast, so it wasn't as though he was boring me.  He agrees that my pain looks like SI Joint less than herniated discs.  He also said my MRI shows pretty significant damage to one of my discs.

The plan for Thursday is to get up at the crack of dawn and go to his office for my injection(s).  He is going to shoot some numbing stuff into the joint, and if there is instant relief, he will know that is where the problem lies.  If there is no relief, this would indicate that my disc is the problem, and he will do an epidural at the offending spinal locale.

Following that party, I will do physical therapy, the importance of which had not been explained to me in detail before (or perhaps, I just understood the new doc's explanation better).  Dr. Sean said that due to the weakness in my core/spinal muscles, my other muscles contract to try to compensate, causing unnatural tension and the ensuing discomfort and pain in my SI joint.  In order to alleviate the over-compensation, I need the physical therapy to isolate and strengthen those core muscles.

I've already started with a few of my previous PT exercises.  After the family crisis, I didn't sleep, eat, or do much of anything besides get through the day for a few weeks.  I'm doing much better now, and am ready to get back on track.

Blur

We've had a family crisis around here. It has been kind of life-changing, and I (for one) am reworking my priority list.

In the meantime, my back has totally turned on me.  I'm not going to work until it's better.  I have an appointment coming up with a new pain management guy, so I'm hoping for some resolution there.  In the meantime, I went to my primary care doc.  She didn't like the copious amounts of ibuprofen that I have been ingesting, and put me on naproxen sodium.  I haven't really noticed it doing much, but then it apparently has to build up in the system.  She also prescribed Lortab for pain.  I'm not totally impressed with it, because I think you have to kind of take it all the time for it to work.  I took it as prescribed (1-2 every 4-6 hours) one day, and it did seem to help.  It also made me crazy tired, and I passed out for a good 11 hours.  Then I woke up in pain anyway.  I haven't done that again!  I've taken 1 at night when I'm going to bed, but I can't tell it does anything.

I've been attempting to keep moving.  I limp when I walk now.  I try to keep my hamstrings and everything good and stretched, but nothing appears to want to cooperate.  I bought some kava tea yesterday, and will see if it helps.  It's supposed to be a natural muscle relaxant.  We shall see.

label me

I feel like I need a designation when I'm at the gym.  I don't go around blabbing all my problems to everybody the first moment I meet them, but people wonder.  Sometimes people I've met or "know" will ask why I'm doing something different.  Sometimes I tell them I'm special.  Sometimes I tell them I'm injured.  Most times I don't feel like going through this whole story.  Yesterday, one of the guys at the gym asked me why I was pouting.  Because I was angry.

Maybe I'll start up a t-shirt business for when I get stuck in my own head.  If you see me at your gym with SCRATCH across my back, please understand that I wish I were doing more and pushing myself harder didn't hurt.

My dad is a rockstar!

Warning:  This is not a back-related post.  I feel like telling about my fun weekend, though, so here goes...

On Saturday, my tiny baby sister graduated from high school.  My dad took it upon himself a year or two ago to run for school board, so he was handing out diplomas.  He gave my lil buddy her diploma and a big hug.  I teared up.  My dad is also the fire chief in the little town where they live.  He started working with the fire department a few years ago and took the whole family along.  He, my good mom, and both of my sisters are now firefighters.  My dad is an excellent writer and has written grants for them to get much more training and essential equipment.  They are not your average hillbilly volunteer firefighters.  I would set them down in the middle of any major city and expect them to give "professional" firefighters a run for their money.

The family has really pushed the Junior firefighter program, partly because when they started, the sisters were too young to be actual FF.  But also because there just isn't a whole lot of appealing and constructive outlets for young people way out there in the sticks.  Our family has developed a relationship with the H's through all of this.  (In fact, my other little sister is marrying an H-boy in June.)  The youngest H-boy is my baby sister's age and has also been heavily involved in the Junior's program.  Last year there was a training accident involving baby sister and the young H-boy.  He was badly hurt and had to spend time in the hospital and rehab for a traumatic brain injury.  Baby sister got some bumps and bruises.  She and my dad didn't sleep for weeks.  H-boy graduated along with my baby sister on Saturday.  My dad handed him his diploma and gave him a big hug.  I cried.  Good Mom cried.  I suspect there were others, but I didn't look around for them.

After graduation, we stopped by the M's, whose Junior FF daughter also graduated.  As we were sitting on their deck (that she built for her senior project...wow!), a storm came rolling in and the county FireCom started calling for stormspotters.  My dad got up to go, and like any kid, I asked, "Hey, can I go?"  "Sure!"  So we hopped in the car, and he took off like a bat outta hell for the fire station.  He grabbed a coat and hat for me, and we climbed in the "medical truck."  He drove us out to the edge of town and we watched the clouds.  There were a few funnel clouds off in the distance, and he explained what we were looking for.  The radio was abuzz with all the funnel cloud sightings from our southeast.  After awhile, the hail started.  At first it was tiny, like the head of a pin, then pea-sized, then dime, and nickel, before turning to quarter.  It passed, and the next round was far off in the distance.  Dad decided to check out what was going on in town, so we went back.  There was some debris lying around: shrubs, trash cans, tree branches.  He drove us toward the south of town and pulled into a lot.  We looked above the truck into some dark clouds.  I said, "Dad, that one has rotation."  He waited for the radio traffic to clear to ask the dispatcher to sound the tornado siren again.  It got suddenly dark around us, and the debris...leaves and branches blew all around us.  The truck rocked violently, and the noise of the wind was deafening.  I looked at my dad, who looked at me and mouthed, "Tornado!"  By then, the debris had changed direction and the tornado moved on.  It was small and didn't cause much damage that we could see.  There was a tree across the roadway and another fire truck showed up with a chain saw.  That guy cut, and we pulled limbs and branches off the road.  The storms had mostly passed.  Awhile later, Dad put up the truck, and we headed back to the house.

Before I left, my Hubs called and asked, "So what did you do all day?"

I told him, "Went to graduation, ate some BBQ, and hung out in a tornado in a fire truck with my dad."

Hubs: "Nice."

"You know that's how we roll."

I forgot...

and I don't even have any good excuses.  On the other hand, constantly updating the blog with things like, "I am currently rolling around on the living room floor in pain," and "my husband is not allowed to look at me funny because my back pain is unbearable and I will scream obscenities at him," aren't how I like to spend my blog posts.  That was pretty much how it went all week.  During my 4 day pity party, I tried to figure out why my muscles get so tight.  Because it seems like, if they would just chill the freak out for a minute, the pain would go away.  I always feel loads better after exercise, yoga, GD visit, and any other type of loosening up movements.  Of course, even after those things, the pain is still there, but it's mellow and doesn't control everything I do.

For the record, last weekend sucked.  I worked all weekend with a co-worker I can barely stand to be around, and we had to put in some overtime that was basically a huge waste all because of her.  I know, right?  Total drama.  I don't if it's stress or what, but I had been waking up in the middle of my sleep all week.  Sometimes I couldn't get back to sleep, or I would, but then wake up more.  Generally, I dragged my butt out of bed when the dogs started whining, let them out, and fell back asleep on the couch.  I slept a lot this week (to the point, I was REALLY starting to wonder what was wrong with me)!

Today I had a GD visit scheduled at 0930.  I seriously was dreading getting up that early because I just haven't been able to get moving in the morning.  To help me drift off into a peaceful slumber, I popped a melatonin before crashing out.  I don't like taking anything for sleep because it all makes me feel groggy when I awake.  Even though it's supposed to be natural, even melantonin makes me feel like I drank a case of beer in bed, so I just generally try to avoid it.

For the record (Mom), I have never drunk a case of beer.  Shortly after I turned 21, I decided to try a 6 pack in one night.  I was done after 3.  That's how I roll.

This morning I awoke kind of freaked out.  Mostly because I didn't hurt.  I moved around a little and still didn't hurt.  I thought, "I need to get out of bed and try this out."  Well, that's when I hurt.  But nothing like the past 4 days!  I felt freaking awesome!  I wasn't all stiff and painful when going from sitting to standing and reached to about my knees before I had to stop.

Fairy Dust.

or perhaps a good 8 hours of non-interrupted sleep.

and maybe the coconut water I drank yesterday helped?

I don't know.  I heard it has a lot of electrolytes and is good for muscles, but I'm not convinced it's a miracle cure.  I'm not convinced it isn't helpful though.  And how can I go wrong getting plenty of sleep and sucking down some not-so-delicious nectar of the Gods?  I put some in a protein shake today to hide the weird flavor.  It worked.

Now on this sleep thing, I don't want to take stuff to put me out everynight.  I need sleep therapy.

Magic

Good Doc sprinkled fairy dust on my hip today, and now it's all better.

I wish it were true.  I'm hopeful that day is getter closer.  GD continues to tell my my back feels better to him, and I think perhaps we have found a recipe that is starting to work.  I go to yoga and crossfit.  He digs his elbows into my fleshy posterior bits.  The si joint feels just lovely today.  I know there is still something going on back there, but it isn't controlling my every thought and action.

guh ugh

The title sums up how I feel today.  I would like to blame the beer I drank after a long week of work and of being on-call for work.  On-call is generally stressful in and of itself because work is always in the back of my mind.  I have to be connected 100% of the time and even sleep worse than usual.  But I have a job though, right?  I've noticed that sugars (like bread and alcohol) make me hurt more.  Maybe it's in my head.  Maybe it's because they're inflammatory.  Maybe it's because beer is a diuretic.

Whatever it is, I woke up stiff and painful today.  Dragged my bum to yoga.  I really hate yoga.  It hurts me to do.  Afterwards though, I love yoga because it stretches me out.  The hate makes it difficult to get motivated to go.  The love is a nice reward.

After, I went to crossfit.  I didn't do much weight on anything and just felt achey.  At least I went and tried though.  I probably feel better now than if I wouldn't have gone.

I wish it were more upbeat, but today just isn't.  Maybe if I go throw down some cartwheels, I'll feel happier.  Yeah, I can still do cartwheels.

What's all the Rage?

I finished my steroids earlier this week, and I admit, I did not take the very last pill on the very last day.  I don't feel any different than I did before taking the medication.  Wait.  Strike that.  I feel puffy...and bloaty...and still painful.  The entire time I was on this med, I wanted ibuprofen.  The little motrins do more for my pain than the stupid prescription.  So much for a miracle drug.  If you were wondering why I didn't take the last dose, it was because I was done with all the hurting and took ibuprofen instead.  Apparently, if you take the two together, they can make your stomach bleed.  That would be a problem.

The half life of the drug I took is 18-36 hours.  With any luck, it will all be out of my system in a few days and I will no longer be puffy.  The puffy is weird.  I noticed it 2 days ago when I squatted to pick up some laundry.  It felt like my hamstrings were bulging out of the back of my legs and keeping me from relaxing all the way.  So I sat in that position and moved it around a bit until it was more comfortable.  The next day, I put on my fave pair of trousers and they were super tight.  Ugh.  I am not a fan of puffy.  I like when clothes get looser, not tighter.

I realized today, as I refilled my little pill box of delicious supplements that I have been taking said supplements for over a month now.  I've never really done so religiously, but the pill box helps.  A LOT.  I only have to think about what I'm taking when about once per week as I refill the thing.  As I divied up my folic acids, I realized some good things have happened over the past month that I would like to attribute to said folate.  Now, this is generally thought of in regard to girly issues...the making of babies and such.  Because that is what my good things have to do with, I will spare you the gory details.  I will, however, make the following statement:

IF YOU ARE A CHICK, FOLIC ACID IS GOOD FOR YOU.

In a big way.  Make sure you're getting what you need.  You can thank me later.

A Confession

Dog glucosamine.  I tried it, so you don't have to.

It's really salty and made me gag.

I guess I'll just go buy my own.

Good Day in the Books!

Yesterday was a good day!  It was very much needed.  Hubs and I were both off work, but he sleeps until about 3 pm (yay night shifters!).  I planned the early part of my day all around my back.

1030-1130 Yoga
The instructor was new to me and perhaps better than the lady who does the evening classes.  Her poses were very different, and it felt less like she was trying to cram a bunch of everything into the hour.  Forward folds and down dogs are still kicking my butt.

1200-1300 Crossfit
I heart being able to go to CC's class.  He had me deadlift out of the rack to protect my back, and I only picked up 113# from there.  I'm not worrying about what my previous PR's were because that's a good way to get frustrated.  Everything starts over, and I just have to laugh and shake my head at my numbers.  I did the WOD in 17:15, scaling 15# dumbbells for the bar on squat cleans, a 4# ball on wall balls, and assisted dips.  I actually wouldn't really describe what I was doing as "cleans" either.  I was really just flinging the dumbells up to my shoulders.  Hey, it didn't hurt my back that way.  It felt so good to go there and workout with my peoples.  I loved it.

1400-1430 Good Doc
Okay, Good Chiropractor, whatev.  He ultrasounded, manual therapy'd, and electrified my back.  Don't you wish I knew the names of what he was actually doing?  Sometimes I ask, then I forget.  He said my back felt better...not so tight and icky.  So I don't have to go back for a week and a half.  I told him about all my core exercises, and he was down with that.  I've also been rolling my back and legs on my foam roller pretty hard core the last few days.  It's heavenly.

Then I went home, made Hubs take me to get the oil in the car changed.  I freaking hate getting my oil changed.  I hate that the dudes lie about what needs to be fixed.  I know they're just trying to make a buck off of an ignoramus, and I'm not down with that.  Hubs has a mechanic that we use because we trust him, and he doesn't jerk us around.  I wish I could find an oil change place that was the same way.  This place has been telling me I need new rear shocks for the last two years.  The mechanic tells me otherwise.  Yesterday, they told me I needed new rear brakes and a new air filter, as well.  I don't know anything about cars, but I do know how to change my air filter.  Go me.  And it isn't like I'm going to trust them about the brakes thing now.  grrr.  I would complain, but I'm afraid they'll sabotage my car or something.

Back to my good day, Hubs and I went out to eat.  I was still running on the Clif Bar I had eaten around 0930.  Then he bought me a giant exercise ball.  Yes!  I'm going to sit on it at my desk because sitting on my little one at home hurts less than sitting on a chair.  I'm sitting on it now.

Yeah, it was a nice little Monday.

Supplements Numero Dos

Last week, I halved the doses of several supplements including fish oil, Vit D, and Magnesium.  You can see what I was taking and why in my first supplement post.

Now I'm taking the following daily doses:

Vitamin D
5,000 I.U.

Calcium Citrate
800 mg
*This is actually what I've been taking all along.  Since 1000 mg of my brand is 5 pills, I just decided to take 4.  Two in the a.m. and two in the p.m. is easy to do.  I also drink calcium-enriched OJ.

Magnesium
250 mg

Fish Oil
I have the cheap stuff.  In order to get all my recommended EPA and DHA, I would still be taking about 12 fish pills a day.  But I don't feel like taking that much of anything, so I take 6 per day.  Next time I'll get the good stuff.

Neurologist...Smeurologist

I waited a while to update the blog because I was hoping for great things after the neurologist visit.  Needless to say, I'm still waiting.  In the meantime, sit back, grab a beer, and I'll tell you a story about the doctor I fired this week.

Thursday morning, my phone rang and it was MrBigShotNeurologist (M.D.)'s office on the other end.  They'd had a cancellation at 2pm and wanted to know if I would like to move my appointment up an hour.  It didn't really matter to me.  The way I've understood doctor's offices to work in the past, they set up all the appointments and then run late.  The later in the day it is, the later they are for your appointment.  One hour isn't much, but I decided it might save me a few extra minutes of waiting.  I had already filled out my new patient forms online, but they requested I arrive at 1:45 pm, so they could get my insurance information.

Of course, I was there at 1:40, insurance card in hand.  I gave it to the receptionist, who gave me a pager and told me a number would light up and to go to that booth where I would get checked in.  You know, kind of like an assembly line.  Awesome.  I sat in the waiting room and waited.  A lady called me over to the booth, verified some of my information, and took my copay.  She then told me to have a seat, and the pager would go off when the nurse was ready to take me back.  I had my seat.  I sat for a long time.  My back hurt.  Bad.  I would estimate it was about a 9.728 on the pain scale.  My pager went off, and I met the nurse past the row of booths.  She told me she had made a mistake and paged me too early.  Please have a seat, and I'll page you again when MrBigShotNeurologist (M.D.) is ready.

I sat.  I don't know what time it was when she originally paged me.  I sat there in pain fighting back tears of anger and pain.  It hurt to stand.  It hurt to sit.  I nearly walked out.  I realized I had already paid my $30 and sat here this long, so MrBigShotNeurologist (M.D.) was going see me.  I tried to readjust my attitude before my pager went off.  It didn't buzz again until 2:40 p.m.

I gave the nurse my xrays and mri.  She weighed, measured me, and took my temp.  She told me MrBigShotNeurologist (M.D.) would be in to see me in a few minutes and to please put on some paper shorts.  They were extremely flattering.  I should have taken a picture for you.  I couldn't stand or sit any longer.  I supined out on the exam table.

MrBigShotNeurologist (M.D.) came in, and I sat up while he conducted a short interview...when the pain started, what I had done for it (ibuprofen), who I had seen (Good Doc).  Then he did his exam, which mostly consisted of me pushing and pulling against his hands with various parts of my legs and feet.  He asked me to lie back down, and he lifted my left leg.  I shrieked.  He did the other slower and asked about the pain.  I told him the pain was always on the right.

He sat back on his doctory chair and told me I had a disc problem.  "Really," I said.  "Why wouldn't you think SI Joint?"

I didn't think my question warranted his snarky response.  According to MrBigShotNeurologist (M.D.), "Well, as a physician, my medical opinion is that you have a [disc problem]."  (I don't remember exactly what terminology he used.  It was the same old herniation pressing against the nerve story.  I'm not a moron.  I don't need it explained to me a thousand times, but I let him talk).  He then went on to explain the one apparent test for si joint dysfunction that he did, which did not cause pain.  He explained the pain I had when he lifted my legs was indicative of the disc problem.  Yeah, but it's also indicative of an si joint problem.  Then he talked about the MRI and blah blah blah.  So he was deciding to treat my MRI and not my back pain.

I didn't ask the question as a challenge.  I legitimately wanted to know what he had learned from 5 minutes in a room with me that made him so sure.  When MrBigShotNeurologist (M.D.) gave me attitude for asking a simple freaking question, we became not friends very quickly in my little bird brain.  As I explained to MrBigShotNeurologist (M.D.), "It's all well and good that you can put M.D. after your name, but you still don't know where my pain is.  If you'd like, I can go ahead and show you now."

As I stood up and turned around to show him, he proceeded to push on the lower part of my back, while asking if it hurt.  "It hurts because you're bouncing me around, but where you're touching doesn't hurt."

Then he showed me where my si joint is.  Like I don't know.  He said, "This is your si joint..."  I interrupted before he got out the crayons to draw me a picture.  I told him, "I know.  And that is where my pain is."  He said maybe I had both a disc problem and si joint problem. 

I have to admit, I didn't listen to much more of what he said.  He offered to treat me with a steroid dose pack or injections.  I did some quick mental acrobatics.  I don't want some idiot poking stuff around in my spine, especially if that isn't where the problem lies.  I have to do something though because this pain is freaking out of control.  I thought if I go for the dose pack, then that should treat the si joint too.  So I got a prescription from him.  I told him about the core exercises I've been doing.  He suggested that I stop and do these dorky easy ones on a piece of paper he gave me.  He walked me out saying how I should call and let him know how it goes.  I said, "Yeah, we'll see."  And that was that.  I didn't actually come out and fire him because I wanted to try this dose pack thing and I'm tired of freaking waiting around for something to get better.

I called my mom to ask her what she thought.  I cried.  She was already angry and frustrated with my sister's recent doctors' appointments.  She listened while I ranted.  I listened while she ranted.  (Lil Sis possibly has compartment syndrome.  She is still in high school and under my parents insurance, which is good for her because without Mom, I don't know if she could navigate all the doctors and stuff.  Shoot, I'm 30 years old and still need my mom's help with this.)

Mom is an RN.  She thinks steroids are the devil but pretty much believes that about most medicine.  She told me it's a miracle drug and will mask the problem, so I have to keep up with pt and treating the actual cause of the pain.  Since this crap has taken over my life though, she said in my shoes, she would try it too.

So I am.  I guess it takes a couple of days to build up or something.  I started the dose pack Friday morning and have seen no improvement yet...

New Core

I added and changed some of my previous core exercises.  This is what I have been doing this week:

1) bridges x20
I did the full yoga bridge things for a few days.  Yesterday, I tried and failed because I hurt too badly and my form was off.  So I did the mini-bridges.  I thought it would be better to do the easier ones right, rather than do the more difficult ones wrong.

2) crunch/leg lifts/banana x20 each
I've still been doing these.  They are getting easier.

3) reverse crunch/reverse leg extension/supermans x20 each
I did full on 12 reverse leg extensions in a row before my back spasmed.  That's way up from the 3 or 4 I started with!

4) Donkey Pee
x40 alternating sides (20 each side)

5) Side Bridges x20 each side

6) Pikes x20

7) Ball Roll x20

8) Spinal Balance
x40 alternating sides (20 each side)

Also, yoga'd twice last week.  I skipped yesterday and rolled around on the floor in pain instead.  Today, I have an appointment with the Good Doc.  Tomorrow I see the specialist...finally.

Dear Adam,

Your witch doctor hurts me.  Also, he is apparently interested in what you were wearing yesterday.

After visiting with CC and lots of the boys at work who have back owies, I was quite sure that CC was completely right about my back.  Why wouldn't he be, right?  It's the old SI joint after all.  Yesterday I visited GD and spoke with him about my revelations.  He agreed and explained that when we got the MRI results, he did not want to aggressively work on the si joint without being sure I wasn't having disc pain.  Apparently, in GD's language "I have no disc pain" is code for "please hurt me as much as possible."  After ultrasounding my back/hip, he dug into my hip and glutes.  There may have even been a flying back elbow move thrown in for fun.  He stuck on the electrodes, zapped me and ended with a little TLC for my discs.  Oh wait, he then ended by adjusting my si joint.

While all this was going on, we had a grand ol' time.  Seriously, I've never had more fun at a hospital than talking to this guy while he tortures me.  He told me a story about our bud, Adam, who referred me to GD.  Evidently GD was being funny that morning and sent Adam a text:  "Hey Sexy, what are you wearing?"  Except that he had misplaced that Adam's phone number and sent it to another Adam, with whom he doesn't have that sort of relationship.  Oops!  Other Adam didn't respond, and we decided that was kind of crappy.  I've received/sent a couple of messages intended for someone else, and it's kind of necessary to acknowledge them.  That way, both parties know a mistake was made and silent awkwardness about it can be replaced with laughter.

Next Thursday I visit the pain dude.  Even though it's been a long wait and there haven't been improvements, I'm glad we finally got the pain narrowed down to the actual problem.

So how do I feel today?  I was hoping yesterday was my miracle cure day, that the adjustment would make it all better.  Suddenly, I would be able to skip and jump and reach for my toes without pain.  Sadly (and as you could probably guess), this is not the case.  In fact, I feel just awful today.  The kind of awful that I would happily commit to recliner-land, never moving from my favorite comfy chair.  However, being the responsible adult that sometimes I wish I weren't, I thought being still, confined, and not moving would probably not be the best idea in the long run.  So I dragged my butt to yoga.  It hurt.  Then I went grocery shopping.  It frustrated me.  I came home and put groceries away.  Originally, I had awakened this morning with grand schemes for what I felt like cooking.  I haven't felt like cooking lately, so I was excited.  Following my morning activities (punctuated by pain, naturally), all I felt like doing was taking a nap.  So I did.  It was glorious.  By the time, Hubs got up (he works nights), I still didn't feel like cooking.  Luckily, I felt obligated to.  I whipped up some chicken breast stuffed with bacon/spinach/cheese and covered with jalapeno cream sauce.  Afterward, I was quite happy with my decision to make dinner because I felt like I had won a small battle in this war between me and the back pain.  Or hip joint pain.  Whatever.

Core-Slash-Ab Exercises

If you don't read the title and giggle, it's because your husband and his best (dude) friend don't do P90X ab ripper and make jokes about it all the time.

I'm going to tell you what core exercises I'm doing this week.  The piddly little ones GD gave me, and the ones C.C. also showed me.  I should make a video of me doing them, but there would be too much hot pink/lime green/spandex, and I would be laughing the entire time.

1) bridges
On back, knees bent, feet on floor.  Lift hips to make straight line from knees to shoulders.

2) mini-crunches
On back, knees bent, feet on floor.  Mini crunch.

3) leg lifts
On back, hands under tailbone.  Lift straight legs.

4) v-ups
Mini-crunch and leg lift at the same time.  The guy in the video goes a lot higher than what I can.

5) mini-back extensions
Lie on belly.  Lift chest off ground.

6) mini-reverse back extensions
Lie on belly.  Lift legs off ground.

7) mini superman lifts
Lie on belly.  Lift chest and legs off ground.

8) donkey pee
On all fours.  Donkey kick a leg behind you (knee bent, thigh parallel to floor, foot parallel to ceiling).  From there, move leg out to side like a dog peeing.  Put that leg down and do the other side.  Donkey kick + dog pee = donkey pee.  This is from C.C., so blame him for the name.

9) booty shaker
C.C. called this the tail wagger or something like that.  On all fours, scrunch your side and pull your butt and head toward each other.  It helps to look for your butt over your shoulder.  Then look at the other side.

Oh, and in all of the exercises, you have to keep your core tight.  Not like you are straining or anything, but not sagging around everywhere.  Sometimes I forget on the last 2.

I've been doing 20 of each exercise, one set in the morning and one at night.  Some of them hurt me more than others, so I rest during those sets (mostly just reverse back extension and superman).  I'll be able to do 4 or 5 reps, then get a spasm, shriek a little, and have to rest for a bit before doing 4 or 5 more.  Hey, it's better than when I started out a few days ago and could only do 3 at a time.  As they get easier, I can increase the range of motion and then add the swiss ball to increase difficulty.  Right now I'm working on being gentle.  grrr.

My favorites

Sometimes I meet certain people (or as I get to know said people better), and I think "So&So is my favorite."  Today I had two favorites: Good Doc (G.D.) and my favorite crossfit coach (C.C.).  He's always my favorite though.

I visited GD this morning after my stupid dogs kept me awake all night.  After I had fallen asleep, Sonny barked twice.  They never bark at night, so it kind of freaked me out.  I had to grab some defense and clear the house.  Later, I awoke to the sound of licking.  It had to have been the loudest licking in the history of licking because I heard it though my ear plugs.  I yelled at them, and Hubs let them out of the room.  When Hubs came to bed, Lucy stuck her nose in my back and woke me up again.  I wouldn't be opposed to moving their happy little doggy beds outside the room.  Somebody else is though.

GD said I looked very yellow.  I think he was talking about my energy which is kind of different and whatever.  He ultrasounded me and did some flexion and distraction.  Then he evaluated my pt exercises.  Apparently I sucked at them, but he gave me a new one to do.  Lie on the ol' back and lift the hips up to make a bridge.

As I was about to walk out, GD said something like, "I only gave you one new exercise, right?"

"Yeah.  The bridge thing."

"Right.  Because you didn't do your other ones last week."

This is my artistic rendition of how I felt about that comment:

*By the way, I was wearing a headwrap/band thing because I had just rolled out of bed and it keeps my hair sticking out in a similar direction and not all in my eyeballs.  Serious face.  I full-on protested because GD basically called me a liar.  I hate liars.  With a little head-weaving confrontation, he backed right down though.  I couldn't believe he accused me of not doing my stuff!  I busted my butt (which hurt like a hot knife slicing through it at times) to get all my stupid leg lifts and kegels in!  I should have gotten extra credit for going to yoga and freaking learning how to stretch my hamstrings in ways that don't hurt my back!

So how is GD still a fave?  It was a joke gone wrong.  He really is a good dude and probably didn't expect me to react like I did.  In his defense, I'm sure 99% of the people he sees don't actually do their homework, and he probably has to chastise a lot of adults who act like children about it.  He's a super nice dude though, and he does good things for my back.  On that note, I'm going to do my exercises.  That GD isn't going to know what hit him next week.  (probably all a part of his plan, right?)

So then I visited CC's class.  I don't know how to describe CC, except to tell you he's my fave.  He knows all about body stuff and movement and is good at everything involved with those.  Maybe I like him so much because that's how I hope I am about my stuff (which is not bodies and athletic stuff).  In addition to giving me more core exercises, CC poked around on my hip and back and told me my pain does not sound to him like typical disc hernation pain.  Possibly that even though the MRI shows those disc problems, the pain may still be from something else.  Which I can see because really, it feels like how SI Joint dysfunction is described.  So now I'm all confused.

There'd be days like these, my mama said...

I know I slept last night because there were some crazy dreams going on about people who I wouldn't normally have seen last night.  No, I don't have THOSE kind of dreams, at least not with anyone you want in them.  I felt like I was awake all night trying to go to sleep and hurting so bad.  Ah, well.  I'll sleep tonight.

I hurt yesterday and today more than usual.  Besides lack of sleep, I wonder if I'm becoming extra sensitive to the weather.  The fellas and I were leaving lunch, and as I sat in the back seat, pain shot through me, and I had to take a walk around the parking lot.  Of course, they are actually 12 year olds, so one of them started making fart noises at me.  Yes, these are your tax dollars at work, people.

There have been several changes to my routine, so I don't know if I should blame weather, physical therapy, or even the yoga I did Friday morning.  I do yoga for the stretching and balance stuff, not the ohm.  Before my injury, yoga kicked my butt.  Now it knocks me flat on said butt.  I was going to start with swimming yesterday, but the thought of an over-crowded pool on a Saturday (with awesome weather) made me think twice.

Kegels?!

I know what you're thinking.  Kegels? Who even does those anymore?  Well they aren't to make me a better pee-er, but apparently they do work a muscle down there that is attached to the spine.  And we are ALL ABOUT THE SPINE!  According to Good Doc, I'm to do 200 of them each day.  This doctor visit involved a lot of giggling.  I didn't know how to do kegels properly, so the man had to explain...  giggles.

In addition to kegels, I am to do 3 sets of 10 leg lifts twice per day.  Lying flat on my back, the leg lift sequence goes: fat tummy (giggles), kegel, suck in tummy, lift legs.  Cool.  Got it.

So that isn't much, but the focus is on some core muscles.  The Good Doc will add more next visit.

This visit, he ultrasounded my back and did some manual stretches.  He stretched out my hamstrings, which I've struggled to do on my own.  That felt awesome, so I said, "My husband has to do this for me at home, right?"

Good Doc:  "Absolutely! And you guys can probably barter some kind of payment!"

Me:  "Heck yeah! I gots skillz!"

Good Doc turned red... giggles!  "Well, I meant maybe you could cook him his favorite dinner!"

Me:  "Right.  Like I feel like standing in the kitchen!"  ...giggles.

The Good Doc also said that my pain is probably more from the bulginess of the disc running into the nerve, so I'm pretty much allowed to do anything that doesn't hurt.  Unfortunately, a lot of things still hurt me, like running, jumping, you know, the fun stuff.  I asked if it was cool for me to do yoga and go swimming, and he was all about that.

Sweet!  I have been doctor approved to attempt movement!  Yoga and swimming are good because I stick with things better when I have to leave the house to work out.  The same old thing day after day, week after week gets BORING!  (If you're into that, try P90X.  Blech.)  We have a really really super duper cheap membership to a local community center/gym because Hubs works for that city.  Unlike some other community centers, they don't charge extra for most classes like yoga and water bootcamp.  But really, I'm going to start slow with the swimming thing.  Well.  And yoga.  I'm not good at either.

Starting Point

From what I've gathered, here is what is going on in my back:  A couple of discs ruptured and spilled out their contents into restricted airspace.  Now my nerves back there are getting their no-fly zone butts kicked and it hurts like hell.  The spillage needs to be cleaned up ASAP by my body and this should relieve the nerve pain.  What I don't know (and will ask the Good Doc this week) is if the jelly junk keeps spilling out of these discs or is it all out or does the blowout in the disc heal up and stop more jelly junk from taking off.

In the meantime, I can't really lie about and not do stuff.  I did for a few weeks, and it absolutely killed me.  By moving around some, my body definitely gets loosened up and feels much better.

My goal in this first week has been to keep moving and stretching.  I have found that air squats and pushups do not hurt done fairly slowly and deliberately.  The crossfit-approved pushups do hurt (you know the ones where you pick your hands up off the deck at the bottom).  Walking seems to help as well.

Days 1 walked 1/2 mile
            3 rounds of 5 squats/pushups with stretching between
Days 2-3 walked 1 mile followed by squats/pushups/stretching (morning and evening)
Day 4 1 mile/squats/pushups/stretching (morning).  It was hailing in the evening.

The first few days, I was really worn out.  I don't know if it's because the exercise is really all that difficult, pain is exhausting, or because I have to work too.  My work generally involves a lot of sitting.  After about an hour, that starts to get uncomfortable, so I go for walks.

In the beginning...

From what I understand, disc injuries usually start with an event.  I started having back pain when I was 18, and the only traumatic injury I can remember having that summer was a good fall while mountain biking.  The guy ahead of me swerved to miss something, lost control and went down.  I swerved to miss him and went down.  He broke his collarbone, and I limped around for a few days with some hip pain.  I don't see why I couldn't have bulged some diskage there somehow.

Shortly thereafter, I went to Dr. Schneider because my back was hurting.  Dr. Schneider was my mom's doctor, local, and so I went.  He x-rayed my back and told me about my bonus vertebrae.  He also told me that because of it, I would always have back pain and the only thing he do was prescribe me pain meds.  Crazily enough, my mom was on every medication known to man for all her various ailments and of course, side effects of those medications.  I knew I didn't want to venture down that road.  At least I was smart about something at 18.  Want to know what Dr. Schneider is doing now?  Thirty years.

A year or so later, I decided to get a second opinion.  The back pain had come back.  It was never around for very long, a week or two at the most.  I was on my dad's insurance and went to a military doctor.  He told me that because of that bonus vert, I would always have back pain.  He then told me that as long as I was overweight, I would have more problems.  Between that and wanting to be a cop, I went off and lost 50 pounds.  Like he said, I would still have this pain that showed up for a few days at a time.  I got to the point where if it started hurting, I'd take things easy for a few days, and it would chill out.

The pain always felt like it does now, only maybe not as bad and definitely not for this long.  Is there a possibility I have had bulging discs for a while?  Who knows.  The Good Doc that I go to now didn't initially suspect a disc problem.  He thought it was SI Joint Dysfunction.  If you look at the symptoms of that, well, that's what I feel.  Pain in the lower back/right hip, worse when standing/sitting, extreme pain when sneezing or coughing.  Good Doc did some other stuff to make him think this, moving me around in different ways and whatnot.

I like the Good Doc.  He ordered x-rays of my back.  Slight Scoliosis.  He ordered MRI of my back.  Two ruptured discs.  He gave me a referral to the non-surgical Spine Doc, who I will see later.  Then I passed out in his office while I was reading the rest of MRI report.  Do you want to know that I have an unremarkable uterus?  Well, I do.

Supplements

I have picked up a lot of information about disk herniation through internet research in the last few days.  I'm trying to sort it all out in my head and figure out just what my plan is.  The non-surgical spine specialist didn't have any appointments available until the end of April, so I needed something to do for this until I can check in with him.  I'll get that figured out and posted up later.

In addition to herniated disks, my mri showed some early signs of osteoarthritis in my affected L5/L6.  (Yeah, I got a bonus vert.  I is speshul.)

Right.  In the past I've not been big on supplements and mostly because your typical daily vit makes me queasy and tired.  Take it with crackers, people want to say.  Great, that takes care of queasy.  It's the tired that sucks!

In my attempt not to become a 90 year old woman in the next year or so, I have decided to supplement.  I trekked to the drugstore and bought my pills.  I walked out of said drugstore and put off the red headbanded, striped pajama-bottomed lady asking for my change.  I realized I forgot to get a pill box and walked back in.  I again left the drugstore and farewelled the crazy lady.  When I got home, I filled up my little box.

Sidenote on the crazy chick.  So when I walked out the first time, she approached me from across the parking lot.  I instinctively snapped into my academy-approved ready stance.  (No, not so much.)  She asked if I had any change.  No, I sure don't.  Well, you have a bless-ed day.  You do the same.  On take two, she at least didn't try to approach me, but HOLLARED across the lot, "Ma'am did you find any change?"  "No, but maybe you'd like to borrow my debit card?"  "Really?"  Yeah, really.  "NO!"  Dumbass.

Back to my drugs.

So this is what I'm downing:

Vitamin D

10,000 I.U. per day for 4 weeks

Calcium Citrate

1000 mg per day

Magnesium

500 mg per day for 4 weeks

Fish Oil

14 g per day for 4 weeks

*That's a lot of Fish Oil.

Folic Acid

400 mcg per day

*not trying to have kids just yet, but they say to start this early (and just in case).  The link is to a video on a study done to test the effects of Folic Acid on female athletes.  It seems to be a generally good thing for us chicks.

Several of the above will be cut in halvsies or so after the first month.  By then, I oughtta be really good at shoving fish pills down my throat.  I'm also taking them in two doses, morning and night.  Sidenote, I completely agree that people would be better off to get their nutrition from actual food and not pills.  Usually I like to cook, but at the moment, I'm not big on standing in the kitchen or anywhere else for very long.  I'm not eating much healthy variety lately, and this is a battle I'm choosing not to pick right now.