I discovered this past week that my insurance deductable for physical therapy is $350, and that I'd have to pay anywhere from 400-500 per session if I decided to do physical therapy a couple of times a week, as recommended by my PCP. Whoa! I certainly can't afford that, and I found that because I've been babying my back and being scrupulous about modifying any moves that might have an impact on my lower back, that I feel worlds better, and really have no need of expensive PT anyway.
Of course, I think staying away from Nitrates was also a good move, as I seem to get joint pain and swelling every time I consume any food like bacon that contains lots of nitrates, salt, preservatives and smoke flavoring.
I have also been having tons of Crohns flares all week, and I can only assume that my forays into eating whole grains and dried fruit like craisins are the culprits. I love oatmeal, and every now and then I try to have a scant cup of cinamon apple oatmeal for breakfast, or a homemade cookie with oatmeal, and I always end up paying the price in pain, as my colon seizes up on me.
It happened last week during Tuesday nights spin class with the delightful Danielle. Suddenly, as I leaned over to do jumps, a wave of pain washed over me and I felt as if my bowels were going to evacuate right there on the bike! I was mortified, and ran to the bathroom, but Danielle thought I was having an asthma attack or a heart attack, and sent people to knock on the bathroom door to ensure that I was okay. It was horribly embarrassing, because of course I was having what used to be known as the "bloody flux" and I was in considerable pain. Once I managed to get out of the bathroom, Danielle had me lay on the floor, draw my knees up to my chest, breathe in deeply and out deeply and then squeeze my ab muscles whenever I felt a wave of colon pain about to hit. Much to my shock, it worked, and my pain lessened dramatically. I have never been told to do that before, and was thrilled that there is now someway to aleviate the pain when I am away from home and pain meds. Susie, one of the gals in the class actually drove me home, while another Danielle, who is a nurse, followed to make sure I was okay. Thank you, gals, and thanks Danielle for helping me out in my time of need. Even though I was embarrassed, it was still a lesson learned.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Whole Lotta Shakin' Going on
"Fitness is a journey, not a destination. It must be continued for the rest of your life."
Dr Kenneth Cooper, founder of the Cooper Aerobics Center and the man who coined the term "aerobics"
(I interviewed him once in the 1980s. He's a fascinating guy.)
Last weekend I managed to hurt my back somehow, and in seeing my doctor this past week, she said that I sprained a joint in my lower back (I didn't think I HAD a joint in my lower back, but it has been a long time since I studied Greys Anatomy). She gave me a prescription for pain meds that I can't take without getting very sleepy (so I obviously can't take them during the day) and recommended that I go to physical therapy to find out how to do abdominal exercises to strengthen my lower back. I explained to her that I have been doing abdominal exercises for over a year, and she said "Then you must have been doing them wrong." Oy.
I am blaming the back trouble on the Saturday surprise (last Saturday, not this one) class in which we were supposed to learn to salsa, samba and shimmy our hips to fast-paced Latin music. Unfortunately, my belly and hips just refused to swing and shake and sway that way. I ended up looking like a hippopotamus doing the hula. That and the bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich that I succumbed to eating, filled with swell-inducing nitrates, I think had my back at a disadvantage.
So now I am trying to figure out ways to still exercise and not hurt my back further. Spin class has been okay, without any back-pulling manuvers, and I managed to get through balls and weights once, too. But kickboxing ala Janice nearly did me in. Billie usually teaches kickboxing, and its a fun aerobic workout, but Janice, as is her wont, is into extreme fitness, and her version of kickboxing involves a lot more leaping and kneeing the unseen enemy in the groin as you smash his face with a punch or a kick.
By the end of class I thought I was going to keel over. But that is generally how I feel after a Janice class. She gives no quarter, but by the same token, she doesn't expect us to do anything that she wouldn't do herself. She's always right in there, kicking, leaping and flinging out lethal blows to invisible enemies that make the rest of us look pretty wimpy.
I have to admire the woman. She has guts and underneath her no-nonsense exterior beats a kind heart. She is training to be at a bodybuilder competition, and I am astonished at how muscular she's become, particularly because she's only 5 feet tall (she seems much taller because her persona is 6 foot 4). Anyway, she's been eating carefully and lifting heavy weights and working her rump off, and I hope that she wins the first competition she enters at the end of the month. Go Janice go!
Meanwhile, though, I only made it to 4 workouts this week, and tomorrow I will take spin, but I hope that I've not set myself back by making and eating a couple dozen whole wheat craisin-raisin-oatmeal cookies with no egg or dairy, using only olive oil and some brown sugar, plus the flour, oatmeal etc. They were yummy, and I couldn't stop eating them. My addiction to sugar will not be denied!
Today I had a dutch apple bagel from Panera Breads that was heavenly! I also had a blueberry bagel with lettuce, tomato and turkey, and some baked chips (130 cal worth.) Yum. I wish we had a Panera Breads in Maple Valley, and a bookstore, but instead my whole family has to travel to Issaquah for those stores. Arg.
I happened to get a gift certificate to Lane Bryant and to Barnes and Noble as a late Xmas gift (Thanks Frank!) and I managed to get 120 worth of clothing for 20 bucks with my gift certificate and because of clearance discounts. YAY! And I have to say I was thrilled to note that I am a size 18/20 (more 18 than 20) when back in December 2006 I was a size 28. So I am getting there, ever so slowly, but inevitably. Here's hoping that I drop another couple of sizes this spring and summer!
It will soon be walking season, so I look forward to getting out there and hitting the local trails.
Dr Kenneth Cooper, founder of the Cooper Aerobics Center and the man who coined the term "aerobics"
(I interviewed him once in the 1980s. He's a fascinating guy.)
Last weekend I managed to hurt my back somehow, and in seeing my doctor this past week, she said that I sprained a joint in my lower back (I didn't think I HAD a joint in my lower back, but it has been a long time since I studied Greys Anatomy). She gave me a prescription for pain meds that I can't take without getting very sleepy (so I obviously can't take them during the day) and recommended that I go to physical therapy to find out how to do abdominal exercises to strengthen my lower back. I explained to her that I have been doing abdominal exercises for over a year, and she said "Then you must have been doing them wrong." Oy.
I am blaming the back trouble on the Saturday surprise (last Saturday, not this one) class in which we were supposed to learn to salsa, samba and shimmy our hips to fast-paced Latin music. Unfortunately, my belly and hips just refused to swing and shake and sway that way. I ended up looking like a hippopotamus doing the hula. That and the bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich that I succumbed to eating, filled with swell-inducing nitrates, I think had my back at a disadvantage.
So now I am trying to figure out ways to still exercise and not hurt my back further. Spin class has been okay, without any back-pulling manuvers, and I managed to get through balls and weights once, too. But kickboxing ala Janice nearly did me in. Billie usually teaches kickboxing, and its a fun aerobic workout, but Janice, as is her wont, is into extreme fitness, and her version of kickboxing involves a lot more leaping and kneeing the unseen enemy in the groin as you smash his face with a punch or a kick.
By the end of class I thought I was going to keel over. But that is generally how I feel after a Janice class. She gives no quarter, but by the same token, she doesn't expect us to do anything that she wouldn't do herself. She's always right in there, kicking, leaping and flinging out lethal blows to invisible enemies that make the rest of us look pretty wimpy.
I have to admire the woman. She has guts and underneath her no-nonsense exterior beats a kind heart. She is training to be at a bodybuilder competition, and I am astonished at how muscular she's become, particularly because she's only 5 feet tall (she seems much taller because her persona is 6 foot 4). Anyway, she's been eating carefully and lifting heavy weights and working her rump off, and I hope that she wins the first competition she enters at the end of the month. Go Janice go!
Meanwhile, though, I only made it to 4 workouts this week, and tomorrow I will take spin, but I hope that I've not set myself back by making and eating a couple dozen whole wheat craisin-raisin-oatmeal cookies with no egg or dairy, using only olive oil and some brown sugar, plus the flour, oatmeal etc. They were yummy, and I couldn't stop eating them. My addiction to sugar will not be denied!
Today I had a dutch apple bagel from Panera Breads that was heavenly! I also had a blueberry bagel with lettuce, tomato and turkey, and some baked chips (130 cal worth.) Yum. I wish we had a Panera Breads in Maple Valley, and a bookstore, but instead my whole family has to travel to Issaquah for those stores. Arg.
I happened to get a gift certificate to Lane Bryant and to Barnes and Noble as a late Xmas gift (Thanks Frank!) and I managed to get 120 worth of clothing for 20 bucks with my gift certificate and because of clearance discounts. YAY! And I have to say I was thrilled to note that I am a size 18/20 (more 18 than 20) when back in December 2006 I was a size 28. So I am getting there, ever so slowly, but inevitably. Here's hoping that I drop another couple of sizes this spring and summer!
It will soon be walking season, so I look forward to getting out there and hitting the local trails.
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