Whine Wine Whine

Whine. Whine. Whine. Wine. Wine. Give me wine... ;-)

I've been doing a lot of whining, lately. I now have a new-found respect for those who live with chronic pain. It's brutal. I started going to a physio therapist twice a week and she is very nice. I'm not sure yet how well the sessions are working. The first time I arrived, she wanted to learn more about the pain I was having and then went to work on my back. She started off with the ultrasound machine. It was painless. She basically massaged a thick pen-like object into my lower back area for about 5 minutes. 

Then she hooked up the tens machine to my back and applied a heat therapy blanket over it for about 20 minutes. It was relaxing, but I didn't had much pain relief from it. When she returned, she did a bit of manual manipulation and massage to my lower back and showed me a few exercises at home that I can do to help stretch it out and strengthen my core. Once she adds a few more exercises, I will put them together in a future post for any of you that have lower back pain (from muscle strain).

It has also been 6 months since my last ultrasound for my dermoid/teratoma in my ovary. I also decided to opt against having surgery which may or may not be backfiring on me at the moment. For all I know, this weird thing could be contributing to my lower back pain. When I talked to the technician, it seemed like she was encouraging me to get it out. She was explaining that the surgery/incision was minimal, how dermoids could possibly "go bad" (turn cancerous) and while they usually don't cause major issues, they can become a nuisance later down the road. Especially if it continues to grow. Thankfully, it looks like mine has stayed the same. However, the technician made a mention that she could see a few "hot spots" on the ultrasound which in turn can mean the mass contains hair. I know I joked around about this thing needing a haircut or a dentist (as it can grow teeth, too, etc) in past posts but Oh My God, that was the nastiest thing she could have said to me. I couldn't get out of there fast enough to make an appointment with my gynecologist (which is a month away) to get this thing out!

Awe. It has my eyes.

The one in the middle looks like it's smiling at me. 

In a way, I feel a bit relieved to finally go through with the decision of getting it out. I just hate surgery - especially the anesthetic part. All I do is puke after. Knowing my luck, I'll be getting my surgery date a week before Christmas. Oh well - it will prevent me from pigging out on butter tarts and turkey.

Funk Diets

Since I can't run without nearly throwing up from back pain, I decided to take a closer look at my diet. No, I'm not going on diet. Fuck diets. Diets are evil. I just want to eat a little more healthier. You know, eat less junk, eat more green. So I revisited what worked for me in the past. I used an online program before called Sparkpeople but I didn't want to be stuck entering everything I eat into a computer. I tend to lose interest within a month and then forget about it. I ended up downloading their App (for iPhone), instead. I gotta say - it's a fantastic little program. Very easy to use and completely free. (I like free). It doesn't just add up calories but also shows the 3 major macronutrients: carbs, fats and protein. I love the barcode scanner! That is extremely handy in entering foods.

They seemed to have overhauled the platform (on the computer) since I've used it last. Seems easier to use (with a slight learning curve). It has a massive database of every food you could think of. If it's not in there, just add it yourself!

There's many different features such as entering your exercise and getting daily/weekly graphs of your nutrition (if you're a graphs type of person.) There are also loads of articles and recipes along with forums and goal setting boards you can make. It's a terrific (and did I mention FREE? Free is good.) resource if you're looking into wanting to eating healthier and/or losing weight.

I decided to do a little experiment and kept my carbs lower than what they said was appropriate for weight loss. Had them hovering around 70-90 grams (instead of 135-152). Anyway, I lost 10 pounds in under 2 weeks. Oops. I was also dizzy as hell and extremely tired. So I decided to follow their recommended carb count. I gained back 3 pounds but I feel a heck of a lot better. I'm not "obese" or even considered "overweight" by BMI standards, so losing that kind of weight so quickly isn't exactly ideal. 

It's interesting how my body reacted to a lower carbohydrate count, though. Sure, I lost weight fast but I also felt like I was going to pass out every time I stood up. I don't know how people do Atkins or the  Bernstein diets for long periods of time (and are still able to exercise). Just goes to show, everyone loses weight differently - just have to find what works for you! If you want to lose fat and gain muscle, it's imperative to choose wisely what you put in your mouth. You can exercise all you want but don't expect to be truly "healthy" by doing crunches and the treadmill, alone. (I speak from experience. Ugh.)

BackCracker MD

So as I've mentioned in my previous posts, I've got back pain. Not really a unique issue. It's probably one of the most common ailments in our population - and it completely sucks! I decided to go to a chiropractor for it. I've always been a little skeptical of their practice - not sure why, but now I do. Below is an account of my first and VERY LAST time I go to Backcracker MD.

I walked into the chiropractor's empty office, checked in and patiently sat down and waited to be called in. The receptionist had me fill out a little questionnaire about what problems I've been having. She then brought me into another little room. The doctor came into the room, asked me some questions then checked my posture. He then had me lay down on my front and felt around on my back to see where I was 'tight'. "Thats where your headaches are coming from," he said while touching an area on the back of my neck. At that point, I started to regret ticking off "headaches" on the questionnaire. Personally, I think my headaches are just the result of a very inquisitive, loud child. I didn't want him focusing on that. I just wanted my back fixed. He also pointed out the two spots in my back where I was having the pain. "Yup, thse are the spots." He then ushered me into another room where I posed to have x-rays done. I did get x-rays the week before that my family doctor sent me in for and I didn't get a call back so I know "bone-wise" my back was okay. The chiropractor looked at my x-ray and didn't tell me anything - except for the fact my spine was a little curved. He then tried to book me in for some workshop the next day and that's when he would go over my results. I'm thinking, "Well, it can't be anything serious then if he's not going to tell me them now." As I kept mentioning that I was in so much pain, he said he would give me an adjustment right away. I was thinking, "Yay - hooray! I can get some relief!" On the same hand, I had no idea what to expect.

I layed on the table in odd positions while he jumped on my back twice and lastly on my neck. Loud, long cracking sounds came out of my body. I left being in a bit of shock but still appreciative. It wasn't until about 20 minutes later I started to not feel too good. I was very, very sore. I spent the next 3 hours laying on the couch. The next morning, it felt like I was in a car crash and my neck had whiplash. I went to make an appointment with my family doctor but he wasn't in so I saw his replacement. He was very nice and also went over my x-ray results that I had last week. There wasn't anything that showed up that can explain why I'm having so much pain:

I do have pain directly over my L1 (where there is "wedging") but I've had pain there for over 5 years. As for the rest of it, it just basically says I have a slight curvature of the spine, a bit of "sway back" and a couple of bone spurs. Nothing that truly explains why I'm essentially in chronic pain. The doctor explained that the muscles are tightening over the course of the day which explains that I''m in agony by the evening. 

He recommended me seeing a chiropractor. I said, "Actually, that's why I decided to come see you. The chiropractor made me worse." He then said, if I didn't get immediate relief, then it's probably not going to work for me and that's when he recommended physiotherapy. He also said that I should continue taking a Aleve twice a day (morning/night) and Robaxacet (with acetaminophen not ibuprofen). Both pain killers have helped minimally but it takes the "edge" off. I'm not interested in taking pain killers forever, though. I'm not even 40 - God help me (and my liver) 20 years from now. He also recommended low impact sports and core strengthening - which was to be expected and I was already working on, anyway. Things like swimming, light weight training, stationary bike, stretching, etc. He then told me to come back in 3 weeks if the pain hasn't subsided. 

I've booked a physio appointment for next week, hopefully, it will be better than the chiro. I'm getting more and more frustrated by the day, so here's hoping that something works soon! In the meantime, I'll just be thankful that the weather has been amazing and enjoy my time in the pool (and on the deck loungers)!