Tag Archives: pain

One Bad Hour (or Hating Panic Attacks And My Gallbladder)

Posted on July 31, 2015 | 2 comments

I’ve been doing pretty well lately as far as my panic attacks go. I still have my “expected” ones when I’m going to go on a plane or have to go to the dentist. Those aren’t fun, but I’m able to prepare for them the best that I can. But I haven’t had to deal with an unexpected one in a while.

When I saw my therapist, he had asked me about my panic attacks. I had told him that I still had my expected ones, but no unexpected ones. I thought he was asking because it’s in my medical record. But it turns out that Vyvanse can make panic attacks worse. I didn’t know that, but fortunately I hadn’t experienced any issues on my original dose. And my therapist had no reason to believe that on this increased dose I would have issues.

But the other evening, not only did I have an epic unexpected panic attack, I had a horrible gallbladder attack as well.

I’ve had a history of gallbladder issues. It’s something that is in my family history and I used to have attacks every few months or so. I had an ultrasound and I don’t think they found gallstones. I was just told that if my attacks became more frequent or painful to come back and we would reevaluate. I may need my gallbladder out, but as of right now it’s staying.

But I haven’t had a gallbladder attack in a while. And I’m not sure if the panic or gallbladder attack came first, but having them together was pretty horrible. I was in incredible pain. I couldn’t find a comfortable position to be in and I was sweating like crazy. I also might have been crying but I really don’t remember. I may have passed out too because time passed that I don’t remember.

This episode lasted about an hour and honestly it was one of the worst hours I’ve had possibly ever (even worse than recovering from hip or tonsil surgery). I really debated calling 911 at times because whenever I have an unexpected panic attack I question if it is that or if it is really a heart attack or something worse. It doesn’t help that a gallbladder attack can feel similar to a heart attack as well.

Once the episode was done, I rested for a minute before trying to get up. I took a shower (all that sweating made me so gross) and then just hung out at my house the rest of the evening. I was supposed to go to an event that evening for Ms. In The Biz, but there wasn’t really a way for me to pull myself together in time (nor did I really feel comfortable driving).

Yes this sucked that I had to go through it. Panic attacks will possibly be a part of my life for forever (although they are getting better) and gallbladder attacks can be a possibility unless I get it out one day. But honestly, it was only one hour of my day and the rest of the day was pretty good (except having to miss that event). And there’s no point in letting one hour ruin everything else that was good about the day.

Even with the horrible hour I was still able to check off things on my happiness checklist for my therapist. I’m choosing to focus on those good hours and not the one bad one. Hopefully this won’t happen again for a long time, but if it does, I think I’m in a much better mindset to deal with it.

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Default ThumbnailAnatomy of a Panic Attack (or How I Spent My Friday Night) Default ThumbnailAn Interesting Plane Flight (or A Return Of My Panic Attacks) Default ThumbnailA Gallbladder Reminder (or Hopefully This Is A Random Event) Default ThumbnailStopping A Panic Attack (or Only One Health Issue At A Time) Default ThumbnailLess Panic At The Dentist (or Am I Finally Over This?) Default ThumbnailSurviving The Dentist (or Testing My Panic Meds)

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Feeling New Aches And Pains (or Working On More Pain Management)

Posted on June 25, 2015 | Comments Off on Feeling New Aches And Pains (or Working On More Pain Management)

I’ve gotten pretty decent at managing my hip pain. I’ve been dealing with this for almost 10 years now (this coming October will mark 10 years since I collapsed in an airport and the pain started). I have a routine with painkillers and while that has changed a bit because I need to limit narcotic painkillers on Vyvanse, I’m still pretty on top of things.

But with all my workouts plus other things in life, I’m having more pain and having trouble managing it (which in turn makes my hip pain feel worse). Some of the pain is from things that I know I need to deal with. My muscles feel sore after workouts, especially when I’m pushing it with the weights I’m using. Right now, I’m dealing with a lot of shoulder pain in my right shoulder. I’m guessing it’s a combination of my workouts and maybe sleeping weirdly.

I’m also dealing with foot/toe/ankle pain. I’m guessing that that is partly due to the increased speed on the treadmill during my workouts. But it’s also probably due to me marching in place every day to make sure I get my steps in. Walking for hours at Disneyland didn’t help that either.

The rest of the pain that I’m experiencing is stuff that I know is temporary (and somewhat out of my control). Mainly sunburn soreness and feeling sickly (which makes me achy) because of the heat wave.

I’m still working on getting my mind to think about pain differently. It’s not something to stop me and make me take a break all the time. Of course, sometimes that’s exactly what pain means. But I used to always stop when I have any pain and that would prevent me from attempting to work out.

I’m not giving myself that excuse anymore. I’ve become the master at modifying my workouts. And I just have to keep that mindset for other things. Just because my feet are sore, that doesn’t mean that I can’t get my 10,000 steps done. It just means that it might take me all day instead of being able to get them all done in the morning (and then working toward 15,000 for the rest of the day). It might hurt to type with my shoulder pain (it’s weird, but true) but I have to push through it and try to take typing breaks when I can.

I know that pain is temporary, and I just have to keep telling myself that. And most of the pain I’m feeling is because I’m working so hard on improving myself and soon I won’t feel the pain anymore with similar activities.

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Default ThumbnailFiguring Out My Pain (or Staying Calm While Stressing Out) Default ThumbnailInjury After Injury (or I Swear It’s Not Because I’m A Klutz) Default ThumbnailDoubling Up On Pain (or Physical and Mental Pain Together) Default ThumbnailStill Working Through The Pain (or I’m Going To Stay Positive About This) Default ThumbnailFeeling The Pain With The Weather (or The Full Story About My Hip Problems) Default ThumbnailPain Distracts From Other Pain (or The Rain Isn’t Too Bad This Time)

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Working Out Burnt (or No Excuses)

Posted on May 4, 2015 | 1 comment

With having a killer sunburn this week, my workouts weren’t going to be easy. Not only was my skin hurting, I was exhausted from not sleeping well and once the peeling started my skin was getting really bad.

But I wasn’t going to let a little (or big) sunburn stop me from doing my 3 workouts this week.

On Monday, I really didn’t realize how bad a workout was going to be. In the past, I would have looked at a sunburn like this as a reason to take it easy for the week. To be honest, I doubt I’ve ever really worked out with a sunburn (I’ve never really had a regular workout routine until I started at Orangetheory).

I went into my Monday workout thinking that I could do everything like normal. I then discovered that sweat on my sunburned skin felt like acid. And I couldn’t wipe my sweat like normal with my towel because wiping my skin hurt too much. So I turned the fan on my treadmill on high and took breaks to dab the sweat from my skin (I felt really dainty doing that).

The only weights that caused me issues were upper body movement where I was working my chest, shoulders, or back. Basically any part of my body that was burnt. I went down on my weights a bit for those movements but for regular arm movements I went back up to my usual weight.

I discovered after my Monday workout that I needed to take better care of my skin both in general and before workouts. I was already putting coconut oil on my skin to help moisturize my skin as well as dabbing vinegar on at night to help with the stinging. But after my Monday workout, I realized that I needed something on my skin right before a workout to protect my skin from my sweat.

Sunburn Cures

So I started to do a layer of aloe vera followed by a layer of coconut oil. That seemed to make a nice barrier on my skin for me to protect myself from sweat (seriously, why does sweat hurt so much on sunburned skin?).

Wednesday was much easier on me. My skin wasn’t hurting nearly as bad and it was looking much better (so nobody was commenting on how much it must be hurting me). I was able to get back to my usual weights for my shoulders, back, and chest but I definitely struggled with them. Not sure if the struggle was due to lack of strength or the sunburn, but I pushed through.

Friday was much more like normal. The only weird thing was that my heart rate was staying pretty low. I was struggling to get it up to the orange zone but I managed to get it up enough to get the 12 minutes that we are supposed to do. I’m not sure why my heart rate has been much lower than usual, but having to push more to get it in the right zone isn’t a bad thing.

Now, I’m finally almost recovered from the sunburn. So hopefully this week of workouts will be with only hip pain and not skin pain. And I now know that even with a pretty nasty sunburn I can still get through workouts. It makes me think about all the excuses I’ve used in the past when I wasn’t feeling well to not go and work out. I really should have just gone and done my best. It’s better than nothing.

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Pre-Burning Jewish Christmas Calories (or Holiday Workouts)

Posted on December 29, 2014 | 1 comment

This past week of workout were intense! That’s good because I had a nice splurge on Christmas, but it was not easy getting through the week!

Monday and Wednesday both were Christmas themed workouts (since those were in the days leading up to Christmas). They reminded me a lot of Hell Week during Halloween and were pretty much as tough as those workouts were.

Monday’s theme was the 12 Days Of Christmas. We had a list of 12 cardio tasks and a list of 12 strength tasks. This was the cardio list.

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It went 100 meter row, 2 minute push, 3 squat curls, and so on. You worked your way down the list and if you were able to complete it, you worked your way back up.

The first few things on the list weren’t too bad. It was a nice way to ease into the workout. At 7 (or the 700 meter row) I was starting to get exhausted. I slowed my rowing down to try to keep my form nice and it seemed like that row took forever! I did make it to the 1200 meter row, but I only completed about 300 meters of it before it was time to switch to the strength portion.

This was also a list of 12 tasks, but you went through the tasks like the 12 Days of Christmas song. I don’t remember all 12 tasks but the first few were 1 full burpee, 2 squat jumps, 3 push-ups, and 4 pop jacks. But instead of working down the list like we did for cardio you started with 1 burpee; then 2 squat jumps and 1 burpee; then 3 push-ups, 2 squat jumps, and 1 burpee.

Holy moly was that tough! I think I made it to 10 on that list before time was called. The last task of the day was the Monday Challenge. I saw a sneak peek at the challenge on Instagram and new ahead of time that is was going to be a 100 meter row. I didn’t have a previous record saved in my phone for a 100 meter row, but I did have a 1 minute record of 313 meters. So I set it in my head that I wanted to do better than 20 seconds. And I managed to do it in 19.5 seconds, so I was pretty darn happy with myself!

Wednesday’s workout was Christmas Eve so I tried to dress festively.

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Sadly, that little Santa hat that I’m wearing broke right before I took the picture. It was attached to a headband that snapped in half when I tried to wear it. Oh well.

The theme on Wednesday was Naughty or Nice. There were 2 stockings in the room, one for cardio and one for strength. When you did the cardio section, you pulled a card from the stocking and it told you what to do. After completing that task 3 times, you pulled a new card. There were Nice cards that were short exercises and there were Naughty cards (like having to do a 5K on the treadmill or rowing machine). I was lucky and only pulled Nice cards during cardio. It was essentially run/row workouts. The first card was .13 mile run (really a walk for me) and then 400 meters on the rowing machine. My second card was a 1 minute all-out pace on the treadmill followed by a 1 minute row. I just got through those 2 cards when time was called.

For the strength section, we all had the same exercises to do. But the cards would tell us how many reps we had to do of each workout. I pulled 2 Nice cards and 1 Naughty card. In the end, I did about 80 reps of each workout.

On Friday, I was a bit tired and feeling the effects of my Chinese food, but I was ready to burn off all that junk in my system. The cardio portion was all treadmill and the strength portion was a mixture of body weight, strap work, rowing, and abs. I was doing ok until the abs portion. I’m really losing flexibility in my hips (this is actually really worrying me and will be something I discuss when I interview potential new hip surgeons), and the lack of flexibility makes sit-ups and crunches really tough to do. I can’t really have my feet flat on the floor and bring my upper body to my legs. The pain in my hips is too intense. So most of the time, I either do crunches where I don’t bring my upper body up as much or have my legs straight out in front of me.

Doing full body sit-ups with your legs straight ahead of you is not easy to do, and my Friday coach Whitney saw that I was struggling and in a lot of pain. So she came over and held my legs down so I could successfully complete my sit-ups.

It’s the little touches like that where you can really see that the coaches at Orangetheory care about you and want to see you succeed that makes me so happy that I found my workout home.

I only did 3 workouts this week. My body probably could not have taken a 4th workout this time. But with the New Year almost here I’ve got some goals set in my head that will make the 4th workout more of a regular thing.

But it’s not time for me to share my 2015 goals quite yet. That’s coming up in a few days.

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Default ThumbnailBack To 4 Workouts (or More Rowing!) Default ThumbnailDoing Some Challenges (or Mondays Are Going To Be Tough) Default ThumbnailGetting My Rowing In (or Burning Lots Of Calories) Default ThumbnailPre-Burning Thanksgiving Calories (or Working Out In LA and San Diego) Default ThumbnailSome Holiday Workouts (or Back On The Treadmill This Week) Default Thumbnail12 Days Of Christmas Workouts (or This Feels A Lot Like Hell Week)

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Getting A Mammogram (or I Guess This Was A Rite Of Passage)

Posted on September 24, 2014 | 2 comments

When my mom tested negative for the breast cancer gene mutation, I figured that I didn’t have to do anything. My only concern was if she tested positive to get myself tested to see if I had the mutation.

But my mom’s geneticist did say that I needed to still be monitored a bit more carefully throughout my life. While my mom’s cancer is most likely a post-menopause cancer, the extra monitoring started this past weekend.

Earlier this month, I had my annual appointment with my gynecologist. She was actually one of my dad’s residents (have I ever mentioned that my dad used to be an OB/GYN and he was in charge of training all the residents in his department?) so she’s known my family for a long time. And when I saw her last year, it was right after my mom’s surgery but before too much else was done. So she knew that I would be coming in to this appointment with a lot more information.

I relayed all the important information to my doctor and then told her how my mom’s geneticist wanted me to get a mammogram this year. Even though my mom’s cancer is post-menopausal, my parents thought (and I kind of agree) that this mammogram was kind of to cover the doctors’ butts and so they could say that they did extra monitoring of me. But my doctor was more than willing to write in the order for the test and I went home that day with the phone number to set up my appointment.

I managed to get an appointment for this past Sunday (who knew they did mammograms 7 days a week?!?), and I was so nervous. I searched the internet for how to prepare for a mammogram and I bugged my mom about how much it was going to hurt. I know that she tried to prepare me the best she could.

When I go to the hospital on Sunday, the first thing I got was my hospital bracelet.

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I didn’t understand why I needed a bracelet, but later my mom said that it was because the person who checks you in for the appointment is not in the same area as the technician who does the mammogram. This way, nobody can pretend to be you.

I waited about 10 minutes and tried to read my book, but again, my nerves were getting the best of me. Finally it was my turn to head back to the room and I faced the mammogram machine.

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I swear that it looked scarier in person.

I then had to undress from the waist up (note to anyone who hasn’t gone for a mammogram yet: don’t wear a dress to your appointment) and then it was time to get squished.

And I’m not going to lie.

It hurt.

I was warned that because I’m young and have bigger breasts, I have more tissue and not only might it hurt more, I might have to go in for a repeat mammogram another time to make sure they get a clear picture.

The pain was not where I expected it. The squishing part actually wasn’t too horrible. But because of how you have to fit into the machine, the skin near my collarbone hurt so badly that my eyes teared up!

The mammogram was 4 different views (2 on each side). And I had to do 3 of them a second time right then and there because they didn’t get a good picture (I still don’t know if I have to go in for an entirely new appointment yet). But after about 10 minutes I was done.

While getting dressed again I noticed that I was starting to get bruises all over my chest (I bruise pretty easily to begin with). They only got uglier looking throughout the day. I’d put a picture of my bruises on here but I really don’t feel the need to post a topless photo on a public blog. Fortunately, the bruises are all almost gone now.

If I have to go in again for a repeat mammogram, I’m supposed to find out in the next week or so. If everything looks good, I’ll get a letter within a month.

I don’t know if I get the letter saying that everything is good if that means I don’t have to get another mammogram for another 9 years. Nobody really seemed to know the answer to that, but I’ll see what comes up as a health reminder on my profile on the Kaiser website.

If I have to go back next year, I’ll do it. It’s so important to be checked out and to make sure everything is ok (even if you don’t have a family history of breast cancer).

But the next time I go, I’m totally taking a painkiller before I go so it doesn’t hurt so much.

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Default ThumbnailAnother Mom Update (or Almost All Done) Default ThumbnailA Phone Call Can Change My Future (or Making Plans) Default ThumbnailAnother Annual Appointment (or At Least I’m Getting Used To These) Default ThumbnailOrange Goes Pink (or The Week In Workouts) Default ThumbnailRunning For Cancer (or Health Supporting Health) Default ThumbnailGetting Another Mammogram (or This Is Getting Easier)

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My Hips Ruined Part Of My Weekend (or Maybe I Should Pay Attention To The Weather)

Posted on August 6, 2014 | 1 comment

This past weekend I had a lot of things that I wanted to get done.

On Saturday, I had my friend’s party and right before that I had an audition for a commercial. As I wrote yesterday, the party was awesome. My audition wasn’t great, but I did the best I could.

The entire day I was in a lot of pain. I didn’t realize that it was going to rain over the weekend. I’ve been working a lot of graveyard shifts and I realized this past weekend that by working those hours, I haven’t really seen the news in a while. The evening news is on while I’m at work and the morning news is on while I’m still sleeping (when you get home at 3am, you don’t wake up that early).

I figured that the pain was due to all of my workouts and it was just getting worse because of all the use (and all the rowing I’m doing which really uses my hip flexors).

There’s not much I could have done if I had known it was going to rain except maybe start scheduling my pain meds so that I always have some pain medicine in my system (this is how I had to live prior to my hip surgery).

What frustrates me about this is because of all the pain I was in Saturday evening and then again on Sunday, I didn’t get all the things done on Sunday that I wanted to.

Some things I had to do because I had appointments, but things that were flexible were flaked on.

I hate that the weather and the pain that I feel still affects my life all the time. If I wasn’t hurting, I probably wouldn’t have flaked on any plans I had. And even though I know that knowing it was going to rain wouldn’t change the fact that it did rain, it still made me realize that I need to make more of an effort to stay on top of the news (or at least the weather).

Even though this week has been dry so far, the pain is still pretty bad. I know that I haven’t gotten to the point where I need my first surgery on my left hip, because when that happens a very specific type of pain occurs (I have what feels like little electric shocks going through my body every single step that I take when it gets to that point). But pain stinks no matter what.

I’m trying my hardest to medicate myself so that it’s not affecting me as much, but right now at Orangetheory, I’m struggling a lot with the treadmill. Probably at least 5 or 6 times in the 30 minutes on the treadmill I have to stop and try to pop my hip back to where it feels normal and comfortable. There is also a bike that you can use at Orangetheory during the cardio section, but I want to keep pushing myself.

I need to push myself for 2 very specific reasons. First of all, I need to push myself because I need to be ok with walking more. It’s something that hurts, but the more I do it the more I can do it. And I want to not have to feel like I have to drive everywhere because walking hurts. And second, I do need to keep damaging my left hip. That surgery is going to happen no matter what, and the sooner the damage happens, the sooner it will have a temporary fix. I don’t want to have a surgery, but I remember how much better I felt after my right hip was operated on.

I technically can have my first surgery on my left hip before it gets too bad, and I might do that. My surgeon might be leaving in about a year, and I think I still want him to operate on me. I’m going to make an appointment with him soon to discuss this and to set up meetings with other surgeons. If I find another surgeon that I feel comfortable with, I won’t have my surgery early.

There are a lot of other factors to think about with the next surgery. I do want to lose weight before it happens. That’s very important. Also, I know that recovery takes about 2 months and I want to make sure that I can take the time to do that.

There’s a lot to think about, but every time the weather affects me this way, I realize that I need to start making decisions sooner rather than later.

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Default ThumbnailPain Distracts From Other Pain (or The Rain Isn’t Too Bad This Time) Default ThumbnailJust Being Lazy In The Rain (or Not Much To Write About) Default ThumbnailFearing The Worst (or Trying To Hope For The Best) Default ThumbnailMore Hip Problems (or Thinking Out Of Order) Default ThumbnailAnother Year Another Orthopedic Surgeon (or Not Worrying About My Hips As Much) Default ThumbnailFeeling The Pain With The Weather (or The Full Story About My Hip Problems)

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Checking In With My Progress (or Past The Half Way Mark)

Posted on August 4, 2014 | 3 comments

Last week marked the beginning of the second half of my Orangetheory challenge. I’ve talked about my frustration with my weight loss in the past, and it still bugs me that the weight is coming off slowly (although I know that that is much better than how I did things in the past).

Of course, after being half way done, I had to do a new set of photos to compare them to how I looked when I started.

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The top photos are from when I started and the bottom ones were from the beginning of last week.

I don’t really see a difference, but I know that I am my harshest critic. Several of my friends did tell me that they do see a changes, especially in the middle photo.

I’m trying to focus on the non-scale victories right now, because if I just rely on my scale I will be mad at myself.

As much as I would like to say that I’m in less pain now, but that’s actually the opposite. I’m in a lot of pain every day now. But that might actually be a good thing. My hip surgeon told me that the less I use my body/hips, the longer I will be able to go without needing my next surgery. So by being in more pain now, that is showing that I am working out hard and using my body way more than I used to. All 3 surgeries that I still have ahead will happen no matter what and while I do want to put them off as long as possible, I can’t avoid moving just to put off my surgeries a little longer.

Another non-scale victory comes from the people who work and train at Orangetheory. Last week, I was told how I’m looking more nimble, agile, and how all my movements are getting smoother and look easier. This proves that while my scale might not be changing my body is.

I’m still struggling with the run/row segments because the transitions are tough for me (and the step down from the treadmill is a big step), but it’s getting better. I was able to do more run/row transitions this week than last week.

I’m also getting so much better at rowing, which is something I never did before Orangetheory. I was able to row for 600 meters without stopping several times last week. That’s a lot!

My parents will be in town in a few weeks and I can’t wait to share this workout with my dad (and hopefully my mom will decide to join us too). While I know that my dad will be better at most of the workouts than I am, I still am so happy with my progress.

And being happy with my progress is one of the biggest accomplishments so far. I’m so used to feeling like the weakest and slowest in any workout scenario. And while that might still be true, I don’t care anymore. I’ve made a lot of progress and that is awesome. And while people who are new to class might not see it, there are plenty of people who are at every class with me and they see it and they have told me how awesome it is.

I am slowly no longer comparing myself to others. It still happens, but it’s way less often than even 2 weeks ago.

I’ve got 3 more weeks left in my challenge, but I already know that I will be signing up for a membership the day that my challenge is over. This is something that I’m really loving every time I’m there and I can’t image not having my 3 workouts a week at Orangetheory (maybe I can bump that up to 4 soon).

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

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Week 3 Of Orangetheory (or Pushing Myself Even In Extreme Pain)

Posted on July 21, 2014 | 1 comment

I’ve successfully completed week 3 of my Orangetheory challenge. And this week was definitely a challenge for me. My body is starting to realize how tough it is to work out really hard 3 days a week. Hopefully my body will adjust to that soon (I think it was in shock for the first 2 weeks).

This week, I had the same trainer every class, Ashley. I think Ashley is pretty awesome. She does push me hard, but she understands that there are times that my body is just not able to do it. And she’s more than happy to give me modifications for all the strength workouts (sometimes without me having to even ask for them).

Monday’s class went really well. I had a great calorie burn that day and I didn’t hurt too much during the workout or after (which is a victory for me). I post photos on Instagram, twitter, and Facebook after every class and I want all my pictures to be different, but I’m starting to run low on ideas. After Monday’s class, Ashley suggested that we show off how crazy my calorie burn really was in those 60 minutes.

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It’s a little hard to tell from the picture, but I burned almost 500 calories in that class!

Wednesday’s class had a really tough cardio segment. It was another run/row day. In my case, it was a walk/row, but that really didn’t make it much easier. I have a tough time with the transitions between the treadmill and the rower. I have to take a minute to step down from the treadmill (I feel like I’m going to fall off) and when I stand up from the rower my legs are a little shaky. I’m hoping that there will be some more run/row days soon so I can work on feeling more comfortable with that.

But I am feeling much better on the rower now. In the beginning, that was a challenge for me. It was uncomfortable and I had weird leg pains while on it. But with Ashley’s help, my form is getting much better and I’m really starting to enjoy rowing now.

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My Friday class was a big challenge for me. Typically in class, we split into 2 groups and one group does 30 minutes of cardio (typically treadmill) while the other group does strength work (plus rowing) and then half way through we switch. I always do the cardio part first because when I’m tired and walking, I’m much more likely to have hip issues. So that plan has been helping.

But on Friday, things were switched up. I started in the cardio group. We did 15 minutes of treadmill time and then we switched with the strength group. Then after 15 more minutes, we went back to the treadmill. And after 15 minutes on the treadmill, my group finished with 15 more minutes of strength.

I was fine for the first 30 minutes. But as soon as I stepped back onto the treadmill for my second treadmill time, my hip popped out. And what that means is my femur bone is not where it’s supposed to be. So instead of things feeling okay in my hip joint, my bones were grinding against each other (it feels similar to when you grind your teeth but much stronger). I tried to walk the best I could, but it hurt so bad. Every few minutes I stood on the side rails of the treadmill and attempted to pop my hip back (I can do it on my own, but I need to have a good wall to brace myself against). I wasn’t able to pop it back during class, but I was able to finish the workout. It wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t my best day, but I did it.

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Fortunately, as soon as I got home on Friday, I was able to pop my hip back in and took some painkillers right away. It helped, but I was still pretty sore all weekend (which is typical for when this happens to me).

I’m excited to see what the next week brings, Ashley will be my trainer on Monday and Friday and JZ will be my trainer on Wednesday. And after next week is done, I’ll be half way through my challenge! Time really has flown by!

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Going Orange Again (or Having A Successful Second Workout)

Posted on June 12, 2014 | 1 comment

My first experience at OrangeTheory Fitness was good, but the few days after it were pretty painful. But I didn’t want to be scared of any workouts, especially because this one was so different from anything else I’ve ever done.

So as crazy as it sounds, I went back to OrangeTheory this week! I tried an after work class, which in itself is challenging for me. When I workout in the morning, I know exactly what I should eat before working out. I almost always have a glass of chocolate milk (I like the 100 calorie pre-packaged kind). But working out in the afternoon means trying to figure out what to put into my body for breakfast, lunch, and most likely a snack before working out and hoping that it won’t make me nauseous (either from feeling full or feeling light-headed).

I managed to do ok with my food this week, so I was only nervous about the class. Check in was much easier this time since they know me there now (I was even greeted by name when I walked in the door!). I got a heart rate monitor from the front desk and got ready to workout.

This time, I tried doing the treadmill workout first and the rowing and strength second. The treadmill was still tough on my hips, but I think that that is something that won’t go away (it’s similar to the pain I get sometimes doing my 5Ks). I did push myself a bit with the incline on the treadmill, but I kept my pace a bit slower than I’d like to be.

For rowing and weights, I did as much as I could. There was one round of squats that I didn’t do so well because I’m scared to hurt my quads again. And we had to do burpees, which is something I’ve never done before. The instructor showed me how to do modified ones (basically making them low-impact instead of high-impact). I did a couple, but I have to say that burpees make me feel dizzy! The instructor said that some people experience that because you are going from upright to parallel to the floor so quickly and often. But I took some breaks and managed to do my sets.

Overall, my workout didn’t burn quite as many calories as my first one did, but I still did pretty awesome.

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Again, the green zone is the fat burning zone and I managed to stay in that for almost the entire class!

And I’m happy to report that I don’t feel any crazy pain after this workout! So clearly I just pushed myself way too hard the first time.

I really enjoyed the class again and I’m planning on going back hopefully next week. If anyone wants to join me, let me know! I believe that you get your first class for free!

 

 

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Dealing With The Pain (or Not All Pain Is The Same)

Posted on June 5, 2014 | Comments Off on Dealing With The Pain (or Not All Pain Is The Same)

After my class at OrangeTheory, I was pretty sore. My quads were shaking a lot during the class because we did what felt like 500 squats.

I figured that when I got home, I’d take a pain pill, take a long shower, and I’d feel fine. That’s not at all what happened.

The day of the class, I was sore but it wasn’t too bad. I took my prescription Motrin and that’s it. The next morning (Monday), when I tried to get out of bed I fell onto the floor and it took a good few minutes before I could stand up. And once I was standing, walking wasn’t exactly and option for me.

I took my prescription Motrin as well as one of my stronger painkillers (because of all my hip issues I’m pretty stocked up with painkillers) and did my work for the day. Thank goodness my desk chair is on wheels because I spent most of Monday getting around my house on that chair.

Before going to bed on Monday, I tried a prescription painkiller cream and hoped for the best that night. I really didn’t sleep too much. Every time I shifted in bed my legs felt like they were on fire.

Tuesday was pretty bad as well. I was very careful walking around my house and did manage to make it to the store to get some Icy Hot, which I had never tried before for my pain (since my hip pain is in the joint, most topical creams won’t help me at all). I also went to a blogger event (post to come about that soon) where I was forced to move around. It was very very painful but it did seem to help afterward.

As I’m writing this on Wednesday, I’m still wincing every time I sit down or stand up and walking is still tough for me. I’m hoping in the next day or two all the pain will be gone.

What I’m assuming happened was I completely overdid it in the workout class. Your muscles have to tear a little to build up and get stronger, and I probably tore too much of my quads in that class (which is ironically one of the things I was misdiagnosed with when my hip problems started).

This is a setback for me, but I’m not letting it get me down. I feel like I’m kind of a pro at dealing with pain and I know that I will get through this. I just have to take it easy and not push myself. That’s tough for me because with my hip issues, sometimes I have to push myself to make it feel better. But right now, rest and painkillers are my best friends.

And like I said before, I’m taking this all as a sign that I have to go back and workout more. I shouldn’t feel like this after a class and clearly I need it (or something like it) to make sure that I get stronger and this never happens to me again.

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