Time Off

Imagine a sledge hammer pounding at a long dull railroad spike aimed between your hip and femur (thigh) bone. Twist, bend, or otherwise put pressure on the joint and the pain sharpens exponentially, with echoing vibrations ending in a numb foot sole and tingling toes. It's impossible to sleep or sit through. But standing and walking don't elicit this sensation because being upright apparently relieves pressure on the sciatic nerve, the longest nerve in the human body. 

Sciatica normally results from inflammation: either muscles like the strap-like piriformis or a bulging lumbar disc, pressing on the nerve root emanating from the lower spine. NSAIDs such as aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen are the recommended meds, but honestly, they don't offer much relief for pain of this intensity. 

I've spent most of the week on my feet walking or standing because sitting or laying down has been too painful. Driving even short distances to the dog park is painful. The worst part is exiting the car. I'm glad I have a small SUV instead of a regular sedan that'd be lower to the ground! Today I went to the chiropractor for relief. He made some adjustments and I'll be back tomorrow. Then I went to the gym so I could shower. It's much easier to step into a shower than have to climb over a tub, and there's nothing like great water pressure to relieve stress. But driving is still painful.

I saw my internist on Wednesday for follow-up blood work to see if changing my dietary habits have helped the worrisome cholesterol levels I've started to develop. The good news is that my Total Cholesterol dropped 9 points (good but not great) and LDL-C down 13 points (awesome). So my cholesterol is still above desirable levels, but it's a lot better. If I want to get my levels lower, I should restrict red meat to once weekly, cull my use of butter (there's no better way to nuke green leafies than with a sprinkle of salt and a few pats of butter!), and cut back on adult beverages. 

I mentioned to my doc that pain from my sciatica feels worse than shingles. She gives me another prescription for gabapentin which worked well to help me sleep back then. They don't work nearly as well now. I've slept on my stomach for the past two days which is bad for my glaucoma. (Optimal sleep position is on your back with your head elevated.) Laying on my stomach is less painful than being on my back or side and I can sleep for a few hours before pain radiates out of my glute, waking me at 3:30 in the morning. From then until dawn, it's a painful wrestling match with my pillows to find a position that will allow me a few more hours of rest. But it's futile and I only snatch minutes here and there. I'm thinking of doubling my dose and taking a pill twice daily instead of once just before bed.

Sadly, the last time I had a major sciatic flare-up it occurred the day after I did Seated Cable Rows. Even though 85 lbs isn't heavy, perhaps for my 61-year old lower spine it's too much stress. I'm chagrined to admit that using lighter weights isn't enough. I don't want to go through this again so I'm not dropping the stack to 70 lbs just to have another painful bout like this. I'll just have to find something else...

Sciatica Rears Its Ugliness

I was hoping to get more done yesterday but I suffered a massive flare-up of sciatica down my left side. The left side doesn't bother me usually but when it does, it's akin to having  shingles episode. Yes, it's that painful. Painful enough to wake me up at 3 am. No position is comfortable, except maybe standing and slow walking. It's hard to dress yourself if bending over hurts. Even laying down offers no relief. I tried doing stretches recommended for sciatica but it was too painful to even pull my knee up, much less cross it over the opposite leg. No way to bring my knees to my chest without crying out.

It's my cardio day but I'm barely able to get myself to the gym. Even stuffing my gear into the locker had me grimacing. I get on the cross-trainer for 25 minutes of easy pedaling. That doesn't hurt. But trying to get down on the floor in the Aerobics Room is another story. Once I'm down, I find every position I try elicits painful protest from the center of the left glute all the way down to the sole. I manage some crunches and bird dogs but that's all I can manage without actually crying.

Yesterday I did pick up the compost bin but it needs to be assembled and anchored in the yard to keep raccoons from tipping it over and ransacking decaying contents. I also dropped a bag of clothes off at Good Will and shopped for new sheets for my son's bed: he's partial to dog or puppy themes. So I accomplished what I set out to do, but I had wanted to assemble the compost bin as well. That'll have to wait.

Showering felt great, but getting undressed and redressed was exhausting, with me breathing hard and deep. I had a doctor's appointment to recheck my blood work: I'm hoping that filtering my coffee, and eating oatmeal and prunes would drop my total level as well as the LDL level. They're both too high. Naturally, my blood pressure was also a bit high at 130/80 since every time I tried to sit down, there was throbbing pain that ran down my entire left leg. My doc writes me a prescription for gabapentin, to be taken with ibuprofen so I can sleep at night. Just like when I had shingles not that long ago... Tomorrow I've got to dose my dogs before I take them to the vet: one needs finally to have blood work done, and both should get bordatella vaccinations (oral). Kennel cough appears to be making the rounds with dogs we're friendly with.

11 Aug 2021
Sciatic Flareup Wednesday

LF cross-trainer
20 min + 5 cool down
Program Manual 1
HR 114-140
Cal 190
Distance 2.30

Crunches 60
**Piriformis Stretch is painful!
Bird Dogs 60s x 2

Before the Heatwave

I got a lot sorted out once my son and husband left for Boy Scout Camp, but I'm still late to the gym today. However, I don't have to rush off and so I add 10 minutes of stair-climbing to the end of my workout. It's warmer this week than it's been lately, and the forecast is for a heatwave that lasts through next weekend. I'm really thankful for the magic that is air-conditioning!

Cardio makes my skin itch until I finally break a sweat. People with ichthyosis vulgaris (IV) are all familiar with this sensation, depending on the severity. Some people don't sweat at all and are the most prone to heatstroke. I'll sweat profusely but it takes a while before that happens. The Aerobics Room is cool and empty. I do my core and stretch routine and everything feels good, including the Air Squats. I even knock out a decent amount of hammer-grip pull-ups before sitting down to Cable Rows.

The gym is crowded and I'm the only one wearing a mask except for an elderly woman at the lat pull-down station. She's a regular: I see her often walking on the treadmill or using the circuit-training machines. She also looks very frail but truthfully, most of the older women are either obese or desiccated. Give me enough time and I might fall into one of those categories. The Seated Cable Rows are easy enough but I lose count during the last set so I don't know how many reps I got. Maybe 20? Maybe less? Doesn't really matter.

Tomorrow I pick up a compost bin that the Dept of Health is selling in coordination with the Cornell Cooperative Extension. It's reasonably priced at $65 (about 30" high and round) and I've been meaning to do something with those kitchen scraps that doesn't attract raccoons and skunks to my front door. I'm also hoping to drop a few bags at the Good Will donation center. It'll be a productive day even if it means skipping the gym.

9 Aug 2021
Monday before the Heatwave

Precor elliptical
30 min + 5 cool down
Program 3
HR 81-197 av 150
Cal 322
Distance 2.88

Crunches 60
Piriformis Stretch
60 Dead Bugs
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 30 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Push-Ups 25
Mat stretch w 3 Eye Yoga
Air Squats 25

HGPU 15

EZ Seated Cable Rows
70lbs x 15 reps
77.5 x 12
85 x 10, 12, 12
70 x 20?

Matrix StepMill
10 min
Speed 6 (52-57)
HR 160
Cal 78
Steps 533
Floors 33

A Better Cardio Day

Today I do another Cardio Day but play it smarter by avoiding machines that involve backward or lateral movements; two things that aggravate my sciatica and lower back. That leaves the cross-trainer, the Expresso bike, and the ClimbMill. I do all three in succession in decreasing time increments. 

Except for the bike, because with all the glare on the screen from the big plate glass windows behind me I forgot to set the amount of time I want to pedal. The default setting is 5 minutes and I'm surprised when 5 minutes is over and the Dragon Island game ends. I start the game up again and set it for 15 minutes. Alas, I don't have an account with Expresso and it doesn't save my data: those 5 minutes aren't included. But I'm satisfied that I've logged in over 5 miles today. It's a cardio workout day!

See the link for hip stretches

Unfortunately, I'm running late to pick my son up from his camp job, and have to skip a bunch of stretches and core movements. I only do crunches and bird dogs, a quick piriformis stretch and the most important movement of all: hip stretches. Some websites call it a double hip rotation. All I know is that my hips get looser and feel better when I do a few reps after a cardio warmup that's at least 20 minutes. Doing anything before cardio is asking for trouble.

You'd think I was an avowed Cardio Bunny with the amount of aerobic exercise I do, but let me repeat myself: I hate cardio and suck at it. With sciatica, old injuries, and glaucoma, it's wiser for me to do what promotes health and well-being, and not what I want to do just to prove to myself that I can still "do it." Because obviously, I can't.

6 Aug 2021
Cardio Friday

LF cross-trainer
20 min + 5 cool down
Program Manual 1
HR 139
Cal 197
Distance 2.63

Expresso bike
15 min {+5 uncounted}
Dragon Island
Distance 2.79
Cal 63
Points 113,710

Matrix StepMill
10 min
Speed 6 (52-57)
HR 127
Cal 79
Steps 541
Floors 33

Crunches 60
Piriformis Stretch
Bird Dogs 60s x 2

Paying for It

No mask when I'm alone
in the Aerobics Room

This morning while brushing my teeth, my outer right calf feels like a wire pulled too tight. There's normally some discomfort first thing but today it's notched up a few degrees. I suspect I'm paying for yesterday's ramped up cardio workout. Hopefully, a slightly milder workout will calm things down.

The elliptical program I use today has two major inclines and descents with steep angles. While the sciatica improves with movement, bringing my knees higher aggravates a different injury: left lower back. The left side is prone to muscle spasms under the shoulder blade as well as over the left back hip. I'm having trouble discerning which muscle is causing the trouble as I don't think fascia itself has nerve endings but I could be wrong. I'm guessing it's all due to prior injuries.

I use my time in the Aerobic Room to loosen the tightness in my hips and hope that will allow me to do Seated Cable Rows without aggravating my back. Of course, I still do planks and push-ups and stretching but I bail on Air Squats. My hammer-grip pull-ups are better than earlier in the week. I cut my sets at the Cable machine because the back feels okay but not great. However, the sciatica doesn't bother me now (unlike this morning when hitting the gas meant extending the leg with some discomfort). Tomorrow I plan another Cardio Day but maybe use different machines...

5 Aug 2021
Hazy Thursday

Precor elliptical
30 min + 5 cool down
Program 2
HR 80- 192 av 144
Cal 317
Distance 2.85

Crunches 60
Piriformis Stretch
60 Dead Bugs
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 30 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Push-Ups 25
Mat stretch w 3 Eye Yoga
Skip Air Squats 25 left lower back

HGPU 15

EZ Seated Cable Rows
70lbs x 15 reps
77.5 x 12
85 x 10, 10, 10
70 x 15
 

Cardio Day Again

I'm virtually the only person at the gym wearing a mask. It's Cardio Day so my mask is drenched by the time I cool down in the Aerobics Room. However, when I go to the grocery store at the other end of this strip, nearly half the folks are masked. 

Now, perhaps we can assume that people going to the gym are all vaxxed and don't feel sick or otherwise impaired, and we don't actually have any mandate to wear a mask yet unless we're not vaxxed or have been exposed. And perhaps we can assume that people have no choice but to grocery shop (whereas going to the gym isn't considered a necessity) regardless of their health and vax status, so people mask up. Plus, retail workers face greater exposure from the public than the limited membership that enters an exercise facility.

But I wear a mask at the gym where I'm breathing hard for an hour on equipment where other people have panted and sweated before me, and I don't wear a mask at the store where the aisles aren't populated and no one is grunting, groaning or sweating. If the county's infection rate continues to rise though, I'm sure I'll be donning a mask at the store once again. But never at the Bark Park.

It's Cardio Day and between the elliptical and the cross-trainer, I've pedaled about five and three quarter miles today. I've also been watching snippets of the Tokyo Olympics women's skateboarding where I see 12 and 13 year olds fly fearlessly into the air. Impressive! Tomorrow I hope to have enough time to do Seated Cable Rows, and then, maybe I'll try another Cardio Day on Friday. 

I have been sleeping better lately, but only because I've been popping 3 mg of melatonin an hour or two before bedtime. That's helped my quality of sleep tremendously although I'm still waking up at 3 am just to pee. But that's because I'm constantly sipping water due to the dry mouth the glaucoma meds impart. Glaucoma meds tend not to just dry out the eyes to lower eyeball pressure; they dry out everything. I use artificial tears and lubricant eye drops for relief, especially when I'm feeling foggy and unfocused. It turns out that remedying dry eyes helps a lot.

4 Aug 2021
Cardio Wednesday

Precor elliptical
30 min + 5 cool down
Program 1
HR 202-86, 136 av
Cal 317
Distance 2.85

LF cross-trainer
20 min + 5 cool down
Program Manual 1
HR 146
Cal 201
Distance 2.91

Matrix StepMill
10 min
Speed 6 (52-55)
HR 151
Cal 77
Steps 529
Floors 33

Crunches 60
Piriformis Stretch
60 Dead Bugs
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 30 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Push-Ups 25
Mat stretch w 3 Eye Yoga
Air Squats 25

A Step Back

Just as we were all starting to feel "normal" and relaxed, news of the delta variant and its ability to infect even vaxxed people have us all masking up again. This morning, the local news announced that the tiny county I live in has been added to the Substantial Risk list and we are all advised to wear a mask indoors regardless of vax status. I'm not sure why we're so high up on the list since everyone I know is vaxxed, but we do have a substantial elderly population. Still, I'm okay with wearing a mask. 

I got vaxxed because I don't have the best immune system. This way, maybe I'll get sick but it's unlikely I'll die from it. I've accepted that. Masking up, while annoying, isn't going to kill me. And I don't wear it outdoors at the dog park. But today, I put on a mask at the gym for the first time in weeks. I don't find it impedes my breathing while doing cardio, but of course, I carry laundered ones in my gear bag so I can exchange the sweaty wet one for clean and dry. Today, I'm the only one wearing a mask. Normally there's at least two or three other people.

The only place the mask becomes annoying is when I'm face down on the Inclined Bench doing Reverse Inclined Flys. I do those today because I didn't get to them last week. I was also on the Cross-trainer for cardio because Lazy Pedals was draped all over the one elliptical I like to use. The other one works but doesn't register a heart rate (which might be more accurate).

It's not the mask that annoys me today. It's the tiny bug bites on my third and fourth fingers. Almost impossible to scratch an itch on your digits! Between chafing the seams inside my lifting gloves and my wedding band, my fingers are irritated and sensitive and very unhappy with pressure. So my hammer-grip pull-ups aren't great. I try to make it up with the Reverse Inclined Flys by adding a few more reps. Then it's time to go.

I still have my washable masks, and most of a box of 4-ply, American-made surgical masks. While I'm glad I have them, I'm not sure if I should buy more, just in case. It's not like they'll go bad...

2 Aug 2021
Re-Masking Monday

LF cross-trainer
25 min + 5 cool down
Program Manual 1
HR 124-151
Cal 239
Distance 3.37

Crunches 60
Piriformis Stretch
60 Dead Bugs
Plank 60s
Fire Hydrants 30 x 2
Bird Dogs 60s x 2
Push-Ups 25
Mat stretch w 3 Eye Yoga
Air Squats 25

HGPU 12

DB raises supersets
lateral standing 15 lbs x 15 x 4
Rev Incl flys (w/u) 15 lbs x 20 x 1
20lbs x 23, 25, 25