Maranda Russell's Blog, page 2

Day ll – Getting Healthy with Chronic Pain Diary

Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay It’s the 4th of July, so did some celebrating, but kept it pretty chill and close to home. My husband and I cooked out (butter burgers, chips, and corn on the cob) and then followed that up with some ice cream (strawberry shortcake flavored). I did get a little bit of exercise in by going swimming at our community pool. It was actually less crowded than I expected for the 4th of July. Guess many of our neighbors went out for the holiday rather than staying home. Healthwise, my hand is still hurting, worried I may have to get that second set of xrays. Also, I am discontinuing the Emgality injections due to side effects and tomorrow will be a month from the last injection, so I am a bit worried about migraines attacking more when I don’t take the shot again. Not much I can do to change that, so hoping for the best but nervous.

Day 10 – Getting Healthy with Chronic Pain Diary

Hand still hurting, so wore my cast, but still went out. The pics above are from a cool park with a horse-drawn pumpkin carriage (like from Cinderella). I had to take pics with me pretending to drive the coach, and inside it. After checking out this little park, we went to another nearby park and botanical garden. Did quite a bit of walking so I could get some exercise in. All together, I’m sure I got in more than an hour of physical activity, which felt good after not doing anything yesterday. Had to be super careful with my hand though. After all that exercise, I may have undone some of the positive health benefits by getting some ice cream (chocolate vanilla twist soft serve). Oh well. It was delicious. Anyone else find they always want some ice cream after a long walk on a nice day?

Day 9 – Getting Healthy with Chronic Pain

Image by Michal Dziekonski from PixabayNot a great day. Started antibiotics for an ear infection and it messed up my digestive system. Lots of cramps and bathroom breaks My bruised hand has also been really painful, even worse than yesterday. Wondering if swimming yesterday did irritate it after all, or if I accidentally hit it overnight while asleep or something. My primary care doctor wants me to get another set of xrays if the pain is still there in a few days. Apparently fractures can sometimes be missed on xrays right after an injury, or at least that is what she told me.Due to the issues above, I didn’t do any type of real exercise for the first time since starting this journey. Honestly, I spent much of the day in bed watching movies and kind of feeling sorry for myself. That’s ok though, we all need wallow days once in a while, right? At least my diet was still pretty good, mostly healthy with a few cookies thrown in.

Days 7 & 8 – Getting Healthy with Chronic Pain Diary

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Forgot to post yesterday! So today I’ll sum up both yesterday and today!

My hand is still bruised and tender from my fall the other day, so can’t do any bike riding Doctor said not to ride for at least a week. Yesterday my husband and I did a short hike at a local lake to get some exercise, and today we went swimming at our community pool. I was pleasantly surprised to find that swimming didn’t hurt too bad, although the pain is intense if someone accidentally bumps into my hand (which my husband did twice! lol)Found a doctor who approved me to start Low Dose Naltrexone, so excited to see if it helps my chronic pain as much as it has helped others. One of my doctors outright told me that the reason they don’t prescribe that drug is because the big pharma companies won’t invest in testing it because it won’t make them enough money. Stuff like that makes me so mad. If it helps us should be most important! Picked up some women’s health magazines today to hopefully inspire me further on my fitness and diet goals. Do you have a favorite health/fitness magazine? After a few days of cutting out sugary drinks, I really do notice a difference. I’m not craving sweets nearly as much or starving all the time. I’m still not a big fan of artificial sweeteners, but they have helped me cut down on the insulin-spiking regular sugars.

Day 7 – Getting Healthy with Chronic Pain Diary

Ended up in the emergency room last night because my hand was hurting so bad and bruising up. Luckily there is no fracture, but man is it bruised, swollen, and painful! Guess I’ll be taking it easy today, icing it a lot, and no bike riding Feeling a little bit down because of it all, but not super depressed. I’ll just keep trying, even when hurdles are thrown in my way. Wish I could take some more ibuprofen, but it is starting to upset my stomach again, so guess I’ll stick to Tylenol.

Day 6 – Getting healthy with chronic pain diary

I knew I was overdo for an injury…went for a short electric bike ride again and everything went great, until I got home, went to park the bike, stumbled, and then fell, with the bike falling on top of me (and electric bikes are heavy!). I seem to have most seriously hurt my right hand, especially around the 2nd finger. Hoping it is just a sprain and will heal ok on its own. Even with all that going on, I still went for a walk with my husband at the local park to get the rest of my exercise for the day in. Persistence baby! Also saw the migraine doctor today. Yet more CGRP blockers he wants me to try (Nurtec & Qulipta). I’ll try them, but the one I was already on (Emgality) quit working and was causing nasty side effects. At least the new ones he gave me are pills, not injections, so I won’t be stuck with them in my system for a month if they give me negative side effects. I can’t help but wonder if it is really a great idea to block something the body naturally produces anyway. Even though CGRP does some negative stuff to the body, it does some positive stuff as well.I also applied online to get a prescription for low dose Naltrexone from AgelessRx. I’ve heard many, many good things about low dose Naltrexone for chronic pain relief and have to at least give it a try. My doctor wouldn’t prescribe it (their office doesn’t prescribe it at all), so I found one who would!

Day 5 – getting healthy with chronic pain diary

Rough night last night. Horrible dizziness and nausea from migraine. It was one of those rare times where the dizziness and nausea were actually much worse than the head pain. I ended up having to take some Zofran which I hate doing because it messes up my digestion so much. Didn’t get much sleep.Even with all that going on, I still did around 15 minutes of electric biking today. Felt good to do something good for myself even when a little under the weather. I did some online research today and found out that electric biking burns around 400 calories an hour, and even using an electric scooter burns about 300 calories an hour – about the same amount as walking! Who knew? Thinking I may have done a little too much socializing lately. Feeling burned out and like I need some down time. Socializing in moderation is definitely good for my mental health, but when I try to do too much all at once my inner introvert gets exhausted and craves some alone time.

Day 4 – getting healthy with chronic pain diary

Started reading “Goddesses Never Age” by Christiane Northrup, M.D. Very inspiring and hopeful look at aging! Took another ride on my electric bike! Love it so far! Although, my sciatic nerve is making my enjoyment harder right now. Had dinner with an old friend at Olive Garden. Was proud of myself that I passed on candy and sweetened drinks while out. Trying to cut way back on sugar, but not going crazy with it. Wondering if it is worth it health-wise to switch from sugary sodas to zero sugar sodas. I feel like artificial sweeteners aren’t great for us either, but the sugar seems to be affecting my insulin more as time goes by. Eventually I hope to cut way back on soda in general, but I do love it. Got a great new massage heating pad that I thought I would hate at first because the massage parts are so hard and lumpy, but it actually works and feels great! Sometimes it is good to try stuff out, even if you think you might not like it!

day 3 – getting healthy with chronic pain diary

Today has been a bad pain day. From the start my feet have been hurting, but I tried to get a little exercise and socializing in anyway. We went to a small local craft fair and then went to do some regular shopping, so I felt like I got a decent amount of walking in altogether. I’ve even been adding extra bits of walking by not having my husband drop me off at the door, which he often does when I am in pain or not feeling well. Unfortunately, my feet aren’t very happy with me at all for putting them through all the walking.

When we got back home, my electric bike was here! After hours of frustrating and headache-inducing assembly (those instructions sucked!), we got it put together and mostly in good shape. Still having trouble with the seat, so need to work on that. I took it for a quick spin and wow…the difference! Those things take off at a pretty good speed! I set it on low power, so I still peddled a lot and got in some good exercise, but it was so nice having the extra help on any uphill bits! This bike may be a major game changer!

My diet hasn’t been so good today. Started out the day with Girl Scout cookies and KFC, so you can imagine. Tomorrow is another day though and I’ll try again!

Day 2 – Getting Healthy with chronic Pain Diary

Today I went with my husband and his “little brother” (Big Brothers/Big Sisters) to an Elk Farm nearby. I was really worried about the over 2 hour round-trip drive, as driving aggravates my migraines and neck pain so much, but I prepared by taking Ibuprofen, muscle relaxers and using Lidocaine before we left. Luckily that seemed to ward off the worst case scenario.

At the farm we saw a bunch of Elk, walked a few short trails, did a small maze, played a little basketball (I may have cheated and used the kid-sized hoops), ate some Elk BBQ (tastes like hamburger, but supposed to be healthier for you), homemade applesauce, farm-made ice cream, and then headed home. Glad I got some exercise in and had some fun, something that can be lacking in my life when my pain levels are bad for extended periods of time.

Now I’m beat and think I will curl up with a heating pad for a while.