thephantomkitty

I don't know about OP, but for me it is not the quads, but either side of the kneecap. Both my physical therapist and surgeon agree that in my case it is because weakness in the quads causes the kneecap not to track straight with my leg all the time. Interestingly, I really can't feel my quads in my injured leg do anything ever. But that's off topic.

Sounds like it's probably worth a try eliminating to see if it's causing the bloating. If it isn't the cause I'd say go paleo-ish and enjoy your yogurt!

I agree, but the trick here is moderation. A lot of people (myself included) struggle with addiction with those types of carbs. Once you start eating them it can be very hard to stop. If that's not a problem for OP, then that's great. But if it is I'd definitely avoid them. Also, I have read great things about Paleo for diabetics because grains are processed very similarly to, or the same as (depending on who you ask), sugar. But I'm no expert.

Thanks for the ideas! The things I eat most days are some variation on white rice, chicken, eggs, lots of veggies (I try to go for cooked these days, as I figure raw might be harder on my gut), some dairy, and some fruit. Rarely do I eat wheat/gluten containing foods. I don't eat much red meat these days. I do eat sushi sometimes, but it's never been near one of those days. Timing doesn't seem to matter. It always comes on in the evening but it doesn't matter when I last ate. I've also tried things like ginger and peppermint tea. They help with mild discomfort, but not with this. Sadly, seems totally unrelated to PMS. That was my first thought. Nope, no medications currently (or for the past 4 months). Was only on heavy painkillers for the first incident. Sometimes nausea, sometimes no. Curling into the fetal position makes it hurt a bit less, but that's about it. It tends to move around in the abdominal area. Always central, but sometimes higher, sometimes lower. Still waiting for the last couple blood tests back. *twiddles thumbs impatiently* But the doctor says so far all my test results look normal. Which is making me think maybe it's more of a stress thing, which is consequently making me more stressed out. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. >.<

That's also what I get. At least for me I've been told it's not enough strength in the quads that causes it. You may have the same thing. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

To learn to let go of how I think things should be and accept and work with them as they are. Right now. And into the future. But not so much so that I miss now. One step at a time. One day at a time. One moment at a time... Hi, everyone! I'm an assassin (I think), but I'd love to take a walk with you guys as I'm a semi-crippled and therefore not very assassin-ey at the moment. I have been on and off dabbling with meditation and mindfulness techniques since it was first recommend to me by a parkour instructor I looked up to. I recently got back into it more seriously to help me find a new way to cope with the stresses I have been under.

First, I would like to apologize for the horrible formatting that apparently comes when I "quick reply" using tapatalk on my phone. Whoops. You know what I find more frustrating than being sick? Being just over being sick, so the worst symptoms are gone, but you're still tired and sluggish and you know you shouldn't work out, but you reallyyyyy want to. I just got excited before I got sick. My physical therapist cleared me to start doing some baby hops. You have no idea how exciting that was. And then I got sick, and I haven't gotten to hop. Or do anything. And I was just getting super excited about working out again. I was sore. It was amazing. Whenever I get lazy I always forget how much I love the feeling of being gloriously sore. So now I sit, and twiddle my thumbs. Because I don't feel good. And I know working out would be very stupid, but I want to so badly.

How are your knee/ankles with things like stairs and squats? Can you do pistol squats? Even just a few inches? I'm currently in PT for knee surgery five months ago, and I can concur that lunges can make your ankles/knees hurt. But, in my case at least, that's apparently perfectly normal and has to do with the lack of muscle/stability in my quads. I have found (with the help of my physical therapist), that what helps my form and thus control a lot is stabilizing my upper body by keeping my hands on something. You want your upper body straight up and down in a lunge, while our tendency is to lean forward. So, if I can keep my upper body straight it is much easier to lower into the lunge. The other question would be at what point do they hurt? If you can go down partway without it hurting, it may be you want to work there until you get stronger.

So for the past 5 months I have been having monthly recurrent stomach problems. I get really sick out of the blue (onset is about two hours from a little uncomfortable to "I want to tear my guts out now."), and it lasts for about 12 to 18 hours that I don't want to get out of the fetal position in bed, then a day or two after that of a mild stomach ache, incredibly low energy, not wanting to move, etc... The first couple times this happened I thought it was food poisoning or a virus. But it kept happening, and my symptoms really aren't severe enough to be either of those. No fever. Nothing but pain, really. I've gone to see the doctor about this twice, now. The first time they told me from my symptoms they weren't sure, and if it happened again to record what all I'd eaten the day before and try to go see the doctor while I was still sick for blood tests. Fast forward to last Friday. Happened again. Did all of that. Ate nothing out of the ordinary. Blood tests are mostly complete (they're still running a few), and so far nothing really abnormal. It is possible that this is stress related. The first time it happened was within 2 weeks of me having major knee surgery for a ruptured ACL. I'm rather hoping it's not as I don't know what to do if it is stress related... Because I don't even feel that stressed out lately! And I've already taken up meditation (again). Anyway, if anyone has any similar issues with this any information would be appreciated, BUT as this is the section about food, mostly I'm wondering if anyone has any food related suggestions I might try... It's rather far fetched as I can't think of anything that links these incidences that isn't something I normally eat. I rarely eat gluten, partially because I am paleo-ish, and partially because I don't much like bread or pasta. I'm wondering if maybe dairy has an adverse effect on me? But I eat dairy most days and feel fine, so unless it's the kind of thing that can build up in your system until you get sick I don't think that's it, either. Anyway, any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. My doctor is encouraging me to A). Start eating breakfast again. B). Eat light meals low in fat. And C). Snack all the damn time. Which I don't like any of those things. I went full on paleo (except dairy) a year and a half ago and I really liked it. I can't do it currently due to my living situation and stress, but I really don't think the answer is any of those suggestions. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope (not to live in fear of debilitating stomach pains)...

I've seen microwavable bags of veggies in several grocery stores. Usually some combination of carrots, brocolli, and cauliflower. You follow the directions to open the bag and toss the whole thing in the microwave and it steams them for you. Voila. And not even bad. I tried it a few times with some rice and chicken brought from home.

I can do chin-ups (hands facing you), but not pull-ups (hands facing away). Can also do the neutral grip ones. Are we including chin-ups in the pull-ups here? I wasn't clear. And when I say I can, I mean like... One and a half per set... But that's better than none!

I have returned! Again! Dang... I'm not so good at this. Ah well, trying is half the battle, right? So. I still have that ACL thing. Well. I had surgery on June 21st. So I'm coming up to 5 1/2 months post op. Knee is doing very well. I feel as though I am finally making serious progress regaining muscle in that leg. It is still infinitely weaker than the other, but I can hike again, and do multiple sets of 25 squats a day. I no longer dread every second of PT now that it's getting easier. Don't get me wrong, it's still hard as hell. But it's more like a workout now than PT, so I can handle that. Mentally this ordeal has been exhausting. I can't workout on my terms. That's very frustrating. I've tried repeatedly do do push-ups and pull-ups; really improve my upper body strength. Depression caused lack of motivation and derailing. Repeatedly. So that didn't happen! But here I am. Again. Ready to try again. I have been having stomach problems since after my surgery. I suspect they are mental health related rather than physical health related. I finally was able to get tests done, though, so I should have answers by the end of next week as to whether there is anything physically wrong. Either way, I'm working on my mental health as well. I have been struggling with chronic, low-grade depression an anxiety for who knows how long now. I just thought it was normal for the longest time. I'm proud to say I'm finally working on it, though. I find meditation to be hugely helpful. Sadly, it could not stop my most recent bout of stomach pains. Heck, maybe they are caused by something physical. Anyway. Once my stomach has healed I will be back to working as hard as I can with this bum knee. Weather permitting, my aim is two or three hikes a week. Currently averaging between 2 and 2.5 miles, but I hope to increase distance slowly but steadily. That's in addition to prescribed PT. Also upper body stuff/abs at least 3 times a week. I'm debating joining a gym. I have a pull-up bar, which means I can do bodyweight workouts at home. But when I'm home I find it so easy not to have motivation. On the other hand, gyms cost money and I'm still reeling from all the time I couldn't work due to knee injury... Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Hi there! I, too, am attempting to un-fall off the bandwagon. Sounds like you're on the right track. I'd definitely recommend a new mental health professional from the sound of it. That stuff is nasty. I suffer from chronic low-grade depression and anxiety. The problem I have found with that is I function just well enough to seem fine to the world and convince myself that this is normal. It's best to get help when you need it so you can work on being 100%. You probably figured this out already, but if you're exhausted you probably don't want to leap back into getting up at 6am right away. Maybe start with going for a walk every day if you don't do that already. That won't take much more energy than the motivation to get out there (which can take a lot of energy, I know). Good luck! Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

I have personally found that a few minutes of guided meditation a day helps quite a bit with the depression. There's an app called Calm that I really enjoy. As for work, a friend of mine is super into various things you can play with in one hand. Like resistance balls. Or she has this one fun one that has loops that go around your fingers and you stretch it. No idea what it's called, unfortunately. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Well my adventure came to a rapid halt a while ago. Not so long after I jointed here. Huehuehue. Oh, the irony. On March 30th I took a fall doing some freerunning and ruptured my ACL. That's the fancy technical term for "tore entirely the frick in half". Yayyyyyy. It's been a long couple months. I finally got ACL reconstruction surgery last Tuesday, the 21st of June. This has obviously put a major crimp in any and all athletic endeavors. I feel like I'm going completely insane. Post initial injury I spent three weeks on crutches, unable to bear weight. The only good news was it actually didn't hurt after about 18 hours post injury. And so began the adventure of getting a million doctors to look at me, and MRI, meeting several orthopedic surgeons. PT. They call it prehab when you do physical therapy before a planned surgery. So three weeks on crutches. Another two and a half or three weeks learning how to walk without a severe limp. All of this in a knee brace. And then I got to work for about a month before surgery. Now I'm a week post op. My life is netflix, PT and books. On crutches for another week, probably. At least that's what they said pre-surgery. We shall see. Although there was mention that even though I may be cleared to walk next week I get to keep the full-leg immobilizer on for another week after that. So I'm not really sure it's "walking' in a conventional sense.