Ithi's first challenge

[Ithil]

I'm 24 and attempting my first challenge here. The reason I'm here is that I want to live a healthier life, find the joy of exercising again and live a more active life than before. In my teens I was the one who ran long distances as she loved it and played soccer 3-4 times per week with her team. Then the worst happened and I tore my ankle joints in a game to pieces when an opponent managed to step on it and it basically ended my football days.. Three years back (six years since the original injury) I regained my ability to move well and not having use crutches 5-6 times per year or re-twist the ankle countless times per year all thanks to a surgery+good surgeon. A nerve damage though stayed and a year back I hurt my other ankle so I have to keep an eye on both of them. I also have a shoulder injury in recovery but with all of the injuries I've been cleared by a doctor that exercises are great and everything is ok now as long as it's not a contact sport and whatever I do it can't cause pain. My injuries just mean that I have to listen to my body closely.

 

There's though other reasons why I need to listen to my body: I have many medical conditions which cause pain, some cause nerve pain in my face and other body but some cause joint pain. That means that every time I move I have to gauge if that's my normal pain bugging me or is there something odd going on and I need to stop. This might sound difficult but I've learned to do that and it is medically okay for me to exercise in the same "no more pain than my normal daily treshold is without any exercise" condition as with my injuries. Some of the conditions cause sleepiness and other symptoms so they just mean that my life is bit different sometimes.

 

Generally I'm though a person who goes to university, has five pets and a fiancé, likes to read and enjoys watching tv so apart from the health mess I'm not that different. Please don't let this all scare you away, I have learned to live with it and they're just a teeny part of what my life is about.

 

Main goal: Get back to weekly exercise routine and correct your diet to a heathier one by eating 1 fruit daily + drink the recommended amount of water

Smaller goals to support reaching the big one:

1. Exercise 3 times per week. Anything from walking, running, exercise biking, workouts etc counts as long as it lasts over 30 minutes and is something I can with good conscience call exercise-level activity

2. Do physiotherapy for the shoulder 3 times per week and the stretches 1-2 times depending on its movement. If the routine changes to less then do that and if it's in pain do as the physiotherapist told you to do and do not do the physiotherapy before the hand is ok. Hand being not okay also means no for any exercises that use it within that time period.

3. Eat a fruit per day

4. Drink 6 glasses of water per day

 

Life quest:

1. Read 40 pages of a novel every day, if there's a busy situation this can be then moved to the next day if you then read 80 pages

2. Work on the master's at least 30 minutes every day

 

I'm excited about this challenge and I'll do my best to accomplish my goals!

[Sovellis]

I feel you on the injuries. I've wrecked both ankles and my shoulder as well. It seems like it takes forever to regain stability in the joint after a serious ankle injury, if it ever fully recovers. It's awesome that you're not letting old injuries and medical stuff hold you back, and the fact that you're so aware of it and paying attention to your body will really help reduce the chance of further injury! Way to go!

[brutalbears]

Welcome, I am glad you are joining in here at NF!

[Ithil]

I feel you on the injuries. I've wrecked both ankles and my shoulder as well. It seems like it takes forever to regain stability in the joint after a serious ankle injury, if it ever fully recovers. It's awesome that you're not letting old injuries and medical stuff hold you back, and the fact that you're so aware of it and paying attention to your body will really help reduce the chance of further injury! Way to go!

 

Thanks, I'm sorry that you have wrecked your body too. I'm just bit accident-prone as new ankle injury and shoulder injury happened in such ridiculous ways that my doctor almost didn't believe me. It really takes forever to regain balance, my ankles are still bit shaky but luckily I was never the high-heeled girl type (more of the soccer type..). I can't let my medical stuff or old injuries hold me back, I need something to balance battling the medical system and my studies + there's nothing as depressing as sitting on the couch when you know that you'll be in pain no matter what you do. I have never stopped missing running, now I just need somehow to make it happen.

 

This is though a bit of a funny day to find this challenge, I got three injections in my shoulder+elbow due to the injury site being bit inflamed so any kind of thing involving my right arm is our for the next week. I guess this means walks, trying to run or exercise bike.

[Ithil]

Welcome, I am glad you are joining in here at NF!

Thanks! This has been the best site I've found as it totally made my inner nerd happy.

[Sovellis]

Thanks, I'm sorry that you have wrecked your body too.

 

Heh, rugby will do that. I still say it was totally worth it!

 

 

 there's nothing as depressing as sitting on the couch when you know that you'll be in pain no matter what you do. 

 

Tell me about it! I was told by a doctor at 19 that I was going to be in pain for the rest of my life. There have been times where that's gotten the better of me and I just sat there wallowing in self pity. There have also been other times where I've said, screw that, I'm going to enjoy what mobility I have while I still have it!

[Ithil]

Heh, rugby will do that. I still say it was totally worth it!

 

Tell me about it! I was told by a doctor at 19 that I was going to be in pain for the rest of my life. There have been times where that's gotten the better of me and I just sat there wallowing in self pity. There have also been other times where I've said, screw that, I'm going to enjoy what mobility I have while I still have it!

 

Well, soccer is kind of bad and taking into account so is walking on your livingroom floor (how I wrecked my ankle) or walking past a door handle (how I wrecked my shoulder).

 

It's interesting how you sometimes meet a person in a sort of similar situation than you are and it seems have happened with you. I struggle still with the idea that I'll be in pain every day no matter what I do despite it being the reality in a way with my ankle since my teens and my whole body for the past 3-4 years. There's days of pity and wallowing in it but then there's the days when I decide that no matter how bad I am things could be worse and there is a lot of things to be grateful about. I myself was told at 15 that if I take that surgery I'll never walk again but my injury itself might do that even without it. When I finally decided to take it I was given a better outcome prediction+I decided that the life I had wasn't really worth much with the ankle I had.

[Sovellis]

Wow, I heard very much the same thing from my doctors. If the pain ever got bad enough, surgery might be an option, but it would destabilize the joint to the point where I could no longer participate in physical activity. It sucks, and I wish I could offer some nifty trick to get through the bad days, but I have yet to figure that out myself.

[Ithil]

Wow, I heard very much the same thing from my doctors. If the pain ever got bad enough, surgery might be an option, but it would destabilize the joint to the point where I could no longer participate in physical activity. It sucks, and I wish I could offer some nifty trick to get through the bad days, but I have yet to figure that out myself.

 

Yep, there's no easy fixes. I'm the kind who works until she gets what she wants but it would be great if there was some fix. Most of my problems are derived from a messed up pain system ("Hello body, why on Earth you need to tell me every second that there's pain for no reason?!") which basically involves no fixes. There's some explorative things but for example botox didn't sound too great...

 

Since we seem to struggle with physical limits would it be useful to have some sort of accountability thing going on as I see in my life that sometimes people who don't have issues tend to want me just sit down and not encourage me to reach my physical goals as I might get hurt. That doesn't lead to good results. I don't break, I know my limits but on one hand I do need support to be able to reach my goals but on the other hand I need somebody who gets that due to the limits I have on one day I can accomplish far more than in others and it's normal. Motivating myself in worst pain is sometimes hard and then it's far too easy to forget the importance of exercise. There can never be too many people who get the place you are in life.

[Sovellis]

 

Since we seem to struggle with physical limits would it be useful to have some sort of accountability thing going on as I see in my life that sometimes people who don't have issues tend to want me just sit down and not encourage me to reach my physical goals as I might get hurt. That doesn't lead to good results. I don't break, I know my limits but on one hand I do need support to be able to reach my goals but on the other hand I need somebody who gets that due to the limits I have on one day I can accomplish far more than in others and it's normal. Motivating myself in worst pain is sometimes hard and then it's far too easy to forget the importance of exercise. There can never be too many people who get the place you are in life.

 

Sure! I've never really done any sort of accountability thing with anyone since I've run into some of the same problems. I do sometimes struggle with being honest with myself about just what my limits are. How do you want to do this? 

[Ithil]

Sure! I've never really done any sort of accountability thing with anyone since I've run into some of the same problems. I do sometimes struggle with being honest with myself about just what my limits are. How do you want to do this? 

 

Well, I haven't either but I figured that this would be a good area to start as I struggle sometimes with remembering my limits and I tend to repeat that "I'm fine, I don't need a painkiller" despite clearly needing one which isn't the best way of handling things. Exercising is also something which tends to be tricky when there's a history of injuries. I'm trying to think a good way to handle the accountability thing, any suggestions? This way our discussions already seem to take a lot of topic space so maybe another way of the accountability would work as well.

[Sovellis]

Lol, I have no idea. I think I'll look over some of the accountability threads to get some ideas when I'm done with my weight training.

[18ck]

Hi ithi (and sovellis)

I'm impressed that you are pushing through what a lot of people might see as an obstacle/excuse for not exercising. As you've obviously realised though, limits are made to be overcome and you're doing be a lot of the right things. Have you read our illustrious leader's post on the subject - "What would iron man do?" ( http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/12/08/iron-man/) He's back to lifting again now, apparently, and I'm sure you two can push through to greatness too.

Hm, I've just read this again and it sounds like something a cult recruiter would say. Hi ho, I'm sure you get the gist anyway. Good luck with the challenge. Stay strong!

[Ithil]

Hi ithi (and sovellis)

I'm impressed that you are pushing through what a lot of people might see as an obstacle/excuse for not exercising. As you've obviously realised though, limits are made to be overcome and you're doing be a lot of the right things. Have you read our illustrious leader's post on the subject - "What would iron man do?" ( http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/12/08/iron-man/) He's back to lifting again now, apparently, and I'm sure you two can push through to greatness too.

Hm, I've just read this again and it sounds like something a cult recruiter would say. Hi ho, I'm sure you get the gist anyway. Good luck with the challenge. Stay strong!

 

It's an obstacle in a way but as there's similar challenges in many areas in life due to the physical issues stopping excecising and still going to do my master's every day despite the pain would be bit wonky. Yes, it takes more effort but that's how the things just are and I'm ready to get over that hurdle. There's been the days of bitterness and "why me?!" questions but there's really not much else to do than adapt and live the life the way I want despite taking more effort than before this mess started.

 

I hadn't read that post before, thank you for linking it. I got your point and thank you for encouragement!

[Ithil]

Yesterday was one of those days when I'm in the lab 11 hours and after that do more master's stuff. It all was though made tricky by the fact that labwork was killing my shoulder (the injured one which got cortisone shots in many joints on Thursday) due to the injections. Those always make the hand sore for half a week before starting to work.

 

Today I'm in a shape where I can exercise, yesterday I wasn't able to get my painkiller out of the box after university so it felt more reasonable to move the exercise day (originally yesterday) and rest day (originally today) around. There was no way I could have gone to a walk/slow run, exercise biked or done a workout with that amount of pain and I'm normally the one who keeps repeatin that she's fine, no painkiller needed.

 

Food-wise things are looking good, I've drank my six glasses per day of water and eaten a fruit a day. We have also made every meal from scratch.

 

I've learned that I miss my body. I'm not overweight and way closer to underweight than it, but I'm missing the muscles from my soccer, gym and running days. Then I felt I can control my body, now it's something that keeps breaking no matter what I do. More muscles will help, that way my joints get more support and for example fibromyalgia symptoms aren't such a bother when I exercise more.

[Ithil]

I hate when this happens: the shoulder got worse and the stabbing feeling came back. I know that exercising with acute pain isn't a good idea as level ten pain pretty much covers any sign of injuries. So no matter how I hate sitting and it feels like giving up but sometimes it's the only right choice no matter how I wish otherwise.

 

Tomorrow will be a new and better day, there will be both a workout and a walk/biking.

[Sovellis]

Sucks to hear your shoulder is acting up today too, but it really is best not to push it when it comes to acute pain. Still doesn't feel good to have to take it easy, but hopefully it means more overall progress in the end!

[Ithil]

Thanks, it's really doesn't make sense to push hard with his hand since there's the original tear + now the infection which the shots where for. I hate shoulder joint injections, needle in every other joint is ok but that's just icky. It will mean more progress later as will get me faster to weight training with hands too.

[Sovellis]

Eew, I can imagine that injections into the shoulder joint would be unpleasant! I don't have a fear of needles, but I am certainly not fond of them, and it seems I am becoming less fond of them the more I need to use them. Way to go for recognizing your limits and doing what you need to take care of yourself!

[Ithil]

I don't fear them either but 2.5 inches of needle in the joint + twisted when finding a right spot is.. Not the greatest thing on Earth. Well, it will get better again, the pain from the injection lasts a couple of days.

 

I hate to have to take into account my limits, I still continue to battle until to the last second until there's no other alternative. I guess it's good, will to work is never bad and will be useful as I'll in one way or other continue my university career and exercise requires hard work too.

[Ithil]

Okay, totally insane endorphine rush due to exercising. I decided to hop on my exercise bike (yes, I have one.. all those years being allowed only to bike with it for physiotherapy reasons made it reasonable to get one rather than tempting myself going into the gym just to bike). It felt good, I was bit vary before as I was gauging whether or not my shoulder would stand holding on the handle or hanging by my side but it felt fine.

 

I'll also do my physiotherapy stretches, the physio things with the long rubber robe thingy (a physio tool loved by all physiotherapists) will be too much strain as I tend to stretch the band quite hard to get much resistance. Next visit with him I'll graduate to weight training! Okay, we're talking about physiotherapy weight training meaning starting with 1 kg and moving slowly up but they, that's more weight I've been allowed to put on it for a year. Any progress is a good progress and with my autoimmune causing infections on the shoulder joint I've had to stop physio so many times that I'm just happy whenever I can do it.

 

Food-wise I'm fine too, I've eaten a minimum of a fruit per day and drank appropriate amount of water.

 

My life goal is moving alone well, I've not read actual pages but when doing housework I've chosen instead of music audiobooks and I count them since during the weekend I listened to a book that has 200 pages and my daily goal was to read to pages. There's not just always possible to pick up a book when your hands are busy but it doesn't mean that there's other ways to enjoy books too.

 

So overall I'm doing great today, finally a total victory for me!

[18ck]

I love Endolphins. They give my workout a real sense of porpoise. You're doing well there.

BTW, do you think when you set a goal or read so many pages you were really intending to do some actual reading (with your eyes?) I'm not down on audio books at all (I love them!) but I'm wondering if you'd get more of a sense of accomplishment from the goal if you did at least part of it the old-fashioned way, displacing some of the time you would have spent watching House of Cards or playing Legend of Zelda or whatever your distraction of choice is...?

Up to you of course, but I think that's the way I'd play it.

[Ithil]

BTW, do you think when you set a goal or read so many pages you were really intending to do some actual reading (with your eyes?) I'm not down on audio books at all (I love them!) but I'm wondering if you'd get more of a sense of accomplishment from the goal if you did at least part of it the old-fashioned way, displacing some of the time you would have spent watching House of Cards or playing Legend of Zelda or whatever your distraction of choice is...?

Up to you of course, but I think that's the way I'd play it.

 

Yes, I was. I have a huge bookshelf with unread books but as my newest nerve pain med (and the only one which works barely + the last one in the market not tried so not possible to switch) causes lines to jump in my eyes. For that I've been planning to buy a kindle since the issue is about pocket book sized books since I can read study books, lecture slides etc normally. I still though want to do 99 % of the reading with them as I'm a total book lover. The main reason though I'm giving myself an option of audio books if I listen to a significant number of minutes (like most of the weekend when I was inputting data for most of the days for my master's) as my free time is during the thesis now less than an hour of way and only time I can grab a book is in the bus (20 min daily total) or cutting down from exercising or sleep. Because of this I'll allow something like once a week an audiobook as a substitute if it's for hours when doing manual labor which allows keeping my mind busy with the book. If I'd have time to do things like tv, movies etc they would have to be substituted with reading but cutting my already short sleeping time even more seems bit nonhealthy.

[Ithil]

Today is exercise day, I'll probably do some exercise biking again as it's awful outside (leaving out walking and running as slippery surfaces and bad ankles don't mix) and I have to figure out what kind of a workout suits me in my current body situation. Physio-wise today I'll do both the resistance band things and stretches though seeing how the first feels since if there's any discomfort trying to increase motion ranges will be useless since the muscles will cramp. Food-wise I managed to forget my daily fruit yesterday but I'll take two today so I'm back on track then. I'll put an alarm since my days tend to be busy, my master's project is more of a PhD level and size (fit to do one long article in itself+since PhD is around four articles this is huge project to cram into less than half a year) and it needs to do good since I'm dreaming about an actual PhD it's really pure madness nowadays.

 

Book-wise I hope I have time to read today, yesterday I was too tired and literally fell asleep on the sofa when I came home from the lab and my fiancé had to wake me up when it was time to head to sleep. That meant that I literally slept all the time yesterday that I wasn't in the lab which didn't allow a lot of accomplished things apart from work. Well, I'm not being too hard on myself because of that, of course it's sad that I missed reading yesterday but I'll read 80 pages on one day instead of 40. If my body is so tired that I crash when arriving home and can sit down for the first time that day it's a sign that then it's time to put sleeping in front of other things. Today I'm all caffeined-up and also recharged sleep-wise so I can catch up.

[Ithil]

Today will be bit of a slow day in other terms than in physiotherapy, reading and fruit+water due to my birthday. Cramming anything resembling a celebratory activity to my day (what, doesn't labwork count?) is a challenge so we'll see. Okay, only thing missing from my challenge list is exercise and I did that yesterday so I'm in track with my once every two days schedule.

 

As a gift to myself I'll get a watermelon, it will be big enough for a couple of days fruit-wise. As those get exported from other end of the globe and don't like the weather here when it comes to transport (unless you like frozen watermelons) they're expensive and not so student-priced. I can always though substitute buying a cake slice with that though putting candles in the melon might be bit too much of a fire hazard..