Irony

I joined Facebook recently. Perhaps it was a matter of "how long can I be a hold out?" I did the same thing with my cell phone, I was one of the last of my friends to have a cell phone. Which, in hindsight, was pretty ridiculous. I don't know how many times I missed someone I was supposed to meet because I had no way to get a hold of them. Facebook was somehow different.

JE and I went to a wedding of a high school and family friend last weekend up in Foresthill. It was gorgeous and a little surreal. Her sister, who was my good friend and swimming buddy, is married to someone from our high school. His sister was also there with her husband. His best friend, also a HS friend, was there with his girlfriend. We were sitting with the later four and it was sort of weird to think about HS again. We left early because JE had the Tahoe bike ride the next day. On our trip to Tahoe, we passed the sign for Pollock Pines. Having just seen some old high school friends and acquaintances, I was reminded of my high school best friend. She came from Pollock Pines our seventh grade year and we instantly became friends. I lost touch with her around the time I went to Mexico. I remember hearing that she moved somewhere near where I currently live. I remember thinking I should look her up, but didn't really have a way to do so...or so I thought.

So, after the wedding and the little stroll down memory lane, I did look her up...because now I am on Facebook. I found out that we have lived in the same town for the past 7 YEARS! Living our lives mere blocks from each other. However, the irony of this is that two weeks ago, she moved...back to where we grew up. So, a little irony for your day.

I smile though because she and I were always kindred spirits and to know that for quite some time we ended up in the same place is so fitting.

Anti-inflammatory

At different points in my life, I have tried things for pain management. I suffer from chronic inflammation in my neck. When I am stressed, all sorts of fun things happen - the crunchies, tightness, increased teeth grinding at night, ear pain, etc. Its good fun. Last fall, as I mentioned, I suffered a foot injury that has since sidelined me from running (yes, I am reading about running shoes causing increases in injuries) and then recently, I over-trained on the bike and seem to be suffering from inflammation of the bursa or iliopsoas tendonitis, and my leg hurts, a lot. Of course, I am not a doctor, so until I go see one, I don't really know. After a year of spending money seeing podiatrists and orthopedics and getting nothing out of it, except "you need surgery," I don't have a lot of faith in the local sports medicine providers.

I did make some changes, most specifically to my diet. I have cut out dairy, except for the half and half in my coffee. I am not drinking wine because of the inflammation to my sinuses and I recently had the beginnings of a sinus infection (which is pretty much what happens when I get allergies anymore.) I cut out meat and only occasionally have chicken or fish. I cut out most wheat, although I will occasionally have pitas with a tuna sandwich or as toast. I definitely notice faster recovery with my sinus issues. I have barely done my neti pot and I am already feeling less stuffy. I dropped weight within a week of this plan. It hasn't had any affects on my more chronic issues or injuries, but I am trying other things as well for those issues. BT introduced me the Nutrition Data from Self and I am quite fascinated by the inflammation factor rating. For example, almond butter has great anti-inflammatory properties if you eat 1,500 calories of it, otherwise its only mildly anti-inflammatory. Leeks, it turns out, are high on the anti-inflammatory rating. Wild salmon is the all time anti-inflammatory, which we all knew. Too bad its so damned expensive and who knows how much longer it'll be available...hmm. And so the experiment continues with the hope that some day I will be pain and injury free and feeling as good as I did last April and May when I did this diet plan (and didn't have the leg or foot pain) for the first time. Searching for the balance...

My body continues to fight me...

Or the other way around. This past year has been a year of injury and the return of some chronic pain issues. It has put me back to a very frustrated place of ten years ago. Frustrating because I thought I had learned so much, made strides to deal with pain and injuries, and yet, here we are again. But I must remind myself of one very important detail. My body reacts in a very physical way to stress and emotion. An injury last fall in my foot sidelined me from running. Shortly thereafter, I began to have the pain problems in my shoulder and neck again. Without an outlet for stress and emotion (the running), the chronic pain issues resurfaced. So, I got back in the pool and rediscovered something I had once loved very much. It changed my shape and left me quite svelte for my wedding day (although the tan lines were hilarious.) I was feeling very good. I had my routine of Jillian strength training, swimming and some yoga. I dropped about 8 pounds that I had been carrying for way too long. I also started focusing on my diet and began to rethink some choices. Another wonderful little reaction to stress is stomach aches. I have since realized that I seem to have an inflammatory response to everything (no pun intended) -allergies, stomach aches, chronic pain in my neck, back and shoulders. It has become very clear that some major life changes are in order. I am pretty sick of being sick or in pain.

I am now sidelined with some crazy pain in my leg - this is new - from biking, which I was also excited to rediscover, until the pain, of course. To boot, I have come down with one of my infamous sinus infections. (Bless you sudafed for all you do to relieve my sinus pressure.) So, again, I have to become one of those people for whom a very restrictive diet, careful exercise and stress/emotion management must be a daily thing because, like I said, I am sick of being sick and in pain. I like being active. I like being calm (I use this in place of happy.) I like being pain and allergy free. (And so does my husband.) He has a very hard time when I am sick or in pain. He is patient, caring, attentive and so very loving. But I know he hates that I am suffering and he wishes he could make it stop. Yeah, so do I. So I rest. I have given up on the idea that I will ride the Tahoe ride next weekend. I will take care of myself. The pain will go away. The stomach aches will stop as I restrict things like dairy, gluten/wheat and red wine. The allergies will get better too. The experiment continues.