I got the “you can try it out” from my therapist on Monday so, today, I tried it out.
No shoulder pain. No …other bad stuff. Just 30 minutes of good, non-stop running. Not so much as a tweak or an ache. It all felt good.
I’m going to give credit to years of running – especially the high-mileage year leading up to my layoff for today being so easy. It would seem that, I was born to run. 
I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out what’s been wrong with me. In doing so, the Doc eliminated some very bad stuff (MS, Fibromyalgia, Diabetes etc).
While that was going on, I began taking copious amounts of supplementation – especially magnesium and calcium (LOTS). After only a couple of weeks doing that, things started to feel better.
I also started hitting the gym (am going 4 times a week for about an hour each day).
It turns out, the gym is exactly what I need to be doing since the final diagnosis is that I’ve got some pretty bad disc degeneration in a couple of places in my spinal column and THAT was causing all kinds of other problems – the scariest of which was numbness and tingling in my hands and arms.
The latest is that I’ve nailed down the precise spot in my neck that is causing the majority of my pain and numbness and I finally have medical people (the Doc, Chiropractor/Active Release Guy and massage therapist) telling me this is SOLVEABLE. This is the first time in years that anyone has KNOWN with confidence what was wrong and has told me it could be FIXED. What a relief.
So, the plan is that I am going to continue strengthening my core, back, chest and shoulders (and everything else to a lesser degree) and let the professionals fix the rest.
I’m feeling strong and hopeful for the first time in a long time. I even look better – the strength training is adding some muscle and improving my posture. I’m actually pretty amazed how quickly my body has responded!
AND I think I’ll even be back running within a couple of weeks.
Thanks for the nice encouragement Deene, Mike, Karen, Darrell, Biz Runner, Andrew, Jon and Chris. It’s great to know that, after all this time, people like you are out there listening and rooting me on.
I don’t think I’ll quite be ‘kicking butt’ – as Jon so eloquently put it – any time soon, but I am going to work hard at getting strong again. We’ll take it one day and one step at at time.
I’ve been in the gym twice since my shoulder finally allowed me to. I’ve been exceedingly sore for the couple of days after each workout.
Sore does not equal pain.
Pain is retreat. Pain is burdensome. Pain is depressing. Pain is debilitating.
Sore is growth. Sore is victory. Sore is joy. Sore is pleasure.
I’m not in pain. I’m sore. And I couldn’t be happier about it.
Those of you who’ve followed this blog since the beginning know that I’ve been dealing with health issues for quite some time. I held those at bay for a few years but they eventually took a toll on running.
I was having horrible heartburn (like, REALLY horrible) and a persistent mucus in my throat – both of which were made worse by running.
Worse, the pinched nerve in my shoulder was causing more and more trouble. Its sphere of influence spread throughout my back, neck and shoulders – all of that also caused difficulty with running.
I was in a lot of pain and discomfort and finally stop running.
It’s been a long haul since then and I’m still being tested for some things. The latest hypochondriac thought is that I have fibromyalgia. I have all the symptoms including, TMJ (bad TMJ), burning skin on my face and stomach, terrible aches, pins and needles in my hands, headaches …the list goes on.
However, I have made progress. The first bit came in November 2008 during some neck stretching when I heard and felt a tremendous ‘CRACK’ in my neck, and realized – minutes later – that the pinched nerve had been released.
While that was a tremendous relief, I was not done because the muscles around that spot had years worth of tension/knots that were very difficult to get rid of. It seemed that no matter how much massage, active release and stretching I did, the tension would always come back. It was very frustrating – and depressing.
About six weeks ago, I upped my intake of vitamins and minerals. I’m talking a HUGE increase of calcium, magnesium, and Vitamins A,B,C,D & E. I also started taking hyaluronic acid - something that many people report success with for severe aches and pains.
Well, the world has changed a great deal in the past few weeks. The remnants of my pinched nerve have finally vanished – I have been able to stretch my neck and shoulder out and the aches and pains have virtually disappeared.
I suspect that there was a vicious circle going on in my body. First, I believe the pinched nerve was affecting my digestive system – making it difficult for my body to get sufficient nutrients and that, in turn, was causing even greater difficulty (tension, knots etc) in my muscles and ligaments. If I do have fibromyalgia, I suspect the lack of nutrients was making it much worse than it previously was.
Anyway, I feel better than I have in a LONG time.
I am still suffering from fatigue, but even that is getting better. As I await the results of my latest blood tests, I expect the doctor to tell me I’m also iron deficient (I’ve been low before). It makes sense that if I’ve been low in other minerals, that I’d be deficient in iron too and that would certainly account for the fatigue I’ve been experiencing.
The Plan
I’m finally feeling healthy again so the focus is on continuing that trend. As soon as the pain in my shoulder, back and neck dissipated, I got into the gym and started working on strengthening those areas. That’s my priority for now – to build up some muscle (I’ve lost a lot of that this past year).
Because of the loss of muscle, I’ve gained a great deal of fat. I can still hide most of it under loose-fitting shirts, but it is quite an ugly sight to behold when the shirt comes off.
So, I will build some muscle and, along with it, a better engine for burning fat and, once I’m feeling strong I’m going to get back to running.
I’ll close with one of my favorite quotes from Rocky Balboa:
You, me or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward.
I’m hitting back. I’m moving forward.
