So I bet you can guess what I did this morning.
Yep. That's right. As promised, I returned to the gym.
After failing to find any gyms close to my house (other than a Bally's in the ghetto and Curves, which apparently is targeted to obese unemployed women) I decided that I would try a gym that I already have a membership with by my office. I have never actually set foot in this gym, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. But I decided that rather than waiting until I got around to stopping by to inspect, I would just get up early and go.
The getting up early part was suprisingly easy this morning. I am pretty sure that had something to do with the window cover that mysteriously dislodged itself late last night, allowing a bright stream of light to enter directly over the bed this morning. It's as if it knew that I needed to get to the gym. (Dude, does that mean my house just called me fat?!)
When I arrived at the gym, I noticed that there was a definite difference between this gym and the last one I frequented. The woman to man ratio had changed drastically. As I go to the gym to work out, not look pretty, I like for my gym to have a high female population, preferably females of assorted shapes and sizes.
There were ZERO women working out this morning. The only women that were there were annoyingly thin and blonde employees. Blech.
On the plus side, there was no one in the cardio area. Evidently, the men that work in this gym don't believe in sissy machines. And, while the women's locker room was TINY with only two showers, it seemed a lot bigger with no one to share it with.
The workout itself went fairly well, considering the long break I have had from that kind of early morning physical activity. It felt good enough to actually want to go again tomorrow.
So hopefully, this new gym will bring with it some new and interesting stories.
A moment of silence observed for Clappy. (pour a 40, ya'll)
Listening to: Crazy by Gnarls Barkley
Currently Reading: The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs - really like this book so far...this guys writes the way I think a LOT
Just Finished Reading: In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson - thanks to the guy who bought me my first Bryson book...if you want to know about Australia, this is an entertaining way to learn a lot about the place
This post has been brought to you by: My new MacBook!! Thanks to a desire to get my Ipod to work consistently and my weakness for Mac ads , I have now wandered away from the world of the PC over to my long lost love Apple. My intial introduction to programming was on an Apple (that was 16 years ago!)..
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Monday, May 08, 2006
Playing Doctor
More meaningless posts here...
In my frenzy of getting ready to leave for the conference last week, and the subsequent return, I never filled you all in on the results of all my tests.
The blood work was all fairly normal, although I am doing some research, since some of my "normal results" seem to be on the border of normal. Seems to me if you border on normal in enough categories, the end result is abnormality. (chew on that!)
My echocardiogram, however, was not normal. The echo showed evidence of prolapse of the mitral valve, and the "color doppler" shows tricuspid regurtitation. The doctor didn't really explain too much about what those things mean, but did refer me back to the cardiologist.
In the meantime, me and google did a little footwork. After all, when someone tells you your heart is regurgitating, you can't imagine that that is something good. And of course, you all know how much I love to pretend I know what I am doing when it comes to medicine and the like. (Ahhh...yes, who can forget the vicodin pukes of aught 5)
So first off, what is this pukey heart business? Evidently, not much. It might cause me some fatigue, but everything else about it was rather vague. Lots of "this could mean something serious" or "it's really nothing at all".
Thanks.
On to the prolapse. This proved to be more interesting. For example, some doctors (those who appreciate the value of natural medicine in addition to traditional) seem to belive that the mitral valve prolapse can be an indicator of other issues. I took a look at the list of symptoms these types of people posses and attempted to match it up with problems I have had of late:
~ Migraine headaches - ummmm...yes.
~ Dizzy, spacy feeling - often, sometimes when I am just sitting doing nothing
~ Difficulty concentrating - this was not an issue when I was younger, but it does happen here and there now
~ Balance problems, vertigo - Did I ever tell you about the time I fell down a driveway and tore up my knees?
~ Insomnia, sleep disturbances - If I am not taking my amitryptiline, I am the world's worst sleeper
~ Hyperventilation; shortness of breath - when I get nervous this happens
~ Palpitations of the heart; skipped or irregular heart beat - yup
~ Panic attacks, with pounding heart beat - I hide them well, but yes, I sometimes freak out. I have only had one really bad one so far. I had to leave the building I was in and stand outside in tears, shaking.
~ Phantom chest pain with no apparent physiological cause - I have had this one for FOREVER. My brother would always make fun of me and imitate that old lady from those Life Alert commercials.
~ Hypersensitive startle reflex - Does the fact that I constantly get the life scared out of me by people I live with count?
~ Cold sweats - Yep again.
~ Cold hands and feet - All. the. time.
~ Numbness or tingling in the fingers or toes - Yes. Once after I hung drywall I couldn't feel my fingertips for several weeks
~ Sensitivity to drugs, including alcohol, caffeine, and medications - Any meds I take affect me way more than the average person. I am a "cadbury" when it comes to alcohol, and when I drink caffeine, I occasionally get the shakes. (shakes of joy when its coming from coffee!)
As you can see, I am a textbook case of this stuff, if there actually was a textbook that recognizes this disorder of sorts. You can also see that I sound like I am about 50 years older than I am.
Evidently my body is somehow wired wrong. Where normal people's catecholamines (like epinepherine and adrenaline) only show up when the body needs them, my body likes to pump them way more than I need them. This results in a sort of hyper/exhausted state (I always called it "slap-happy"...who knew there was an actual reason for my behavior?).
The nice thing is that there are things I can do to get better. Wouldn't you know that one of them is exercise? So guess who is going back to the gym? ("Wow, Amber, your blog is so totally cyclical...cool.")
Next post: The quest for gym that isn't too ghetto, and isn't too pretty
Currently Listening to: Brad Roberts of Crash Test Dummies fame covering Hit Me Baby, One More Time
Current Mood: slap-happy (perhaps I should not have had that coke....)
In my frenzy of getting ready to leave for the conference last week, and the subsequent return, I never filled you all in on the results of all my tests.
The blood work was all fairly normal, although I am doing some research, since some of my "normal results" seem to be on the border of normal. Seems to me if you border on normal in enough categories, the end result is abnormality. (chew on that!)
My echocardiogram, however, was not normal. The echo showed evidence of prolapse of the mitral valve, and the "color doppler" shows tricuspid regurtitation. The doctor didn't really explain too much about what those things mean, but did refer me back to the cardiologist.
In the meantime, me and google did a little footwork. After all, when someone tells you your heart is regurgitating, you can't imagine that that is something good. And of course, you all know how much I love to pretend I know what I am doing when it comes to medicine and the like. (Ahhh...yes, who can forget the vicodin pukes of aught 5)
So first off, what is this pukey heart business? Evidently, not much. It might cause me some fatigue, but everything else about it was rather vague. Lots of "this could mean something serious" or "it's really nothing at all".
Thanks.
On to the prolapse. This proved to be more interesting. For example, some doctors (those who appreciate the value of natural medicine in addition to traditional) seem to belive that the mitral valve prolapse can be an indicator of other issues. I took a look at the list of symptoms these types of people posses and attempted to match it up with problems I have had of late:
~ Migraine headaches - ummmm...yes.
~ Dizzy, spacy feeling - often, sometimes when I am just sitting doing nothing
~ Difficulty concentrating - this was not an issue when I was younger, but it does happen here and there now
~ Balance problems, vertigo - Did I ever tell you about the time I fell down a driveway and tore up my knees?
~ Insomnia, sleep disturbances - If I am not taking my amitryptiline, I am the world's worst sleeper
~ Hyperventilation; shortness of breath - when I get nervous this happens
~ Palpitations of the heart; skipped or irregular heart beat - yup
~ Panic attacks, with pounding heart beat - I hide them well, but yes, I sometimes freak out. I have only had one really bad one so far. I had to leave the building I was in and stand outside in tears, shaking.
~ Phantom chest pain with no apparent physiological cause - I have had this one for FOREVER. My brother would always make fun of me and imitate that old lady from those Life Alert commercials.
~ Hypersensitive startle reflex - Does the fact that I constantly get the life scared out of me by people I live with count?
~ Cold sweats - Yep again.
~ Cold hands and feet - All. the. time.
~ Numbness or tingling in the fingers or toes - Yes. Once after I hung drywall I couldn't feel my fingertips for several weeks
~ Sensitivity to drugs, including alcohol, caffeine, and medications - Any meds I take affect me way more than the average person. I am a "cadbury" when it comes to alcohol, and when I drink caffeine, I occasionally get the shakes. (shakes of joy when its coming from coffee!)
As you can see, I am a textbook case of this stuff, if there actually was a textbook that recognizes this disorder of sorts. You can also see that I sound like I am about 50 years older than I am.
Evidently my body is somehow wired wrong. Where normal people's catecholamines (like epinepherine and adrenaline) only show up when the body needs them, my body likes to pump them way more than I need them. This results in a sort of hyper/exhausted state (I always called it "slap-happy"...who knew there was an actual reason for my behavior?).
The nice thing is that there are things I can do to get better. Wouldn't you know that one of them is exercise? So guess who is going back to the gym? ("Wow, Amber, your blog is so totally cyclical...cool.")
Next post: The quest for gym that isn't too ghetto, and isn't too pretty
Currently Listening to: Brad Roberts of Crash Test Dummies fame covering Hit Me Baby, One More Time
Current Mood: slap-happy (perhaps I should not have had that coke....)
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Hello all - I am back from a conference, which is one of the main reasons I left the gross open wound pictures up on the site. Sorry. I forget sometimes that some do not posess the strong stomach that I do.
The conference was in Vegas, and was interesting enough as I continue to learn about the industry I have found myself in. I had the chance to meet several people I have been in communication with, people my company partners with, and some that have had no association with our company, but now will now be giving us a try.
It was definitely an interesting environment. I have been to several conferences and seminars in the past, but they were always more about business suits and taking notes (or delivering the material in my case). This conference seemed to be more about meeting people and making contacts.
And despite being severely outnumbered (it's like a woman in the men's room), it was actually quite fun.
I'm still trying to catch up on some sleep, and waiting for the airport to deliver my luggage (it evidently wanted to stay overnight in Salt Lake City for some reason).
A busy week ahead as I catch up on some work, and touch base with contacts made at the conference.
Fun fun fun.
Listening to: Walk the Line by Live
Current Mood: Tired...and wondering where luggage is now.
The conference was in Vegas, and was interesting enough as I continue to learn about the industry I have found myself in. I had the chance to meet several people I have been in communication with, people my company partners with, and some that have had no association with our company, but now will now be giving us a try.
It was definitely an interesting environment. I have been to several conferences and seminars in the past, but they were always more about business suits and taking notes (or delivering the material in my case). This conference seemed to be more about meeting people and making contacts.
And despite being severely outnumbered (it's like a woman in the men's room), it was actually quite fun.
I'm still trying to catch up on some sleep, and waiting for the airport to deliver my luggage (it evidently wanted to stay overnight in Salt Lake City for some reason).
A busy week ahead as I catch up on some work, and touch base with contacts made at the conference.
Fun fun fun.
Listening to: Walk the Line by Live
Current Mood: Tired...and wondering where luggage is now.
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