I’ve not been active on here for so long because I’ve...not been active in my life. But this is first and foremost, my health journey and my health has taken a beating this year.
Let’s scroll back to 2017 when I sat funny on a chair and my tailbone started to hurt. It was painful, but I’d had worse. The pain stuck around so I went to the doctor in January and he said it was just regular tailbone pain, it could become chronic. Fast forward to April 2018, I go back, same deal. I hadn’t stopped training at any point, what actually got me to stop was tearing my hip labrum (cartilage), which is a whole other story.
So, tearing my labrum slowed me down, but all the while, I had this pain in the literal ass. Fast forward to September. 9 months. 9 whole months where I did not have a day without this pain, which was getting progressively worse to the point where I could not sit down. My second MRI of the year down, I discover my tailbone is fine. It’s my lumbar spine that’s throwing a party. I have two ‘slipped’ discs: L1 and L4/5, I kinda blacked out on that bit because I wasn’t expecting it at all. I was put onto an alternative cox-2 inhibitor because I’m allergic to Advil and Codeine. It helped improve my pain, but not get rid of it to a point where I wanted to mobilise. And due to real life factors, I failed to recognise the side effects it was giving me, up to and including severe depression. I was on it from the end of September till about a week ago because I was almost out of my prescription and I couldn’t take feeling that way anymore. The day after I stopped taking it, I felt like myself again.
I’m now on Aleve which is so much better for me and I’m even on the lowest dose while I wait to see the neurosurgeon in the new year. I’m also due for a second MRI on my cervical spine because while I don’t have pain, I’m having issues there. It just gives him a fuller picture of my issues.
I start back physio Thursday, so hopefully, things are starting to look more positive for me.
My point: this is a low point of my journey, but it’s still my journey. Maybe I get fully better, maybe I have to modify, but I’m not giving up and neither should you.
But if you’re curious: I weigh roughly 5lbs less than when I was training (I haven’t since April). I’ve lost 2% muscle mass and increased my body fat by 1.8%. Overall this translates to my body getting smaller. I’m closer to a size 2-4 rather than a 4-6 now. My legs are like noodles now. XD
Yes, I feel weak and unfit, but it’s not forever. This is my time to heal and maintain. I want to be proof that you can be injured, come back from it and be okay.
