It's been a few months since i've posted because.....it's been a few months since i've ran!
Yet another setback - this year has been a shocker for me healthwise, and i'll certainly be glad to see the end of 2008. Whilst i am overweight, i have been fairly 'healthy' with no problems up until this my 39th year.
It started in February with an eye problem, both were affected but particularily my right cornea. I got to the stage where i was warned i could lose my sight in that eye by the specialist, but thankfully, although it took a few months, by June, my sight was pretty well back to normal and the eye had healed. No more contact lenses for me for a while though.
So, got that over & done with and thought ok, let's get things back on track with the body, and started doing a bit of running with a mate of mine again. that lasted a few weeks but kept getting crook with colds & flu's throughout winter. I did some intermittent running over June/July/August but because i kept getting sick back to back, and each cold/flu was taking 2-3 weeks to shake off, it was a prettly frustrating time, and the running suffered as a result.
Fast forward to early September and i am thinking, ok let's get back on the horse and get running again and lose some weight/get fit for spring. What happens, i get another flu in the first week of Sept!!!!
After 3 or 4 days of it, i start to get some tingling in my lips and and a bit of an earache so make an appt to see my doc for the following day thinking it's time for a full checkup as my immune system is clearly not working at all. When i woke the following morning, my right side of my face was paralysed. Called the Doc, he recommended i go straight to Flinders Emergency and after several hours and a number of tests including a CT scan, it was determined i had Bells Palsy. YAY!!!!
Since then i have been on steriods from the doc, potassium-magnesium tablets from the naturopath, had treatments from physio, chiro, and am now seeing an acupuncturist who is also giving me some nasty chinese herbal medicine to get my immune system fighting back. Most people recover fully from this but it can take some time, up to 16 weeks. It's basically a dysfunction of the cranio-facial nerve just under your ear, which controls all the nerves on that side of the face, and the inflammation renders it all immobile. I am now at the 5 week mark and have tried just about everything but only have about 3% movement on the right side, so feeling extremely frustrated. The first 2-3 weeks were quite painful and physically challenging, but now it's just mentally challenging, trying to stay positive about a good outcome and not worry about looking like 'Droopy Dawg' on one side for the rest of my days!
One thing it has done is galvanised my desire to get health & wellness back into my life, as i tried to do earlier this year. I have had a very stressful year at work and so the balance in my life has been completely out of whack for the last year or two, working 70-80 hours weeks etc so it's time to make a significant change and get my health the way it should be.
As a result of virtually no exercise and long hours with a crappy diet etc, i am the heaviest i have ever been at 130kg, and with a sick body at the moment. The black dog has also been making itself known this year and especially the last month or two. That said i am now starting to get some energy levels back and am determined to make some fairly massive life changes, and get the balance back.
So i am yet again starting from scratch to start running again, watching my diet and had 2 visits to the gym in the last week, but the changes need to be long term and significant so it will be a long journey as 10 years of neglect won't be turned around overnight. I'm looking forward to making progress every day, regardless of how minor, and i will track progress here.
