Physical Check-In

bad knee pain kept me up. slept about 4 hours total. it's my IT band that's all outta whack. and it's raining out which does not help. now, I've drunk too much coffee and I'm wired as hell. anxiety not too bad this morning. we have a dinner date later at 6 pm and I hope I don't crash. I took some melatonin and a gabapentin to level me out. hope it works. hope everyone is well!

I weighed myself on a whim today and I did it! I lost all of the weight I gained from taking my meds. I also gained a lot of muscle from my workouts, so it took a bit longer than I would have liked. I plan to keep going to see if I can lose a few more pounds. My weight fluctuates throughout the month and I want to give myself a little wiggle room. I'm so happy I was able to turn things around and meet my goal.

congrats, fern46! you did it! good for you. keep it up. you can do whatever you set your mind to. happy for you

Thank you! BirdDancer and I were discussing the power of intention in another thread. This is a good example of intention playing a role in success. I set my mind to reach my goal and not to let the meds decide my weight for me. I had to reset my intention daily and even several times a day on my low days. I asked for support here and other places and others set their intent to support me. There was a lot of good energy coming my way and it helped me along. Thanks so much to everyone for your help. This was a team lift!

Congratulations, fern! This is so wonderful to read! I am very glad you brought up the power of intention as an important part of your success here.

I often try to provide a bit of a counter balance to medication weight gain discussions (often complaints or downright medication demonization). While I fully understand the challenges medications bring in terms of weight control, I also understand the challenges that psychological illness brings. If I'm depressed, or have symptoms that lower my belief in my abilities, destroy my focus, I struggle to succeed. I know how easy it is to become resigned that a situation will not improve. We have to fight that! Maybe a particular medication is not the right one, but I know that taking no medication is not the right way to my mental and physical wellness.

Focus is so important for bringing about positive change. So is strategy, thinking outside the box, hard work, yes...support, trials (giving new things a try), not allowing yourself to feel resigned to a situation, and open-mindedness. These are things that I have really learned in most recent years.

Woot woot !!!!!! Congratulations

I’m so happy for you !

You brought up so many great points! I had to shift gears and try several different strategies before I found something that worked. I tried lowering my sugar intake. I tried moderate exercise. I tried eating a little less. All of that failed. I opened my mind to tracking my food and noticed several people including you were having success with MyFitnessPal, so I gave that a shot. I realized I hadn't tried more rigorous exercise and began a new program. I went through all of that trial and error and just did my best to keep the faith and remain positive.

I heard so many say the weight gain was inevitable. Even my therapist warned me that it would be very difficult to turn around. She had me considering acceptance and how to love myself despite the weight gain. I still loved myself, but I had previously worked hard to lose weight and I just couldn't accept that my fate would be decided for me. I really like working with her, but I'm glad I tuned that part of therapy out.

I do recognize that a lot of people are dealing with debilitating physical issues and also mental issues that make their journeys much more difficult than mine has been. I'm not exactly sure what their path to success should look like. We are all so very different. I can only say that I believe there is an answer for everyone and we can all be healthier if we really want to. Small changes can add up over time in a big way and I'm hopeful for and happy to support everyone along the way.

Thank you for this.

You bring up very valid points about psych med weight gain. There are other factors than can play a part , typical foods eaten, ability to exercise, getting older, physical illness caused by psych meds or not that can hinder weight loss etc...

I have to get back on track once I get home, going back to healthy foods will be easy, the metabolic syndrome is going to just make lbs drop much much slower. My PsA pain and Fibromyalgia just does not allow for exercise of any kind, so that just has to get better. Well yeah and getting to the bottom of why I feel just so freaking ill, I have had insomnia all my life so I can function on lack of sleep and sure it sucks but this is so much bigger than lack of sleep and chronic fatigue.

I'm having some hip and shoulder pain today, but I pushed through it and completed my workout.

My husband helped me plan dinners for the week on Sunday. It was a small thing, but it is making a huge difference for me. I usually purchase a bunch of staple items and then decide what's for dinner each day as I go along. This week I shopped from a list and I just pick one of the already planned out dinners to make each night. I make three meals a day most every day for our family and it felt so nice to have help deciding what to make. He even suggested a new dish from his childhood we plan to make together one night. I told him last night how much easier dinner felt and how much I appreciated him brainstorming with me. Hopefully we will keep this up week to week. He suggested it and said his grandparents did this together when he was a boy. I like breathing new life into old traditions.

It has been schorching hot for almost two weeks now. I think 88 is the lowest high temp we've had. I am ready for some rain and cooler temps. I feel like the heat sucks my energy out of me.

Congratulations!!!

Congratulations!!!!

I have not been gaining any weight from the extra Seroquel I've been forced to take to calm my mood elevation. I'm glad about that. For that reason, I was OK with a Seroquel XR increase. However, when I've been level in mood for a while, I will ask for a decrease again.

I mentioned elsewhere that I'm prone to sweating a lot lately. Hypomania/mania can do it. Being a little bit out of shape. And also, I think some of my medications increase my sweating. It's not THAT bad, but I have to sometimes plan ways to hide it under certain circumstances. When I'm extremely anxious, which I haven't really been lately, sweat can just pour from my body.

knee pain today. feels like a 9.5 on the richter scale. I have a brace on for now. I have been calling my knee doc for any cancellations (my appt is for sept. 9th to get some injections) but nothing yet. my Wife bought me an IT band brace which is helping a bit. hope everyone is doing ok. hugs to anyone who is struggling.

knee pain not as bad today. was able to move around ok. but, I'm dealing with a lingering headache. took advils. ate dinner and have been drinking plenty of water. I have my knee brace on for now. watching a movie, and just trying to distract myself. just wanted to check in. hope everyone is doing well.

Hey Jedi, I'm glad to hear the knee pain is better today. I am sure that is a relief. I'm still hoping there will be a cancellation and you'll get in soon to see your doc.

thank you, fern46! much more bearable today. still stiff and achy, tho. I was told to call everyday for a cancellation, but I've been calling about every other day. plus I'm 3rd or 4th on the call back list which isn't too bad. thanks for reaching out. hope you're well!

Feeling mentally well. In fact the best I’ve felt since the whole toxicity debarcle.
BUT my body which has had issues since day dot is starting to seriously pack it in.
I have a elongated QTC interval looming on my ECG, and my creatinine levels are still up. My BP with the help of anti-hypertensives is finally back to normal from the heights of 180/103. My LFT’s are up....and the list goes on....

I'm having pretty intense shoulder and neck pain. It doesn't feel like a pulled muscle, but more like a stitch in the side that happens to be in my shoulder. The pain is the worst when I turn my head, so driving should be fun later. I have a lot of cleaning to do today and I hope I'll be able to get it done. I have a rare morning all to myself and want to be as productive as possible. I also plan to try to still get my workout in, but I'll have to play that by ear.

Pookyl, I hope your doctors get everything sorted out for you soon. I saw in another post you are now on a second BP med. I hope it helps keep you stable.

I wish everyone a healthy and happy weekend!

I got on the scale this morning. I'm 0.4 lbs down. I think that's great considering that I have not exactly been dieting, and yet my appetite has not been that big for some days. My recent elevated mood episode has surely contributed to burning calories, too.

hope your shoulder and neck pain subsides, fern46! definitely take it easy and do play it by ear. don't push yourself to where you may hurt yourself further. glad you have the morning to yourself. it must feel peaceful! enjoy your weekend!