Sunday, November 14, 2010

Back To It

Sorry about the no posts lately. Just too much has been going on for me to concentrate on cycling, such as work and school. I have been learning a lot on the photography front, that's a plus. Photoshop skills are very useful, as are basic editing and design elements, such as this masterpiece:

Linda At Boo at the Zoo
One reason I haven't been riding has been pain. I ached all over, didn't recover after rides for days, was putting on weight, and had gotten weaker. And it was getting progressively worse. Feet, shoulders, knees, back, muscles, you name it, it hurt. The doctors said it was from normal wear and tear do to age and abuse. I wasn't buying it, so I traced my steps back to when this started. In particular, when I started taking diabetes medications. The first was Avandia and Metforman. I didn't take Avandia for long, as it's side effects were nasty. I still have scars from the water blisters I got on my lower legs. Nasty stuff. Metforman has no real side effects, but I still stopped taking it for a while. No difference. Insulin has no real side effects, so it was down to the last drug, a stain for cholesterol. I didn't have a cholesterol problem, but the medical establishment like to treat type 2 diabetes patients as if they have already had a heart attack. Current research is proving that theory wrong, so I quit the Simvistatin. Three weeks later, I felt like a new man. The aches and sharp pains, especially in my feet, are about 90% gone, and remain that way. What a relief to be able to go about daily life clear headed from not having to take pain medications daily, not to mention what those can do to your system. I can work out again without taking a week to recover, and my outlook and demeanor are much improved.

I had mentioned my father was going through hell with temporal arteritis. Not really, he had Lymes disease. This misdiagnosis almost killed him, wreaked havoc on his diabetes due to taking prednisone, which raises blood sugar to dangerous levels and required him to go on insulin. He couldn't take his arthritis medications due to the prednisone, so he was almost bed ridden with pain, along with many trips to the hospital for complications. Now that he's had proper treatment for Lymes, he's doing much better. I', glad we kept after the doctors, because we had thought all along he had Lymes, but they didn't test him for it for several months.

I've got another month of school left, then I'll have more time to ride and write. College was one of the best things I have ever done, even this late in life. Everyone should take a break in life and take a semester or two. I'm glad I did.