The Daily Struggle...

So last night was awful and painful. I have gerd. The pain I get is so bad at times that I am constantly throwing up acid and sometimes blood. I take scrips for this, but there are times when it doesn’t make a dent in the problem. I have in the past, chugged pink Mylanta like a drunk on a binge, gobbled Rolaids like they were lifesavers candy, chewed gummy Tums like a fiend and mostly without any lasting relief! Today I was so wiped out and tired from the ordeal last night, I just didn’t have it in me to work out on my elliptical. I feel like I cheated those of you who watch/follow me, and I feel cheated that I couldn’t stick to the plan of daily workouts. If I had just any one medical issue to deal with, my Journey to health would be so much easier...but, I have 8 different medical issues that flare up, at any given time.

Depression... almost all my life although many may Never have known this. Started in my teens. Too many factors to list here and some who read it would be horrified if I did. Ongoing constant battle to not let it consume me.

Obesity... when I caught my first husband cheating on me, it started a downward spiral that I fight to this day. has also added to my existing depression. I use god as a comfort tool and when my then 4 year old son Kyle told me about “the lady who comes to visit when you work mommy.” Then runs and cries because daddy sa don’t tell mommy...well you get the idea.

High Blood Pressure... considering my weight and all the stress I was deal with, is this a surprise?

Degenerative Disc Disease... simply put, since 2012 when this was diagnosed, I now have NO disc between the L3-L4 vertebrae. Nothing. They just constantly rub and grind. When they do it sends a feeling of an electric shock up/down my spine. Make a fist with both hands, put your knuckles together and move back and forth, magnify this by 1000 and add an electric shock! That’s what I feel whenever I MOVE.

pain/burning in both upper thighs, knees to groin area. Walking/moving too much and they will go numb and then burn, sometimes last for hours. Only way to relieve it is to lay down and not move a muscle.

Arthritis of both knees. Left worse than right. Cortisone shots have helped. Losing weight will help more!

DeQuervians Disease in right wrist... make the Fonz thumbs up gesture, the pad of flesh at the bottom of thumb by palm. There are two tendons there that are covered by a sheath of muscle, under that my tendons have twisted and usually requires surgery to fix. Maybe ne is not advanced to that stage yet, but when it flares up, I wear a brace.

Trigeminal Neuralgia... The Suicide Disease. That’s what it is called. Aptly named. It can take as many ay 3-5 diagnoses to get this right. In the mean time, the person

suffers from pain so excruciating that... well, hence the Name Suicide Disease. No cure, like cancers, you will have remissions and flare ups your whole life. The Micro Vascular Decompression surgery I had, gives the best long term relief estimates known so far, but no guarantees on it. It’s a wait and see game....

so there we have it, all my daily struggles summed up and explained. Sometimes I only deal with one or two of these a day, sometimes more.