Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff

[RnMissionRun]

You can find used bikes at thrift shops, pawn shops, Habitat for Humanity, etc but in my experience, they cost about the same (~ $90) as what you would pay for a brand new (albeit cheap) bike from WalMart.

[Deleted]

@auspice

Have your job hire me. Then your woes are over! And everybody wins.

[Auspice]

@admiral said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@auspice

Have your job hire me. Then your woes are over! And everybody wins.

Put in an application. They're hiring 4-5 more people and anyone I name goes to the top of the interview list.

[Arkandel]

A few days later, once I can walk again without limping following my lower back injury, I was masochistic enough to go to my gym's owner and ask to see the security CCTV footage of the incident - the idea was to see if I had horrible form or something during the rep that broke me.

Damn, it's not fun watching myself fold under the barbell like a card. Or trying to get up again afterwards. It definitely doesn't help the form looked... fine, which makes my job trying to prevent this from happening again in the future that much harder, unless I just give up and figure my lumbar spine is made out of wet toilet paper rolls held together with gum. Hopefully physio will show something more, because this is frustrating, and next time I might be down for considerably more time. For all I know I got lucky.

Meh.

[Ganymede]

@arkandel

Were you doing squats under that barbell?

I mean, I love you very much, guy, but if I were your trainer I would kill you.

[Kanye Qwest]

@arkandel I mean sorry for the obvious question but what about a brace?

[Arkandel]

@ganymede said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

Were you doing squats under that barbell?

Well, it wouldn't do much good if the barbell wasn't over me at the time. My first two-plate squat, three sets of five, zero issues... until the last rep. Then I became pasta under the fork.

@kanye-qwest said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@arkandel I mean sorry for the obvious question but what about a brace?

I was wearing a belt. It was on the descent, and dammit, I was bracing. Valsalva maneuver and everything. Still - boom!

[Ganymede]

@arkandel

Friend, you've told me about your back issues before and I've told you over and over not to do deadlifts or squats. So, this is where I throttle you. That said, planks, wall-sits, inverse planks, and Supermans for you.

[Arkandel]

@ganymede The physical therapist said I was lucky to have been wearing a belt and dropping the barbell immediately, since the pain itself was caused by a spasm as my muscles all seized up trying to protect my lower back from ... stuff.

The therapist himself was this super limber Asian dude who didn't bother smirking when he concluded that the underlying issue was 'high pain tolerance and strength combined with almost no flexibility whatsoever' once he had me trying to bend a few different ways.

Apparently I am missing 20 degrees in my hamstring flexibility alone. Whee.

... Back to work then.

[Kanye Qwest]

20 degrees?? You need to do yoga a lot more than you need deadlifts.

[Ganymede]

@arkandel

Yeah, jeez, what the hell, guy?

Less weights. More stretching, more cardio, more BWE.

Yeesh.

[Gingerlily]

@meg said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

I am going through this weird period of depression and anxiety where I find it really difficult to drag myself into work, compounded by daily headaches and often, migraines. All of my energy seems to be like, sweating out of me, and I can practically see it leaving my body but I can't stop it.

It doesn't help that my job sucks and my house is a mess and just, bleh. I feel like there has to be some way to get my life together, but man, having the energy to do that seems impossible and then I feel worse.

This is basically also my life, though it has improved. Chronic Pain does /such/ a number on so many aspects of life, that's probably where the link to depression/anxiety in Chronic Pain patients comes from. I mean it could also be a chemical imbalance, but whatever your ordinary mental state, feeling anything but misery when constantly in agony is not easy work.

So this is me expressing solidarity, but also the notion that it /can/ improve even if it is very, very slow and sometimes two steps forward and three back. Be kind to yourself. Read the book "Unfuck your Habitat" by Rachel Hoffman, it helped me work on small plans for housekeeping that did not overtax me physically and lead to pain, but also helped me let go of a lot of the guilt that comes with being behind on stuff because you are in too much pain to get it done. Do the cheesy thing I am doing to cope with some work misery this year, and make one of those lists of three good things that happened each day even if you have to force it and some of them are "One co-worker smiled at me. No one threw blocks at my head (this one may not apply so much to your job but who can say).

Not to claim I am perfect or even good at any of this, today I am having a stress meltdown related to work and a horrid migraine to go with it...but not every day is as shitty as today and that is what keeps me keepin on.

[Gingerlily]

@arkandel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@ganymede The physical therapist said I was lucky to have been wearing a belt and dropping the barbell immediately, since the pain itself was caused by a spasm as my muscles all seized up trying to protect my lower back from ... stuff.

The therapist himself was this super limber Asian dude who didn't bother smirking when he concluded that the underlying issue was 'high pain tolerance and strength combined with almost no flexibility whatsoever' once he had me trying to bend a few different ways.

Apparently I am missing 20 degrees in my hamstring flexibility alone. Whee.

... Back to work then.

Man I am super flexible, hypermobile even which is flexibility that is potentially dangerous and causes many pain issues. I am also weak as a baby bird, so we are like opposite people.

@arkandel said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@ganymede The physical therapist said I was lucky to have been wearing a belt and dropping the barbell immediately, since the pain itself was caused by a spasm as my muscles all seized up trying to protect my lower back from ... stuff.

The therapist himself was this super limber Asian dude who didn't bother smirking when he concluded that the underlying issue was 'high pain tolerance and strength combined with almost no flexibility whatsoever' once he had me trying to bend a few different ways.

Apparently I am missing 20 degrees in my hamstring flexibility alone. Whee.

... Back to work then.

[Arkandel]

@gingerlily Give me your hamstrings! I'll give you uhm, a chocolate chip cookie.

[Auspice]

The migraines had ebbed off. Drugs were managing.

But oh god I have a killer one today.

[Lithium]

Just finished a major move, had to drive for 15 hours straight, and of course... now I am sick because on that drive couldn't get comfortable, was either to hot or to cold. I hate colds... feel like my head is gonna explode and my throat is made of glass.

[Auspice]

@lithium said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

Just finished a major move, had to drive for 15 hours straight, and of course... now I am sick because on that drive couldn't get comfortable, was either to hot or to cold. I hate colds... feel like my head is gonna explode and my throat is made of glass.

I recommend tea w/honey and tons of sleep.

[Ganymede]

@lithium said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

Just finished a major move, had to drive for 15 hours straight, and of course... now I am sick because on that drive couldn't get comfortable, was either to hot or to cold. I hate colds... feel like my head is gonna explode and my throat is made of glass.

First, congratulations on the major move, and I hope that it works out for the best in the long run.

Second, colds definitely suck, and if you have the misfortune of moving to a river valley the allergy counts are through the roof.

[Lithium]

@ganymede It's coastal, but there is an inlet that fills with high tide so... yeah allergy counts are through the roof. I am used to it though as it's a place I have lived before.

Just gotta stay hydrated so this gunk in my chest doesn't turn to cement.

[Zz]

@gingerlily Holy hell. Me too. It sucks is and painful and full of minor dislocations.

@Arkandel Yoga would probably do you good.