Tuesday, March 22, 2011

A Sad Time for This Boot Camper

So...it's been over a month since I've written. I've been busy planning a wedding:) I have been going to boot camp faithfully since my last post (up until the past week, which you will see as this post continues) and I have felt great! At my dress fitting last weekend, they re-measured me and I am six inches smaller than my original measurements! SUPER exciting. But now let me get into the sadness. About 2 weeks ago my lower back started bothering me. I sometimes get lower back pain, and it usually is pretty painful for a few days then dissipates until I no longer feel it. While doing dead lifts (holding a weight in each hand, slowly bending at the waist until the weights touch the ground, then coming back up) I felt a sharp pain back there. I tried to push through it, I finished out the workout then at the end my instructor stretched me out because I mentioned how it hurt. That was on a Thursday. That night was Oliver's St. Baldrick's fundraiser and I was out pretty late (all the while with the pain in my lower back) so after going to sleep after midnight and the pain in the back, I decided to take a day off from boot camp on Friday. The rest helped and my lower back started to feel better. Emphasis on the LOWER back. Saturday the middle of my back started hurting, then by Sunday evening it hurt to take a deep breath. I thought maybe I sat wrong in the hour+ car ride to Hartford...but nothing made it feel better. Sitting, standing, laying down, stretching, it HURT. I went to work on Monday (no boot camp that morning) and was in a whole lot of pain. It really hurt when I took a deep breath and my job isn't the greatest for staying upright (the kids tables come to my knees so I am always either bending down or sitting in a tiny little chair with my knees above my hips.) It was an odd pain though, constant pain, extremely uncomfortable and right in the middle of my back. When I get back pain, it's the lower back, not like this. My co-workers began to worry, one thought that maybe I was overcompensating from last week's lower back pain and kinda screwed the rest of my back and she said I should go to a chiropractor, one said it might be a respiratory infection since it hurt whenever I would breathe (which, um..is all the time!) but my mom was visiting and I didn't want to spend her last day in the doctor's office. The pain got kind of worse throughout the day, so that and my mom convinced me to call the doctor. So mommy came to the doctor with me while I was taking tiny short breaths so it wouldn't hurt (which really only lead to me having to take a deep deep breath every so often and cry out in pain) and after my doctor felt my back, pressed in a bunch of places, asked a bunch of questions, he told me I was having pretty bad muscle spasms. He gave me a prescription for muscle relaxers and some Vicodin so I could sleep (did I mention the pain kept me up all night Sunday?) I asked him if I could still go to boot camp. He looked a little shocked and said absolutely not, stay away from boot camp for at least a week. I almost cried. This is the first time in my life that I have really stuck with an exercise program and liked it. Granted, it's really only been a few months, but that is a few months longer than I've ever done it before! Before leaving, I asked my doctor if a massage might help. He said definitely, so I asked if he could write me a prescription to Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa. Evidently they don't do that.
So I emailed the instructor and told her my diagnosis and how upset I was. She told me to rest, get better and she'll see me next week. I did end up getting a massage (no help from the doctor!) and the masseuse told me it felt like she was
"working on a rock." Those were her exact words. She said she didn't need to ask why, because I had told her about boot camp and the wedding, so she said it was a combination of the intense work out and stress, but she seemed very concerned with how tight everything was. She suggested that I come back for a 90 minute sports massage. I suggest that it doesn't cost $150. I know it will help, but that's a lot of money and when I get a massage it's usually a very big treat and it's for a nice relaxing time, I don't want to be told I have to have one for medical reasons!
Anyhow, that was last week. Over the weekend, I went to VA for Freddie's first birthday. My cousin, Garrett, is a personal trainer and I asked him what he thought about all this. He felt my back and said it felt like a bowling ball. He started naming some things I shouldn't do...all of which are the exercises we do daily at boot camp. My friend, Laura, who I have mentioned before (also a personal trainer) told me she thought I should stay away from boot camp for at least the rest of the month. The muscle relaxers are helping, I haven't had to take the Vicodin to sleep for about 6 days, and I am feeling better. Every once in a while I feel a twinge of the pain that I had before, but nothing like it was.
Today, I went back to my doctor because (surprise!) I have a sinus infection. While there, I asked him what he thought about all this. I told him how I was feeling, how the muscle relaxers helped and I stopped taking them on Sunday to see if I could feel better on my own, and I have. He said that boot camp is an intense work out and that I should not continue to do it. I told him I lost 6 inches and that I am getting married in 2 months. He said I can continue to lose weight and inches, just by doing less intense exercises, such as the bike, treadmill, or swimming. He said that the constant twisting, bending, lifting and jumping are not good for my back. I asked if I could still use free weights and he said yes, just make sure not to bend. So, there are three professionals advising that I quit boot camp. And I was afraid of failure, ha. Guess I am being forced to fail this time:( It doesn't feel much different. But even when I think of going back and trying to modify the exercises, I think about the things we do and EVERYthing would need to be modified. No squats, reverse crunches, lunges, twists, dead lifts, squat thrusts, mountain climbers, straight leg sit ups, V-sits...I could go on and on. It wouldn't be modifying, it would be a completely different work out...which is exactly what I am being told to do. A different work out. So now, I am going to email my instructor, tell her the news and hope that I can get my ass out of bed and to the treadmill at the gym EVERY morning until my wedding. Any help/words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

1 comment:

  1. You'll be fine, and maybe they'll give you bootcamp money back...and use that for the massage!! If I need to wake up early everyday to keep you motivated, then that's what i'll at least attempt to do ;-)

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