Showing posts with label pills. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pills. Show all posts

Feb 28, 2015

see you in 3-6 months

on february 10, i started physio because i sprained my ankle a week prior literally doing nothing but turning around.

this "doing nothing" concept isn't new to me and is usually the reason behind why all of my injuries occur. throughout my life, my knees have constantly dislocated for no reason and i've fractured my ankle twice as a kid. my knees and ankles get sore pretty easily and i don't have much mobility, flexibility, or stability in my legs. i've always known this.

i've tried my best to strengthen through sports and stretching but nothing ever worked out the way it should. injury after injury, there was never any rehab. my physiotherapist is starting from the very basics and moving up. i have daily exercises and weekly appointments. four weeks in and i'm already noticing a difference, despite hurting my other ankle this morning for no reason. in 6 months, there should be a noticeable difference and i should have extended mobility.

i've started a new regime of pills to fight off another infection that i'll be on for another 3-6 months, depending on how i react. i hope it goes well. this also means no beer for 3-6 months. but i should be back in time for patio season. let's think warm thoughts.

my raise at work went through starting in january and things outside of my health are generally fine. i spend my weekends doing fun things and spending time with the people i care about most. this must be what mid-twenties feels like.

on march 21, i'll be going to my first toronto comicon. if it's anything like fan expo, i'm sure i'll enjoy my time. unfortunately, it won't be the same as my two worlds of baseball and nerdy things won't collide like they did during fan expo.

seriously, i'm sick of winter and would like to be skiing. too bad i'm in toronto. i'm ready for summer.

my parents are thinking about taking my brother and i to florida at the end of april and i'm looking forward to the sun. hopefully my ankles and knees are in working order by then.

see you on the patio.

Mar 8, 2014

anxiety & mental health

since i moved to toronto, i've become increasingly aware of the mental health issues everyone in my life faces. anxiety, depression, stress-related, and fear - whether they're out in the open or hidden away, everyone, including myself, has suffered through it at one time or another. for some people, it's ongoing.

there's no cure. there's no way to just "get over it." it's all different. it's irrational. it's rational. it's your brain. it's your body. it's your situation. it's your experiences. it is what it is and there isn't any way around it. i've come to expect this. i've come to expect failed plans and miserable moods between friends. and i'm okay with that, because i know what they're dealing with.

when it's hidden, however, is a whole other story. i have some pretty irrational fears that are "normal" for someone my age. there are also certain things i refuse to do because of those fears. for instance, i can't kill a bug. i just can't. i'm so scared of them that i either just leave or get someone else to deal with it. big or small, bugs are a definite nope.

that's just one fear. another problem i've had since i was young was the inability to swallow pills. as you can imagine, when i was sick at various intervals in 2013 and was on antibiotic treatment for four months you can imagine the bind i was in. i can assure you that it never went well. i suffered through mini panic attacks every time i had to take a pill. there were times when i had to literally walk away from my attempt and come back ten minutes later and try again. and usually, in this second attempt, i would choke, causing things to be even worse. that was not a fun four months of my life.

i've watched over the past couple years how people deal with themselves and their brain. if it's hidden and they haven't received help, i've watched as they try to take their own lives. this has been a serious problem for me since about 2010.

it started when the dude i was with told me that he wanted to kill himself. he told me that he was joking, except i knew that he definitely wasn't. since the day he told me, i could never feel the same way about him because i knew he needed to get help. not only was his threat real (to me, despite him not seeing it yet) - he also suffered from terrible anger issues that put a strain on our relationship. you could probably say this is why i stayed with him for as long as i did. i wanted him to get help but he never listened. when it ended the way it did, i wasn't surprised and wished whoever it was he'd be with next wouldn't have to go through the same things i did.

the years that followed would be a whirlwind of me doing my best to help friends in need. i don't know why i am, but i seem to be a safety net. and even then, a few things will always be hidden away and out of reach until it's too late. i've lost a number of people in my life to suicide and others who were lucky enough to be rescued before an attempt could be made. i say "lucky" but i mean it in the loosest of terms. i know that sometimes, if there isn't a light at the end of that tunnel, there never will be, despite any and all attempts made to take that life.

so, when it happens to a relative, like it did to me about two weeks ago, forgive me for not being myself.

her anxiety issues were hidden away, as they are. and when one situation took her over the edge, she no longer saw a light at the end of her tunnel. fortunately, for all  of us, she was found and her attempt had been unsuccessful. it was later revealed the reason why she had tried and how the other relative had known about some of her anxiety, but not all.

we're all still a bit shaken up. my parents are strong people but i have no idea how they even deal with something like this. with me being sick for the later part of 2013 and my recovery, it was bad enough they had to see me go through that and be my support system through it all. for this to happen a couple months after, i worry about their mental health more than my own.

of course, it takes a toll on me too. but i know i'm strong and stable. i know i have to be for when others fall weak. so, maybe before you get mad at me for wanting to stay home on a friday night instead of getting drunk, there's probably a solid reason for me staying in.

i'm okay. i'm just worried about my relative's future mental health and hope that this won't happen again. and i'm an optimist, so i have to believe that it won't happen again.

please don't prove me wrong.

Sep 22, 2013

complications of a medical nature

you might remember how i've been battling a kidney infection for about 2 weeks. it hasn't been fun, i can assure you.

after i missed 3 days of work in one week, went to work for one day, and then had my first vacation day - this week was a lot more difficult getting back into the swing of things. i took a vacation day on friday sept 13th to go home & do home things, like go to the dentist and get a haircut. i spent the entire weekend laying low and trying to get better.

i was trying to find the best way to take the pills they gave me but every time i tried to take them, i got really anxious/nervous because they were so awful. it's not like me to be this way when it comes to, well, anything. they couldn't be chewed. they couldn't be swallowed, even when cut in half. i tried to cut them into 4s but then they were jagged as fuck and not any easier. i smashed them up and put them into water/juice.. nope.. still tasted too awful. i couldn't win. at times, i was only taking half or 75% of a pill because the rest just wouldn't be allowed into my body. i figured this was better than not taking them, i suppose.

work this week was busy, as usual, and i did my best to keep up. that's when i noticed on wednesday when i got back to the office: my skin had broken out into a rash. i thought maybe it was just on my arms and hands. i thought i touched something on my way back from lunch and reacted to it. i noticed my face felt extremely hot and burnt. when i looked in the mirror, it looked like i had been on the beach for 9 hours. i was outside at lunch for maybe 10-15 minutes that day. something was up. i did what i could to hide the rash from my coworkers and finished out the day. when i got home, i noticed that the rash was all over my body but was only slightly itchy in parts. i've never had anything like this before, so i figured it would go away by the next day. looking at the side effects of the antibiotics, it said that i might experience red, blotchy patches and a sensitivity to sunlight - but to consult a doctor if it happens.

i woke up the next morning and it was still prominent. ugh. i sent an email to my boss and told him i'd be going to the walk in clinic. at 9am, i admitted myself to the walk-in clinic and waited for a doctor who told me that it's very common to have an allergic reaction to this type of antibiotics. what was uncommon was having an allergic reaction 9 days into antibiotics that last for 10 days. fuck you, body. so, she told me to take an allergy pill and it should go away. by saturday, it did.

okay, i've had enough of this "being sick" thing. can i go back to being healthy now?