Go with the flow!

[Chris-STL]

Rest up and feel better! Sometimes forced breaks come right when you actually need them.

[stingo]

Well rest up and come back stronger - you can do it.

[Espi]

Yes, I hope so.. this is really nasty. I'm going to skip Sunday as well, since by now something else has come up: a lab test came back with a higher than normal amt of protein in the urine (or a wrong ratio). I've got a lab paper for a new test and it would be a good idea to do this when I've not worked out for 2 full weeks.

I was freaked out at first, since I'd gone to my doctor to rule out (pre)diabetes. However, my fasting (after a short walk) blood glucose was fine, and so was my HbA1C. But not the protein. This normally indicates a myriad of things, but diabetes and high blood pressure are on the top of the list. I just know my BP is low-normal so it can't be that. And with all the other data, it can't be diabetes either.. can it.

Best 3rd bet: overexercising. At the time I was overdoing the amt of reps, while I'd started dieting hard again. Pretty DUMB move! I wasn't feeling that tired, but apparently my body was breaking down protein to cover up for the lack of calories.. just like it always used to do

[Espi]

Seems that my rest period is going to be lengthened by yet another week. Two days ago, I suddenly got a mysterious skin infection with vesicles around the right side of my bra lining/waist.
I thought at first it was perhaps due to either pb (but I never had such a vehement reaction before).
Then we I thought the malfunctioning washing machine must have tcaused an allergic skin reaction due to detergents that aren't rinsed out properly... so yesterday we bought a new (overdue) laundry machine.

But tonight the pain in my chest was so severe, that I couldn't sleep and then upon rising it was so painful I went to the hospital (house physician is off duty in the weekend) thinking I was a whiner. All the time I was actually assuming the pain is mostly caused by the tendon I overexercised on Tuesday and I may have more severely bruised my rib cage than I'd imagined.

The doctor on duty however, quickly dismissed the tendon 'theory' and pointed out I had .. shingles!
She said it was very good to have come as it's only 48hrs ago that it started and hence I can start anti-viral treatment with valaciclovir (Zelitrex)

A herpes zoster infection, which you mostly get from a weakened immune system and I just knew once again that Espi can't train hard (too much volume) and diet hard (though it didn't feel like it at just 300ish kcal average deficit).

So.. I'll not be training for another week and take up my calories to maintenance again, meanwhile avoiding anything and everything that I'm slightly allergic too..plus take the probiotics and glutamine.

Dang.. who would've thunk. I'm not sure if it's transferred from someone else or an infection that's a remainder from past chickenpox infection (can't remember and there's nobody to ask, both of my parents are deceased) or a recent infection from someone else.

[stingo]

Ouch - now that sucks... Good thing you did go in sooner than later - I understand shingles is a nasty thing to get.

[Espi]

It's mostly a thing of elderly people it seems whose immune system worsens, esp. when they are bedridden I think. It's pretty nasty and I find it hard to believe the spasmic-like pains aren't from the rib cage.

[mel]

I'm really sorry you are having such a rough couple of weeks! I know that shingles can be very painful, so I hope the meds kick in soon!

mel

[stingo]

How are you feeling Espi? Hopefully better than before? *Sends get well wishes*

[Espi]

Thanks for enquiring Tom

The pain has really settled and I'm getting good nights sleep, mostly longer than normal.
I'll at least wait with working out again until the antivirals have done their job (it's a 1 week very heavy course) and then see what happened.

[Fitwit]

Espi, I just saw your post about having shingles. Yikes!! I hope you are feeling better.

Karen

[laurawd]

Hi Espi,

Is this shingles that you have??? wow, I do sympathize. I had shingles when I was 16. My stress started early. Actually, it's not just old people. As a disease, it is quite prevalent among med students and lawyers, apparently.

And it really sucks. I do hope yours is a quick bout. Take good care. I hope you have some good people around you. That helped me, I know.

[Espi]

The harsh pain only lasted for 2 nights and then the meds (antivirals) plus supplements (Cox2Tame & L-lysine) kicked in. Still, when the pain subsided greatly I thought to be able to go & work out soon. But I'm too early: still getting tired quickly, needing a bit more sleep and walking up the stairs makes me pant unlike before.

The more alarming thing is loss of fluids. I've dropped about 2kg and most of it is fluids, while I'd not thought to have so much to spare. This always happens when I'm ill. Makes me wonder about that proteinurea that's been found a month ago. Even when I work out and diet, the best I can get is 30% LBM loss.
It's weird though, I'm now at the 25kg weight loss mark and I'm not even excited. Weighed 59,9kg yesterday and 60,1 today which is 25kg down from an all-time high of 85kg.
For now I'm planning to eat slightly above maintenance instead of slightly below as being ill seems to mess with my 'estimated' maintenance and once I go back to lifting I'll keep eating at maintenance. Depending on whether I still want to go lower in bf% or rather stay healthy & strong (more likely) I'll either cut a teeny bit more or just maintain.

I do wonder how I can keep warm. I'm realizing once again how exercising heats up my entire body. I'm getting cold quickly now the slightly raised body temp has dropped and eating more food seems to be the only solution. At least I'm not as paranoid about putting on weight fast again as in the past. It also has to do with better appetite control. Used to be inable to control food intake when not exercising due to very poor insulin resistance but especially food absorption problems. This has greatly improved.

[ljk]

Oooh, that sucks....shingles is supposed be extremely painful. It can take a while for it to get fully out of your system so do take care and rest up. I"m sorry; that is so frustrating for an active person to become ill and have to rest.

[UConnJulie]

Espi! I'm so sorry that you have shingles! What a bummer ... yes, take care of yourself and rest plenty ... lots of fluids, you know the drill. Hope you are on the mend soon ...

[Espi]

Thanks so much Julie for peeking into my log: you're so busy yourself!

I can't think of any other reason to get the shingles than that food sensitivities/allergies are playing a major role here. Otherwise, a measly deficit of just 200 kcal on average a day wouldn't make someone so ill. In hindsight I'm blaming the walnuts I was eating nearly every single day for over a month: the molds, but walnuts are also the lowest on the list with lysine/arginine foods = highest amt of arginine vs lowest amt of lysine.

The pain is getting worse again, not better, though the shingles themselves are slowly disappearing. I'm once again blaming food. Past Wednesday I went out for dinner in a upscale local restaurant (about the only smoke-free in town, yay!) as we had a week to spare for a gift certificate that entitled us to an 'unforgettable experience'. We'd planned to go to a spa for a day, but with shingles that's out of the question. This restaurant also showed up, so we settled for the surprise dinner. Very scrumptious food but also minute quantities, so as to 'sharpen your taste buds'.

Did you ever notice that when you're slightly hungry, you're tasting everything so much better? That must be one of the reasons why nouveau (or nouvelle?) cuisine is still so popular. The nice part was that they asked us what we didn't want to eat, either because of food allergies or dislikes. I said NO gluten and not too much dairy . My SO said seafood. Yet, there were some things I may have responded negatively to.

In any case, I don't foresee myself lifting again by Wednesday, as I've woken up from the prickly feeling 3 times tonight already. Not a good idea to further stress my immune systrem by lifting weights. Unless I take it very easy.

My plans for when the rashes subside a bit more, but I'm still not totally healthy .

day 1
5x5 for chest/shouders = military press (can't tolerate db presses yet)
3x8 for legs = front squat + cleans
2x15 for back: lat pull down

day 2
5x5 for legs = deadlift
3x8 for back = supine rows
2x15 for chest = pec deck or once again MP

day 3
3x3 for back = chins (don't think I can get to 5 reps again)
3x8 for chest /shoulders MP?
2x15 for legs = squat lunge

This 5x5-3x8-2x15 BW routine is the very basic routine I go back to after having gone to other routines, as I like this one best. Even when it'd be all the same exercises like DL/SQ/db press/chins or supine rows .
Like always it will be done every other day, unless this is too taxing. Then I'll just do it 3x/wk. Main reason is that I want to be warmer. Not moving enough = cold hands.

I must say that I'm surprised I don't succumb into eating crappy foods like I used to when I'd not exercise. And once again I MUST stress this has NOTHING to do with better control: it's 100% because of better insulin sensitivity. Surely avoidance strategies help, but that almost goes without saying.
Am quite surprised as well that my metabolism isn't crashing down as much, must be because being ill burns more calories than being healthy. I'd expected to maintain on roughly 1800 kcal, but instead it's still a bit over 2000 kcal. Geez, that's even more than what I'm burning through when I'm lifting EOD!

[UConnJulie]

I'm sure you've been reading, but I found this website has good simple info about shingles ... aftershingles.com: About shingles

[Espi]

Thanks. I'm hoping to be one of the 4 people who don't have a postherpetic neuralgia.