The week, so far, has started out like crap!
On Saturday night, I woke up with EXTREME pain in my right thigh. Every time I moved, it felt like my hip, knee, and side of my thigh were literally stuck. It was excruciating. I couldn't fall back asleep for quite some time. When Dave left for work that morning, he brought me the electric heating pad....and then subsequently pushed his fist onto my thigh as hard as he could to try to work out what he thought was probably a muscle cramp or pulled muscle. Let me tell you...if I could have, I would have kicked him square in the jaw! That heat pad stayed on "high" for three hours and didn't even touch the pain.
When I got up in the morning after I could no longer convince Aria that breakfast would be "in a little", I made it two steps before I had to grab onto the door frame of the bathroom and stand there and cry and scream out in pain. The stairs were awful and I had to get Aria to let Sophie out because I wasn't even down the first half of my stairs yet.
I called my mommy to tell her I wasn't bringing Aria over and why, and she told me to call the weekend clinic and try to get seen. I hate going to the doctor and will ONLY go if my mommy says I need to go. I figured (and Dave figured) that it would be a waste of my time...figured they'd tell me it was a pulled muscle and go home and take some ibuprofen. We were wrong.
I apparently have something called IT Band Syndrome. The iliotibial band is the tendon that runs from the outside of the hip, down the outside of the thigh, and connects at the knee. Basically, it connects my hip muscle to my lower leg muscle. In people like me who have hypermobility in the hip and knee joints (my knees are hyperextended and I can pop my hips in and out of place without really noticing), that band can apparently be loose...and a loose band can get inflamed and angry (obviously). It's kind of like tendonitis, but isn't actually tendonitis.
The solution: hefty anti-inflammatory + physical therapy. The anti-inflammatory (which they said had an acid reducer in it) gave me the WORST heartburn yesterday...I literally had heartburn all day long! My primary care physician told me I can take regular OTC anti-inflammatory as needed instead of that junk the other doctor gave me. Plus, the electric heat pad has been my very best friend lately!
The physical therapy will work out the band (which I'm told will hurt like hell), then will help strengthen the band and the joints to which it's connected. Also, they'll look to see if there's another muscle in my leg that isn't doing it's job properly and may have caused the IT band to take over some of the work (it's not supposed to do that) and they'll give me exercises to strengthen that muscle also. My cousin (a physical therapist) said the amount of time it takes will depend on how stubborn my body is and how well I do my homework. Well, we all know I'm an overachiever, so homework won't be a problem!
So for now it hurts, but is starting to feel better. My range of motion is better. I just have to wait for my PT referral to come through so I can start that. I'm hobbling around like I'm broken and I have to explain IT Band Syndrome to anybody who asks. It's great.
Dave informed me last week that he wants to change
A look at the week's dinner menu
Sunday: Sausage and Peppers + Mini Potatoes
chicken apple sausage - bell peppers - vidalia onion - dutch yellow potatoes
Monday: Mexican Monday
Tuesday: Chicken Caesar Salad
chicken - romaine - parm cheese - croutons - light caesar dressing
Wednesday: Steak Stir Fry + Cauliflower Rice
skirt steak - stir fry veggies - teriyaki sauce - cauliflower
Thursday: Margarita Chicken Salad
chicken - romaine - cheese - pico - cucumbers - corn - light ranch - sour cream
Friday: Burgers + Pasta
burger patties - brioche buns - lettuce - cheese - low carb pasta
Saturday: Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers
bell peppers - leftover TexMex meat mixture - corn - cheese - sour cream
Have a good week, folks!
No comments:
Post a Comment