Life Got You Down?

 

 I felt and was doing much better in many areas of my life. My medical issues were another story. They were a constant reminder that made me feel I still had one foot stuck in square one. I was going to the doctors regularly for my tinnitus the one symptom of my Ménière's disease that was kicking my ass at the moment. The issues with my back I had to learn to live with because I was getting nowhere there. I had been to the doctors multiple times. I had X-rays, MRI’s, went through physical therapy and in the end tried acupuncture. Just before trying the acupuncture I was sent to a specialist who in the end prescribed a list of exercises that I’ll tell you at the time were not possible for me to even attempt let alone do them on a daily basis. 

 Had I still lived in the US, I know they would have more than likely just pumped me full of drugs. I wasn’t down with that because I know drugs aren’t a cure. On top of not being a cure medications slowly eat up your insides creating new problems. My GP did prescribe some mild muscle relaxers that I would take sparingly as I was protecting my liver but I did use them when I could barely stand up. They did help me to at least begin to try and do these exercises that would supposedly help me. I wasn’t seeing it which is when I decided to do the acupuncture. 

 

 Acupuncture is great but it’s also not a cure. Whatever relief I got was temporary then I had to go for a tuneup and no, it isn’t cheap. What it do was help a bit more in doing those exercises which turned into just training. As I began getting stronger in other areas of my body I weaned off of the acupuncture. As for my rotator cuff problem, I was just silently dealing with the pain. 

 The tinnitus is a beast all on it’s own. No matter how good I am feeling the Ménière's disease can and does darken my days. Instead of allowing it to drag me down into the pits of hell, I instead work out harder to pull myself up. I used to be able to do a lot of pull ups and it was sad that I wasn’t able to do as many as I used to so I really started going at it on the pull up bar. I had already progressed but I wanted to do better. I thought that putting my focus on that would help pull me out of the funk I would fall into almost daily. My hopes were that if I got stronger all around I would be able to handle the back and shoulder issues better and maybe even the Ménière's disease. 

 

 The bouts with depression hadn’t let up much but with every bit of progress, with every single achievement I definitely rocked it with a good right cross. I share my weaknesses because if you don’t have any issues aside from being out of shape or a bit over weight, no, you have no excuses. He I am starring 60 in the face with a number of health issues, painful ones but no, excuses isn’t one of my issues. Anyone that says they don’t care about their health and living is a liar. We are ALL wired to want to stay alive, to live as long as possible. To just let yourself go, to allow yourself to get old rather than to grow old is just not normal. I have been there so yes I can say it, it is not normal. 

 So, indeed life still knocked me down now and again but I stay pulling myself back up. I was definitely seeing a glimpse of the benefits of adopting a healthier lifestyle and that was all I needed to keep going.