pain

 Originally Posted by vanslix 

And do yoga. For that omission, I have no reason, no excuse, not even a made up reason. If I'm honest, when I truly quiet my mind, I don't like what resides there. I've stopped meditating, too. Too many demons. It's easier to press a bar and exorcise them that way. But I'm realizing that's a temporary solution, albeit a damned effective one. Surely, there can be balance...

I woke up this morning feeling like the Tin Man. Reason is I actually got some decent sleep (had last night off which was bliss) which means everything sits in one place. So I wake up in some serious pain. Guess I called the end to that pain flare a bit prematurely. Was going to go do deadlift to burn off some anger. And then I remembered the post above in response from Chris advocating yoga. While iron has been a tremendous coping mechanism, I think it might be time to start to dig deeper for some internal healing. Plus, I have to work tonight. With that in mind...
Cycle 2 Week 1
Waist - 43 3/4". Not as rapid as I wanted but so be it. It's going down.
Zen Day
-Meditate for 15 minutes with heating pad on my back.
-yoga for 20 minutes.

Yoga definitely helped, at least short term both physically AND mentally. Thanks, Chris. I'm starting to wonder medically about my pain which extends beyond just my back. I played football for 3rd grade up through college so I know what aches and pains are. These go beyond that. My family doc thinks it's just the wear and tear from football and hiking. But he recommended seeing a pain specialist which kind of pissed me off at first being a family doc myself. But I think another pair of eyes is warranted. So I'm going back to my interventional pain specialist for a more thorough exam. I'm also seeing a medical pain specialist in November which also focuses on mind-body connections. No insurance but I'm at the point where paying out of pocket is worth it.

And thanks for everyone's input. It's absolutely helping me to sort this out in my head. Talking to my colleagues doesn't help. They're all a bunch of young pups, super over achievers who've never entered into Dante's Inferno before. I think every resident should have an electrical cattle prod strapped to them for one week where it gives them low level but painful continuous shocks for just 1 week so they get just a taste of what chronic pain truly is. WHILE THEY CONTINUE TO WORK.

I wrote the above at a forum about lifting heavy things and then setting them down.  Weight lifting has been a lifesaver these past 5 years for me.  But I'm reaching a point where something internally is beginning to churn.