Tag: tendonitis

June Letdowns

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

It’s been a heck of a month, especially since I don’t even have my bike right now. Three weeks ago, I was riding it and the front tire went flat. I had to walk it home about a mile and replace the tube. After I had it repaired, I rode just over a mile and it went flat again. I inspected the tire and saw nothing in it, which I expected since the flat was happening on the rim side. Last time that happened, it was the rim tape that needed to be replaced. I was tired of dealing with the issue, and the brakes needed to be repaired anyway, so I just took it to the local bike shop to let them deal with the issues. They told me it would be 2-3 weeks because they were really busy, which didn’t bother me all that much. Well, I called today (week 3), and they told me it would be a couple more weeks because they were waiting for a tire to come in, because thanks to COVID, there’s a shortage of them now. The guy told me the mechanic left me a message last week, but there’s no messages in my voicemail. I had him check my phone number just to be sure it was correct, and it was, so I don’t know what happened with that. All I know is that I’m going to lose my mind not having a bike for several more weeks, even though it may end up doing my body good.

As anyone who’s been reading this knows, I’ve been having trouble with my hip again, gluteus medius tendonitis to be exact. I took a month off from running and felt pretty good last week, so I tried a run, and I only got 8 minutes in before the pain was worse than it had been in a long time. I fought back tears walking home; I was beyond frustrated. Last week, I asked my past physical therapist about when a cortisone shot would be wise to consider, and he said, “Now.” I thought it over, and ended up scheduling an appointment with the doctor who treated it last time. I got really lucky and got an appointment for yesterday, his only opening until after the Fourth of July holiday. Someone must have cancelled right before I called. I’m so glad I didn’t have to wait three weeks to see him.

The appointment went well. I was 99% sure he was going to suggest a cortisone shot as the next course of treatment based on our discussion last time, and I was right. I know it has the potential to cause problems if done too frequently, but it was only my first one, so I wasn’t too worried about it. The shot was almost painless, which was a pleasant surprise because the size of the needle was huge. It was no worse than a normal injection. The doctor told me that if I didn’t have improvement in a week, he was going to give me a standing order for physical therapy. In the meantime, I’m working on my home program stretches. I wanted to ask my PT some questions today while I was doing occupational therapy for my elbow, but he wasn’t in the clinic this afternoon, so I have to wait until Thursday. I was curious about when it would be safe to start trying to run again, what other things I should be doing at home besides stretching, if adding strengthening to my program again would be helpful and when to do it, and what would happen if I did need to return to the clinic. I’m not sure that it will be necessary to return, but I want to know what kind of things we would be doing there since I can do 80% of it at home. I don’t want to waste his time. I’m getting ahead of myself, and I need to be patient and give the injection time to work. Today is my day off from work, so I won’t really know how it might hold up until later this week, and especially when I start running again. I was told at the doctor’s office that I could run in a few days, but that doesn’t seem safe to me. Maybe I’m just too afraid of hurting myself again, but I want to talk it over with my PT to know for sure. I really trust his judgment and he’s more familiar with my goals.

In other news, this week is going to my last week of occupational therapy. I have almost the same strength and flexibility in my right wrist now as I do in my left. The only deficit I have on my right side is that my strength with my arm extended is low because of the pain it causes at my elbow. At least I have one thing going right for me for a change. My shoulder is still sore at times, but I’m hoping that will eventually go away now that my elbow is improving.

I really hope July is a little more positive for me. I was going to run a 5k, but that’s unrealistic at the moment, so I’m going to a local lavender festival with a friend instead. It’s the same day as the race was supposed to be, so at least I still have something to look forward to. If I can get my bike back, I’ll be all set. I also started looking at a new 5k goal, and I think it won’t be until October, but it will be a Halloween themed race held at an orchard, and runners are allowed to dress up in a costume, so it’ll be fun to think about what to dress as. Given all that’s happening with my hip, I’m not sure trying to race any sooner than October would be wise. I’m going to be training slowly so I don’t have any other issues, fingers crossed!

It’s Working

On By LeraIn LifeLeave a comment

Occupational therapy is starting to improve my tennis elbow. I’m about to wrap up my fourth week going, and my measurements compared to when I first started are better. There’s still quite a large deficit in strength between my left hand and my right hand, so my therapist and I discussed it and I’ll be going for another month. My pain level is about the same as when I started, but we’re trying to improve my endurance so I can work without it hurting so much. My job can be physically stressful depending on the day, so the endurance will help. I find it kind of strange that the strength in my right hand is so much less than in the left because it doesn’t feel like it is. The only difference I notice is that I drop things a lot more than I used to. My therapist gave me a low resistance band to help strengthen and stabilize my shoulder and some special putty to work on my hand and forearm strength. I’m feeling optimistic that in another month, things should be almost back to normal.

Re-injured

On By LeraIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

As the title hints, I’m having an issue. Tuesday I went out for an interval run, and hit a personal best mile time of 13:31, which is still slow, but considering the long road I’ve been on since my surgery a year and a half ago, and then an injury 7 months ago, I’m proud of it! I felt amazing when I finished Tuesday’s run. I took yesterday off and ran again this morning. It was the same exact workout, and I was only 8 seconds slower today. Everything was fine until the last 10 minutes, and then I felt that old familiar ache in my hip–the same hip I injured back in October. The pain was mild, so I finished my run, but the pain increased during my cool down walk. By the time I made it back home, it was a bit difficult to walk. I definitely feel like I strained my gluteus medius all over again. It wasn’t all the way healed to begin with, but back in March when my PT discharged me, he told me I was allowed to run as long as the pain didn’t get worse during or after, and even though I had mild pain after working all day, I had no issue running since then until today. I really hope that some rest and stretching will help it on its own, otherwise I’ll have to return to the doctor and see what I’m supposed to do. I feel like I’m just not destined to become a runner sometimes, but I refuse to let this setback stop me. It may take longer, and I may be facing having to postpone my first 5k yet again, but I will do whatever it takes. In the meantime, at least I can still bike to keep in shape, although biking isn’t as good of a workout for me as running is, but it’s better than doing nothing for a few weeks while I let myself heal.

February Update

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, running, UncategorizedLeave a comment

A few things have happened since last I wrote, and I thought I’d fill all of you in. First, I had my annual appointment with my primary care doctor (Dr. S is the absolute best) to re-evaluate my asthma, and we decided that I could try to step down on my daily medication. Now, instead of a combination inhaler with a steroid and long acting bronchodilator, I’m trying just a steroid inhaler. I’m actually a little nervous about how it will go because I didn’t do well when I tried that three years ago. I’ve had excellent asthma control for the last few years, though, so it makes sense to see how I do. If worse comes to worse, I just go back to taking the combination inhaler and we try again at some point in the future.

While I was at the doctor, I asked him to look at my elbow, and I was right: it’s tennis elbow. He said he knew almost immediately because my case was so textbook, which never happens with me (usually I have weird issues). He told me to try a brace on it, ice it, stretch, and use ibuprofen as needed, and if that doesn’t seem to help, we can try physical therapy. I also brought up the issue of my hands tingling, and he said it’s bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome. He gave me braces to wear at night to keep the nerve from getting compressed. I’m hoping it helps and the problem resolves. It’s really annoying trying to hold a fork or spoon, pen, or crochet with my hands tingling and going numb. Bloodwork was ordered just to make sure it wasn’t a systemic issue, and everything came back normal, so it’s just overuse like everything else. I follow up with Dr. S in three months to make sure everything is on track.

Getting quite the collection of braces going.

In other news, physical therapy for my hip is going well. I’ve had 3 ASTYM treatments so far, and I’m hoping that will resolve the last of my hip woes. My therapist told me he wanted to do it because other nearby areas were starting to get tightness in addition to the gluteus medius: the gluteus minimus, the tensor fasciae latae, and the IT band. I’m glad he discovered that before I start my running program up again. The last thing I need is another problem starting or coming back.

I’m counting down the days until I can start running again: 17 days left! I’m not allowed to run until the last week of February, but I’m going to ask at PT if I can at least do some really short interval runs (30 seconds at a time). If I can’t, that’s okay. I’ll do what I have to for proper healing. I was given the go ahead by my physical therapist to do a 5k in mid-May, so I’m doing the one the local zoo hosts. It raises money for conservation and I get free admission to walk around the zoo afterward, so it’s a really great event. The best part is that I have two friends who want to run it with me! I’m looking forward to it more than words can say. I really hope I can make this one! I plan to run at least 5 races this year, especially the holiday ones. One of the local orchards does a Halloween race, and then there’s the Thanksgiving turkey chase. Other than those two, I’m not sure which ones I want to do yet. There’s a women’s only one in the summer where each runner gets to go down a long flight of stairs individually at the start that sounds cool, and there’s a state border run that I might do, too. I have plenty of time to decide, though, so no rush!

Lastly, work is still ridiculous, but I made it clear I wasn’t able to work so much overtime anymore given all of my new injuries. I think we might actually be getting a manager soon. I was told they were doing interviews today, so I’m hoping someone can take over by next week. I really hope it’s someone who is easy to work with and can work around all of my upcoming appointments and race dates.

Living at PT

On By LeraIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

In my last post, I mentioned that continuing physical therapy would be left up to my PT and I to discuss. Considering my desire to get back to running and considering I still need some help strengthening my muscles and loosening them up, along with my crazy work schedule that doesn’t leave me time to properly rest my affected injuries, we decided to continue on a week by week basis for now. I attended two sessions this week, and I’m honestly not sure what to think about my progress because a new issue started trying to pop up. I don’t have as much pain as I did when I started, but now my IT band is getting tight on the side where I already have the gluteus medius tendinitis and trochanteric bursitis. Given this new development, my PT decided that giving ASTYM a try would be worthwhile. Those of you who have been following along with this blog might remember that I had this done on my Achilles tendon this past summer and it’s what ultimately helped me recover from that surgery. I had my first ASTYM session for my hip/IT band today and I was really dreading it because I remember how much it hurt last time, but to my surprise it wasn’t as painful in that area as it was on my Achilles tendon. The worst part was having to wear shorts, which I hate because I hate my legs. I actually only had one pair from before I lost 70 pounds, and they’re huge on me, but they worked pretty well for ASTYM since my whole leg had to be exposed. I just changed back into my capris when it was time to work on the exercises so I didn’t end up losing my shorts on the floor xD

I left this out last time, but I started to get elbow pain last week that is very persistent and bothers me when I do pretty much anything. Doing some of my own research, I think it’s tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis). I have an appointment with my primary care doctor in a week and a half, so I’m hoping to get a definitive diagnosis so it can start feeling better. I feel like I’m living at my physical therapy clinic. Every time I feel like I can escape, something else happens. I hope I don’t have to attend sessions for my elbow, but I won’t know until I see my doctor. I’ve also been getting tingling in my fingers on both hands, which hurts enough to keep me up at night sometimes, so it’s just a matter of time before that needs treatment, too. Having a physical job is doing me no favors. I feel like the only way I might convince the powers that be to get us a real manager is if I show up with my arm in a sling, which may very well happen considering my shoulder on the same arm is also bothering me (not as much as the elbow, though). Maybe once there’s some outward sign that I can’t do 80% of the work alone, things might speed up. I’m tired of working overtime and being in pain. I want to be able to get back to running. I’m planning to start training again in 5 weeks, which would put my first 5k race the last week of April, or first week of May, but that’s assuming everything stays on track. With the way things have been lately, it’s hard to say. I’m going to work as hard as possible at PT; if I can get back to running, that’s the first step to getting back to tennis, which I really miss!

A Hard Start to the Year

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

This week has been extremely challenging. Work is basically a nightmare. Half our staff is gone and I’ve worked overtime the last three weeks. While I have no problem working extra once in a while, to expect me to run that whole place without a pay raise is unfair. I can’t physically handle the extra work and it’s really taking a toll on my body. I don’t have enough time to do everything I need to do, and I feel like I’m drowning. I know that sounds a little dramatic, but this is more stress than I thought. We still have no boss, and I haven’t heard if there’s an estimate. I refused to work 6 days this week to let my body rest, and I guess the boss two levels over me didn’t mind. I had told her I was having difficulties with injuries, so I guess she understood. I’ll do 6 days next week since I’m off on Saturday because it won’t seem so bad having just had a bit of a break, but I’m hoping that will be it. We should be getting a part time assistant manager in soon, and that should make it possible to have a better schedule. She used to work for us before and wanted to come back, so even if I have to work longer shifts twice a week to get two days off again, I’m okay with that. She may not be able to start next week, but the week after I’m hoping everything will be finalized and I can feel a little better physically and mentally.

The worst thing that happened to me this week was that doctor’s appointment for a second opinion about my foot. I wrote before about how the surgeon who did my Achilles tendon thinks it’s arthritis, and I’m just not sure that’s all that’s going on because one of the places it hurts is too superficial and not in a joint. I wanted to hear someone else’s thoughts on it because I’m just not willing to undergo another surgery after I worked so hard to get to the point of being active again after the last one. This new doctor, I’ll call him Dr. E, was something else, and not in a good way. For the two hours I spent at the office (part of that was waiting for x-rays), I saw him for all of ten minutes, if even that long. He didn’t ask any of the usual questions any other doctor asks, like what the pain feels like, what makes it worse/better, etc. He looked at my foot and compared it to the left and declared that he saw nothing wrong. He said my bad foot had good strength and movement, but I wasn’t having a particularly painful day when I went because I had that day off from work. It was still visibly swollen and tender to touch, so I don’t know how he thought that was okay. The only thing he told me he could try was a very restrictive brace that wouldn’t let my ankle move at all, but I’d have to wear it for four months. I just can’t stand the thought of giving up biking and running for four months after fighting so hard to gain those things back last year. I’ve tried immobilizing it before with no success, so I guess I really don’t see the benefit of going through that again for such a long time. I wouldn’t mind trying a supportive brace that would allow me to still be active, but I was basically shut down any time I tried to ask a question. He told me he was sorry he couldn’t help me and left the room. No follow-up, no trying to figure out a plan, nothing. I cried most of the drive home out of sheer frustration.

This week I also had a follow-up with the doctor treating my hip injury, and that appointment went much better. He said it’s healing a little slowly, but that doesn’t surprise me considering the hours I’ve been working. The doctor told me that it takes about three months to fully heal this kind of injury and that I didn’t need to come back for another appointment unless things started bothering me more. He also told me I still shouldn’t run for another six weeks and that he’ll leave the decision of more physical therapy up to me and my PT to discuss on Friday.

So there you have it: not exactly the greatest week, but at least the hip is moving in the right direction. I’ll take slower progress over none any day.

New Year, New Goals

On By LeraIn Life2 Comments

Happy New Year to everyone! This is the time of year most people set new goals for themselves, but I’m still working on my goals from last year. That’s not to say I haven’t edited them a little bit, though!

I want to talk a bit about 2019, first. Those of you who have been following me know that it was a hard year for me. I had a long and challenging recovery from insertional Achilles tendon repair that forced me to constantly push my goals back. Then, when I thought I was doing okay (save for the mysterious foot issue unrelated to my Achilles tendon), I hurt my hip while working toward my goal of running a 5k. Then there’s work, which I can’t go into too much detail about, but I can tell you that my boss took a new job and his last day was the day after Christmas. Since then, it’s been total chaos and it hasn’t even been two weeks. I’m expected to act like a full manager without the benefit of more pay, and I’m not going to stand for it much longer.

Given everything, to say I’m looking forward to a better 2020 is an understatement. I’m trying not to get my hopes up so I don’t get disappointed, but I feel like this year should be a good one. Last year I had a pretty good bike year despite everything, and I rode 1,766 miles! That’s not even for a full year since I only was allowed to ride again in April. I think I can do better this year, though, and my goal is 2,100 miles. Since I live in Michigan, the weather can be unpredictable in winter, but so far I’ve been able to get out a couple of times a week. I expect things to take a turn eventually, but I’m certainly enjoying this mild winter!

My first ever 5k was supposed to be February 15, but I’m probably not going to be able to run it. I’m going to discuss the practicality of it at physical therapy Tuesday, but I don’t think it’d be a good idea to push myself too much. I’ll probably have to wait until March, so I’m already bracing myself for the bad news. I have a follow-up appointment with my doctor for my hip in a week and a half, and I’ll be sure to ask about resuming running.

Moving along, I’ve still been having trouble with my foot, and I have an appointment set up with another doctor for a second opinion. I still don’t accept that it’s only arthritis going on when at one point that same doctor thought there was an impingement of some kind. I got the name of this new doctor from my physical therapist, so I’m hoping he’s good. He’s published research about foot/ankle issues, so I feel pretty good about seeing him. My PT originally had suggested I see someone about an hour away because that surgeon also has a degree in PT and is supposed to be amazing, but he’s not taking any new patients. If that changes in the future and I’m still having problems, I’m definitely calling for an appointment. I just wish I knew what was still wrong with my foot. Last week, my PT tried taping my ankle so my fibula didn’t move so much, but I’m not sure it helped much. I wouldn’t mind trying again on a day where I’m going to work after my session instead of a day off. In other news, I started wearing a heel lift to correct my short right leg. I had worn one when I was a kid, and then again temporarily about ten years ago, but not since. My PT says he’s hoping it will help my hip settle down, and it seems to be helping a little bit.

I feel like this update is a little disorganized, but that’s what my life feels like right now. Having no boss at work means a lot of extra work for me since there are only a handful of reliable people there. I am struggling physically with the increased demands of the job, not to mention the stress is giving me mini panic attacks. 2020 is starting out as a struggle, but things are bound in improve from here. I’m hoping to do a semi local 30 mile bike ride this year, run at least five 5k races, and maybe pick up martial arts at some point this year if I’m ever able to. I’ll have an update again after my appointments mid-month, so until then, take care!

Battle Plan

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

My hip pain has not resolved despite it having been seven weeks. I talked to my physical therapist a couple of weeks ago and he recommended a new doctor to me who is good with younger active patients with hip injuries. I looked him up and he’s published a ton of research and is team physician to several area college teams. I had my initial appointment with him today, and he seems to be really good. I didn’t tell him what my PT thought was going on at first just to see if he thought the same thing, and he did: gluteus medius tendonitis and trochanteric bursitis. He’s having me do formal physical therapy (I was just doing stretches on my own at home) and he’s going to reevaluate in six weeks and if it’s not better by then, he’ll try a steroid injection.

I called my physical therapist as soon as I got home from my appointment and he told me he had a light afternoon and offered me an appointment 45 minutes from the time I called. I was really glad to be able to start today so I can recover sooner. The only downside is that if this injury had waited a month, my insurance would cover it because my benefits would have reset. That means I’ll be doing self-pay until New Year’s, by which time I’ll be almost done with my course of treatment if all goes well. My therapist and the office manager were really apologetic about me having to pay myself, but I honestly don’t even care that my benefits are used up. I knew that going in and I knew what the fee was from last time, so it was expected. I’m just glad to be able to get some help getting back to my normal activities and not being in pain every day. The cost is worth it to get my life back.

Today’s PT session focused on a thorough evaluation of my hip injury and setting up a plan. My therapist told me that we needed to try to figure out why my foot is still an issue because if I’m limping on it and not walking normally, it will affect other areas of my body. I was very happy to hear that because I would love to know what’s actually wrong with my foot. I have nothing against the surgeon who fixed my tendon; that’s 90% better or more than it was before surgery and I’m grateful for that, but there’s no way I’m having surgery on my foot again anytime soon until I feel absolutely certain of the problem.

Other than those two appointments, my day was filled with lots of phone calls and emails. The asthma inhaler I had been taking all year is suddenly not allowed to be filled at the local pharmacy anymore. Instead, it has to be filled through the mail because it’s a maintenance medication, which costs more sometimes. At the pharmacy, I was using a manufacturer coupon to get the copay reduced to $10/month. The mail order pharmacy doesn’t take coupons and the copay there is $63. I emailed my family doctor and asked to switch to something with a lower copay and he was nice enough to change it for me without me coming in for an appointment. The weird problem is that the generic version of what I switched to costs $40 more per month than the name brand, and the doctor sent the generic on the prescription because generic is always cheaper, except apparently in this case. I found that out because I called the mail order pharmacy and made them give me the copay amounts to make sure they matched what I was told they were supposed to be by the insurance company, and indeed the name brand inhaler is cheaper than the generic. So now the pharmacy is supposed to contact the doctor’s office tomorrow to get the prescription changed to the name brand, and hopefully that will clear things up. I bothered my doctor so much today with an email chain while we tried to work out the issue that I really hope tomorrow will be the last I’ll have to cause him trouble.

That’s all I have for now, and hopefully the next time I write I’ll have some good news. I’m benched from running for the next six weeks but I can still bike as long as it doesn’t hurt, so at least I can try to keep up my conditioning. I have major doubts that I will be making my first 5k in February. I wasn’t given a clear answer when I asked my PT, which I understand because it’s still too early to know. If I have to push it back, so be it. There’s no use stressing about something I have little control over. All I can do is put my best effort into PT and trust that God will let everything work out eventually. So, until next time, I hope everyone is doing well!

November Update

On By LeraIn Life, runningLeave a comment

I’m having a day where I’m feeling pretty low. I had a follow-up appointment with my surgeon today to see how taking the meloxicam every day was helping me. This past month was the least amount of pain I’ve had in a very long time, which has been nice, but I was out of medication three days ago and I can already feel the difference in my pain level. My doctor offered to let me keep taking it if I was getting blood work done occasionally by my primary care doctor, but I declined for the time being. Apparently it can cause kidney damage with chronic usage, and that’s not something I really want to deal with. I’m young and healthy, so the chances of that would be low, but I don’t want to risk it. I would rather get to the root cause of the issue my foot is having than just masking it by taking medication all the time. He said to call if I changed my mind, so at least he’s leaving the option open.

In other news, I still don’t know what’s going on with my foot. I just can’t believe that all of this pain is from the tiny bit of arthritis in my subtalar joint. It just doesn’t feel like joint pain. I feel like something is being pinched, and there seems to be some soft tissue swelling in my right foot over an area where there’s an indent in my left foot. I’m not saying the arthritis isn’t causing some mild pain, but I still don’t think that’s the whole story. Now I don’t know what to do. My doctor just told me to come back as needed, but if he isn’t going to explore any other options, then I don’t see the point. I obviously don’t have the level of expertise that he does, but the fact that the joint injection I had a while back didn’t help more than a couple of days tells me that there’s something else happening, especially since even the doctor was surprised by it. I have the option of trying another injection if I feel like I need it, and I might try it again shortly before my 5k.

An unintended consequence of the meloxicam was how much it was masking my true level of hip pain from my gluteus medius tendinitis. I’m feeling more pain in the last couple of days than I was while I was still taking the medication. I’m diligently working on the stretches and exercises my physical therapist gave me and icing my hip a couple of times each day, but if this hasn’t started to improve by this time next week, I’m going to have to call and ask what to do. I’m still hoping I can avoid formal sessions because I want to get back to training, but if I do have to do them, it’s better to start as early as possible. It’s already been three weeks since I hurt myself, and I really miss running. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to get back to it.

Well, I suppose that’s all I have for now. Hopefully the next time I write, I’ll have some good news to share with all of you.

Tendinitis Again

On By LeraIn Cycling, Life, runningLeave a comment

I had my physical therapist look at my hip today and he said it was likely gluteus medius tendinitis/muscle strain. I got lucky and don’t have to do formal sessions again, but he gave me some stretches and exercises to work on for the next couple of weeks at home. If those don’t make the injury better, then I’m supposed to call and let him know, but I’m hoping they do the trick. I can’t run until the pain is almost gone or I risk it becoming an ongoing issue. The good news is that I can bike as long as it doesn’t hurt, so I’ll keep doing that in the meantime. Hopefully I’ll be back to pounding the pavement soon!