Slice of Chaotic Life

The daily life of a celibate middle-aged man.

Archive for June, 2012

A “normal” day

Posted by Itlandm on June 25, 2012

Today my pulse was higher than usual, within normal human range. (Thus the headline.) Still, I had barely been outdoors the whole weekend (one half-hour trip on Saturday) and not exercised after work on Friday either. It rained most of yesterday and the day before, and I took that as an excuse to rest a bit. I don’t see it as a Sign, exactly – I kind of hope God has more important things in mind when deciding the weather for the south coast of Norway – but rain is so uncommon here, it is a nice excuse for a break. To have a rainy Saturday and a rainy Sunday in a row is particularly uncommon. It may be the first time this year, for what I can remember.

Today I took a five quarter walk. With the higher pulse I did not jog more than a couple times early on, otherwise I was in the target zone pretty much the whole time. I did walk across a large hill though. In the end I burned around 800 calories extra, judging from my pulse clock. (There’s a bit of afterburn, but it was close to normal after an hour and a half, when I had burned 950 calories according the the Polar. With about 100 calories per hour in basic metabolism, that lands me on the 800 extra. I think the watch exaggerates a bit, but that’s OK, I doubt I can put in 800 extra calories in a day even if I try.

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Small health update

Posted by Itlandm on June 18, 2012

Today my pulse was a little faster – not fast for a human, but about 15 beats above usual – and I had a bronchitis-like tightness in the chest both when I came home and when I was about to go to bed. I walked for half an hour but did not jog, as my pulse was already high enough.

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Weight loss with migraine!

Posted by Itlandm on June 9, 2012

Well, yesterday’s migraine was good for something: My weight actually crept below 84 kg this morning. That is rare. I am losing weight quite slowly and irregularly, barely noticeable over the random fluctuations in water weight. Eat a little more salt, and the body retains more water, and the weight seems to go up. So it is changing very slowly. The thinner I get, the hungrier I get too, but losing weight so slowly I hope will not trigger the kind of extreme hunger I had in 2005 only slightly below this weight. But yeah, I’m wearing trousers I have not been able to wear since that year, and before that … 1985 perhaps? No, I don’t throw away clothes if they are whole, thanks for asking. I know that my weight may fluctuate for whatever reason if I live long enough. I keep all my clothes from my heaviest years as well, although it is now over 7 years ago.

Exercised for about an hour. I moved slightly faster than I have done before, since my pulse was low and returned very quickly to low again when I slowed down. It seems it was mostly oxygen-driven today, which means my muscles and liver have taken the opportunity to stock up during my day off. Migraine might shave a little weight off, but it does not stop the muscles from recharging, it seems. Your migraine may vary – I hear some people take days to regain full strength.

 

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Migraine day

Posted by Itlandm on June 8, 2012

Shortly after arriving at work, I had one of my rare migraine attacks. I don’t think I read in sunshine today – that has always been the trigger before – but it did happen shortly after my commute, as it did last time. It was subtly different today: Instead of the subtle start with a slowly expanding ring of glitter filled with emptiness, I had two lines of small but distinct geometric shapes shining with bright colors. Before that, I closed my eyes and saw a beautiful blue light. It was much more saturated with blue color than the sky, which is light blue; this was darker blue in a sense, but it was still light, if that makes sense. Just a bluer light. That gave me a small shock, because of my particular relationship with the color blue. But by the time the shining shapes occurred (in two lines, above and below my center of view) it was pretty clear that it must be migraine.

The nausea and headache lasted pretty much exactly the duration of the workday. I stayed at work as I was not really in shape to go home before that, but I could not in good conscience claim the time as work, so I registered it as sick leave. By the time I went home, I felt better. Today was one of the rare days when it rains (rare for the south coast of Norway, a generally sunny place except a few weeks in summer). So I was shielded from the searing rays of the sun, which is not a welcome sight to migrained eyes! I recovered enough to eat two large boxes of yogurt during the evening, having lost quite a bit of the content of my digestive tract over the course of the day. By bedtime I was pretty much back to normal.

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Jaw update

Posted by Itlandm on June 6, 2012

Today my upper jaw, and generally right side of my face, hurt like they haven’t done since a couple days after the surgery. (And sometimes before it, admittedly.) But at least there is no visible swelling.

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Look! No exercise!

Posted by Itlandm on June 4, 2012

By now, I was getting so stiff and sore that I took a whole day off. Except for the necessary walking in my commute, I just stayed indoors and relaxed. I could need some more sleep though, I think. On the bright side, my jaw seems fine today.

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Just a small walk… eh…

Posted by Itlandm on June 3, 2012

I don’t believe in “biorhythms” except the obvious ones, the days and the seasons, but it is a fact that lately I feel kind of run down, sore and tired and needing more sleep. Which, unfortunately, I tend to deny myself because my best ideas invariably crop up around 11PM.

I meant to take just a short walk, perhaps half an hour on flat terrain. No jogging. Just a leisurely walk. Well, it ended up about one hour and ten minutes. But I did not jog. Rather, I walked over two hills, with long steep slopes. So, uh, basically the same intensity as jogging, but harder on the knees because of the long downhills. -_- It kind of just happened.

Tomorrow I will definitely do better. Or, in this case, less.

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Return of the jaw

Posted by Itlandm on June 2, 2012

Things have been pretty unexciting lately, I guess. But late tonight there is a distinct pressure in my upper jaw again, on the right side where I had the surgery. I actually felt the pressure in my palate first, but now also further up. Basically it seems that despite removing the root, the infection has come back. Or perhaps it is a neighboring tooth, I cannot pinpoint it quite that exactly. There is no visible swelling, at least yet.

I still have some of the antibiotic that kills pretty much everything. Probably enough to kill off these bacteria. Certainly enough to give me a new month of diarrhea. Perhaps I should try sleep first. It is said to be good for your health, usually.

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