Perhaps.
It's a good thing Ruth is observant. After I posted about not feeling well Tuesday evening Ruth texted me and asked if I had swollen joints, a symptom of Lyme Disease. All three of us, Ruth, Jack and I, pulled ticks off of ourselves after hiking in the woods the Saturday before our tri. I told her that I didn't have swollen joints and I had chalked my nausea up to eating some tainted yogurt. I also looked up the reported # of cases of Lyme Disease in Kansas. In 2011, the last year for which results were posted, there were 17 confirmed cases. It seemed like the chances of us getting Lyme disease from our silly trek in the woods was very, very low.
The very next morning (yesterday) I noticed that I had trouble lifting as much weight as I normally lift at the gym. My muscles felt much weaker than normal. I thought that was odd, but wanted to chalk it up to staying up late the night before. I also woke up Thursday morning with tenderness in my upper back and shoulders and my nausea was back. Oh yeah, and I was running a low grade fever. So I looked up the symptoms of Lyme disease and my symptoms fit perfectly with the symptoms that normally appear 2 - 3 weeks after exposure. Crap! I did not have a bulls-eye rash, nor did I have swollen joints, but the flue-like symptoms, achy muscles, and low-grade fever were spot on. So I went to do the doctor yesterday and he agreed that the symptoms were persuasive enough to start me on an antibiotic. I am taking 100mg of doxycycline monohydrate twice a day. They also drew blood to do some lab work, but the tests are not very reliable. I should have the results back next week. *Sigh* If it's not one thing, it's another.
I feel like an idiot for not using bug spray on our hike. We had been on this trail before and it was never that overgrown. Also, Jack and I have hiked many trails in Kansas and Missouri over the last five years and never gotten a tick, so we had gotten lazy about using bug repellent. Not anymore. I am always going to use it from now on.
Statistically, the chances of Lyme Disease causing long term problems if it is treated early are very, very slim. Lyme Disease is serious if it is not treated early, but it really should not be a problem since we caught it early. Thank goodness Ruth is observant. If it was not for her, I would probably have blown off these flu-like symptoms once I started feeling better. Jack, so far, has not had any symptoms at all; but we are going to keep an eye on him.
I feel a little better today, a good night's sleep helped a lot. With any luck I will be feeling completely back to normal after a couple of days on the antibiotic. I went for my run this morning but I didn't really push it. More than anything, I wanted to run because that is what I do in the morning. I didn't feel like I needed to be setting any records while I was still not feeling great. I plan on doing my weekly brick tomorrow morning.
Ruth wants me to do two training rides a week and a brick every week. I am assuming that one of the rides can be part of my brick, and the other ride will be just a ride. I guess that means that I will have to ride on Saturday and Sunday, because it is too dark to ride in the mornings, already. Evening rides are an option for a bit longer, but the traffic around here in the evening is pretty awful. I'd have to drive out to the lake, and by then it would be getting close to dusk. I hate that the days are getting so short, already. I am already dreading winter. It's pretty easy to plan a lot of exercise when the sun is out and it is nice and warm, but it's pretty disheartening to think about the upcoming days when it will be cold, wet, and dark out. Sadness starts to set in when I think about it. I guess the solution to that problem is to not think about it. I made it through last winter, I will make it through this one, too.
I find myself feeling very relieved that life is starting to feel routine again. I need to kick the training up a couple of notches. So far, with the exception of my brick last weekend, I feel like I have just been maintaining the status quo, and I want to do much more than maintain. On the other hand, when I think about the ridiculousness of my schedule and my stress level for the last couple of months, I feel pretty good about not only maintaining, but making the very big decision to excel at triathlons. I'm not going to beat myself up, but I do need to psych myself up for a bump-up in my training routine.
Yesterday's calories: 1,942
Yesterday's protein: 74 grams
This morning's weight: 157.2
This morning's exercise: 4 mile run
Next week I need to focus on: Decreasing calories, increasing protein, and increasing exercise.
No comments:
Post a Comment