Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Under the Weather

While I'd like to be posting about the wholesome food I've been eating and the great exercise I've been getting, I'm "keepin' it real" here on Weightless, and therefore I've got to tell you it's been a rough couple of days, health-wise.

After lots of well-deserved laziness and half a Larosa's cheese pizza post-half-marathon Saturday afternoon, I went out for a big hibachi grill dinner at Miyako with some girlfriends.  I followed that up by spending most of Sunday on the couch watching football and snacking. (There may or may not have been a large amount of buffalo chicken dip consumed.)  The guilt was starting to set in, so I decided to finally get up Sunday evening and do something active. 

I wanted to work on some new Zumba tracks since I just got my latest DVD of new songs in the mail, and there's some fun ones that I'd like to learn, including a really crazy Bollywood number called Tunak Tunak Tun.  I got about a half hour into working on two new tracks, then starting feeling drained and a little dizzy and had to sit down.  I figured it was just from still being sore from Saturday's run (holy quad muscles!), so I cut my workout short, showered and went to bed.

Shortly after climbing into bed, I got a familiar uh-oh feeling... it was a sinus infection coming on.  I'm not sure if I get sinus infections more often/worse than other people, or if I'm just a huge drama queen (or probably a little bit of both), but when I get them, they are pretty much incapacitating.  My nose gets all dried out, I get a sharp, stabbing headache that radiates from my the back of my eyes down to my neck and shoulders, and my ears ache from the pressure.  I've tried all sorts of medicines and home remedies in the past, but the only thing that seems to work for me is taking a decongestant with psuedoephedrine in it (the kind you have to get from behind the counter since it's used to make meth--in other words, "the good stuff.")

My symptoms got worse throughout the day yesterday, and was bummed out to tell my flag football teammates that I probably wouldn't make it to our 7:30 game.  I was really looking forward to playing, but my head was pounding and I knew that resting was the more responsible option.  I came home from work, changed into my pajamas, grabbed a quick, not-so-great dinner (WW Smart Ones cheeseburger and week-old reheated sweet potato wedges--blech!), and took my Sudafed.  Ten minutes later, I felt like a charging elephant that had just been shot in the butt with a tranquilizer gun... I. Go. Sleep. Now.

I got about 12 hours of hard-core, drug-induced REM, but still woke up tired with lingering sinus pressure.  I grumpily trudged off to work and suffered through the morning.  A very windy thunderstorm blew threw the area at noontime, and along with knocking out the power at both my home and work (they are both back on now), i think it also knocked out what was left of my sinus infection.  I'm not sure if I totally buy into the theory that barometric pressure is what's causing my sinus headaches, but it does seem like weather changes have a lot to do with when my symptoms crop up.

So, now that I'm feeling better, tonight I'll be learning the rest of Tunak Tunak Tun, a merengue number called Vete, and possibly a Calypso number as well.  On tonight's dinner menu will be something fresh, delicious and most importantly, warm, seeing as lunch was interrupted by the power outage and I eneded up having a cold cheese and turkey-bacon sandwich and chocalate frozen yogurt.  It would have been so much better warm (the sandwich, not the yogurt).  Stupid power outage--ruins everything!

Along with barometric changes causing sinus infections, I've also heard of people who say that they can tell a storm is coming because they get an ache in a particular joint.  Does the weather affect you physically?  In what way?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always find it interesting that our bodies seem to know when we are coming down with something before we realize it. I have felt that way before - sort of tired, uninterested and then bam - i'm sick. I'm glad you are on the mend. And yay for fun Zumba tracks!

RunToTheFinish said...

i swear I get headaches with severe changes in weather! my dad says his ankle hurts, which is where he has pins from breaking it...so maybe it's totally true

E. Jane said...

I hope you will be feeling better soon. Illness of any kind can throw a wrench into our healthy nutrition and exercise programs. We have also had very high winds here in Minnesota, and in fact, set records for the all-time lowest barometric pressure on Monday. No wonder my knee hurt and I felt so lousy. Still windy here, but I'm feeling better--hope you will be too.

Anne said...

Hi Gabrielle...you definitely have a very French name :) ...being from Québec, it caught my attention. I hope you continue to feel good...I'm curious about Zumba as a cardio workout (are there CDs or do we have to take classes?)

Congrats on your amazing weight loss! You look great :)

Gabrielle @ Weightless said...

Thanks, Anne! My father's family is from Quebec also, so I am half French Canadian. Zumba is a fantastic cardio workout, and I will certainly be writing more about it in the future. You can buy the DVDs online, or if you go to Zumba.com you can search for a class in your area. I hope you check it out!