A (Health) Update

The last few months have been hard. On top of the vertigo flare ups, it was the one year anniversary of losing someone really close to me. That was a very difficult time, realizing they have been gone for a year already. What makes it worse is knowing that, even though I made it through the year, they're still gone. :(

On top of that, I've had a few very difficult months at work. I don't think I have ever been as angry at anything as I've been over these last few months. I've reached out for counselling help, which has helped me through some of this (though time has helped as well).

So that's the background of what has been going on. It's been rough mentally, physically (I haven't been able to do as much as I wanted due to the vertigo), and emotionally. :(

This week, I had my bloodwork done. And I was unprepared for the results: both my cholesterol and my A1C were quite elevated. My cholesterol is the highest I have ever seen it by a large margin. And my A1C is the highest I have seen it in years. :(

So this is a definite wake-up call that I need to do better. But it's overwhelming because there's so much that I need to fix. I need to get through this vertigo flare-up (it is getting a bit better, but it hasn't gone away yet). I need to eat better. I need to be more active. I need to heal my back. I need to heal my calves (they've been tight for quite some time on and off - I never used to struggle with them, but have been for quite some time now). Plus I need to get and keep my anger and stress levels down so nothing else happens.

I'm going to need a better plan of attack for all of this. And I might need some help, too. I think the best way to start is to work on ending this vertigo flare-up, and to start walking more (since walking is not triggering my vertigo right now). Once the vertigo is gone for now, I'll be able to add in more stretching and yoga to hopefully help strengthen my back and help with my calves.

In an effort to help heal the vertigo flare-up, I've been drinking more water. I measured a bunch of cups and glasses around my house to see how much water they all hold in an attempt to get closer to drinking about 64 oz of water a day (8 8oz glasses).

And on Monday, I'm going to start using an exercise/health journal I got awhile ago from the dollar store. I'm hoping that keeping track of things like water and the food that I eat will help.