I'm probably 95% in great health.

In November I inhaled a lungful of smoke from a woodburning stove. It caused some damage, and I was coughing up sooty crud for several weeks, with a horrible, hacking cough. It left my throat bruised.

I'd just about got over it when I got flu a few weeks ago - proper flu, not "I've got a bad cold but I'll call it flu". This was the real deal - a fever of 102F, chills, horrendous sinus pain, nausea, aching all over. (I'd had my flu jab this year, but the first person in the office to get this flu - and spread it all around - has a husband who'd just come back from Uganda, and she got the flu after he got back. We all think he brought back some kind of flu strain from Africa that was impervious to the vaccine.)

It was a bad illness - I didn't even shower or change clothes for a week, I was so weak. And although for the most part I'm okay with living alone, I found it very tough that there was nobody to make me a cup of tea or warm up some soup for me. The cat was fucking useless in this respect and still expected me to wait on her. So I had a bit of a pity party going on too for a day or so.

So I'm pretty much over the flu now. I'm back at Bikram four times a week and I'm finding that the hot room has been great for clearing my lungs of the last of the crud.

I've stuck to my vegan diet (except for some Greek yoghurt which I just had to buy to eat with these beauties), and my psoriasis is under control, although not totally clear. But it's far less 'angry' and I'm not self-conscious about it in the changing room at Bikram.

Mostly good, although I hurt my ankle on my long run on Sunday and had to walk the last mile home. Skipped a run today, because it's still a little sore, but only a little. No swelling, so I'll do a short treadmill run tomorrow.

Apart from that, all is fine. Sounds rough about your foot, Dan. Hope it all clears up without any further issue.

I'm too fat -- my husband scoffs, as I'm still just a medium size, but I feel overloaded by an extra 10 lb. And my back, left shoulder and recently at the base, have been buggy lately.

Result: I am back in running groove. I find that and regular massage/floats help a ton.

Getting a weird shoulder muscle flair-up. It feels like a pulled muscle, but isn't. Don't think it's bursitis, because it's in the wrong place. Don't feel like asking my useless GP, either, who will just pat my head and say "you're not dying? Don't bother me."

Cuticles cracked, cracked, cracked. And I don't pick them very much. Usually by now it's better. Falling apart, bit by bit.

But yeah, very thankful to have all arms and legs and brain intact. I believe there's a Jewish prayer, possibly part of the general morning prayer, that says thank you, Lord, that all my parts are working or something like that. Must look it up.

My shoulder/neck is way better than it was - after two sessions of massage (one hot stone) and multiple chiropractor visits. My chiro says that if I would do my exercises like he says, I'd feel better. (and I'm sure he's right, so I'm trying!)

My tennis elbow is still there, although better, in my right arm, and my left arm is starting to act up. (really?!?) Again, physical therapy/chiro exercises should help with this.

Everything else is just regular aches and pains. My sleeping schedule hasn't been very satisfactory lately - although since I was awake at 4am this morning anyway, I decided to go and see if I could see any of the lunar eclipse - but it was raining, so I went back to bed!

Thinking good, healing thoughts for everyone!

I sit too much, is my problem. For the last year I've had no reason to get up from my desk in the course of an ordinary day, and it's really getting to me. I've just arranged to work a 4-day work week starting next month and going to probably December, so I'll have Wednesdays off and can run around, which should help, but I still need more strategies to not sit so much. I may see if I can get a standing desk, but too much standing hurts my low back. Gah.

My jaw has been hurting for weeks. Eating anything crunchy hurts. I've been hoping it would go away on its own but I may have to suck it up and get to the dentist. Although what could he do? He'll probably just say, oh, rest it, use warm compress, blah blah blah.

Sorry to hear about all the bunny aches and pains.

Two weeks ago I would have told you that my health is awesome, nothing to complain about (except for some mildly high cholesterol and a vitamin D deficiency). Then last Wednesday night, whammo! I got hit with the worst MS flare I have had to date. Most of the time, I take very little medication to control the exceedingly mild symptoms I have, but last Wednesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday took the goddamn CAKE. It started with just feeling a little shaky and weak, but then my hair started to feel heavy and my neck sagged like a newborn the world went fuzzy and damn did that suck. I am mostly back to normal, and my worst symptoms have subsided, but that blew. Really blew.
But I'm back to myself, still trucking.

I hope everyone feels better soon!

Threw up again in the shower this morning. At this point, I just kept washing my hair as I heaved. Oh, pregnancy!

Also, I barfed up my pretzel bites and nacho sauce from the moves because the end of Captain America 2 was so frigging jump-cutty.

We are getting rid of approximately half of everything we own, and I really don't have a ton of energy for it. Physical energy is one thing, but then mental energy of sorting enough yarn to fill a bathtub and then trying to send it off to good homes it more than this brain can handle.

So now my husband is getting sore shoulders, not me. Hooray!

er, movies.

I can't run more than a mile and a half anymore. And by "run" I'm talking upward of 12 minutes a mile. And even then my knees are sore the next day. Otherwise just the usual insomnia, enlarged prostate, high blood pressure, chipped spine bones, broken scapula, nose recovering from Mohs surgery, and a little PTSD.

That car really did a number on you, OR. I'm so sorry you're still suffering so much.

Ok can I just say I'm so glad to be in such good company on the aches/pains train. msali, you've probably already seen it, but in case you haven't, you should google Minding my Mitochondria TED. Maybe it could help your MS.

Both my knees are furious with me for kneeling on them for 7 years assembling & installing cabinets. :( I resumed my back stretching exercises & that has seemed to help a lot, so there's hope.

Other than that, I'm carrying around 30 lbs I don't need.

I'm awaiting the arrival of my new desk which raises & lowers so I can sit awhile and stand awhile. I'm looking forward to it, because standing is more comfortable to me when I'm sketching & doing manual design work. the top's here, just waiting on the frame!

Feel better everyone!

Best wishes to everyone for successful handling of these issues.. hope you feel better soon.

My very high blood pressure is much improved with meds and a new job/new boss who says, "I don't care what time you come in and what time you leave, just get your work done" and then he leaves me alone to do it and compliments me on it when I finish. Quite the change from my last psycho boss from hell.

Still have bad headaches but even those are better with the lowered blood pressure.

Thanks for asking.

Kangaroo - Retirement really brought down my BP. I knew that my job was high stress, but did not fully know what it was doing to my body. I am still on a sliver of BP meds, but it is usually perfect when I get it checked.

I am glad that yours is getting lower.

Had lumbar disk surgery two months ago and am doing so much better than before. Almost no pain in my leg, just a little numbness sometimes. I'm still not allowed to run but I can walk and bike so I'm getting some exercise in.

You guys. Gentle hugs to you all. Or gentle pats on the shoulder, or gentle expressions of empathy, if that's how you roll.

I'm doing serious PT to strengthen and maintain flexibility so my body can still go to work. The rest is waiting until I can manage to find a doc who cares. Don't have energy for that right now.

My main medical issues surround looking after my Mom's rapidly declining health and her dementia. I'm stressed, worried and very tired.

If work doesn't settle down I am going to lose my mind. And my health. And my happiness.

I have a wart too...so far painting it with generic compound w hasn't done anything.

Blood pressure has spiked and my gp isn't doing anything to treat it...even though she said that's the reason why I suddenly gained 50 pounds in the space of a month 18 months ago. My blood work came up normal.

I had a car accident before I left Vancouver BC-- an entitled shit decided that the red light on his side street didn't apply to him when he wanted to turn left onto one of the major roads. I'm ok, my rental wasn't The weird thing is that the cops didn't show up. 911 just told us to exchange info. Lucky I'd bought the insurance when I rented.

Apart from the usual minor aches that come from age, I've got this weird nagging pain at the back of my right knee that hurts a lot if I straighten my leg right out. Was worried that it would be a disaster on Saturday's 35km night hike, but it was perfectly fine then (even over nightmarish terrain), but is back now. Seems to be worse when I get up from sitting for a while, so trying to gently stretch it and go easy on it when I can.

I'm still getting a lot of headaches, but nowhere near as many since stopping smoking. Given the shit going on here at the moment, it's a wonder I haven't had a stroke, so I guess just headaches aren't really anything to whine about.

My heart aches a lot, but that's my own stupid fault.

Aww mightshould. That must be so hard with your mothers dementia and ill health. Sterkte!

Feel better everyone! I've had about 60% numbness in my second/third/great toes for about two years. My GP is unconcerned, and calls it a nerve compression injury. It did not, as he thought, get better with rest, and is bilateral. It affects my balance in yoga, otherwise, does not negatively impact my life except it feels weird all the time. I am for sure not diabetic. I don't know what to pursue - podiatrist? Sports injury doc? Chiropractor? Anyway, thanks for listening. I do have long second toes. Feet are funny.

A neurologist, rainbaby.

Had a hell of a sore throat last week, which scared me to death. I never had a fever, which was good, but I was still terrified of ending up in the hospital with strep trying to kill me (again).

Strangely enough, camping outside for the lunar eclipse in below freezing weather did not make it worse. I was actually feeling human yesterday and today.

Mentally I'm iffy. Hubby is across the country and I'm single momming it again, but this time there's a plan - but the kids are rebelling. So there's a lot of deep breaths and meditation when I really want to just lock them in their rooms.

A massage. That's really sounding good right now. I should go get one of those.