Advil

WDP — How I’m Feeling

Fandango21 Comments
Daily writing prompt
How are you feeling right now?
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The physical therapy facility I go to 3X a week

I woke up at around 7 am. Like every morning these days, when I first wake up, my injured right arm and shoulder are achy and stiff, as is my injured left hip. I hobbled to the bathroom, peed, washed my face, and brushed my teeth. Then I got dressed, grabbed my cane, and went to the kitchen. I took three Advil capsules, as I do every morning, to combat the pain and stiffness.

I spent the next half hour reading the newspaper, drinking coffee, and waiting for the Advil to kick in. Now I’m finishing up my breakfast, after which I’ll do about an hour’s worth of rehab exercises for my hip and shoulder. Then I’ll take a shower.

At noon I have my third outpatient PT session of the week (see photo above). I’ll came back, have lunch, and probably read and write some posts on my blog. At around 3:00, I’ll do another hour’s worth of rehab exercises for my hip and shoulder.

Then I’ll chill in front of the TV binge-watching some show until dinner.

So that’s how I feel now and how I’ll be spending the first day of September 2023. Don’t you wish your life could be as exciting as mine is?

2023 — Not Off to a Good Start

Fandango63 Comments

When I woke up yesterday morning at 7:30, after very good night’s sleep, I was feeling refreshed and eager to experience the first day of the new year. The rain that drenched our area had stopped and the sky was a brilliant blue without a cloud in the sky.

I savored my morning coffee, read the Sunday paper, ate my breakfast, trimmed my beard, and took a shower. I was feeling great.

At around 10:30, my wife and I went to our back deck and sat in our swing chair to enjoy the sunshine and relatively mild temperatures and to watch the birds frolicking in the waterfall. Or dog was on the deck with us, busy chomping away on no-hide bone. Everything was wonderfully serene.

At around 11:45, the dog got up and started walking around, a sure sign that nature called. I got up and grabbed her leash and walked her to the spot where she usually takes care of business. Sure enough, she pooped. I pulled a poop bag out of my back jeans pocket, dropped the leash, and picked up her poop in the bag.

When I dropped her leash, she took off like a bat out of hell, and started zooming around the backyard. I saw her as she was heading toward me, her leash whipping in the air behind her. As she zoomed past me, her leash wrapped around my legs like a cowboy’s lariat wraps around the legs of a calf at a roping competition. Suddenly my legs went out from under me and I landed flat on my back.

And flat on my back in bed is where I spent most of New Year’s Day. Taking Advil every four hours, chewing a CBD gummy every six hours, and trying to lie as still as possible to avoid severe and agonizing lower back muscle spams.

Yes, 2023 is not off to a good start. For me, anyway. I hope it was better for you.

Oh My Aching Back

Fandango26 Comments

F3577DEF-2A44-4D0B-BAB7-6C424BB7512DMost days I don’t feel my age. But most days are not like yesterday. I spent five hours on our deck and patio doing a long-overdue spring cleaning. I swept and vacuumed the deck, washed down all of our deck furniture — chairs and tables — removed all of the accumulated spider webs from the wood siding, and pressure-washed the deck flooring, which is due for re-staining. Then I went to our patio on the ground floor and did the same things down there.

Little did I know that those five hours would be such backbreaking work. Within a few hours of completing the clean-up, I was popping Advil tablets like Tic Tacs and sitting on the couch, an ice pack wedged between my lower back and the couch’s back cushion.

I was hoping that when I woke up this morning, I would no longer be afflicted by lower back pain. No such luck. More Advil, more ice packs. More bellyaching about my backache.

Maybe by tomorrow I will recapture my youthful vim and vigor, whatever “vim” is.

 

Throwback Thursday — Hangovers and How To Manage Them

Fandango19 Comments

When you’ve been blogging for 16 months, as I have, and you’ve published 1,667 posts, as I have, you are bound to have written some posts along the way that you are proud of, but that few people read, fewer people liked, and even fewer commented on.

This post, which I originally published on June 12, 2017, is one such post. This post got six views, three likes, and zero comments. So I thought it might be time to give it another go.

hungoverLet me be clear. I am not suffering from a hangover. I have turned into a teetotaler in my old age. I will occasionally have a beer, very rarely have a cocktail, and never drink wine. So hung over is something I have not been in perhaps decades.

But that does not mean that I didn’t wake up many a morning back in the day drooling on the bathroom floor and with my arms wrapped snugly around the porcelain goddess.

I vividly remember the aching head, the sick-to-my stomach feeling, the dizziness, the thirst, and the general sense of confusion when trying to remember what had happened the night before that landed me in a tight embrace with the toilet.

Who among you has never experienced a hangover? It’s quite common, you know. One study noted that more than 75% of people who’ve consumed alcoholic beverages have experienced a hangover. Many have missed work or school because of their hangovers.

So fess up, you’ve woken up with a hangover, right?

Hangovers have been around and acknowledged since at least biblical times. I know I’m the least likely person to be quoting a verse from the Bible, but, “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink” (Isaiah 5:11). Woe unto them indeed!

Hair of the dog

Of course, the best advice for not waking up with a hangover is to not drink too much the night before. But, you know, shit happens.

V8 Bloody MaryI was once told that the best way to deal with a hangover is to have a drink, like a Bloody Mary. Especially one made with V8 Bloody Mary mix.

But that is apparently an old wives’ tale. Alcohol may temporarily make you feel better, but it will ultimately dehydrate you and leave you feeling worse later on in the day.

So how should you deal with a hangover? Here is a compilation of suggestions I’ve come up with after an exhaustive search on Google:

  • Drink water. After a night of excessive drinking, your body is absolutely parched. Since many of the negative symptoms of alcohol derive from the dehydration of the body, you need to rehydrate. Coconut water or sports drinks, as well as clear, carbonated beverages like ginger ale or Sprite, might also help.
  • Take Advil. Or aspirin. Some sites warn against Tylenol. Tylenol, which is acetaminophen, has been shown to have liver-damaging reactions with alcohol metabolites.
  • Drink caffeinated coffee — or don’t. Some “experts” warn against drinking coffee if you have a hangover. They say coffee further dehydrates you and is acidic. But others suggest that a cuppa Joe helps you to wake up and feel alert. If you are going to drink coffee, though, it might be wise to take some Advil with your coffee. And drink plenty of water as well, since caffeine causes dehydration.
  • Eat toast and crackers. These foods alleviate nausea and help your body soak up the alcohol in your system. Some sites also recommend a combination of bananas and pretzels, since both salt and potassium are electrolytes that hold water to decrease dehydration.
  • Drink tea. Ginger or peppermint teas can reduce nausea and motion sickness. Green tea is also known to be helpful in stimulating key detoxification pathways.
  • Have sex. There is no research that shows that sex will make a hangover go away, but maybe it will make the time go faster and possibly even make you forget about how miserable you’re feeling.

So there you have it, my friends. If you drink, don’t drive. If you drink a lot and wake up the next morning with a horrible hangover, have sex.

You’re welcome.

Hangovers and How To Manage Them

Fandango

hungover

Let me be clear. I am not suffering from a hangover. I have turned into a teetotaler in my old age. I will occasionally have a beer, very rarely have a cocktail, and never drink wine. So hung over is something I have not been in perhaps decades.

Oh, but that does not mean that I didn’t wake up many a morning back in the day on the bathroom floor with my arms wrapped snugly around the porcelain goddess.

I vividly remember the aching head, the sick-to-my stomach feeling, the dizziness, the thirst, and the general sense of confusion when trying to remember what had happened the night before that landed me in a tight embrace with the toilet.

Who among you has never experienced a hangover? It’s quite common, you know. One study noted that more than 75% of people who’ve consumed alcoholic beverages have experienced a hangover. Many have missed work or school because of their hangovers.

So fess up, you’ve woken up with a hangover, right?

Hangovers have been around and acknowledged since at least biblical times. I know I’m the least likely person to be quoting a verse from the Bible, but, “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink” (Isaiah 5:11). Woe unto them indeed!

Hair of the dog

Of course, the best advice for not waking up with a hangover is to not drink too much the night before. But, you know, shit happens.

V8 Bloody MaryI was once told that the best way to deal with a hangover is to have a drink, like a Bloody Mary. Especially one made with V8 Bloody Mary mix.

But that is apparently an old wives’ tale. Alcohol may temporarily make you feel better, but it will ultimately dehydrate you and leave you feeling worse later on in the day.

So how should you deal with a hangover? Here is a compilation of suggestions I’ve come up with after an exhaustive search on Google:

  • Drink water. After a night of excessive drinking, your body is absolutely parched. Since many of the negative symptoms of alcohol derive from the dehydration of the body, you need to rehydrate. Coconut water or sports drinks, as well as clear, carbonated beverages like ginger ale or Sprite might also help.
  • Take Advil. Or aspirin. Some sites warn against Tylenol. Tylenol, which is acetaminophen, has been shown to have liver-damaging reactions with alcohol metabolites.
  • Drink caffeinated coffee — or don’t. Some “experts” warn against drinking coffee if you have a hangover. They say coffee further dehydrates you and is acidic. But others suggest that a cuppa Joe helps you to wake up and feel alert. If you are going to drink coffee, though, it might be wise to take some Advil with your coffee. And drink plenty of water as well, since caffeine causes dehydration.
  • Eat toast and crackers. These foods alleviate nausea and help your body soak up the alcohol in your system. Some sites also recommend a combination of bananas and pretzels, since both salt and potassium are electrolytes that hold water to decrease dehydration.
  • Drink tea. Ginger or peppermint teas can reduce nausea and motion sickness. Green tea is also known to be helpful in stimulating key detoxification pathways.
  • Have sex. There is no research that shows that sex will make a hangover go away, but maybe it will make the time go faster and possibly even make you forget about how miserable you’re feeling.

So there you have it, my friends. If you drink, don’t drive. If you drink a lot and wake up the next morning with a horrible hangover, have sex.

You’re welcome.