If You Follow Me....

I've been chronicling my efforts to not drink on "Excellent Adventures". One of the reasons I wanted to stop, was because I haven't been feeling well, and wanted to know how drinking a couple of glasses of wine everyday was affecting my stamina. Well, guess what, after two weeks, I'm beginning to believe that I actually feel better after a drink...or two.

I rarely drink to excess. I don't like feeling out of control. I definitely don't like feeling hung over. What I do appreciate is the anesthetic value.

I have not been feeling too good. I'm tired. I'm very gassy and bloated. My arms bother me a GREAT deal! There's a fatigue and pain in my biceps that radiates to my hands and fingers. It's a kin to the "hitting the funny bone" feeling. Or a pulling-pain. I think it's definitely muscular, as opposed to my joints, but, the other idea is that it's neural. It could have something to do with my spinal stenosis. My massage therapist worked exclusively on my arms and left shoulder blade, which has been a historic problem...but, it doesn't seem to have impacted the pain, except for bruising and THAT pain!

A new wrinkle, is the ill feeling I've been having every evening. I usually feel better after I have dinner, but it's an odd sensation. A truly achy, diseased feeling, like the flu.

So, what I'm doing is documenting this new-ish physical wrinkle to try and keep some sort of "track".

I do believe that most of my maladies are caused by the hormonal fluctuations of menopause. I do have spinal stenosis of the lower lumbar vertebrae, and this causes pain and fatigue in my legs. My upper back hasn't ever been MRI'd, but, it stands to reason that the congenitally small openings in my spinal column could continue all the way up and affect my arms and hands....