Running Man

Well, after getting the all clear to leave the ER, I had a blood test the next day. I was diagnosed as having an underactive thyroid, and medication was prescribed. However, within a few hours of taking it, though, my heart was racing, my control of my limbs seemed out of sorts and I couldn’t relax. A walk that was supposed to be a half-mile was cut short after about 100 paces because I wasn’t feeling right.
I couldn’t believe less than four weeks earlier I ran a marathon, because now I couldn’t leave the house without incident. After taking medication for two days, I wound up back at my doctor’s office, and very confused. My vital signs checked out, but frustration built when my heart rate of 80 was being called normal. Yeah, maybe for a non-marathoner it is, but my resting rate was less than 50 beats per minute.
On the advice of my doctor, I stopped taking my medication after the second day. The toughest part was learning the medicine would take a week to get out of my body, and twice in the next four days I wound up in the emergency room with what I described as a rapid heart beat.
Subsequent blood tests revealed my thyroid was fine, so I was taking medication I didn’t need. And the medicine had me so amped up I was sleeping only four to five hours a night, I couldn’t eat, other than a handful of Cheerios now and then and some vanilla pudding. I lost nearly 10 pounds that week while lying in bed or on the couch throughout the day while Rebecca worked.
This was mid July, and it weighed on me that Rebecca and I were expecting our first child in December, and just what kind of condition was I in for this.
Once the thyroid medication was out of me, I was relieved. But there was a new concern. What was wrong? With my thyroid fine, it meant the original problem still was undiagnosed. Soon, I was back in the emergency room.
This time a breathing treatment was administered, and exercise-induced asthma was the diagnosis from the ER. So I used what was described to me as a preventative inhaler. But chest x-rays showed no signs of asthma. My primary doctor was skeptical, but told me to keep using the inhaler for a few days.
At the advice of my doctor I stopped using the inhaler after approximately a week, and wound up at the emergency room again. A few weeks had passed since my original trip to the ER, and the mind games in my head were racing like my heart used to.
But I finally got a diagnosis that made sense. I’ll tell you about that when I post my next entry May 22.
I am happy to report my foot problem seems to be under control, I am running with more consistency and confidence, and my new shoes are working well. It is wonderful to feel like I’m finally in shape again.
As for this week’s training schedule, the pace picks up a little bit. My runs are 3 miles (Tuesday), 6 miles (Wednesday), 3 miles (Thursday), 6 miles (Saturday) and 11 miles (Sunday).